[Mad Lust Envy]

^Tell me about it. Playing in stereo may as well be like putting on a blindfold for me.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Anyone have an idea of how the optical out works with the Sound Blaster AE-9? I know for the RCA connection, it brings everything over to the external device. How about for optical? Is it VSS only? Or is it also affected by op amp swapping?

S/PDIF (optical or coaxial) is a digital signal that bypasses the DAC and op-amp functions of the sound card (AE-9).
Optical can carry 2-channel of PCM (un-compressed) 24-bit/96k or 24-bit192k digital audio.
Or using encoding (compression) up to 6-channels of digital 24-bit/48K (max) digital audio.
DDL (Dolby Digital Live) or DTS-Connect can encode the audio.

 

[idsyphe]

feels like there's something wrong with my ears when i see so many people playing in plain stereo

i feel like i get no sense of space or positional awareness when doing so

Yeah I'm the same, and I hate it when people will discourage VSS because of it. Personally I get headaches when playing games with stereo sound, the movement of sounds from left to right without any nuance in between makes my brain hurt after a while, maybe I've spent so many years using VSS my brain just expects it.

 

[Qupie]

I am personally pleasantly surprised by the positional information in stereo with a good source and headphone. I am also really surprised by the improved sound quality with not using VSS, it just sounds better, even though less immersive.

I will have to admit though, that my VSS source was pretty bad (Mixamp gen 2), and my stereo source is a lot better (Schiit hel).

In the end, I think both have a pretty long learning curve, if you have hundred of hours in a game with or without VSS, switching will be very weird.

I personally don't think I am ever going back to external VSS on PS5. Either the Tempest engine will give an improvement with future games, or I will just do with good stereo.

 

[JES]

I am personally pleasantly surprised by the positional information in stereo with a good source and headphone. I am also really surprised by the improved sound quality with not using VSS, it just sounds better, even though less immersive.

I will have to admit though, that my VSS source was pretty bad (Mixamp gen 2), and my stereo source is a lot better (Schiit hel).

In the end, I think both have a pretty long learning curve, if you have hundred of hours in a game with or without VSS, switching will be very weird.

I personally don't think I am ever going back to external VSS on PS5. Either the Tempest engine will give an improvement with future games, or I will just do with good stereo.

If the VSS on the Mixamp Gen 2 is anything like the VSS on the Astro A50s, then yes, pretty bad at times. When I was on Xbox I was able to use Atmos and disable the A50s onboard VSS. It was much better.

 

[Sam21]

I am trying to use Creative G6 with a PS3(PlayStation 3) to get virtual surround sound on my headphones...Should I follow these steps:?

(1) Connect the G6 to a PC through USB and change the settings(SBX etc..) as you desire.
(2) Change PS3 audio settings so that it outputs Dolby Digital 5.1 through optical out.
(3) Connect G6 to PS3 through the optical out on PS3 and optical in on G6.
(4) Run a game, the Dolby Digital indicator will light up on G6.
(5) Turn SBX on by pressing the SBX button on G6.

Do these steps work for other gaming consoles, like PS4, PS2 and Wii too?

To pair G6 with a PC for gaming I should do the following:

(1) Connect G6 to the PC using the USB cable.
(2) Change speaker configuration to 7.1
(3) Setup and turn on SBX.

Are these steps correct ?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Skip step 1. I mean you can connect the usb for powee, but don't rely on usb for audio. Do step 2 and above.

And for pc yes, that is correct. Do it in the creative software.

 

[Sam21]

Skip step 1. I mean you can connect the usb for powee, but don't rely on usb for audio. Do step 2 and above.

And for pc yes, that is correct. Do it in the creative software.

By step (1) I meant that I should save my desired settings into the G6 first...like what percentage the SBX slider is set at. etc and then disconnect it from the PC...

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I personally like it at 100% for easier rear audio cue discernibility. The default is 67% if you wanna start there. I don't use any other option and turn everything else off in the software.

And usb audio for pc is fine. I mainly meant do it use for ps4 since it only does 2 channels and you won't get proper SBX that way.

 

[Xlaw]

She has arrived E-mu Teak. Let's see how much of the D7000 they channel.

After spending some time with them, how are their soundstage and imaging for gaming ?
I'm very much interested in the D7000 signature these are channeling, but worried about them not being immersive enough for gaming because of their soundstage and imaging.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

To be completely honest, I've been so busy with other stuff I haven't spent a helluva long time with the Teak. But I can say that are pretty darn immersive and explosive and fun.

As for soundstage, it's not gonna be as big as the D7000 because it's less v-shaped, so there isn't as much distance between you and the midrange. As always playing in virtual surround alleviates any concern for soundstage, personally.

They're a keeper and allow me to move on from the D7K.

 

[Azzurro]

Hel 2 - a thing of beauty and sounds amazing too

So after a coupe of weeks, I'm in love with this thing.

Pairing it with the Beyerdynamic TYGR 300 R and it sounds tremendous

 

[WhiteHartMart]

So after a coupe of weeks, I'm in love with this thing.

Pairing it with the Beyerdynamic TYGR 300 R and it sounds tremendous

Nice - how much was the import duty if you don't mind me asking. Thinking of getting a Hel 2 to use with my Tygr R and HD560s

 

[mindbomb]

feels like there's something wrong with my ears when i see so many people playing in plain stereo

i feel like i get no sense of space or positional awareness when doing so

yea, it's pretty depressing to see a lot of people using stereo. It's like watching people en masse all fail a marshmallow test, where they won't trade some short term unfamiliarity for long term better directionality.

 

[Azzurro]

Nice - how much was the import duty if you don't mind me asking. Thinking of getting a Hel 2 to use with my Tygr R and HD560s

I don't know how I've managed it but I wasn't charged any.

I paid $199.00 for the Hel 2 itself and chose the priority shipping via FedEx which from memory was about $32 and that's it.