So what's the general application on what mode to use when gaming?
2 Youtubers:
Joshua Valour &
Hardware Canucks
seem to suggest that it's more beneficial just to use Stereo / 2.1 since. They also mention a 'ring of sound' and how it's pretty hard to pinpoint the directional awareness of an enemy being above or below (vertical ~ Planes in PubG, Enemies floors above or below).
"[Head-tracking] is said to automatically de-center itself every once in a while, also during manual mode."
This was also happening to me.. I would have to re-center often. Should I decrease the ear to ear length?
What they seem to be talking about at the points that you started the video's at is the head-tracking, which as they point out when gaming using a monitor, you really don't need to move your head around that much, if at all. So whilst they might be talking down the tracking, it's not really an issue in my experience because my head usually stays facing one direction, and I can enjoy them just like any other set of 7.1 headphones.
The tracking can go off sometimes, usually if I put them down for a while, but I just have to press the 3D button once to center them, and it happens so rarely when on my head that it's not really been an issue.
The 2nd video mentioned a virtual 7.1 mode, but this isn't the 7.1 gaming mode, it their just a way of upmixing a stereo signal like music. Some people like it on, others like it off.
When you say ring of sound, you get the full 7.1 experience as if you had a set of 7.1 speakers, closer to your head but still further away than any other headphones I've tried. For the height information that the reviewer said he expected in the first video, you'd want something like Atmos which only a few games support. You'd need to buy Atmos for windows (about $15), set these headphones to 2D mode (not hi res), enable Atmos for headphones in the respective control panel, and load up a game that supports it. Games that don't support it will work in Dolby's 7.1 mode still.
I can say that the Planar Magnetic drivers in these headphones make them very ideal for representing 3D sounds, and with Atmos too, you get more than one option as to how your 3D sound is conveyed to you.
I did find that for some games, I preferred a more intimate sound and in other more bombastic games like Doom, I really like the WavesNX technology that comes built in. I found out the other day in this thread that WavesNX is mostly used for VR, hence how it moves as you move.