[ProtegeManiac]

  What type of virtual surround are you looking for? If for gaming, I'd suggest Razer Surround Personalized 7.1 Gaming Audio Software. It's free and has some pretty good user feedbacks. 

 

I tried Razer and even when directly hooked up to my mobo I can't hear everything right. With Dolby Headphone on my Xonar U3 and I have the camera at near-ground level Total War (or the action cam view on Rome) I can hear hooves thundering behind my commander. Once on Shogun II I even heard the arrows whizzing from front to back, and I turned the camera to find two squadrons of samurai behind my commander while I was too distracted watching one of my infantry officers duel his opposing number. I couldn't get the same effect on Razer Surround, and ditto positional audio in Crysis3. It's not by much when compared to speakers, but Razer seems to have less front-rear panning than Dolby Headphone.

 

Since Dolby Headphone on my Xonar U3 seems to work better I need something like that; I watched that YouTube vid comparing it to Creative's and I can't hear any difference.

 

Anyway I looked through ASRock's mobos and found one where the audio section is labelled "Creative" (something) instead of "Purity Sound 2," so I assume the latter is just a better amplifier circuit and no DSP other than for decoding multichannel audio for physical multichannel output. Problem is that one's ATX and worth $185 - I think I'll just skip the reviews about their efficiency/temps and bang for the buck and just go with MSI (since the one thing those reviews didn't account for the Z97M's value is that it has virtual surround).

 

[happycamperjack]

   

I tried Razer and even when directly hooked up to my mobo I can't hear everything right. With Dolby Headphone on my Xonar U3 and I have the camera at near-ground level Total War (or the action cam view on Rome) I can hear hooves thundering behind my commander. Once on Shogun II I even heard the arrows whizzing from front to back, and I turned the camera to find two squadrons of samurai behind my commander while I was too distracted watching one of my infantry officers duel his opposing number. I couldn't get the same effect on Razer Surround, and ditto positional audio in Crysis3. It's not by much when compared to speakers, but Razer seems to have less front-rear panning than Dolby Headphone.

 

Since Dolby Headphone on my Xonar U3 seems to work better I need something like that; I watched that YouTube vid comparing it to Creative's and I can't hear any difference.

 

Anyway I looked through ASRock's mobos and found one where the audio section is labelled "Creative" (something) instead of "Purity Sound 2," so I assume the latter is just a better amplifier circuit and no DSP other than for decoding multichannel audio for physical multichannel output. Problem is that one's ATX and worth $185 - I think I'll just skip the reviews about their efficiency/temps and bang for the buck and just go with MSI (since the one thing those reviews didn't account for the Z97M's value is that it has virtual surround).

You might have to the pro version of Razer Surround to calibrate the surround sound for your headphone and your ear. Dolbi Headphone actually works only for some people due to ear differences. Razer's tech is similar, but let you calibrate it for your headphone and ear to achieve surround sound.
 
Of course you can always get a real surround sound headphone like Razer Tiamat 7.1. Work amazingly for me in online FPS giving me a huge advantage over my enemies. So good that people thought I was cheating lol

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  You might have to the pro version of Razer Surround to calibrate the surround sound for your headphone and your ear. Dolbi Headphone actually works only for some people due to ear differences. Razer's tech is similar, but let you calibrate it for your headphone and ear to achieve surround sound.
 
Of course you can always get a real surround sound headphone like Razer Tiamat 7.1. Work amazingly for me in online FPS giving me a huge advantage over my enemies. So good that people thought I was cheating lol

 

I actually just picked up a Xonar U3 after Razer Surround didn't work; and prior to that what really prompted it was that I couldn't get DH to work on my H77-G43 even though the blurb and support pages say it. I'm planning my next build, and given that in some intra-brand price comparisons like within MSI's product lines the red Z97 is only around $30 more than the top blue Z97, I figured I should just get better on-board audio; the U3 won't go to waste since I can use it with my laptop.
 

Aside from whether a specific mobo has a virtual surround DSP though I also need to be sure which ones have the high power headphone amp routed to the chassis audio jacks. I'm almost certain about the FT03, for which it won't matter since all jacks are on top and it would actually make more sense to use the mobo's since that comes with the grill and can rout the cables towards the back, but of course there are other options that I can consider that have front audio jacks like the Node 304 (of course, the flat mobo might mean less issues with a heavy cooler, but a miniITX form factor limits the cooler size anyway, that's why it's not the first choice).

 

[happycamperjack]

   

I actually just picked up a Xonar U3 after Razer Surround didn't work; and prior to that what really prompted it was that I couldn't get DH to work on my H77-G43 even though the blurb and support pages say it. I'm planning my next build, and given that in some intra-brand price comparisons like within MSI's product lines the red Z97 is only around $30 more than the top blue Z97, I figured I should just get better on-board audio; the U3 won't go to waste since I can use it with my laptop.
 

Aside from whether a specific mobo has a virtual surround DSP though I also need to be sure which ones have the high power headphone amp routed to the chassis audio jacks. I'm almost certain about the FT03, for which it won't matter since all jacks are on top and it would actually make more sense to use the mobo's since that comes with the grill and can rout the cables towards the back, but of course there are other options that I can consider that have front audio jacks like the Node 304 (of course, the flat mobo might mean less issues with a heavy cooler, but a miniITX form factor limits the cooler size anyway, that's why it's not the first choice).

 

   

I actually just picked up a Xonar U3 after Razer Surround didn't work; and prior to that what really prompted it was that I couldn't get DH to work on my H77-G43 even though the blurb and support pages say it. I'm planning my next build, and given that in some intra-brand price comparisons like within MSI's product lines the red Z97 is only around $30 more than the top blue Z97, I figured I should just get better on-board audio; the U3 won't go to waste since I can use it with my laptop.
 

Aside from whether a specific mobo has a virtual surround DSP though I also need to be sure which ones have the high power headphone amp routed to the chassis audio jacks. I'm almost certain about the FT03, for which it won't matter since all jacks are on top and it would actually make more sense to use the mobo's since that comes with the grill and can rout the cables towards the back, but of course there are other options that I can consider that have front audio jacks like the Node 304 (of course, the flat mobo might mean less issues with a heavy cooler, but a miniITX form factor limits the cooler size anyway, that's why it's not the first choice).

Anandtech test onboard audio quality of motherboards. You might look there first before you buy.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

 
Anandtech test onboard audio quality of motherboards. You might look there first before you buy.

 

I actually don't care much on the sound quality of one board vs another in terms of driving headphones; if I'm gaming I'd be processing many other stimuli, plus it's not like I'd use a picky headphone with them (or one that would scale better with better upstream components). I just posted here to clarify specific details about the ASRock boards since, unlike MSI and Gigabyte whose blurb indicate having the Creative DSP in them, ASRock only has "PuritySound2" which mostly describes the analog r hardware and any mention of "surround" was only for the speaker outputs. I sort of got an answer to that when I found one of their boards clearly labelled with Creative's brand logo, so I can assume that PS2 means no virtual surround.

 

The other thing I needed to know was whether the better output stages on these boards can get routed to the front audio jacks; I came across one (but I'm not sure which brand it is at this point) that explicitly says it does but the others don't mention it at all.

 

Basically, I'm set on using a mobo that has virtual surround in its DSP, that way I won't be tied to just using Razer Surround (and if for example they improve it later on, I can always just get that and install it if its works better than the DSP chip), but I need to make sure that whatever board I'm looking at actually has it. Front audio routing might influence my choice though, but it depends on what case I decide to use (or might even help decide which case). ASRock wasn't in my radar actually until I saw that one comparo where the chipset actually stayed a few degrees cooler when overclocking, and it cost less than the MSI, and given I'm in a hot and humid environment getting better cooling for less money merits consideration.

 

[happycamperjack]

   

I actually don't care much on the sound quality of one board vs another in terms of driving headphones; if I'm gaming I'd be processing many other stimuli, plus it's not like I'd use a picky headphone with them (or one that would scale better with better upstream components). I just posted here to clarify specific details about the ASRock boards since, unlike MSI and Gigabyte whose blurb indicate having the Creative DSP in them, ASRock only has "PuritySound2" which mostly describes the analog r hardware and any mention of "surround" was only for the speaker outputs. I sort of got an answer to that when I found one of their boards clearly labelled with Creative's brand logo, so I can assume that PS2 means no virtual surround.

 

The other thing I needed to know was whether the better output stages on these boards can get routed to the front audio jacks; I came across one (but I'm not sure which brand it is at this point) that explicitly says it does but the others don't mention it at all.

 

Basically, I'm set on using a mobo that has virtual surround in its DSP, that way I won't be tied to just using Razer Surround (and if for example they improve it later on, I can always just get that and install it if its works better than the DSP chip), but I need to make sure that whatever board I'm looking at actually has it. Front audio routing might influence my choice though, but it depends on what case I decide to use (or might even help decide which case). ASRock wasn't in my radar actually until I saw that one comparo where the chipset actually stayed a few degrees cooler when overclocking, and it cost less than the MSI, and given I'm in a hot and humid environment getting better cooling for less money merits consideration.

Creative is pretty much dead now for motherboards as almost every single new Intel boards with z97 or X99 chips are running Realtek 1150. So it's really about who has better shielding. Anandtech does tests on that if you are interested. I never bought into the whole virtual surround thing. All it did is making my gaming sound distorted and unreal. 
 
Some asrock boards are waterproof or like mine have a dehumidifier. That might help in your situation.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  Creative is pretty much dead now for motherboards as almost every single new Intel boards with z97 or X99 chips are running Realtek 1150. So it's really about who has better shielding. Anandtech does tests on that if you are interested. I never bought into the whole virtual surround thing. All it did is making my gaming sound distorted and unreal. 
 
Some asrock boards are waterproof or like mine have a dehumidifier. That might help in your situation.

 

I never really found virtual surround helpful as far as being more competitive is concerned, but as far as immersion is concerned, I love it. I don't even play FPS games as much anymore, but I like it on Total War. Save for having physical speakers behind me this is the only way I get to have sounds somewhat behind me. Nothing like enjoying a "realistic" view of the battle only to hear hooves galloping from behind (this more easily happens in Shogun II than Rome II thanks to the terrain, but then again I spend most of Rome II as...well...not Rome, as I'm either Greek or Iranian there, so I'm mostly in the East). This was a lot more impressive on an HT system of course since you have speakers around 6ft behind you, and while it won't make it sound like over a hundred horses from a football field away, $39 on the U3 vs the money and space I don't have for an actual speaker system is good enough.

 

On top of that I watch movies on my computer, and getting similar effects (and on movies with similar cavalry action) off a headphone is pretty useful. At least until I build my own house - I effectively own this one as my parents moved into a new one and left the house I grew up in with me, but as much as I love it since I grew up in it, it just isn't my dream home. The floor plan I cooked up has an isolated 2ch system space and a common area with decent enough basic acoustic design so it can serve as a video game and movie area where I can entertain people. For now I'm stuck with headphones for music, games, and movies.

 

[happycamperjack]

   

I never really found virtual surround helpful as far as being more competitive is concerned, but as far as immersion is concerned, I love it. I don't even play FPS games as much anymore, but I like it on Total War. Save for having physical speakers behind me this is the only way I get to have sounds somewhat behind me. Nothing like enjoying a "realistic" view of the battle only to hear hooves galloping from behind (this more easily happens in Shogun II than Rome II thanks to the terrain, but then again I spend most of Rome II as...well...not Rome, as I'm either Greek or Iranian there, so I'm mostly in the East). This was a lot more impressive on an HT system of course since you have speakers around 6ft behind you, and while it won't make it sound like over a hundred horses from a football field away, $39 on the U3 vs the money and space I don't have for an actual speaker system is good enough.

 

On top of that I watch movies on my computer, and getting similar effects (and on movies with similar cavalry action) off a headphone is pretty useful. At least until I build my own house - I effectively own this one as my parents moved into a new one and left the house I grew up in with me, but as much as I love it since I grew up in it, it just isn't my dream home. The floor plan I cooked up has an isolated 2ch system space and a common area with decent enough basic acoustic design so it can serve as a video game and movie area where I can entertain people. For now I'm stuck with headphones for music, games, and movies.

You could give Tiamat 7.1 a try. It's the only "true" 7.1 headphone right now. It's speakers is accurate enough to let me pwn in twitch shooter. Sounds pretty good too after lots of calibrations. It's not easy but well worth it.
 
There's a 5.1 setup from Psyko which featured some interesting tech. Unfortunately the headphone was built like ****. Tritton's true 5.1 headphone was not that great either. 

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  You could give Tiamat 7.1 a try. It's the only "true" 7.1 headphone right now. It's speakers is accurate enough to let me pwn in twitch shooter. Sounds pretty good too after lots of calibrations. It's not easy but well worth it.
 
There's a 5.1 setup from Psyko which featured some interesting tech. Unfortunately the headphone was built like ****. Tritton's true 5.1 headphone was not that great either. 

 
I'm satisfied with just a good DSP-based virtual surround for now; for my own needs the more precise positioning around my head using physical drivers still won't make a sht that rang out from 30yards sound anywhere close to coming from 30yards, so the way I see it $25 or so more for a mobo (over the base Zx7 mobo anyway) that has virtual surround and a decent amp should do it. I'm happy with my HD330 too. Like I said it's more for immersion than actual competitive advantage.