The Nameless Guide To PC Gaming Audio (with binaural headphone surround sound) - Page 58

Not sure, yet. I'm just counting my options. Recon3D could work, but i think it would be a pain to switch the USB cable, from pc to ps3 and vice versa, every time i want to use one of them.

If i go the receiver way, i think i'll go with Yamaha and hope i will be satisfied with their "Silent Cinema" headphone virtualization, as an alternative to Dolby Headphone. Also, they have some low profile receivers that take a bit less space.

That's what I've done all along with my Recon3D. The USB stays plugged into the back of my (ATX) computer, and the optical plugged into my console (an Xbox 360). My Gigabyte motherboard, like many I assume, provides power through the rear USB ports even if the computer is shut off (to charge portable music players, etc). All I have to do is push a small switch on the side between PC and Xbox (the optical or 3.5mm jack input). The Recon3D's ribbon-style extension cord for headphone & mic are nice, but everything sits so close to me that I haven't bothered with it except once to test that it worked.

There are only 2 minor complications with that setup.
1.) if something is plugged into the optical port while the Recon3D is in PC mode, you can't access the PC driver settings. Easy fix: unplug the optical cable the first time you want to play with settings, and you can safely leave the optical plugged in any other time using PC or Console audio.
2.) When the Recon3D has power, the blue light keeps me awake in my bedroom. Easy fix: unplug the USB connector at the Recon3D unit's end at night, and plug in my cellphone to charge overnight which happens to use the same USB connector type (LG).

Dead Ghost,
I don't know of any other device besides the Recon3D that allows console hookup, AND acts as a USB external soundcard for PC (Mac and Windows). That was the main reason I bought it. You could try a receiver via Optical or HDMI, which is what I did before I got the Recon3D, but you don't get the full 3D surround setup possible from your computer, just a 5.1 mix, downmixed into virtual headphone. I will say my receiver's headphone amp section is more powerful, but it also is a big fat device (hard to hide) that loves lots of wires and uses lots of electricity.

I think the PS3 has an optical output... I'd recommend you just use that so you could leave your wires plugged in. Nobody on PS3 uses chat anyway, or at least wired chat, right?
Edited by Evshrug - 10/7/12 at 9:45pm

Chat is not a priority. And if i need it, i will use a bluetooth mic.

How will you connect both the PC and PS3 at the same time, thru USB? USB splitter? 

As far as i know, only Gigabyte boards have this feature.

 

 

 

Thru HDMI this won't be a problem, all channels will be used in virtualization, not just 5.1. HDMI has more bandwidth than S/PDIF and no encoding is needed, as i recently learned. :)

Edited by Dead Ghost - 10/8/12 at 1:37am

Dead Ghost (redundant?),
Replies in bold.
Nameless,
I'm considering purchasing the Orange Box, again, this time for PC. Would be my third copy of Half Life 2, but I hear it can look even better on PC when maxed than on the Xbox 360, and perhaps it has 3D binaural audio? What'd ya think, worth it? One more vote for valve to make HL3?

I first bought HL2 around when Halo 2 was new too, then the orange box on the 360 for all the extras... A good PC FPS is very tempting, as well as a space starfighter sim (what was that privateer sequel? Freelancer or something?). Any other suggestions? Picking up Thief this Friday, would like info on that "surprise patch" you mentioned a short bit ago about helped enable better ALchemy support.

Also, purely a curiosity since I don't have a Blu-ray player, yet my receiver decodes most DTS formats, do blu-ray movies include an option besides DTS? How often does the lack of DTS encoding cause you to have no audio at all? The only DTS movies we own are on laserdisc, LOL!
Edited by Evshrug - 10/8/12 at 10:53am

What? ... Entire? YESTERDAY?
>_<<br />
...
Thanks for the tip, I had thought about system shock 2 before, but never too seriously... If I was gonna play system shock 2, I'd finish the second Deus Ex game first. I remember getting stuck in that game but I forget where. Did you ever play the old Lucasarts X-wing and Tie-Fighter games? Lucasarts was sure on a roll back then.

Update: bought a Xonar DX, and it's my first time opening a CPU in 15 years. I *think* I slotted it into a PCI-e 16x slot because I heard bad things about using the top PCI-e 1x slot, plugged in power and front panel headphone out, and booted up.

Been trying to install the official drivers from Asus's website, and these ones: http://brainbit.wordpress.com/category/uni-xonar/
In both cases the install seems to progress to 100% and just kind of hang there. Left it for 2-5 mins each time and no real progress... Is the driver installation supposed to take a long time at the end of the progress meter?

It's happened to me a few times with Xonar drivers.

So, just let the installation take a longer time?

You can could always install it in safe mode incase something is stoping it from installing in normal boot. It has happen to me a couple of times. Safe mode is what i usually do when that happens.

Thanks guys, I'll give that a shot. 

 

Similar advice here:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1257431/trouble-installing-asus-xonar-dg-sound-center

 

Good to know I'm not alone!

Interested to hear your updates. How much did the Xonar end up costing?

The Xonar was just S$123, which is ~USD 100?

 

I had another go last night. I'm pretty sure I found the right 4-pin power connector (one of the spares from my mobo) but Win7 couldn't detect the card when I installed the drivers.

 

Tried with both the official and the unofficial drivers, same result: "Please plug in the the Asus Xonar device" at the end of the install bar.

 

Also tried uninstalling the device from my device manager...didn't seem to work.

 

I guess I just have to try physically removing the card, removing the device from Device Manager, and then doing it all over?

The Orange Box is definitely a great purchase, both due to getting all Half Life 2 games (including Lost Coast) as well as Portal and Team Fortress 2 (yes, it has become Free 2 Play).

From the bits and pieces floating around, it does seem Half Life 3 will be a reality eventually, (as per Valve time) rather than a Half Life 2 Episode 3.

From the moment high resolution, high AA levels and proper 3D audio is made available, Half life 2 on its stock form is already well beyond what console ports can do, but if you really want your mind blown, check how a game goes from 4 to 22GB and how it both looks and sounds (view on 720p):

 

This Source overhaul can be found here: http://cinematicmod.com/

Keep in mind that system requirements are far higher than what the original games have.

EDIT: The full visual and audio engine update can be used without the new models, that are optional, considering that some people prefer the stock models.

Edited by Roller - 10/11/12 at 9:14pm