[TheSpur22]

tbh, I don't understand why an fps would ever be better in plain stereo. Wouldn't the ability to better differentiate front and back always be desirable?

In pretty much every other FPS I've played yes, I prefer VSS. But something about RB6, at least to my ear and on the Mixamp 5.8 is easier to pinpoint in stereo and I can still pickup front and back. Now the G6 and SBX may blow me away and be a totally different experience and I may not want to resort to stereo for that game. Just wanted to know if that was an option without having to make the changes on the software side every time.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

My G6 should arrive today and I'm trying to take in as much info as I can so setup will go smoothly. I feel like this question kind of answers itself but I just want to be sure. From what I've read Direct Mode does not work on PS4, for most games I want to use VSS but Rainbow Six Siege seems to do better with stereo in my experience. Will simply turning off SBX change the signal to stereo, or would I need to make an SBX profile in order to turn off processing? Thanks

There is NO NEED to use Direct Mode. You can simply turn off SBX on the device, and if you're like me and ONLY uses SBX either on or off, and no other feature, you can turn off all the other enhancements in the PC software, so essentially only enabling sbx or not is all you need. Direct mode is not necessary.

I believe direct mode just bypasses the areas that go through the enhancements. If you don't have any enhancements turned on, well there shouldn't really be any difference. I'm sure it's a little more complicated than that, but the end result isn't different enough to be like "OH YEAH, DIRECT MODE IS BETTER THAN JUST TURNING ALL THE THINGS OFF". At least that's my opinion. Direct Mode is more a convenience if you use things like SBX, EQ, Crystallizer, voice morph, etc, where toggling all of those OFF is more of a hassle than just turning on Direct Mode.

 

[TheSpur22]

There is NO NEED to use Direct Mode. You can simply turn off SBX on the device, and if you're like me and ONLY uses SBX either on or off, and no other feature, you can turn off all the other enhancements in the PC software, so essentially only enabling sbx or not is all you need. Direct mode is not necessary.

I believe direct mode just bypasses the areas that go through the enhancements. If you don't have any enhancements turned on, well there shouldn't really be any difference. I'm sure it's a little more complicated than that, but the end result isn't different enough to be like "OH YEAH, DIRECT MODE IS BETTER THAN JUST TURNING ALL THE THINGS OFF". At least that's my opinion. Direct Mode is more a convenience if you use things like SBX, EQ, Crystallizer, voice morph, etc, where toggling all of those OFF is more of a hassle than just turning on Direct Mode.

I played around with it a bit last night and just turning off SBX using the button on the G6 made the sound quality nose dive. Fortunately Rainbow Six sounds very good with SBX set at about 70%. Tried it on 100% but the way sound travels on that game did not work well at all. The best thing of all is the slight hiss I was getting from the Mixamp 5.8 does not exist on the G6. Also using the Beta firmware for game/chat mix and while not as intuitive as Astros implementation, it's very usable.

 

[SierraMadre]

In pretty much every other FPS I've played yes, I prefer VSS. But something about RB6, at least to my ear and on the Mixamp 5.8 is easier to pinpoint in stereo and I can still pickup front and back. Now the G6 and SBX may blow me away and be a totally different experience and I may not want to resort to stereo for that game. Just wanted to know if that was an option without having to make the changes on the software side every time.

I don't have Rainbow Six Siege but a cursory search on the net suggests that there are no audio channel config settings in-game which means it will look to the PS4 audio settings to decide output. If you set it to bitstream Dolby via optical then leaving SBX off will have the G6 downmix the 5.1 Dolby multichannel down into 2 channel stereo, probably vanilla stereo as one would expect for speaker output. If you have it set to output PCM via optical the PS4/game engine will do the downmix instead.

If you don't connect via optical and just use USB instead then it seems the PS4 treats the audio output as the same as headset output from the controller because the volume control function is the same as if one were using the headphone out from the controller.
In this instance it would be more than likely you would receive the game developers' own VSS mix utilising the PS4's in-built VSS-capable DSP based on AMD's True Audio API.

http://www.redgamingtech.com/playstation-4-audio-dsp-based-on-amds-trueaudio-technology/

 

[Chastity]

I bought the g6 in January this year but only since a few days back I’ve started noticing this issue during games/movies: There is randomly a small but audible pop sound every 10-20 minutes or so. G6 and Windows 10 are both at the latest firmware. Any idea?

To anyone with G6 crackling/popping: It's a bug with Windows 10, the DirectSound buffers get borky, and you get error on playback. Can even lead to output going silent, and requiring a device reset. (unplug/plug) IIRC, this is addressed in 20H1. Easy fix is to alternate Direct Mode and back. (You can also change DS bit/samplerate default. This will reset DirectSound too)

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I played around with it a bit last night and just turning off SBX using the button on the G6 made the sound quality nose dive. Fortunately Rainbow Six sounds very good with SBX set at about 70%. Tried it on 100% but the way sound travels on that game did not work well at all. The best thing of all is the slight hiss I was getting from the Mixamp 5.8 does not exist on the G6. Also using the Beta firmware for game/chat mix and while not as intuitive as Astros implementation, it's very usable.

Did you make sure all the other enhancements were off in the software? Because it shouldn't be sounding different than direct mode. I'm gonna have to test for this. Also make sure you've fully updated both firmware and drivers on the G6. Gotta go to Creative's website for that.

 

[TheSpur22]

Did you make sure all the other enhancements were off in the software? Because it shouldn't be sounding different than direct mode. I'm gonna have to test for this. Also make sure you've fully updated both firmware and drivers on the G6. Gotta go to Creative's website for that.

Thanks, I'm totally new at messing with audio through software. These are the settings I'm using. Is there anything else that I need to turn off?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Your Crystallizer is ON. Direct mode turns that OFF, so that may be a huge reason it sounds so different. Also, SBX is ON in that screenshot. Basically if you want it to be as close as Direct Mode, you can just toggle off that or the BlasterX Acoustic Engine toggle, which turns them all off.

Turn all that off, and report back how close/different it is compared to Direct Mode.

 

[SierraMadre]

Your Crystallizer is on as is your EQ. Direct mode turns off both of those, so that may be a huge reason it sounds so different. Also, SBX is ON in that screenshot. Basically if you want it to be as close as Direct Mode, you can just toggle off that BlasterX Acoustic Engine toggle, which turns them all off.

Turn all that off, and report back how close/different it is compared to Direct Mode.

Isn’t EQ already off in that pic? The icon would be in green, otherwise, no?
Dolby DRC is on though

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Isn’t EQ already off in that pic? The icon would be in green, otherwise, no?
Dolby DRC is on though

Oh yeah, you're absolutely right. I was thinking it'd say off, or flat. My mistake. I'll edit to reflect that.

Also, regardless of what kind of technical mumbo jumbo is behind Crystallizer, the result of it is that it sounds like an EQ, and noticeably affects sound quality. So that alone would cause the sound to be different compared to off.

 

[Fegefeuer]

Crystallizer also affects the time domain, so the perception of imaging/positioning will get worse, more diffuse.

There is no need for it in any case if you got your chain running well. Not for the HD 650 or anything else as well if you're thinking "dark" headphones and all.

SBX@100 is well balanced enough. Sure it lacks the bass boost of the Atmos which is very immersive when it rains and thunders in DC (Division 2) but overall it is well balanced in the context of staging size, clarity and imaging. Positioning behind could be better but I don't see anything better at the moment that improves upon SBX.

Sennheiser's GSX in a standalone device with optical out could be a candidate but it doesn't exist in that form.

 

[mindbomb]

https://www.waves.com/how-and-when-to-use-dynamic-eq

That explains what crystallizer does

 

[TheSpur22]

Oh yeah, you're absolutely right. I was thinking it'd say off, or flat. My mistake. I'll edit to reflect that.

Also, regardless of what kind of technical mumbo jumbo is behind Crystallizer, the result of it is that it sounds like an EQ, and noticeably affects sound quality. So that alone would cause the sound to be different compared to off.

I believe Crystalizer was the reason for the major sound difference, so I guess the sound when switching SBX off wasn't necessarily worse just different. Thanks for the help, I look forward to playing around with the G6 more.

 

[Playstation]

Hey Friends

Can anyone tell me if I would be able to use a coaxial audio cable with my TV?

Thanks

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Hey Friends

Can anyone tell me if I would be able to use a coaxial audio cable with my TV?

Thanks

You can use an spdif optical cable. Just make sure the tv audio is set to 2 channel pcm if you're using a normal dac like a Modi. If you're using a gaming amp/dac like the G6, you can set the TV audio to 5ch dolby digital / bitstream.

It more or less depending on what you're connecting to the TV.

You can also use regular rca audio cables to connect to an amp or speakers, though you're at the mercy of whatever cheap dac is in the TV. I would only go this way if it's the only option you have. It's the ports right below the optical out.