[rudyae86]

Yea and thats how I have it set up, I seem to get good positional cues, but maybe its partially just placebo and partially just experience telling me where i think the sounds should be. I know its still set to 2 speakers in windows, but the turn on 7.1 virtual surround checkbox doesnt emulate 7.1 speakers? The output is always 2 channels anyways, so are you sure its not processing it as surround, doing its atmos hrtf and mixing it down to 2 speakers? I realize there is no way to tell directly in battlefield, but again, it sounds like I am getting pretty good spatial cues, front and back.

And if it isnt working, do you have any suggestions for what might work better? I tried windows sonic, but thats obviously using the same system (and didnt like the sound). I tried razer surround, but also didnt like the sound (and felt atmos gave me better positional cues).

It's probably placebo for you...like you said, you already have an idea of where those positional cues are coming from. So far, all Atmos and Sonic is doing is upmixing a stereo signal and making it seems like its coming from a 7.1 speaker set up. In no way is Atmos and Sonic taking a 5.1 or 7.1 signal and downmixing it to 2 channel audio so you can hear the true emulated effect of a 7.1.

I have set it up in many ways and used files that show (and for you to listen) where sound is coming from what speaker. So far the obvious one, the sub, isn't outputting any sound or signal when using Atmos or Sonic, therefore I know that the whole Atmos and Sonic isn't really working like DH, SBX, Sennhieser's Surround or Razer Surround (razer surround sucks tbh).

As of now and other I have talked to, Atmos and Sonic are still broken and or, its just an expanding of soundstage for Stereo audio only.

EDIT:


This video right here. I use this test to see if all channels are working properly and the cues are coming from those speakers. Of course this youtube video is useless so I would suggest you google to find the .mkv file and use VLC to really hear the 7.1 test when using any type of surround sound emulation (DH, SBX, Sennheisers or Razer) in this case "Dolby Atmos for Headphones" and "Windows Sonic for Headphones".

Also, I just remembered something. My Gigabyte motherboard, before I actually got my Asus Xonar DG, I was using its onboard audio and using a custom made gigabyte realtek UI where it would let me enable a 7.1 virtual surround option and all it did was add reverb to the audio and was not any real 7.1 surround sound emulation. Reverb is usually used to give more depth or soundstage. In this case, I am led to believe Atmos and Sonic do the same thing....for now.

EDIT 2: You can also use this link right here for Atmos type files that allow you to test AVR that support Atmos

https://www.dolby.com/us/en/guide/test-tones.html

EDIT 3: Found this on another forum

https://hardforum.com/threads/windo...-1-virtualization-in-creators-update.1930706/

Seems like unless the API knows what the source is (Stereo, 5.1, 7.1, etc) it will send stereo only by default.

To my understanding....Yes, Dolby Atmos for Headphones and Windows Sonic is broken...

 

[mashuto]

It's my understanding that Atmos (or Sonic) need to be fed a 5.1 (or more) signal to do any processing. That's great if you have a surround capable audio card, but for folks with a laptop like myself… we're screwed.
I've been searching if there's any way to trick Windows or other software into thinking I have more than 2 speakers but so far no joy. My old MSi used to have a full 5.1 output, but my new(ish) Acer will only select stereo output. Barring this, the only option is to select surround in the game/app options - which is moot, since it looks like most games auto detect the output based on what Windows tells it. I thought I read that MS was trying to improve the detection methods, but I can be certain on that one.

Gotcha and yea that makes sense, but my question is whether ticking that 7.1 checkbox essentially tricks the system into thinking that it has 7.1 channels (similarly to how DH worked with the asus xonar) and on the same token then, in BF1 when you set it to surround vs stereo, what exactly is it doing then?

To my understanding....Yes, Dolby Atmos for Headphones and Windows Sonic is broken...

Fair enough, and it seems as though are right, that it may indeed be simply widening the soundstage and I pick up on the cues simply because I play the game enough and have an instinct for where things are (ie if I dont see someone in front of me and i hear footsteps in both ears, must be behind me.

So, what options are available? OOYH? Waves nx (that I just heard about in this thread a few posts back). Anything else?

 

[Chris S]

There's no placebo, it provides excellent positioning and soundstage.

It's probably an HRTF solution of some sort. I have no idea how they implement it for a stereo feed, outside of games that provide positional information.

It's good but. They stopped caring about sound for a few years there. Now they are doing some very advanced things. Maybe one day they will implement sound positioning in the veritcal plane as well...

 

[mashuto]

There's no placebo, it provides excellent positioning and soundstage.

It's probably an HRTF solution of some sort. I have no idea how they implement it for a stereo feed, outside of games that provide positional information.

It's good but. They stopped caring about sound for a few years there. Now they are doing some very advanced things. Maybe one day they will implement sound positioning in the veritcal plane as well...

The discussion wasn't about whether it works or not, but whether it works in relation to games like BF1, where there is no option in game to select the number of speakers, only stereo or surround. Some were saying its tied into the number of speakers chosen in windows, which would be 2... unless the 7.1 virtual surround allows games to see the system as having 7.1 speakers. Whether it does, I am not sure. And at least in BF1, I am not sure if I am getting true 360 degree positional cues, or just a simulated wider soundstage and pick up the cues just from my experience with the game.

 

[Chris S]

The discussion wasn't about whether it works or not, but whether it works in relation to games like BF1, where there is no option in game to select the number of speakers, only stereo or surround. Some were saying its tied into the number of speakers chosen in windows, which would be 2... unless the 7.1 virtual surround allows games to see the system as having 7.1 speakers. Whether it does, I am not sure. And at least in BF1, I am not sure if I am getting true 360 degree positional cues, or just a simulated wider soundstage and pick up the cues just from my experience with the game.

Oh, ok.

I am pretty sure the '7,1 virtual surround' isn't parsing a 7.1 source and is just a bit of a fancy name for processing the signal. You can setup HRTF on system shock, thief, doom etc, and it sounds similar to that.

I don't know much about it, but I guess once the stereo signal is transformed to the HRTF solution, nothing else will need to be done as the positioning is already provided by the game engine. HRTF just makes it sound better and positioned far more accurately, as it transforms it to what we hear, depending on how close our ear structures are to the chosen solution.

I thought BF1 already had hrtf? In which case there'd be no point using it twice.

 

[Chris S]

I think this tech presentation will have the answer (Introducing Spatial Audio Capabilities for Xbox and Windows). I haven't watched it.

https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GDC/GDC-2017/GDC2017-002

 

[Knightfury]

For those with something that can do SBX - is the Dolby atmos worth messing with or just stick with the default creative setup? I find creative software (as always) a complete mess to get it doing stuff how I want so if atmos "just works" and can somehow be set up to make better use of my hardware that'd be swell.
I'm generally more into clinical, directional sound whoring over everything else.

 

[Chris S]

The SBX I have is some sort of equaliser. It's some rubbish that Creative bundle.e

It's all just turn on turn off, you may as well try it and see. The spatialisation necessarily transforms the sound wave a fait bit, I don't think they are provided for 'audiophiles'. I think they are more for positional audio.

A stereo headphone feed can feel rather average, so you can just use a normal 'headphone' setting which doesn't isolate one track eg the sax player to one ear. Whatever you call that.

 

[xivlia]

Dolbyy atmos in headphones doesnt make sense to me... i know that overwatch has that setting built in the game. i use a Hd800 and cant hear a difference.

 

[Glasofruix]

That's because you have to set your headphones to stereo. Anyways, anyone knows if there's a fix for atmos/sonic in the works? Because it sure as hell does not work with 90% of games, given the fact that they don't see this as a surround device and output stereo only? I tried to complain via official means, but people do not understand how virtual surround works (one guy kept telling me to contact my "original equipement vendor" because it was clearly my computer's fault...).

 

[rudyae86]

its the way ms did it, if they allowed you to set the number of speakers, it be an different story it doesn't. Sadly i doubt they will ever give the option to do it. I ended up using wave nx that was mentioned that some mention in another thread. which unlike dolby atmos in win10, it actually works.

How do you like Waves NX? I tried it and it's actually pretty good! Reminds me a bit of Sennheiser's Surround Sound and a bit of DH.....I wonder if more people are trying it out. And for 10 bucks it's pretty good deal compared to Dolby Atmos for Headphones.

 

[genclaymore]

How do you like Waves NX? I tried it and it's actually pretty good! Reminds me a bit of Sennheiser's Surround Sound and a bit of DH.....I wonder if more people are trying it out. And for 10 bucks it's pretty good deal compared to Dolby Atmos for Headphones.

When I tried it, it worked very well, better then what I thought it would do. I haven't used it in an while as I haven't gotten around to put it on again after doing an clean install of windows. I know enjoyed it very much when I was using it.

 

[rudyae86]

When I tried it, it worked very well, better then what I thought it would do. I haven't used it in an while as I haven't gotten around to put it on again after doing an clean install of windows. I know enjoyed it very much when I was using it.

I was actually impressed the first time I heard it. In addition to setting up a custom fit for your ears seems to make things a bit better. Well it's mostly measuring your head lol. I just need to figure out how much resources does it take up, like CPU wise...?

 

[genclaymore]

I didn't really check how much resources it used, when I was using it due to having an I7 3930k. Since nothing bad was happening during the time of using it.

 

[rudyae86]

I didn't really check how much resources it used, when I was using it due to having an I7 3930k. Since nothing bad was happening during the time of using it.

I have an i7 4790k and didn't notice anything bad but I'm sure I might have lost 2 unnoticeable frames