PS4 Positional Audio Setup

[maddogmsb]

Okay, so I currently have a dedicated outbuilding (manshed) for gaming with a fairly mediocre 5.1 speaker setup, and projector screen. I mostly play Battlefield 4.

Happy with the display, but I want to upgrade my audio setup, in anticipation of Battlefield 1.

My aim is to achieve the best positional accuracy I can. I will take accuracy and clarity over thundering bass, and silky tones. Function over form if you will. I can live with it sounding a bit tinny, as long as the footsteps actually sound like they're just behind away to the left of me 15 metres away.

I've been flirting with heaphones/headset as an alternative to a surround speaker setup as some seem to think they can achieve better positional accuracy for FPS gaming. On a whim, and for a real bargain price, and on the advice of several review forums I bought a Sony gold 2.0 7.1 VSS headset. I am not impressed to.say the least and it is going straight back.

So my current options are to upgrade my 5.1 setup to 7.1 with a new HDMI pass through AV receiver and some new speakers, or spend that money on a decent heaphone/mixamp setup for either quality stereo or possibly Viritual 7.1.

So although I realise this is all very subjective, my question's for y'all are as follow's..

1. Can headphones beat a real half decent 7.1 speaker setup for positional accuracy in either stereo or VSS at any price bracket?

2. Is VSS even a viable option or just a gimmick I should immediately discount? I have heard some VSS demos on YouTube and they are pretty impressive, but the Sony VSS headset I tried was not very convincing. Are all VSS algorithms therefore not equal? And if not, how do I choose a 'good' one?

3. I do want to game chat, so in the event I go down the headphone route, are there any 'headsets' (ie with chat mike) that are worthy of consideration, or do I invest in quality dedicated stereo headphones and then worry about the mic set up later?

I reckon I can get a decent used AV amp and a pair of bookshelf speaker's for around £300. So that's my target budget. Feel free to tell me this is nowhere near enough!!

Thanking y'all in advance for your input.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Astro Mix-amp and Sennheiser HD558 headphones and any add-on mic you like.
Should be some good deals on used Mix-amps and HD558s on eBay.

 

[cel4145]

I've been flirting with heaphones/headset as an alternative to a surround speaker setup as some seem to think they can achieve better positional accuracy for FPS gaming.

Doubtful since headphones are only simulating surround using two drivers. It's your brain filling in part of the positional accuracy.

1. Can headphones beat a real half decent 7.1 speaker setup for positional accuracy in either stereo or VSS at any price bracket?

By "half decent" do you mean well placed, too? Or just a decent 7.1 set of speakers? And what is "decent" to you?

So my current options are to upgrade my 5.1 setup to 7.1 with a new HDMI pass through AV receiver and some new speakers, or spend that money on a decent heaphone/mixamp setup for either quality stereo or possibly Viritual 7.1.

Have you already optimized placement of your speakers? What are your current speakers? What is your current AVR? Why do you need a new one? Are you certain you can properly place an additional two speakers?

 

[maddogmsb]

Astro Mix-amp and Sennheiser HD558 headphones and any add-on mic you like.
Should be some good deals on used Mix-amps and HD558s on eBay.

Hi, and thanks for taking the time to reply.

Yeh, I've heard and seen good things about these two products, as the 'go to' headphone and amp pairing.

Is it your opinion and/or experience that these can out perform a budget 5.1/7.1 speaker Home Theatre setup in terms of positional accuracy for FPS gaming?

Cheers.

 

[maddogmsb]

Doubtful since headphones are only simulating surround using two drivers. It's your brain filling in part of the positional accuracy.
By "half decent" do you mean well placed, too? Or just a decent 7.1 set of speakers? And what is "decent" to you?
Have you already optimized placement of your speakers? What are your current speakers? What is your current AVR? Why do you need a new one? Are you certain you can properly place an additional two speakers?

Hi there, and thanks for your reply.

Okay so my current setup is as follows...

I have a 6 metre by 3 metre purpose built outbuilding, 20 metres from any adjoining buildings and it's thermally insulated and heated for year round use. Volume level is not an issue.

PS4 via toslink to an old Sony Dolby/DTS 5.1 amp. Front Pair of old Bose 801 direct/reflecting speakers, rear's and old pair of Bose bookshelf direct/reflecting speakers. Then I have a set of old Panasonic 5.1 satellite speakers and passive sub that where a 'light' home cinema setup, to use as additional surrounds for 7.1.

Speaker placement isnt an issue since the room is dedicated for my sole use.

By decent I mean a ~£200 used A/V amp from Ebay, and possibly some used speakers to compliment or improve upon the performance of the ones I already have, eg a pair of half decent bookshelf speaker's for the additional 2 channels instead of the satellites.

Hope this helps. Cheers!!

 

[cel4145]

The Bose 801, 601, 301, etc. series typically don't provide the precise imaging that is achieved with comparable quality direct radiating speakers. It's the nature of their reflective sound. For instance, direct radiating (also called monopoles) are typically considered better for more precise definition of the surround stage than bipoles/dipoles in smaller home theater rooms. Check these resources out:
http://www.audioholics.com/home-theater-connection/loudspeaker-placement-guide
https://www.electronichouse.com/how-to/best-speaker-placement-bipole-dipole-direct/

Since you already have the Bose, my suggestion would be to start a thread here: http://www.avsforum.com/forum/usercp.php. See if people have suggestions about how to best optimize them for positional accuracy. You would want to provide a list of all equipment (make/model), distance of the primary listening position from the front sound stage, placement of the primary listening position in the room, and location of all speakers.

 

[Monsterzero]

I have a MixAmp Pro 2013 and it provides better positioning than my A/V system(which is very un-budget) but I prefer to use the speakers as headphones,regardless of comfort, do get tiring after several hours of shooting bad guys.