[mindbomb]

Audiosciencereview did measurements on the g6. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...w-and-measurements-of-sound-blasterx-g6.7016/

The performance was pretty good for the dac and the headphone amp - there is no need to daisy chain another dac or headphone amp with it imo. The dynamic range of the dac was actually freakishly good.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Hah, so apparently someone in Russia hacked into my Origin account, and played a ton of Apex Legends, and tried to buy some stuff for both APex and Titanfall 2. My friends list on Origin had like 50 people... and I can tell you guys, I play basically all PC games alone, and never had anyone on Origin that I can remember of.

I had a hell of a time checking that nothing else was compromised, and adding 2 step verifications to all game programs, emails, paypal, etc.

Long story short, the internet is scary, nothing is secure, and make sure you check all the things you sign into periodically. My Origin was something I would log into like every few months, so the hacker had free reign for months.

In other news, having bought played Division alone a few weeks ago for like $4, it made me more interested in the sequel, so I went a preordered it. It gave me Ghost Recon Wildlands for free. So yeah, I'll be trying those on PC in a few days. Destiny 2 has been a massive disappointment lately with the newer DLCs and I wanna play something continuous. I wanted Anthem to be that game, but then Anthem came out and... no thanks, lol.

 

[Fegefeuer]

Glad you got your account back. I got Division 2 through the AMD Ryzen bundle. Played Division 1 pretty much alone back then with the exception of missions which were fun with others. Really liked the atmosphere, graphics, gameplay.

On another note: My G6 received a new firmware yesterday. Haven't checked about it yet. It's probably the beta firmware gone final.

 

[Clean6eR]

Glad you got your account back. I got Division 2 through the AMD Ryzen bundle. Played Division 1 pretty much alone back then with the exception of missions which were fun with others. Really liked the atmosphere, graphics, gameplay.

On another note: My G6 received a new firmware yesterday. Haven't checked about it yet. It's probably the beta firmware gone final.

the beta firmware was good, the ability to adjust the surround effect was like that on the x7 which gives you more control and the ability to turn off all the mic filters lets a high quality mic really shine.

if you turn all the surround and processing off the mic monitor is usable without making you fall over your own words which is a total win! very impressed, next dream is the ability to add surround but not have it apply to the mic monitor!

 

[Find the Door]

Well, using just regular stereo, you only have 2 directions, left and right. You then have to use your other senses to fill in the blanks. With sbx surround on a surround sound input, you can have front and back as well.

Every pair of headphones has two drivers unless you're using garbogio multi-driver headsets. R6 siege is designed around stereo usage as is. I was a big proponent of simulated surround sound but I've been won over by straight stereo over the last week.

SBX/Dolby neuter the other wise excellent imaging of the HD-800-S'.

 

[illram]

I use the HD800S and I never found that to be the case. The imaging is there, it just makes the flaws more apparent. If there are flaws. I think they are excellent with SBX. Maybe it's my amp? (Black Label). Although I don't know why the amp would really make a difference with the imaging quality.

 

[ciukacz]

R6 siege is designed around stereo usage as is. I was a big proponent of simulated surround sound but I've been won over by straight stereo over the last week.

SBX/Dolby neuter the other wise excellent imaging of the HD-800-S'.

well doesn't r6 have it's own hrtf builtin? in that case you would be using 2 hrtfs which is wrong.

 

[b0r0b]

Hah, so apparently someone in Russia hacked into my Origin account, and played a ton of Apex Legends, and tried to buy some stuff for both APex and Titanfall 2. My friends list on Origin had like 50 people... and I can tell you guys, I play basically all PC games alone, and never had anyone on Origin that I can remember of.

I had a hell of a time checking that nothing else was compromised, and adding 2 step verifications to all game programs, emails, paypal, etc.

Long story short, the internet is scary, nothing is secure, and make sure you check all the things you sign into periodically. My Origin was something I would log into like every few months, so the hacker had free reign for months.

In other news, having bought played Division alone a few weeks ago for like $4, it made me more interested in the sequel, so I went a preordered it. It gave me Ghost Recon Wildlands for free. So yeah, I'll be trying those on PC in a few days. Destiny 2 has been a massive disappointment lately with the newer DLCs and I wanna play something continuous. I wanted Anthem to be that game, but then Anthem came out and... no thanks, lol.

LOL Anthem. I haven't really looked into the Division sequel, but I may. I went through a security binge a few years ago, feels good when you lock everything down. People are too careless online.

 

[mindbomb]

Every pair of headphones has two drivers unless you're using garbogio multi-driver headsets. R6 siege is designed around stereo usage as is. I was a big proponent of simulated surround sound but I've been won over by straight stereo over the last week.

SBX/Dolby neuter the other wise excellent imaging of the HD-800-S'.

Okay, let me explain what the point of virtual 7.1 for headphones is. With regular stereo audio, there is only 2 native directions, left and right. Thus, the front-rear dimension isn't handled great. With virtual surround sound, you feed it a surround sound source where the front and rear are kept in discrete channels. Then it can add a front hrtf to the front channels, and a rear hrtf to the rear channels before combining everything into 2 channels, making that dimension better represented on headphones.

I have a little demonstration here that compares the directional information you get on stereo with no hrtf vs with 7.1 dolby headphone dh2:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/mad...ana-trio-added.534479/page-2801#post-14792417

 

[mindbomb]

well doesn't r6 have it's own hrtf builtin? in that case you would be using 2 hrtfs which is wrong.

It does not appear to have any. Here is a screenshot of the audio settings I found online, showing no hrtf setting: https://i.redd.it/c398fvwzif5z.jpg

And if you check streamers on twitch, you can hear that the audio has no hrtf

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Every pair of headphones has two drivers unless you're using garbogio multi-driver headsets. R6 siege is designed around stereo usage as is. I was a big proponent of simulated surround sound but I've been won over by straight stereo over the last week.

SBX/Dolby neuter the other wise excellent imaging of the HD-800-S'.

Well there's give and take by going straight stereo.

If you're not using virtual surround, you're getting to hear your headphone as it sounds... like the headphone it is.

When you use virtual surround, you're listening to the headphone emulate a room full of speakers. It isn't supposed to sound anything like what you expect from the headphone.

It is this distinct difference that people STILL keep failing to understand. When you use virtual surround, you have to understand that you're no longer listening to headphones. You're getting a representation of a room full of speakers done by those headphones. They're gonna sound COMPLETELY different.

A more proper comparison is a headphone with virtual surround vs a room with 7 speakers. That is the most COMPARABLE uhh...comparison.

To the people complaining about how virtual surround changes how headphones sound. Well, that is because it's no longer supposed to sound LIKE HEADPHONES.

With that out of the way, you can make a choice:

a. Stick to stereo, where the fidelity is higher, and your headphones sound as they were intended. Drawback being no front/rear indication, which vastly limits your perception of the virtual space and where sounds are actually coming from relative to your 'character' in video games.

b. Go with virtual surround, where your headphone is figuratively transformed into a room full of speakers, with all the benefits of being able to hear where sounds are coming from in any direction, without the expense of actually having a speaker setup. Drawback being that objectively, the sound quality is altered in a significant way from what a headphone was originally intended to sound like.

I will always call it nonsense to anyone who says stereo gives better positional advantage over virtual surround. There is nothing better than getting an accurate representation of where a sound is coming from, as if the sound was actually being played in front or behind you. All stereo can do try and make a sound seem different in tone between front and back, and actually not being able to move the sound in the virtual space to account for the front/back.

Thankfully, more and more games have built in virtual surround options, Xbox has Atmos, etc. These things are making virtual surround more and more common, which is a benefit to all.

And as always, it's best to stick to plain stereo for nearly any stereo source like music, and any other source that wasn't made with surround in mind.

 

[ciukacz]

It does not appear to have any. Here is a screenshot of the audio settings I found online, showing no hrtf setting: https://i.redd.it/c398fvwzif5z.jpg

And if you check streamers on twitch, you can hear that the audio has no hrtf

well they are doing something different, because there is a little verticality here:

 

[Fegefeuer]

MLE put it very well.

It's the sound rendering that should help to immerse you in the world, not primarily the headphone itself. People might tell themselves that SBX and GSX are hindering the technical ability of their headphone, yet it's their approach to the medium that is wrong.
Do you want to be in the world, in the environment, aurally and visually or do you want to listen to the capabilites of your headphone? The headphone should be a (unnoticable) bridge to a great aural experience.

Back in 1998 when I had Aureal 3D I knew this is what headphones needed to overcome their limitations and it was an outstanding experience. Coming from a household with massive American made speakers (which my father imported like the great madman he was) headphones did have a lot of odds against them.
The approach of A3D back then was the same as it is today. "Natural sound localization". Hardpanning stereo gaming is not natural at all. Sure, the virtualization of 7.1 discrete channels can skew the the naturalness of the recording itself a bit but this was always a compromise. Natural sound localization even with a
virtual speaker room that lacks elevation info is superior to simple stereo. The brain can't compensate enough, no matter how much visual cues you get displayed.

And from virtual 7.1 we are back to proper binaural rendering with geometric data, thanks to VR and the cinema. From there on everything will be better.

I'd take a CAL with great object-based audio over hardpanning stereo gaming with the HD800. Any day.

 

[Find the Door]

Well there's give and take by going straight stereo.

If you're not using virtual surround, you're getting to hear your headphone as it sounds... like the headphone it is.

When you use virtual surround, you're listening to the headphone emulate a room full of speakers. It isn't supposed to sound anything like what you expect from the headphone.

It is this distinct difference that people STILL keep failing to understand. When you use virtual surround, you have to understand that you're no longer listening to headphones. You're getting a representation of a room full of speakers done by those headphones. They're gonna sound COMPLETELY different.

A more proper comparison is a headphone with virtual surround vs a room with 7 speakers. That is the most COMPARABLE uhh...comparison.

To the people complaining about how virtual surround changes how headphones sound. Well, that is because it's no longer supposed to sound LIKE HEADPHONES.

With that out of the way, you can make a choice:

a. Stick to stereo, where the fidelity is higher, and your headphones sound as they were intended. Drawback being no front/rear indication, which vastly limits your perception of the virtual space and where sounds are actually coming from relative to your 'character' in video games.

b. Go with virtual surround, where your headphone is figuratively transformed into a room full of speakers, with all the benefits of being able to hear where sounds are coming from in any direction, without the expense of actually having a speaker setup. Drawback being that objectively, the sound quality is altered in a significant way from what a headphone was originally intended to sound like.

I will always call it nonsense to anyone who says stereo gives better positional advantage over virtual surround. There is nothing better than getting an accurate representation of where a sound is coming from, as if the sound was actually being played in front or behind you. All stereo can do try and make a sound seem different in tone between front and back, and actually not being able to move the sound in the virtual space to account for the front/back.

Thankfully, more and more games have built in virtual surround options, Xbox has Atmos, etc. These things are making virtual surround more and more common, which is a benefit to all.

And as always, it's best to stick to plain stereo for nearly any stereo source like music, and any other source that wasn't made with surround in mind.

Right well in this instance would it be recommended to use Dolby Digital or stereo with SBX? Also if you're using Dolby would it be recommend to use SBX?

 

[mindbomb]

well they are doing something different, because there is a little verticality here:

That's not hrtf, that's environmental effects. So glass doesn't muffle the sound because there is line of sight to the player, but the other walls do. Imo, this isn't even good to have, since it just reduces how much the audio can help you, and increases cpu usage.