[JustAnAverageGamer]

Hi guys

I just received my philips fidelio x2hr headphones. I'm not sure what to do now to get the most out of my headphones. Do I just plug them in my pc and play or do I need to burn them in first and how long?

I'm a gamer so I need an open soundstage. I was told these headphones have a good open soundstage but do I need to edit some audio settings in my pc to get the best 3d sound stage? if so, can someone explain me what settings I should pick?

Thanks in advance!

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I just received my philips fidelio x2hr headphones. I'm not sure what to do now to get the most out of my headphones. Do I just plug them in my pc and play or do I need to burn them in first and how long?

"Break in" has a much to do with the earpads as the driver suspension. Just use them and they'll "break in" gradually and eventually.

I'm a gamer so I need an open soundstage. I was told these headphones have a good open soundstage but do I need to edit some audio settings in my pc to get the best 3d sound stage? if so, can someone explain me what settings I should pick?

Enable headphone audio in your game. If you're playing one without a specific headphone audio option, check if your motherboard/soundcard comes with virtual surround simulation (marketing terms differ), then set the game to output 5.1, go into the DSP audio suite of your motherboard or soundcard, and enable Dolby Headphone or whatever other surround simulation you have.

 

[JustAnAverageGamer]

Thanks for the reply. How can i check if my headphone actually is using a surround sound and not stereo? Should i remove the Realtek audio drivers?

 

[phuzzyday]

The setting should be IN your realtek settings. There my be an app on your taskbar, or in your start menu, or it could be in Control panel. If not, you might have to install the complete driver package from your mainboard manufacturer.

 

[JustAnAverageGamer]

When I go to realtek sound manager, I can't pick 7.2 surround sound. And when I pick 5.1 surround sound, I can only hear the main speakers when testing. Those are the same speakers as in stereo mode. When I go to my recording devices tab i see something called stereo mix. Should I disable that? I really want my 7.2 surround sound otherwise these headphones don't feel as good as they could be

 

[YJX94]

You're not supposed to set Windows speaker settings to surround when using headphones. Keep the Windows speaker settings to stereo and enable full range left and right channels. In your Audio Manager enable Virtual Surround Sound and if a game supports it, enable its surround sound options/settings.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

How can i check if my headphone actually is using a surround sound and not stereo?

You're supposed to see a control panel that enables it on top of a sound test. It's not supposed to sound like actual speakers, just something to get past the in-head hard left-right panning of headphones. It goes a little bit around your head in front but not the rear, but a gunshot from 10m away in the game isn't going to literally sound like it's 10m from your head.

Should i remove the Realtek audio drivers?

Don't mess with those and download the DSP controller for your motherboard. And again check if your motherboard even has that feature.

When I go to realtek sound manager, I can't pick 7.2 surround sound. And when I pick 5.1 surround sound, I can only hear the main speakers when testing. Those are the same speakers as in stereo mode. When I go to my recording devices tab i see something called stereo mix. Should I disable that? I really want my 7.2 surround sound otherwise these headphones don't feel as good as they could be

That's not where you should be tweaking this (outside of a non-gaming laptop that only has that as its option for virtual surround in movies). You're supposed to check if your motherboard has virtual surround on its DSP chip and download the audio suite. Something that looks like these on the product page:

Basically if your motherboard is a "Gaming" series board and not something akin to plain UD or some non-gaming workstation CPU boards where your money is paying for toughness and cooling hardware/options (ie like Sabretooth boards with heatsinks that can take water passing through the VRM and chipset) for extreme overclocking and/or non-stop operation, and with a Z87 or newer chipset, it probably has it.

 

[JustAnAverageGamer]

Audio Codec ALC662, 5.1 Channels, High Definition Audio
THis seems to be my audio codec on my motherboard. I don't think its any decent. The only way to get surround sound is using razer surround i guess?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Audio Codec ALC662, 5.1 Channels, High Definition Audio
THis seems to be my audio codec on my motherboard. I don't think its any decent.

This doesn't cover whether your motherboard is capable of surround simulation or not. What is the model of the motherboard? I'll just look it up myself.

The only way to get surround sound is using razer surround i guess?

Or get a soundcard with virtual surround. Assuming your motherboard doesn't have it.