[mais14]

Hey I need some advice. I've tried to switch over from a 5.1 gaming headset (Turtle Beach HPA's) to DH with quality headphones. I love the quality of sound but I am having problems with directional sound positioning where I just seem to be more than slightly off than ballpark with positioning ( I Don't expect exact) but people run out on me me alllllll the time and aren't even using DeadSilence (CODMW3). I watch killcams and I'm like wow I didn't hear him?  I go back to my 5.1 headset and i'm dropping MOABS. I've had a run with the ad700s, Sennheiser 595, and TurtleBeach X11's. Is DH not for me? I've played exclusively with it for more than a month now.
 
What I have  Fiio E17, Sennheiser 595s, TurtleBeach X11's,TB DSS mixamp, HPA2, Tritton 5.1 Pro Decoder. I have more sense of positioning with X11's and can competitively compete more while playing with them than with my 595s or from what I remember with my ad700's which I sold after giving up on DH once before. I also can pinpoint people more accurately with my Tritton 5.1 Decoder receiving Stereo in Dolby Pro Logic mode with ANY HEADPHONES than a DSS + 595s.
 
Any advice would be appreciated because somethings off and I rate (competitively) my 5.1 hpa2s a 10, X11's with DSS a 8.5, Dolby Prologic Stereo a 9, and 595/ad700 would be a 7. FOR ME competetitively. e17 has bass/treble/gain settings what would i set those to for best soundwhoring????
 
I've also gamed with the e17 and just dss alone with same results. Has anyone heard of someone like me or have suggestions. I free4all a lot and I can decently soundwhore with all the options but let me join a TD match and Its just too much audio going off for me to hear footsteps 10 feet in front of me.

 

[guily6669]

Why do people say creative recon 3D external doesn't natively decode Dolby surround????
 
On their site they say this:
 

Dolby Digital decoder
Transform any Dolby Digital 5.1 source into high fidelity immersive surround sound for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC, or Mac with the built-in hardware decoder.

Dolby Digital Live: Decoding only

 
So does it decode dolby digital or not???
 
 
 
Also my questions for Creative Recon 3D USB are:
 
 
1º- Can sound balance be adjusted for gaming consoles (Xbox360). I hear less from my right ear, so I wanted to decrease left ear volume (can I do that, and can it stay the way I want for ever, so that I don't have to change settings every time I play Xbox360).
 
2º- New gaming consoles are coming out (PS4\\Xbox One). Do you think this card will still be up to date for the new gaming consoles sound cards (I ask this in case some new technology, or new type of surround technology comes in them that will make this card useless...).
 
3º- I have Logitech Z5500. How would Creative Recon 3D surround and sound quality output be compared to the Z5500 (both on HEADPHONE ONLY)?
 
4º- For a crappy headphone like Siberia V2 can the Recon3D go loud enough on very low output games like GTA V (it sends a lot lower volume than most games).
 
5º- And about BASS, the Siberia V2 for me are very LOW BASS, can I increase a lot the bass with Recon3D for Xbox360 and will it be able to produce enough bass on max: "16-30 Ω" headphones.
 
 
 
ps: I would be very grateful if anyone could help me out!!
Keep Cool

 

[burritoboy9984]

  Hey I need some advice. I've tried to switch over from a 5.1 gaming headset (Turtle Beach HPA's) to DH with quality headphones. I love the quality of sound but I am having problems with directional sound positioning where I just seem to be more than slightly off than ballpark with positioning ( I Don't expect exact) but people run out on me me alllllll the time and aren't even using DeadSilence (CODMW3). I watch killcams and I'm like wow I didn't hear him?  I go back to my 5.1 headset and i'm dropping MOABS. I've had a run with the ad700s, Sennheiser 595, and TurtleBeach X11's. Is DH not for me? I've played exclusively with it for more than a month now.
 
What I have  Fiio E17, Sennheiser 595s, TurtleBeach X11's,TB DSS mixamp, HPA2, Tritton 5.1 Pro Decoder. I have more sense of positioning with X11's and can competitively compete more while playing with them than with my 595s or from what I remember with my ad700's which I sold after giving up on DH once before. I also can pinpoint people more accurately with my Tritton 5.1 Decoder receiving Stereo in Dolby Pro Logic mode with ANY HEADPHONES than a DSS + 595s.
 
Any advice would be appreciated because somethings off and I rate (competitively) my 5.1 hpa2s a 10, X11's with DSS a 8.5, Dolby Prologic Stereo a 9, and 595/ad700 would be a 7. FOR ME competetitively. e17 has bass/treble/gain settings what would i set those to for best soundwhoring????
 
I've also gamed with the e17 and just dss alone with same results. Has anyone heard of someone like me or have suggestions. I free4all a lot and I can decently soundwhore with all the options but let me join a TD match and Its just too much audio going off for me to hear footsteps 10 feet in front of me.

 
The bold part certainly makes me think something isn't connected or setup correctly. Perhaps you have a defective DSS? IMO, the positioning IS slightly better with 4 speaker headphones, but you can't beat the comfort and SQ of combining a DH device with a decent pair of headphones.
 
-Erik

 

[Evshrug]

Oil guilty, I got your PM.
I'll just add to my reply the few things you didn't mention in your PM to me.

You can boost the bass, it's one of the THX settings (that can be stored for console use), I thought it did a fine job of filling out the AD700 (I believe in one of my posts I talked about my playthrough of Metro 2033 using Recon3D USB and AD700), you can even set the "crossover point" to target the bass boost to be very sub-bass oriented (which I loved).

I don't know too much about the Siberia headsets, but in the realm of SQ they send up an orange flag for me...

Also, make sure the audio in GTA V isn't turned down in the in-game settings...

If the new consoles have optical audio outs (HIGHLY likely), then you can use current gen devices for surround game audio, but the Xbox One for one has already announced a new method for chat audio (I hated Kinect mics on the 360, maybe they'll have improved that for the Xbox One and make that a viable option). -----



Mad,
Hi.

 

[NamelessPFG]

Why do people say creative recon 3D external doesn't natively decode Dolby surround????
 
On their site they say this:
 
So does it decode dolby digital or not???
 
Also my questions for Creative Recon 3D USB are:
 
1º- Can sound balance be adjusted for gaming consoles (Xbox360). I hear less from my right ear, so I wanted to decrease left ear volume (can I do that, and can it stay the way I want for ever, so that I don't have to change settings every time I play Xbox360).
 
2º- New gaming consoles are coming out (PS4\\Xbox One). Do you think this card will still be up to date for the new gaming consoles sound cards (I ask this in case some new technology, or new type of surround technology comes in them that will make this card useless...).
 
3º- I have Logitech Z5500. How would Creative Recon 3D surround and sound quality output be compared to the Z5500 (both on HEADPHONE ONLY)?
 
4º- For a crappy headphone like Siberia V2 can the Recon3D go loud enough on very low output games like GTA V (it sends a lot lower volume than most games).
 
5º- And about BASS, the Siberia V2 for me are very LOW BASS, can I increase a lot the bass with Recon3D for Xbox360 and will it be able to produce enough bass on max: "16-30 Ω" headphones.
 
ps: I would be very grateful if anyone could help me out!!
Keep Cool

 
All right, time to put an end to this:
 
-The Recon3D USB can decode Dolby Digital through its S/PDIF input, and apply THX TSP Surround accordingly.
 
What else...
 
-It cannot decode DTS or Dolby Pro Logic II.
-It cannot use S/PDIF as a recording input on a PC. Likewise, the analog aux-in is useless in X360 and PS3 mode.
-There is no balance control outside of PC use.
-Given Astro's statements on Mixamp compatibility with the upcoming consoles, I would not expect the Xbox One to be compatible, but the PS4 will likely work just fine in PS3 mode.
-I can't comment on anything regarding the Logitech Z5500 or Steelseries Siberia V2.
-There is a bass boost as part of the THX TSP software suite, but it only seems to be adjustable through a PC with the drivers installed.

 

[guily6669]

Humm, but I think Xbox360 only uses Dolby digital 5.1 and no DTS or anything else, so I think it will be ok. (Pro logic 2 I tried with Z5500 and it sucks, it's stereo digital out on the X360).
 
I think that the xbox one also has Dolby digital Optic out (it say Dolby Digital 7.1, but it will probably still work like X360 Dolby digital 5.1, don't know for sure).
 
 
I also heard we can install custom profiles on the sound card. Isn't there really a way to change R\L balance?? (like editing some .ini???).
 
Or hacking it. Isn't there any way to hex edit it's internal saved settings? (if anyone know please report).
 
 
 
The Astros and other's of it's kind probably have a lot better sound quality on the output, but I don't think any of them can offer what creative offers since they say we can use the pc settings on the gaming consoles, which is full customization on the surround and not just a few buttons that change "something" (I use crystalizer+EQ a lot on the PC).
 
ps: I also don't need to record anything with it or digital out (I have a Auzentech X-fi Forte 7.1 PCIE if I would like any of that...).
Keep Cool

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Hey I need some advice. I've tried to switch over from a 5.1 gaming headset (Turtle Beach HPA's) to DH with quality headphones. I love the quality of sound but I am having problems with directional sound positioning where I just seem to be more than slightly off than ballpark with positioning ( I Don't expect exact) but people run out on me me alllllll the time and aren't even using DeadSilence (CODMW3). I watch killcams and I'm like wow I didn't hear him?  I go back to my 5.1 headset and i'm dropping MOABS. I've had a run with the ad700s, Sennheiser 595, and TurtleBeach X11's. Is DH not for me? I've played exclusively with it for more than a month now.
 
What I have  Fiio E17, Sennheiser 595s, TurtleBeach X11's,TB DSS mixamp, HPA2, Tritton 5.1 Pro Decoder. I have more sense of positioning with X11's and can competitively compete more while playing with them than with my 595s or from what I remember with my ad700's which I sold after giving up on DH once before. I also can pinpoint people more accurately with my Tritton 5.1 Decoder receiving Stereo in Dolby Pro Logic mode with ANY HEADPHONES than a DSS + 595s.
 
Any advice would be appreciated because somethings off and I rate (competitively) my 5.1 hpa2s a 10, X11's with DSS a 8.5, Dolby Prologic Stereo a 9, and 595/ad700 would be a 7. FOR ME competetitively. e17 has bass/treble/gain settings what would i set those to for best soundwhoring????
 
I've also gamed with the e17 and just dss alone with same results. Has anyone heard of someone like me or have suggestions. I free4all a lot and I can decently soundwhore with all the options but let me join a TD match and Its just too much audio going off for me to hear footsteps 10 feet in front of me.

I'm assuming you are gaming with a Win PC.
 
Asus Xonar DG (PCI) sound card, $27.
Connect the DG to the E17 using optical.
Plug HD595s into the E17.
Leave all other audio stuff unplugged from PC.

 

[mais14]

xbox 360 .. positioning using cheap tb x11s with dss im happy with. but my 595s im just not getting the same positioning.. 595s are sounding good with music although I eish they had a little more bass

 

[PurpleAngel]

xbox 360 .. positioning using cheap TBS x11s with DSS I'm happy with. but my 595s I'm just not getting the same positioning.. 595s are sounding good with music although I eish they had a little more bass

Guessing you will need to invest into an Astro mix-amp, use it's optical connection with xBox.
Plug the HD595s straight into the Mix-amp.
 
Use the Fiio E17 (optical) when your just looking to play music.

 

[mais14]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've been thinking about the Asus Xonar as my win7 pc is right next to my xbox360 but that would most likely interfere with it being an entertainment pc with netflix being watched constantly all day. Will the Xonar optical in and out while not being default sound option for the pc for it to be used xbox --> xonar --> e17 while onboard is set to default to hear computer audio??
 
Yea SQ is amazing. Felt like Beyonce was in my living room. From what I remember when I had the astro mixamp a year back, I was using my Tritton AX pros Front speaker driver in spite of having a pair of ad700s because I could also get positioning hearing better with the Tritton AX pros than the ad700s. Yea thats right say it, he's a magnet for crapTy cans with DH. I'm starting to think its an open vs closed for me where I get better positioning closed. I'm guessing as the Tritton ax pros and TBx11's are inferior but closed and the 595s ad700s have better SQ but are open. 

 

[afonsoruivo]

Hey guys, i dont know if the post is a little out of context, but do you guys think that as an all around use (Movies, games and music), the Sony´s MDRMA900 are better than the  A40 - Astro ?
i want to buy one of them but i am a little indecisive... 

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Thanks for the suggestions. I've been thinking about the Asus Xonar as my Win7 PC is right next to my xbox360 but that would most likely interfere with it being an entertainment PC with Netflix being watched constantly all day. Will the Xonar optical in and out while not being default sound option for the PC for it to be used xBox --> Xonar --> E17 while on-board is set to default to hear computer audio??

Did not know of any internal Xonar sound card with an optical input?
Any sound card that has an optical input (Titanium non-HD) is usually only 2-channel.

 

[Evshrug]

Several sound cards have optical input, but due to licensing issues (recording copyright material) almost none decode Dolby Digital Live (5.1 surround audio) input. The Recon3D USB is the only exception I know about, and I think it's only possible because the PC side of the device cannot record Optical input.

Personally, I wouldn't want my PC and console consuming lots of power at the same time if I don't have to anyway, so I prefer the external Recon3D anyway, but I understand different people think differently.

Afonsorulo,
The answer should be obvious, if you read the guide or any posts dated around the time Mad last updated the guide.

 

[AxelCloris]

  Hey guys, i dont know if the post is a little out of context, but do you guys think that as an all around use (Movies, games and music), the Sony´s MDRMA900 are better than the  A40 - Astro ?
i want to buy one of them but i am a little indecisive... 

 
I wasn't a fan of what I heard with the A40 headphones. The mixamp portion is awesome, but the actual headset left a bit to be desired. MA900 can be considered end-game for many people. I'd check it out instead.

 

[Evshrug]

AxelC,
Limbo is awesome in a creepy death sorta way.