[befa]

Hello X-Fi Head-Fi !
 
I just installed my new Auzentech X-Fi Forte, and being new in the soundcards world, I have loads of questions and was wondering if you could help me with that 

 ?
I am mostly using headphones, and I have a set of analogical 5.1 speakers plugged on it too.
 
First things first : Music
 
I had a little bit time to listen to some music and play with the settings. What I felt is that the sound is great, but without activating any effects ! Activating EAX, CMSS 3D or Crystalizer  kind of denaturates the sound 

. Am I wrong with that ?
Crystalizer can add a nice effect some times but I find the sound more "tiring" .
CMSS 3D was however funny on the 5.1 speakers to "spatialize" the stereo sound.
 
Movies
 
I didn't try any movies for now, but I am wondering what options have to be activated for a "standard" movies configuration. EAX ? CMSS 3D ? Crystalizer ?
I also didn't find any article explaining how the spatialization is made on stereo headphones. I mean, in VLC for instance, should I select 5.1 output ? Is the sound then converted by the card from multichannel to "emulated 3D" in stereo ? Is it CMSS 3D's work ?
What does EAX effects offers for movies ?
 
Games
The games part is quite clear for me. Just activate everything !!! 

I have one and only question that is similar to the movies one : In some games, I can chose in audio settings an output between : Headphones / 2.1 / 5.1 / ... So which one huh ?
What I do think is that chosing the "Headphones" one will let the game audio engine do the soundcard's work and emulate a 3D sound in stereo. Am I right ? So with a good sound card I'd say it should be better chosing the multichannel option and let the soundcard "spatialize" no ? Plus, it would save me some CPU usage in the end.
 
In advance, sorry for all those mixed questions and thank you for sharing your experience !

 

[befa]

For the game part question I just found this topic on Guru3D.
 
Windows sound set to 5.1 - Game engine set to 5.1 - Soundcard set to Headphones with CMSS 3D
Versus
Windows sound set to headphones/stereo - Game engine set to headphones - Soundcard set to Headphones with CMSS 3D
 
Seems they have been fighting since 2007 without comming to an agreement 

. Latest posts are dated from today. This is just crazy. Nobody could find an official "way to do".
 

 

[Roller]

The issue is that you will find many people with different points of view. For instance, some people only listen to music through Audio Creation Mode, which disables any and all changes to the original audio stream. Others use Entertainment Mode because it allows the highest format support as well as all audio tweaks like Crystalizer, EAX, SVM, EQ, etc. I personally think that you either run music through Audio Creation Mode if you don't stand the idea of changing sound, or through Entertainment Mode with EQ changes of your own that make up for non destructive modifications to the sound.
 
I personally don't like CMSS3D or any surround virtualization software solution on the market, it always makes sound feel artificial and tiresome. The current software evolution regarding HRTF just doesn't do anything positive for audio, IMHO.
 
About movies, I believe that the movie itself should contain the audio stream with the appropriate channel distribution that is sent to the soundcard in order to be properly outputted.
You're using a video player that has an integrated codec pack, so the settings are tied to that app. Ideally, the card should be doing the downmixing, when present, since it does a rather good job at it.
At most, I can enable one EAX preset with low intensity enough to be barely perceptible and do its intended purpose, which is room simulation.
 
With games, everyone seems to have a different idea of what's best, mainly because different settings sound better or worse, there isn't a standard config so far, AFAIK.

 

[NamelessPFG]

Here's what I do with my Forte (and Prelude, and any other X-Fi card I might use):
 
Windows sound control panel to 7.1 (I don't have 5.1 speakers or any other loudspeaker configuration connected, so I don't have to worry about switching back and forth, and 7.1 might just add a bit of extra imaging for XAudio2 and FMOD-based games.)
X-Fi control panel to Headphones (Downmixing is handled automatically, so no worries about missed channels.)
 
Music listening
-Audio Creation Mode
-Bit-matched playback on
-Use ASIO with a media player such as foobar2000 (I take this route over WASAPI because it doesn't shut out all other sounds, but some may prefer that very trait)
 
Gaming
-Game Mode (only mode that allows EAX 5.0)
-Crystalizer off
-CMSS-3D Headphone on (I wouldn't use it for music playback or stereo content in general, but my situational awareness in games takes a big nosedive without it.)
-EQ, bass boost: set to taste
 
These guidelines, largely derived from that Guru3D topic (specifically the bit about asynchronous speaker settings), work well for me. Note that you'll find plenty of conflicting opinions regarding setups; some people actually prefer stereo loudspeaker mode while using the THX Control Panel to set each speaker almost 90 degrees from the head, though that would shut out CMSS-3D Headphone in favor of CMSS-3D Virtual. Then again, those people may not want to use CMSS-3D in the first place.
 
Ultimately, sound is subjective. Experiment until you find a setup that fits your listening tastes.