[David.M]

I just revived from inactivity, but big shout-out to the people like MLE and others who keep updating this thread and all the useful information that's out there.

To me, its kinda funny, It's 2018 and nothing significant has been implemented (software wise) that with just 1 click of a button, you get true 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound for your speakers or headphones, and then one click to turn them off.

Even Atmos or Windows Sonic are on full tilt mode, AC:Origins (for the pc) developer removes the Atmos feature, who even knews if the game worked with it on or without it on, Now there's no support for it, and its a mixed bag of people saying it works or it doesn't.

ITS 2018. Why isn't software calibration up to spec? Razer Surround? Jibberish. Windows Sonic and Atmos? Questionable at the best. What about that 10 dollar sound card program that you could buy on steam? Even that thing was going haywire. Why don't you just make Dolby headphone available to all windows users for a one time fee and have your software actually work for once.

Why do i have to spend money on Creative Sound Cards and Creative products like the X7 to do 1 small thing that I've been scratching my head for years for them to integrate properly.

 

[HairyHook]

I just revived from inactivity, but big shout-out to the people like MLE and others who keep updating this thread and all the useful information that's out there.

To me, its kinda funny, It's 2018 and nothing significant has been implemented (software wise) that with just 1 click of a button, you get true 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound for your speakers or headphones, and then one click to turn them off.

Even Atmos or Windows Sonic are on full tilt mode, AC:Origins (for the pc) developer removes the Atmos feature, who even knews if the game worked with it on or without it on, Now there's no support for it, and its a mixed bag of people saying it works or it doesn't.

ITS 2018. Why isn't software calibration up to spec? Razer Surround? Jibberish. Windows Sonic and Atmos? Questionable at the best. What about that 10 dollar sound card program that you could buy on steam? Even that thing was going haywire. Why don't you just make Dolby headphone available to all windows users for a one time fee and have your software actually work for once.

Why do i have to spend money on Creative Sound Cards and Creative products like the X7 to do 1 small thing that I've been scratching my head for years for them to integrate properly.

Check out the Smyth Realiser A16. I felt exactly like you and when I tried it at CanJam SoCal this year it gave me hope that true headphone virtualization with personalized measurements can be obtained. There is a full A16 thread here in Head-Fi.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I just revived from inactivity, but big shout-out to the people like MLE and others who keep updating this thread and all the useful information that's out there.

To me, its kinda funny, It's 2018 and nothing significant has been implemented (software wise) that with just 1 click of a button, you get true 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound for your speakers or headphones, and then one click to turn them off.

Actually, the Sennheiser GSX1000 has 1 button press to go from 2 speakers to 7.1 at the driver level.

 

[Fegefeuer]

LOL. Oh no.

NOT YOU TOO.

Being serious for a moment, holy crap do people here complain about literally anything.

Now I'm a suspected Audeze shill?

I WISH A COMPANY PAID ME BEHIND THE SCENES! LOL

I got those accusations as well (especially getting paid) because I have two Lake People threads going, WHILE I ACTUALLY PAID FOR MY AMP MYSELF AND SAVED UP FOR IT FOR GOOD AMOUNT OF TIME. I EVEN PREFER SCHIIT DACS TO OTHERS. HEY SCHIIT PAY MEEY, I WANT A SCHIIT SCHILLA LOICENSE

 

[BrightCandle]

There is also Spartial sound card on Steam which is pretty similar to SBX pro and offers a very simple switch process as well.

 

[Yngvarr]

I've got a Sennheiser GSX 1000, and after work, i'm going to pick up my AKG K701's.
And then, we'll see what kind of sound I can get out of those.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I've got a Sennheiser GSX 1000, and after work, i'm going to pick up my AKG K701's.
And then, we'll see what kind of sound I can get out of those.

The GSX1000 is a bit underpowered for the AKGs. I hope you have a desktop and to help the GSX power them.

You might get enough volume, but it DEFINITELY is far from ideal.

 

[illram]

I feel like virtual surround needs an industry consortium-like push to really get going, as without branding and advertising pushing it I don't think 90% of people really care about it, or even understand it. If you compare it to the video-world, you have cool stuff like HDR, or freesync/g-sync, or 4K (or whatever new cool thing) and you also have either a single big player (e.g. Nvidia or Samsung or AMD or the HDMI consortium) pushing it as an industry wide standard and advertising it to constantly sell new product. We basically have Dolby and Microsoft (I wouldn't put Creative in their league, from a size/influence perspective) and they don't seem to be supporting VSS as well as they could beyond offering buggy, not quite working products, almost as after-thoughts. (Oh hey our latest windows update also includes this Sonic thing, check out the last bullet point on page 11 of our patch notes!) It does not seem like many publishers really care too much about filling in those gaps beyond supporting the speaker world. I think with more and more people using headphones to play games on their phones, or plugged into their controllers, etc. it's a real opportunity for someone to step in with a very cool, "instant-wow" experience that is a simple software solution that actually works, 100% all the time, like a real binaural or 3D surround standard or something like that.

 

[AxelCloris]

I've got a Sennheiser GSX 1000, and after work, i'm going to pick up my AKG K701's.
And then, we'll see what kind of sound I can get out of those.

I'm with MLE, you'll probably want to consider adding an amp to the mix if you're using the AKG K701 with the GSX 1000.

 

[Yngvarr]

The GSX1000 is a bit underpowered for the AKGs. I hope you have a desktop and to help the GSX power them.

You might get enough volume, but it DEFINITELY is far from ideal.

Would it be better to invest in a Magni/Modi stack and use software solutions for 7.1 VSS?

 

[AppleheadMay]

Would it be better to invest in a Magni/Modi stack and use software solutions for 7.1 VSS?

IMO no. The Magni isn’t that powerful either and the GSX1000 does a hell of a job creating game surround.
Plus I wonder if your 7.1 surround wouldn’t be messed up by a 2 channel dac.

Why not route the ouput of the GSX to a real headphone amp?
I use it that way with a HDVA 600

 

[Yethal]

I feel like virtual surround needs an industry consortium-like push to really get going, as without branding and advertising pushing it I don't think 90% of people really care about it, or even understand it. If you compare it to the video-world, you have cool stuff like HDR, or freesync/g-sync, or 4K (or whatever new cool thing) and you also have either a single big player (e.g. Nvidia or Samsung or AMD or the HDMI consortium) pushing it as an industry wide standard and advertising it to constantly sell new product. We basically have Dolby and Microsoft (I wouldn't put Creative in their league, from a size/influence perspective) and they don't seem to be supporting VSS as well as they could beyond offering buggy, not quite working products, almost as after-thoughts. (Oh hey our latest windows update also includes this Sonic thing, check out the last bullet point on page 11 of our patch notes!) It does not seem like many publishers really care too much about filling in those gaps beyond supporting the speaker world. I think with more and more people using headphones to play games on their phones, or plugged into their controllers, etc. it's a real opportunity for someone to step in with a very cool, "instant-wow" experience that is a simple software solution that actually works, 100% all the time, like a real binaural or 3D surround standard or something like that.

VSS is much trickier than gsync or HDR. There are only two HDR standards, Dolby Vision and HDR-10, the same with variable refresh rate, there is g-sync and freesync. Now look at the audio industry. We have so many competing standards it's not even funny. Until one dominant vss standard emerges we will never see it become mainstream.

 

[Yngvarr]

IMO no. The Magni isn’t that powerful either and the GSX1000 does a hell of a job creating game surround.
Plus I wonder if your 7.1 surround wouldn’t be messed up by a 2 channel dac.

Why not route the ouput of the GSX to a real headphone amp?
I use it that way with a HDVA 600

What amp would you suggest, preferably one that's easily available to mainland Europe?

 

[illram]

VSS is much trickier than gsync or HDR. There are only two HDR standards, Dolby Vision and HDR-10, the same with variable refresh rate, there is g-sync and freesync. Now look at the audio industry. We have so many competing standards it's not even funny. Until one dominant vss standard emerges we will never see it become mainstream.

Yeah that's what I was trying to say (in my incoherent ramble). My virtual surround utopia is a standard, true 3D audio headphone solution that is available on every game, is 100% software based (so, use any hardware and headphones you want) and is so good you actually really are missing out NOT using headphones vs. surround (channel-based) speakers when playing.

If Windows Sonic and Atmos were actually working products we could already be here but they are currently not as good as the channel virtualizing competition.

 

[AppleheadMay]

What amp would you suggest, preferably one that's easily available to mainland Europe?

A second hand HDVA 600 should be quite affordable, about a third of the price listed on the Senn website.
But a lot depends on the price you’re willing to pay. There are heaps of amps and I can only talk about the ones I had or heard.

Edit: A cheper Violectric or SPL might be an option as well, looking at my list.