[SierraMadre]

I just recently bought a Soundblaster G6 and I'm a bit confused as to whether or not it's actually set up properly. I'm using it on my PC with SBX turned on and 7.1 enabled in the Creative settings, but the Dolby light never comes on. In Resident Evil 2, I've tried using all of the different options (Dolby Atmos, headphones, TV, 7.1 surround sound) but I never get any indication that it's actually giving me proper virtual surround. Am I just out of luck if the game doesn't give me a proper Dolby signal?

Whether the G6 is rendering virtual surround sound or not does not revolve around Dolby Digital per se. Rather Dolby Digital 5.1 is merely the only licensed encoded surround format it can decode for conversion into multichannel virtual surround sound. This is important for the current generation of consoles as they can only output multichannel surround via HDMI or optical. Unlike PC, they can't output multichannel PCM surround via USB. Optical is limited to bitstreaming 5.1 Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1. Thus, for console, an optical connection is the only way to get any form of discrete multichannel surround to the G6. The G6 can then decode this Dolby Digital (but not DTS as it can't decode that) and convert it into virtual surround sound via its SBX algorithm.

PCs on the other hand can send multichannel PCM over USB provided they have a capable sound card or motherboard soundchip. Your G6 acts as an external sound card and supports multichannel PCM input of upto 7.1 over usb and Creative's SBX solution is accordingly capable of processing multichannel PCM of upto 7.1 channels and converting it into virtual surround. The audio of the vast majority of PC games is output in PCM. The reason why the Dolby light is not coming on for you is because your G6 is not being fed Dolby Digital, it is being fed PCM, which is as it should be.

Engage the SBX button, this turns on any SBX features that your G6's current active SBX profile has engaged, so check your profile in the Sound Blaster control app to see that you have the virtual surround dial engaged and at a level you want it. Note that many of the various packaged-in / supplied presets/profiles have surround off or at very low levels (e.g. 10/100).
Also, ensure that if a game's audio options have a true / discrete / non-virtual surround option, that that is turned *on* (SBX VSS's raison d'etre is to take discrete multichannel signals intended for speakers and convert them into vss). If there is no such option, don't worry. If on the other hand, there is a *virtual* surround option, or a 'headphones' option, then leave it *off* if you want SBX VSS or turn it on and leave SBX off, otherwise you would be stacking two different virtual surround solutions.

 

[Playstation]

The X2s are a great recommendation. Velour is common among enthusiast open-backed headphones because of its comfort and audio properties. They tend not to get as hot as leather / pleather pads, and are more conducive to an open sound stage. They won’t be “itchy” unless you have an allergy or skin particularly sensitive to microfibre materials. With the X2, unless you have humongous ears you don’t need to worry about them not sitting “truly over/around the ear”, the cup apertures are very big.

If you are set on closed back, have a look at Sennheiser’s gaming line (GSP300 etc.) or if you want to economise then a Hyper X Cloud will give you great performance relative to a cheap and cheerful price.

The GSP's look amazing. Thanks

Hey PlayStation!
Not to tell you which headphone to buy, but we thought we’d chime in since we know a thing or two about headphone pads. Those Phillips (and many others) use Velour material on the surface, which feels similar to a blanket on your skin, fortunately not prickly with stuff hairs like Velvet. The Philips pads are indeed large enough to fit around most people’s ears to rest on the head without putting any pressure on the ears themselves. It’s a fine option, but full disclosure: we don’t make pads for them (but a couple other accessories!).

If you do decide to go for the AKGs mentioned earlier, we do make a number of accessories meant to help those: Velour pads with a tighter weave and higher thread count than the stock pads (think again about blankets and sheets, and how a higher thread count is usually softer, which was our goal!), or alternative materials like Sheepskin or Protein Leather. One of our colleagues is also a gamer with a long history with the AKGs, and he uses our Nuggets to solve the hard-headband discomfort. So, if you did go that route, those are a few things which might “complete” the package and suit your preferences.

I've owned the X1's. I guess it's just the couple of pictures I've seen of the X2's, they just looked different. I love velour. Thanks for the heads up. Also, know of any pads that might fit the Creative Aurvana Live headphones?

 

[Yethal]

GSP 670 impressions after 24 hours of use:

This will not contain sound impressions as those require much more than 24 hours to fully assess

Comfort
There are two sliders on the headband that regulate how much clamp the headband has. At first I found the GSP 670 to be too clampy, after I lowered the clampiness to minimum it became very comfy. It's not that heavy (although keep in mind I'm a Focal user so I'm accustomed to heavy headphones) and the weight is evenly distributed.

• GSP 670 shows up as two different audio devices under Windows (one main audio device and one communications device). Thanks to that we can use a slider on the right cup to manipulate game/voice chat balance (just like the Mixamps).
• Microphone can be muted by simply raising the arm past a certain threshold (just like on PC37X) which is nice.
• Headset's volume isn't tied to the system volume so the risk of accidentally blasting your ears off because an app forced maximum system volume is nonexistent.
• There is an audible hiss present during silent moments, loud enough to be annoying but it disappears into the background as soon as the game/movie/whatever finishes loading
• Moreover the signal is distorted as all hell. Doesn't matter whether it's 2.0 or 7.1, game or music, there is very loud digital distortion present in the signal. Honestly I'm considering returning it because the issue is so annoying. Both dongle and headset firmware have been updated. I don't know what's the cause here, at first I thought it's because of interference from my controller (Sennheiser dongle uses 2.4Ghz frequency, the same as Bluetooth) but this doesn't happen on PS4 (which also uses Bluetooth for controller connection). This is a critical issue and until a permanent solution is found I cannot recommend anyone to buy this headset.
• Last but not least, the headset requires custom Pulse Audio profile in order to work correctly on Linux. I realize I'm one of like three people on Earth having this problem but it's still a nuisance that could've been avoided.

Update: Distortion occurs only when the dongle is plugged into my desktop which further reinforces my hypothesis that it's caused by interference from other wireless devices in close proximity.

 

[illram]

I just recently bought a Soundblaster G6 and I'm a bit confused as to whether or not it's actually set up properly. I'm using it on my PC with SBX turned on and 7.1 enabled in the Creative settings, but the Dolby light never comes on. In Resident Evil 2, I've tried using all of the different options (Dolby Atmos, headphones, TV, 7.1 surround sound) but I never get any indication that it's actually giving me proper virtual surround. Am I just out of luck if the game doesn't give me a proper Dolby signal?

Everything SierraMadre said, plus to be extra sure you can check your windows audio device settings to make sure windows is outputting 7.1 when SBX is on. (it should automatically switch but just in case).

Right click volume, open sound settings, click on sound control panel, click on G6, click on configure.

The best way to try it is to see if you can hear rear cues. You should hear them clearly. (I like to open up a private match in Call of Duty and do things like throw a grenade, and turn around and see if it sounds like it explodes behind me, things like that.) I never found the windows chimes in the configure panel to be that good of an example.

 

[SierraMadre]

The GSP's look amazing. Thanks




I've owned the X1's. I guess it's just the couple of pictures I've seen of the X2's, they just looked different. I love velour. Thanks for the heads up. Also, know of any pads that might fit the Creative Aurvana Live headphones?

You got rid of the Fidelio X1's and then got the CALs? The CALs are a fine pair of budget enthusiast cans but they are not usually regarded as being in the same class as the X1 or X2 for gaming and movies, let alone better.

In any case, the X2 is generally regarded as an iterative upgrade over the original X1 rather than a reinvention, so if you didn't like the X1s enough to keep them then the X2s may not be for you.

Another closed back option that you might want to consider is the Audio Technica AG1X. Its MSRP used to be pretty expensive but at least here in the UK, most of the online prices appear to be around half the original MSRP give or take, so I'd be surprised if you couldn't find similar over the pond if you shopped around.

 

[SierraMadre]

GSP 670 impressions after 24 hours of use:

This will not contain sound impressions as those require much more than 24 hours to fully assess

Comfort
There are two sliders on the headband that regulate how much clamp the headband has. At first I found the GSP 670 to be too clampy, after I lowered the clampiness to minimum it became very comfy. It's not that heavy (although keep in mind I'm a Focal user so I'm accustomed to heavy headphones) and the weight is evenly distributed.

Functionality (PC)

• GSP 670 shows up as two different audio devices under Windows (one main audio device and one communications device). Thanks to that we can use a slider on the right cup to manipulate game/voice chat balance (just like the Mixamps).
• Microphone can be muted by simply raising the arm past a certain threshold (just like on PC37X) which is nice.
• Headset's volume isn't tied to the system volume so the risk of accidentally blasting your ears off because an app forced maximum system volume is nonexistent.
• There is an audible hiss present during silent moments, loud enough to be annoying but it disappears into the background as soon as the game/movie/whatever finishes loading
• Moreover the signal is distorted as all hell. Doesn't matter whether it's 2.0 or 7.1, game or music, there is very loud digital distortion present in the signal. Honestly I'm considering returning it because the issue is so annoying. Both dongle and headset firmware have been updated. I don't know what's the cause here, at first I thought it's because of interference from my controller (Sennheiser dongle uses 2.4Ghz frequency, the same as Bluetooth) but this doesn't happen on PS4 (which also uses Bluetooth for controller connection). This is a critical issue and until a permanent solution is found I cannot recommend anyone to buy this headset.
• Last but not least, the headset requires custom Pulse Audio profile in order to work correctly on Linux. I realize I'm one of like three people on Earth having this problem but it's still a nuisance that could've been avoided.

These wireless cans are closed back but FWIW, have been getting very good reviews. Not sure whether it uses a branded 3D VSS solution or an in-house solution from AT, probably the latter as I haven't come across any mentions of the usual suspects. Might be worth a try if you give up on the 670s

https://www.audio-technica.com/cms/headphones/9b4fb5b51d3be65a/index.html

 

[halcyon]

Has anybody tested the Dirac 3D audio HD / 7.1 positional algo on any of th products?

AFAIK, it's not available (yet) on stand-alone soundcards (USB or otherwise), but it can be tested in the very cheap Tritton Kunai Pro 7.1 (2019) USB-headphones:

https://www.dirac.com/news/3d-audio-gaming-headset-ces2019

This is one of the 3D Audio virtualization (not true 3DPA) algos that I've yet to hear myself out of the ones still on the market.

If it's decent, one could perhaps buy the cheap Kunai and hack the USB-sound-card dongle to work with othe (easy to drive) headphones.

Dirac Research supposedly also released a downloadable Dirac 3D audio processor software perhaps titled Dirac Sensaround (can't keep up to date with all their marketing titles) in June of 2019, but I can't find it anywhere, only mentions at their website:

https://www.dirac.com/3d-audio
https://www.dirac.com/sensaround

Anybody tried any Dirac 3D audio?

If anybody's interested in 3D audio, they are also showing at CES 2020:

https://www.dirac.com/ces2020

 

[headphonesonly]

Has anybody tested the Dirac 3D audio HD / 7.1 positional algo on any of th products?

AFAIK, it's not available (yet) on stand-alone soundcards (USB or otherwise), but it can be tested in the very cheap Tritton Kunai Pro 7.1 (2019) USB-headphones:

https://www.dirac.com/news/3d-audio-gaming-headset-ces2019

This is one of the 3D Audio virtualization (not true 3DPA) algos that I've yet to hear myself out of the ones still on the market.

If it's decent, one could perhaps buy the cheap Kunai and hack the USB-sound-card dongle to work with othe (easy to drive) headphones.

Dirac Research supposedly also released a downloadable Dirac 3D audio processor software perhaps titled Dirac Sensaround (can't keep up to date with all their marketing titles) in June of 2019, but I can't find it anywhere, only mentions at their website:

https://www.dirac.com/3d-audio
https://www.dirac.com/sensaround

Anybody tried any Dirac 3D audio?

If anybody's interested in 3D audio, they are also showing at CES 2020:

https://www.dirac.com/ces2020

The monoprice thx dac/amp has this but it only works as a stereo expander.

 

[WhiteHartMart]

Beta Creative G6 firmware now available enabling Voice/Game balance for PS4

https://www.reddit.com/r/SoundBlast...hat_balance_for_sound_blaster_g6_on_ps4_beta/

I've received a G3 for testing today also - although first impressions are not amazing (as expected/feared tbh) I'm prepared to give it some hours and compare it to the G6 I have.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Looks very intriguing. I'll wait until it's out of beta before updating the guide.

 

[inseconds99]

Does anyone have a picture of a modmic or modmic wireless attached to a Hifiman Arya/Ananda/XX/1000? Is it even possible to attach the mic? Any issues with the magnets?

 

[TeeReQs]

I don't have any experience using it on those headphones, but want to say that I love my wireless modmic for my HD800. So much better than my old wire mod mic, and worth the extra cost of admission IMO.

 

[ronfifer]

I hope more users can answer the modmic question 2 posts above before I interject with my own question:

My laptop is specced with a built-in HiFi Sabre DAC with SPDIF and 3.5mm outputs, does that mean I can plug in my new external amp directly to my laptop without risking double amping? Or is it preferable to go the USB port>external DAC>external AMP route?

 

[WhiteHartMart]

Well the G3 is the disappointment we all expected and imo a bit of an insult to console gamers!

Needs the PS4 to be set to PCM and has no VSS as far as I'm aware. Tried with a pair of Beyer Tygr 300 and it just lacks drive/power compared to the G6. Audio is just flat compared - this thing would struggle with anything remotely difficult to drive (my Macbook Pro does a far better job!)

Then tried it with my ModMic Uni - seems it doesn't have a great Mic input also - ModMic sound horrible and muffled compared to plugging it into the G6.

The device itself is an awful 'stereotypical' gaming dongle - cheap and tacky with rattling buttons - just awful.

Now the G6 has Voice/Game chat balance (which works great on first test) I can't see why anyone who likes good audio would not spend a few quid more for the G6. If that device had the Mobile Command centre compatibility it would be the perfect console device imho.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I hope more users can answer the modmic question 2 posts above before I interject with my own question:

My laptop is specced with a built-in HiFi Sabre DAC with SPDIF and 3.5mm outputs, does that mean I can plug in my new external amp directly to my laptop without risking double amping? Or is it preferable to go the USB port>external DAC>external AMP route?

USB and optical out are both digital, so if you have an external dac that has optical in, you won't even have to worry about anything in your laptop since it won't be doing anything other than sending a digital signal to your dac. If you use the 3.5mm as a headphone or analog out, then yeah, you'll be double amping. That is, unless it specifically states it's a line out, where you'll use just the dac part of your laptop. I just don't know since laptops take some odd approaches into funneling audio at times.

What can be said is that external dacs > internal ones. Just because a dac chip of a specific caliber is used, doesn't mean the implementation is going to be good. You can have $100 dacs using the same dac chip as a $50000 dac, and it be night and day.