[fbang]

So I just tested the Sound Blaster x3 up against the g6 on the ps5 and pc in a variety of games using the pc38x and Fidelio x2's.

On PC, the g6 is the clear winner. There's so much more GIRTH to the bass and there is more fullness to the overall sound.

On PS5 the g6 may be better than the x3 but neither sound as good as the headphones plugged into the controller. I'm not sure why this is. I had both the g6 and x3 plugged into the back USB ports of the ps5 but they just can't match the bass, sound separation, and clarity of the headphones directly into the controller.

I totally disagree with this. I’m using demon souls and through the g6 the sound has much depth. Did you turn off SBX?

 

[KamikazeIce]

I totally disagree with this. I’m using demon souls and through the g6 the sound has much depth. Did you turn off SBX?

I thought everything in Astro, Spider-Man and Demon's Souls was sounding great... then I played Bugsnax. Something sounds wrong, perhaps it's just the game?

The voices, and only voices, sounded... weird. Some vocal lines sounded like they were recorded with either different mics or in a different room. The difference was distracting.
Played with settings, played with EQ settings.
Tried USB, 3.5mm from DualSense controller to G6 and compared to VSS sound (SBX) via HDMI-optical splitter (no eARC on my 2016 oled). Referencing the audio balancing with VSS to compare how it sounded thru Tempest with my G6 setup made it pretty apparent that something was afoot.


I had SBX set to 0 (and not disabled). Even with Surround (SBX) set to 0 it was still expanding the stereo signal from Tempest which screwed with some of the voice tracks.

I upgraded from Sound Blaster Connect2 to Sound Blaster Command.
I found in order to KEEP EQ SETTINGS for USB mode (for PS5) I need to do the following:
1) Enable Crystalizer
2) Set Crystalizer to 0 (so it does nothing)
3) Disable Surround (Not set to 0!)
4) Set EQ as needed


Normally Surround (SBX) is at 100, with everything else disabled (crystalizer, bass, smart volume, dialog+), and the only other thing I use is the EQ settings.
With Sound Blaster Command software, the last "item" cannot be disabled (item = Surround, Crystalizer, Bass, Smart Volume, Dialog+).
Surround = 0 is NOT the same as Surround = Disabled
Crystalizer = 0 is the same as Crystalizer = Disabled.
Disabling SBX (the profile) = EQ gets turned off as well.

Now when I disconnect the G6 from my PC to be used on the PS5 all I need to do is disable Surround, leave Crystalizer at 0, and no more fumbling with settings when switching between PS5 and PC/other consoles.



TL;DR: Be careful with SBX/Surround setting. 0 is not the same as Disabled/off.

 

[AxelCloris]

The voices, and only voices, sounded... weird. Some vocal lines sounded like they were recorded with either different mics or in a different room.

You likely nailed that one dead on. It happens a lot in games where a re-recorded line sounds different from everything else around it. You can also find situations where some voice talent records at home while others go to a studio. The DLC for Assassin's Creed: Odyssey was chock full of those mismatches. You'd have two people talking and one would sound fine while the other sounded like they were talking over a cellular connection with a cheap bluetooth headset.

It's probably the game's fault. I wouldn't worry about it too much since you had good luck with the other titles.

 

[Max Bellum]

I just did a test of the top three for the PS5; Steelseries ARCTIS 7P vs Audeze Penrose vs Sony Pulse. Let me start with I am neither paid nor given any equipment to test by any vendor – I do this for myself and out of my own pocket with no axe to grind for any vendor. My review is based on 28 hours of game time with each headset having at least 4+ hours of review.

The answer which surprised even me was – Sony. I tried all three playing Call of Duty (COD) Warzone and Borderlands 3.

Sony Pulse 3D wireless – while they trend towards a heavier bass which you cannot control, the airiness of it was very good and it did an exceptional job on the 3d and the general effects of the games. You felt like you were in the middle of things. This represented itself the best in games like COD; In one episode of COD, I was snipping with another player both of us long distance, both on the ground with him on my right and he was shot first and I could hear the bullet hit and his expire right next to my ear – it was both impressive and uncanny. When you’re in buildings and someone is upstairs *only Sony* seems to be able to create the 3d effect of knowing which direction the feet are traveling / what corner of the room upstairs they are in (Nuketown is an exceptional example of this) No headphones I’ve listened to have ever done as good a job as this in bringing the game to you and making you feel part of the experience like the Sony Pulse have. I tried all 3 in almost the exact same situations and Sony easily bested the other 2. I found myself over the course of playing going back to the Sony’s to play in because the quality of the game experience was so much better.









HD800S – Favorite for critical listening

Focal Utopia – Favorite for personal enjoyment

Shure Se946 – Commuters/daily

Sony WH-1000XM3 - Flying

 

[KamikazeIce]

You likely nailed that one dead on. It happens a lot in games where a re-recorded line sounds different from everything else around it. You can also find situations where some voice talent records at home while others go to a studio. The DLC for Assassin's Creed: Odyssey was chock full of those mismatches. You'd have two people talking and one would sound fine while the other sounded like they were talking over a cellular connection with a cheap bluetooth headset.

It's probably the game's fault. I wouldn't worry about it too much since you had good luck with the other titles.

I'm not sure this was the case for what I heard. I'm talking about from one line to the next of the same dialog (where it would not make any sense to re-record most of the lines another day with different equipment. I'm talking about a single voice actor and their lines sounding strange from one to the next, not different characters/voices sounding as if they were recorded with different equipment or times (like Freedom Planet, each voice actor had their own equipment).

I don't really know how to explain it, but it's something with that game for sure. Better or for worse it helped me fix an issue with my setup so cheers!

 

[WhiteHartMart]

I just did a test of the top three for the PS5; Steelseries ARCTIS 7P vs Audeze Penrose vs Sony Pulse. Let me start with I am neither paid nor given any equipment to test by any vendor – I do this for myself and out of my own pocket with no axe to grind for any vendor. My review is based on 28 hours of game time with each headset having at least 4+ hours of review.

The answer which surprised even me was – Sony. I tried all three playing Call of Duty (COD) Warzone and Borderlands 3.

Sony Pulse 3D wireless – while they trend towards a heavier bass which you cannot control, the airiness of it was very good and it did an exceptional job on the 3d and the general effects of the games. You felt like you were in the middle of things. This represented itself the best in games like COD; In one episode of COD, I was snipping with another player both of us long distance, both on the ground with him on my right and he was shot first and I could hear the bullet hit and his expire right next to my ear – it was both impressive and uncanny. When you’re in buildings and someone is upstairs *only Sony* seems to be able to create the 3d effect of knowing which direction the feet are traveling / what corner of the room upstairs they are in (Nuketown is an exceptional example of this) No headphones I’ve listened to have ever done as good a job as this in bringing the game to you and making you feel part of the experience like the Sony Pulse have. I tried all 3 in almost the exact same situations and Sony easily bested the other 2. I found myself over the course of playing going back to the Sony’s to play in because the quality of the game experience was so much better.









HD800S – Favorite for critical listening

Focal Utopia – Favorite for personal enjoyment

Shure Se946 – Commuters/daily

Sony WH-1000XM3 - Flying

Just goes to show how sound is so individual - I tested the Pulse 3d v Penrose v PC38x v Tygr 300r v Hifiman Sundara (wired via Creative G6) on some games. While the '3d effect' was convincing on the Pulse, audio wise I found them lacking punch with an incredibly hollow sound which I found disappointing. In fact, while convenience was high, they would be the last set I'd pick out of the ones listed that I have tried.

 

[AxelCloris]

I'm not sure this was the case for what I heard. I'm talking about from one line to the next of the same dialog (where it would not make any sense to re-record most of the lines another day with different equipment. I'm talking about a single voice actor and their lines sounding strange from one to the next, not different characters/voices sounding as if they were recorded with different equipment or times (like Freedom Planet, each voice actor had their own equipment).

I don't really know how to explain it, but it's something with that game for sure. Better or for worse it helped me fix an issue with my setup so cheers!

Re-records for the same person on different days happen all the time. Heck, I've done audio re-records on some of our Head-Fi TV videos. (And if nobody noticed, then I pulled them off swimmingly ). Say you have talent recording a monologue for one of Bugsnax's quests. They record everything on their docket for that day and then submit it to the assembly team. If someone happens to notice an issue that wasn't caught during the recording - either by the talent themselves or their studio engineer if working in a team - then they'll have to re-record a single or a couple lines later. They won't generally re-record the entire thing, just the section that's bad and mix it in afterwards. The more revealing your headphones are, the more obvious these mis-matches are going to appear when you're gaming.

 

[fbang]

I think we can all agree that the 3d sound is not the same quality across games. For me only Demon Souls sounds really great. I’m basically keeping the G6 in the hope that more gsme take advantage of it else I would have simply kept my old Dolby headphone setup for all games

 

[jessjj]

I totally disagree with this. I’m using demon souls and through the g6 the sound has much depth. Did you turn off SBX?

Maybe that’s the problem. Is that the little button on the right?
Also, how do you have the g6 hooked up?

 

[jessjj]

Same here, any phones sound underpowered out of the PS5 controller while fine out of the G6.
I do use an extra portable dac/amp for some phones though.

Maybe I‘ve done something improperly because it’s not what I expected. How do you have the g6 hooked up and configured?

 

[Petes67bird]

Maybe I‘ve done something improperly because it’s not what I expected. How do you have the g6 hooked up and configured?

I feel the same way. The Sennheiser Game One sounded weak/flat powered by the PS5 controller vs my mixamp. Sound was very poor through the controller.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

SBX shouldn't be set to 0. It should be completely turned off of you're using Tempest audio from the PS5. Assuming 0 still enables some SBX processing to go through.

 

[Chastity]

SBX shouldn't be set to 0. It should be completely turned off of you're using Tempest audio from the PS5. Assuming 0 still enables some SBX processing to go through.

Correct. On zero it's still doing some Surround shaping. For any HRTF encoded streaming, SBX should be off.

 

[jessjj]

Correct. On zero it's still doing some Surround shaping. For any HRTF encoded streaming, SBX should be off.

Just tested again. Turned off SBX by hitting the button on the right side of the g6, and though it might sound better than sbx on it still seems I’m getting more punch, more detail, and fullness from through the controller. Now...it’s not worlds better. I’d never notice if I weren’t a/b testing and trying to focus on tiny details. It also could be because the pc38x is driven fine with the controller and its just giving it a different signature. Could also be my preference, but the things that are better about the controller over the g6 are things that are important. And again the g6 is great on pc, and even great on ps5, but I just find the controller to sound noticeably better for some crazy reason with the pc38x

 

[lucfer83]

Hi All, im new.

For max 100 bucks do you suggest the Pulse 3D or something else?

Use: Gaming PS5 70%, PC 30%