[Jodiuh]

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If you weren't using CMSS3D, the sound quality wouldn't take a dive, but then again both CMSS3D and DH do it to the sound, it just feels awfully artificial IMO.
 
I don't really like the STX sound, too harsh and treble happy for me, while the Titanium HD is more neutral with a gentle warmth to it, and since I prefer warmer over colder/brighter, the choice is easy.
 
I do understand what you mean about the control panel, but my quarrel with it is more it being bloat rather than unusable. It's no Audigy or SB Live! control panel, but still usable.
About switching modes, ever since both a third party and Creative down the line made available an auto mode switcher, that's not much of a concern, especially if you have the exact settings you like on each mode.
 
If Creative had the entire feature set configuration available to Creative Audio Control Panel rather than the Console Launcher, I'd be a happy man, as the former is straight to the point without visual fluff while the latter has more eye candy.

Artificial's a great way to describe both of them. I'm ok w/ DH for movies, but not for games.
 
Interesting about the Tit HD being warmer...I tried to grab one from BB when it was $50, but missed out.
 
The Creative software needs a one stop shop and the mode switching needs to go, lol! When that happens, I'll try it out again.
 
 
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After some asking around here and there, I'm getting the Q701 sometime in April.  Here's hoping I get my mind blown away when I receive them.  (Then again I need to ship my PS3, and a new mixamp and my stuff over here while I'm waiting too lol)

 
What headphones are you coming from?
 

 

[AxelDaemon]

Astro A40? -COUGHS-
 
Edit: Well little backstory again, Astro A40 set was my first serious purchase when I didn't know any better about the headphone world.  With a decent soundcard some tweaks in the EQ and what not, it did sound great to my ears.  Past that though I don't have any reference to some real premium headphones.  So after talking to MLE and so on, they recommended to me to try out the Q701 for the balance it offers and being a great all rounder headphone that I can "play it safe" with.

 

[Jodiuh]

Not familiar w/ those. Do you have an amp for the Q701's? Is that the Mixamp? What is that?

 

[AxelDaemon]

Not entirely sure what you mean when you say you're unfamiliar but, astrogaming.com is also like Turtlebeach etc in that they market on "gaming headsets".  What's featured usually is the headset (A40) and the Mixamp which is a DAC Amp (am I saying that right? newb to terminology still), which together costs $250, which actually has a discount to it since separately the headphones cost $200, while the Mixamp is $130.
 
Now the Mixamp provides a multitude of options on how to hook up your audio.  (Actually just about every connection save for 3.5mm setups for 5.1, which you can just do through Coaxial or Toslink) and is held with high regard in the forums here (with maybe some naysayers I suppose lol).  Least you'll see MLE and everyone in this topic vouch for it.  On top of that and it's something I didn't think of, you can also make the Mixamp a hub if you end up using most of the inputs for one thing after another (credit to ninjikiran for telling me that).  It's got a master volume dial which unfortunately starts hissing at/past 1 oclock.  It's also got a tinier nob that handles the channels between the source volume and your mic volume.  Going left or right more provides more amp for that side while reducing the other.  It's also the only DAC Amp to natively provide you dolby headphone at the touch of a button.  (Maybe?)
 
The headset, well it suffers from "It's nice, but at that price range there's alot of headphones/headsets that can blow it out of the water and even cheaper ones" syndrome lol.  Mic clarity is REALLY good though.
 
And I just keep blabbering on.
 
Though bollocks, the one computer parts store that's actually up to date on technology compared to every OTHER store (GTS 8800 anyone?) only has Asus sound cards stocked in their store, and either stopped selling Creative cards all together or will stock at a later date.
 
Though I'm still debating on what soundcard to get honestly.  Heck I wonder how Auzuntech is doing lately, weren't they the first and only group to have gotten Creative's proprietary technology?  Then there's HT Omega.

 

[Roller]

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Artificial's a great way to describe both of them. I'm ok w/ DH for movies, but not for games.
 
Interesting about the Tit HD being warmer...I tried to grab one from BB when it was $50, but missed out.
 
The Creative software needs a one stop shop and the mode switching needs to go, lol! When that happens, I'll try it out again.
 

DH for movies is ok, but I find its effect fatiguing after half an hour of listening. I usually set a very slight, almost imperceptible, Theatre EAX preset between -18 and -12dB.
 
You missed an amazing deal, that price really isn't something you see easily.
 
Apparently Creative can't make up their mind if they want to focus on accuracy or eye candy, with different users for each area. And no, I don't find the Asus control panel particularly pleasant to use, looks quite cheap tbh.
 
I never understood why the X-Fi DSP had to switch modes rather than having a single operation mode that encompassed all available operations on each chip version. I've pondered if it was power related, as in the card drawing more power than a soundcard usually does, but that's not really the case as the power differences are little over 10W, and the idea of overcomplicating hardware operations to set themselves apart from the competition makes no sense. But at the time the first X-Fi generation surfaced, Creative and E-MU were still very tied together and the flagship first gen X-Fi cards had far higher performance than both regular and flagship second gen X-Fi cards (excluding the Titanium HD), so it could've been a way to separate consumer from prosumer markets, perhaps.

 

[Jodiuh]

Screw audio, Nvidia released the 680 today! Wooooooooooooooooo!
 

 

[Phos]

It's because the DSP needs to be reconfigured. The hardware resources are allocated in different ways in different modes.

 

[Roller]

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Screw audio, Nvidia released the 680 today! Wooooooooooooooooo!
 

So I've heard. I'm more eager about the fresh WHQL driver that's adding a couple nifty features as well as long overdue TDR fixes.


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It's because the DSP needs to be reconfigured. The hardware resources are allocated in different ways in different modes.

There's no real reason why that can't be done on the fly. And if specific apps require specific features, Creative could've just used a profile system akin to Nvidia's.

 

[Jodiuh]

Quote:

So I've heard. I'm more eager about the fresh WHQL driver that's adding a couple nifty features as well as long overdue TDR fixes.

 
Oooh...I hope it lets my card drop to 2D clocks/volts when running dual monitors like the 680! Also, FWIW, I had EVGA RMA a 560 Ti twice and never got rid of those issues. Finally, got them to give me a refund and picked up one of those triple fan (Arctic Cooling style) Galaxy 580's. Haven't had a single driver crash since...go figure. But yes, I'm placing the blame squarely on the 560 Ti seeing as Nv even asked for them to bug check!
 

 

[Roller]

Quote:

 
Oooh...I hope it lets my card drop to 2D clocks/volts when running dual monitors like the 680! Also, FWIW, I had EVGA RMA a 560 Ti twice and never got rid of those issues. Finally, got them to give me a refund and picked up one of those triple fan (Arctic Cooling style) Galaxy 580's. Haven't had a single driver crash since...go figure. But yes, I'm placing the blame squarely on the 560 Ti seeing as Nv even asked for them to bug check!
 

You picked a good card to replace the GTX 560Ti, both chip version and brand.
 
There has been some controversy over side effects that new power management tweaks from by Nvidia since 275.xx drivers have done to some cards, regardless of series, which is why it's responsible to let new drivers be out in the wild for some time, as users will soon report any undesired behaviors. Unless you want to be a guinea pig

The new series does indeed promote improved Powermizer settings on both single and multimonitor setups, so you should be able to have automatic clock and voltage adjustments on your dual monitor setup.
 
My only question about the new drivers so far is if the new TXAA feature advertised for 600 series cards will also be ported to 500 series and below. After all, 16x MSAA image quality at the performance cost of ~4x MSAA sounds rather appealing

 

[Jodiuh]

Who cares! Buy a 680!

 

[Roller]

Quote:

Who cares! Buy a 680!

You crazy? Either go quad SLI or go home

 

[Indread]

So I've got an update on the Turtle Beach DSS2's. I wouldn't trust what some individuals are saying on Amazon.com; they seem more confused than I was.
 
I contacted Turtle Beach, and they stated the new DSS2 is no longer using Dolby Headphone processing, but their own algorithm. Which explains the lack of 7.1 or 5.1 reference on their advertising. I have no clue if their processing is as good as DH, and it's hard to find any comparisons since it's relatively new...
 
That's all I got.

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

So I've got an update on the Turtle Beach DSS2's. I wouldn't trust what some individuals are saying on Amazon.com; they seem more confused than I was.
 
I contacted Turtle Beach, and they stated the new DSS2 is no longer using Dolby Headphone processing, but their own algorithm. Which explains the lack of 7.1 or 5.1 reference on their advertising. I have no clue if their processing is as good as DH, and it's hard to find any comparisons since it's relatively new...
 
That's all I got.

What?  That's no good.  I doubt TB could beat Dolby Headphone for DSP algorithms.  Sounds like Turtle Beach may have had licensing issues with Dolby...
 
 

 

[spoonstar]

I guess I'm glad that I didn't go with previous experience with older Turtle Beach cards when looking for a new one. Their track record with me has been exemplary before, but, as you said chicolom, I'm not so sure Turtle Beach's DSP algorithms would cut it with me.