[Drastion]

Has anyone tried the iomega dts surround sensation?

Www.go.iogear.com/ms/dts/

Its only for pc but its only 40 may be worth a try.

Www.iogear.com/product/GUADT51/

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I realized I ordered the Burson with my credit card... whoops. Cancel request sent. I meant to order it with my Amazon card. :rolleyes:

 

[SniperCzar]

Brand new guy here, already posted this over in the Nameless PC oriented thread, but I thought I'd post it here as I didn't see any mention of it when I glanced through earlier. If you've got a Creative card and Windows 7, you can pass the CMSS software processing along to ANY audio device (including external USB DACs) to bypass the circuitry on the internal card. This pretty much seals my purchase of the FiiO E17 which I was already looking at as a good partner for my DT770 Pro 80s, being able to retain the virtual surround feature of my internal card while using a great external DAC just sweetens the deal for me. Here's how to do the handoff of CMSS processed output completely in software:
 
Before following this checklist, make sure your current audio device is fully configured for CMSS (Windows configure speakers wizard is done and set to a surround setup, Creative Console speakers set to headphones, CMSS-3D is enabled, Crystalizer is disabled, "Disable Sound Blaster enhancements" under the Sound Blaster tab of your default audio device's properties is unchecked). I like unchecking the sub in the Windows wizard here to create a virtual 5.0 rather than a virtual 5.1 because I think it may help tame the overbearing bass some of you were talking about on the 770 80 ohms. The Beyers are already mashing together the bass output from the other 5 virtual channels into a pair of very bass-capable headphones, do you really need a virtual sub as well? Also, as we all know, subwoofer bass position is something your brain can't pinpoint, so I don't see why you'd want lots of it in your pinpoint accurate virtual surround. I think I remember hearing a noticeable difference with this changed in my limited A-B testing with a ripped BD of Evangellion 1.11 (the last battle scene has explosions and technobabbling jumping ALL over every channel when I listen with my physical 5.1 Acoustic Research HC6, so far it's by far the best test of virtual surround I've tried yet), but I wish I had another pair of Beyers to do a real A-B and not rely on my terrible memory/imagination.
 
1. Right click on your volume tray in Windows 7 and select "Recording devices"
2. Select "What U Hear" and click "Properties" (cringe inducing grammar there Creative)
[Note - you do NOT have to set this as the default recording device]
3. Select the "Listen" tab and check the box marked "Listen to this device"
4. Under the drop down marked "Playback through this device:" select your desired DAC
5. Make sure "Continue running when on battery power" is selected as a software passthrough should have no effect whatsoever on your battery life
6. Select the "Levels" tab and set it to something comfortable, as the volume control for the Creative card's standard output will have no effect on the volume of the software recording device.
7. Enjoy listening to CMSS freed from the noisy and inferior hardware confines of your internal soundcard!
 
I just noticed as I was creating this guide that on the properties>levels>balance menu of a audio device that's been configured as 5.1 or 7.1 under Windows speaker config has a separate balance for each channel. I wonder if this actually works on either the Creative card or other DAC to turn down the sub or turn up areas that are weaker in the soundstage. I'll try and do some more research on this when I get the time to do a better A-B comparison of a bunch of different software settings.
 
Hopefully someone else finds the steps I've written in this guide useful, I know I did. Now I just need to go pick up an E17 from somewhere and see how it sounds with CMSS passed along to it in BF3...

 

[Jae304]

Quote:

I am gonna miss the SQ on the Headzone. The Mixamp does pale in comparison, but what was most important was directional accuracy, which both are pretty much the same in.

 
I know you just ordered a new amp that will take care of this issue but why did you never consider a receiver?  I have a mixamp but game primarily using my more than decade old Sony receiver simply because it's SQ absolutely BLOWS the mixamp away.  It decodes DD and DTS and while it doesn't have Dolby Headphone branding (i bought it before that existed), Sony's proprietary Headphone Theater does just as good of a job as the mixamp in terms of positional cues.  My particular receiver also lets you adjust the soundstage as well so there really is no downside to it, in comparison to the mixamp.  The mixamp is a great product and I'm not knocking it, it just can't hold a candle to the SQ and features of a solid receiver -- which to be fair, it shouldn't be expected to considering how much more money I spent on that receiver vs the mixamp.  I ask simply because to me a receiver seems like the most obvious solution for something that can be used for gaming, music and movies.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Receivers are good IF they have built in virtual surround. Harman Kardon sells receivers with Dolby Headphone. Yamaha sells some with Silent Cinema. There are various virtual surround processors, but I don't know how they stack up to DH.

The Headzone was solid because its well known to use high quality processing for virtual surround. Make no mistake, it is amazing, and paired up with the SQ of the amp itself, it is noticably better than the Mixamp. However, when I'm gaming, I'm more:

60% directional accuracy
40% pure sound quality

So while the Mixamp won't win overall, it will give me enough bang for buck, to choose it over the Headzone.

For movies, I don't really use headphones, and for music/whatever else is on my computer, that's what a real headphone amp/dac is for.

 

[Cheapy]

Quote:

I got my Xonar DG soundcard in today. So far it sounds pretty good but I'm confused with the gui coming from the razer. I don't know when Dolby Headphone is enabled and things of that nature. Does anybody have any suggestions for setting this card up for gaming with the hd555's?

Make sure DX is disabled is a good start as that seems to be the cause for quite a few problems. If its turned off the GX button is not lit up green.

I normally use the 8 channel with dolby headphone for gaming and sometimes use SVN too. Just click on the drop down list for audio channel and pick what you want. To turn on dolby headphone click the box towards the bottom of the panel and a small tick in the box indicates dolby headphone is running.
 
Some other options to look at are the 7.1 virtualisation (button above dolby headphone) and the SVN button below the volume. SVN magnifies the quietier sounds around you it seems so footsteps, whistling of wind etc all seem louder and easier to hear. If the button is lit up green its on.
 
Just mess around with the settings until you find somthing you like. Hope this helps a tad.
 

 

[Danny0990]

Im considering buying the lyr for my dt990/600. How much better would they drive my headphones compared to the fiio E9 and O2?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

The Lyr is a whole lot of amp for the DT990/600.

 

[Danny0990]

I feel like these bad boys have so much more potential. Would I be wrong to say my E9 is bottlenecking them?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

No, the E9 has a lot of power for 600ohms. However, the E9 doesn't tame treble at all, so it's not an ideal match with the treble happy DT990s. The Lyr should be very awesome with the DT990s. I didn't own them at the same time, but the Lyr was a great match with the HE-4, which reminded me a lot of the DT990s. The only thing is that stock tubes on the Lyr will have recessed mids compared to the E9, so the DT990 will have a gaping hole in the mids until you change out the tubes to some mid forward ones. The stock tubes I'm talking about are the E88CC, not the 6BZ7 (which I didn't hear). The 6N1P tubes are better than the E88CC, but still recessed in mids compared to the E9. Though the mids are recessed, everything else is improved on the Lyr vs the E9. The sound is fuller, bass is strong but super tight, and treble is more natural.

UPS has picked up the Headzone for return.... now the wait... the DT990s still haven't shown up as returned yet, though I expect them to show up by the end of the week.

 

[Danny0990]

Hmm, as much as I don't mind getting my hands dirty with hardware, I do enough of that at my job. Which amp would you recommend that will compliment the treble, bass, and mids? I was also considering the O2 and Valhalla

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I dunno how well the O2 handles 600ohms, but assuming you're not using very efficient headphones (like the D7000), the Lyr should be a lot more impressive for your choices. I'd just take my time on the tube rolling thread to see what tubes bring out the mids, because I felt them lacking with both the E8CC and 6N1P. That or the E9 is mid rich. =/

 

[LilBuck]

I bought some Beyerdynamic DT 880 600 ohm phones, and want to figure out what I should do with regards to DAC/AMPs. The source for everything will be my self built Win7 64 bit pc.
 
I currently mostly use the headphones for video games and will continue to do so with the new headphones, but I plan on listening to music a lot more with the improved setup.
 
My question is how much of an improvement an external amp/dac provide over one of the nicer sound cards (seems like Asus Essence STX and HT Omega Claro are the best). Would those sufficiently power 600 ohm headphones? The literature they produce says they will, but I would rather hear it from a knowledeable head-fier than the people who are trying to sell me the cards.
 
Even with a sound card that says it can drive the Beyer's I feel like I would prefer to just buy an amp for them. If I just bought one of those cards + an amp (say Shiit Asgard or Matrix M Stage) that should provide really good quality gaming sound, and still decent quality sound for music, right? I haven't really figured out if I should just get a DAC and AMP or if AMP + sound card is a better option for me. Thanks for any help 

 

[stv014]

Quote:

I dunno how well the O2 handles 600ohms

Similarly to the E9.
 

 

[Phos]

NwAvGuy designed the O2 to be able to handle 600 ohm Beyer.