The Nameless Guide To PC Gaming Audio (with binaural headphone surround sound) - Page 30

Quote:

Originally Posted by JdmKicks94 
Skyrim, diablo 3, minecraft mostly, and some battlefield 3. Also what would you reccoment between the ad700's and the hd 558's?
Edit: and I can stretch my budget, I just want to know what the best choice is, as I'm pretty new to this lol.

I've never tried the HD 558, so I'm in no place to compare it with the AD700 (which I have tried). The least I can say is that much of what is said about the AD700s is true: they really bring out positional cues, but are lacking in the bass department.

Maybe I should make it more prominent in my guide that the only headphone I can recommend without hesitation is any Stax Lambda series model (especially the Normal bias ones), but those tend to cost quite a lot not just for the headphones, but for the amplifiers they require.

All of those games generally have software-rendered audio...except for Minecraft, which uses OpenAL, but it's not quite as imperative to have an X-Fi for that game like it would be for Unreal Tournament or Battlefield 2. The Xonar DG shouldn't let you down, but do note that I haven't actually used one.

The X-Fi XtremeMusic is a proper card with the hardware DSP, so you have all the relevant gaming DSP effect support, but analog sound output quality may be behind the times...not that I noticed anything wrong with the similar X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro I put into a client's build recently (which is a very similar card hardware-wise, just with more onboard RAM). And besides, if you're using an external DAC, you don't have that problem...but I don't have a good enough USB device to test how well the SniperCzar "What U Hear" Windows 7 trick actually works.

Normally, I'd recommend a DAC with S/PDIF input (and if you're working with a DIY design, adding such an input shouldn't be too difficult), but getting S/PDIF out of an XtremeMusic requires either a proprietary Flexijack S/PDIF adapter that takes up your input jack and isn't very common, or the 5.25" front panel bay that came with the X-Fi Platinum and better cards from that time. Whether it's more practical to buy those discontinued devices or a newer card with built-in S/PDIF output like the X-Fi Titanium line is another matter.

You can run RCA from any device with a 3.5mm jack; you just need an adapter. There's plenty on Monoprice, both simple plug adapters and adapter cables with both plug types on each end.

I don't see why you couldn't pass X-Fi MB2 processing over S/PDIF, though I haven't tried it myself (little experience with X-Fi MB on other people's systems, no experience with X-Fi MB2). If it relies on the Creative control panel, you could set it to "Play Stereo Mix using Digital Output", which is exactly what it sounds like. (Whether you'd have the latency or not, I have no idea.)

There isn't a noticeable hit to sound quality using the SniperCzar trick for USB DACs, is there? That's the one thing I'm wondering about, but without a proper USB 2.0 audio device or the desire to spend so much money on one...

Meanwhile, the notion of combined DAC/amps does unnerve me a little, but only because I think it's a better idea to have a separate DAC and headphone amp. Match the amp to the headphones than the other way around, if you will. As to what gear I'd suggest instead, I frankly have no idea since that stuff's on the expensive side of things and I can't afford to purchase it all just for reviewing's sake. I like my Titanium HD, but I'm in no place to say whether it's that much better or worse than getting an external DAC. (On the other hand, I'm far more trusting of the actual X-Fi DSP for gaming effects than the CPU-based code in the X-Fi MB software suites.)

CoD:MW3 uses the Miles Sound System? That's a surprise, since I could've sworn the CoD4 demo used FMOD Ex...then again, just because it's using MSS these days doesn't mean that it'll actually use DirectSound3D for mixing. (Source engine games require a console command before it's enabled, for instance.)

I'm guessing it's just a holdover from older MSS versions, a lot of which even continued to support Aureal A3D long after they were dead and buried. I still very frankly doubt that it uses EAX extensions at all, but it would be fascinating to know if it's possible to enable DirectSound3D mixing for proper binaural sound. (Of course, you'd need to use ALchemy or a similar wrapper along with it.)

...And what do you mean by sending audio "over Cinch"? That's no audio interface I've ever heard of.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ultron 

I think he means RCA.


Any idea if windows allows you to set SPDIF to 5.1 with a Dolby Digital Live or DTS connect audio device? That's the only way I'm seeing CMSS3DH or Dolby headphone working over SPDIF. My motherboard has neither.

I have to admit, this is the first time I've ever heard RCA jacks referred to by any other name.

Yes, the X-Fi Titanium HD outputs CMSS-3D Headphone-processed audio over the RCA jacks. It wouldn't be as useful to me to have those jacks otherwise (I use them as line-out to an external receiver that drives my Stax setup, and the receiver is old enough that it lacks S/PDIF input, only RCA), even if 3.5mm-to-RCA adapter cables exist.

The way S/PDIF output on X-Fi cards work is kind of weird. It's largely independent of the Windows speaker setting; instead, what you do is check "Play Stereo Mix using Digital Output" in the control panel, which does exactly what it says on the tin. Works perfectly with CMSS-3D Headphone. If that isn't checked, however, you aren't going to hear anything out of S/PDIF. (Also, do NOT set "SPDIF Out" as the primary audio output device, because it won't work for anything other than DVD or Blu-ray movies. It needs to be on the "Speakers" device at all times.)

However, once you enable Dolby Digital Live or DTS Connect, the drivers automatically switch to 5.1 speaker mode instead of Headphones, and the same thing is done to the Windows speaker setting (albeit the channels aside from front left/right are not treated as full-range by default). Turning it back off, though, leaves the Windows speaker setting at 5.1 while the X-Fi setting reverts to whatever it was set to beforehand (Headphones in my case).