I have a question about sbx pro studio.
I have a sound blaster z, HD800, and DAC/AMP. I always gamed at 67% surround, and the sound was very clean and also distinct.
However, I also have an X7 (don't use it on my pc), and in that thread, people recommend to use 100% surround for immersion. I tried this on my Z, and I feel like the sound is mixed together/muddled, lowering the sound quality. At the same time, I feel like its easier to pinpoint a sound. At 67%, I could clearly hear the direction of sound, but pinpointing it is more difficult.
What do you guys have to say about this? What do you use? Also, does the x7 have better sound processing than the sound blaster z for surround? Should I just use that for my pc?
Friend,
I'm a big believer that everybody's ears are different. I've seen the same sequence of a game processed with Dolby Headphone, CMSS-3D, and THX/SBX processing, and I preferred SBX while two friends preferred each of the other options. So, when I got my first Creative DSP (an external Recon3D USB), I played around with every setting and different portions of the slider (the triangle was under 67%, btw). The sense of a rear image actually being behind me got better as the % was raised, and eventually I wanted something that sounded as little like stereo as possible so "I" liked 100%. I've also seen people suggest 67%, 65%, 40%, 33%, 2%... Basically, play, and use whatever floats your boat! Every once in awhile I play at 67% or something, to get an idea of what some people like, but I keep coming back to my preference.
Z vs ZxR vs X7 vs E5/G5/Omni...
As far as I've understood, these all use the same mathematical algorithms for expressing directionality, by calculating time delay and occlusion. What makes them different is what you then do with the resultant 1's and 0's... The X7 has the best implementation of DAC and Amp yet, though the ZxR isn't far behind. Could be that, compared to the more entry level options, the sound output could just be clearer to reveal the subtle cues that trick our brain into hearing directions.
100% surround wouldn't be immersion for me, but confusion.
As a former user from the X-Fi's CMSS-3D, ~30% works best for me:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/623079/creative-sound-blaster-new-series-z-zx-zxr/2520#post_11059980
Yeah, see? Everyone's ear is different and will have their own preference. Yay for adjustability/customization!
:confused_face_2:
This is tricky to encode, but i guess you want to say that the SB-Z cards are bad, because they don't process 5.1 to virtual surround when SBX-Surround is actually OFF.
LOL, how dare you creative...
Yeah, there's a LOT going on with what he said. Statements that each device has different SBX processing as well as being recoignized by the computer differently. Wonder if he would second guess himself if Creative confirmed that the math used for SBX surround was identical? That said, the E5 did indeed used to only accept stereo input over USB, until a firmware update changed that, AND there's something odd about how the G5 surround sounds, which I am still (not actively) researching.
The Z card I used to have (before getting the Omni) did indeed take positional audio and output it in virtual headphone surround. Generally, I find Windows to be a complicated, tempermental, picky cluster-duck and probably the source of a lot of problems... which is why I usually stick to console gaming.