[ColinMacLaren]

Windows can't make positional sounds that don't already exist in the game buddy. Thats why dolby atmos, unless directly supported and designed for by the game devs, I'm only assuming, is also worthless. And if my sound drivers support 3d audio and 3d audio is designed in the games already why would I need the lower quality overpriced gsx?

The GSX transforms the 7.1 sound it recieves from a game and using their own HRTF algorithm creates a spatial sound.

The GSX is useless, if

- You only play games that don't output 5.1 or more channels. Hint: Most modern games do however. Check the list I posted. Hook up Overwatch to a 5.1 or 7.1 rig and hear shot from behind being played by the rear speakers. No virtualisation whatsoever.
- You only play games that have a HRTF-solution built-in AND you like that. Overwatch or CS:Go come to mind.
- You only play Atmos-enabled games. Use Dolby Atmos instead.
- Your head does not fit with the HRTF algorithm of the GSX (Hint: This is you.). Maybe others work better for you. If your onboards sound does, use that. Razer Surround is free, Soundblaster X-Fi MB3 is cheap, X-Fi MB5 can be hacked into most Realtek cards.

The GSX is the best gaming audio device on the market, if

- You play a lot of games that utput 5.1 or more channel but don't have a HRTF-solution built-in OR you don't like that solution.
- Your head fits Sennheiser's HRTF algorithm.
- You like its features, like offering a separate sound device in Windows for communication purposes, so voice chat isn't mixed into the 7.1 mix.

 

[CooloutAC]

The GSX transforms the 7.1 sound it recieves from a game and using their own HRTF algorithm creates a spatial sound.

The GSX is useless, if

- You only play games that don't output 5.1 or more channels. Hint: Most modern games do however. Check the list I posted. Hook up Overwatch to a 5.1 or 7.1 rig and hear shot from behind being played by the rear speakers. No virtualisation whatsoever.
- You only play games that have a HRTF-solution built-in AND you like that. Overwatch or CS:Go come to mind.
- You only play Atmos-enabled games. Use Dolby Atmos instead.
- Your head does not fit with the HRTF algorithm of the GSX (Hint: This is you.). Maybe others work better for you. If your onboards sound does, use that. Razer Surround is free, Soundblaster X-Fi MB3 is cheap, X-Fi MB5 can be hacked into most Realtek cards.

The GSX is the best gaming audio device on the market, if

- You play a lot of games that utput 5.1 or more channel but don't have a HRTF-solution built-in OR you don't like that solution.
- Your head fits Sennheiser's HRTF algorithm.
- You like its features, like offering a separate sound device in Windows for communication purposes, so voice chat isn't mixed into the 7.1 mix.

its useless because my onboard card and drivers sound better. I'd say its the worst "audio" device on the market. Even technically speaking. 16 bit audio? poor mic quality? you gotta be kidding. I'd be paying 250 dollars for a talking piece with cool blinking lights.

As I said before, all fps games have had 3d audio for past 20 years. Pretty sure every modern game period does. I bet the games you play are on the previous posters list.

my "head" has the same complaints for 3rd party surround options, as most humans. The majority of the population won't fit. The GSX wants to claim to be so different, but in reality, the end result is just more of the same. The means used does not matter, only the end result. Something the previous poster also doesn't understand.

Believe me, after paying the amount of money I did, I spent a month trying so hard to make myself like it and justify it. But once I realized I could use the "F" option, as previous poster stated, in bf1 and it sounded better....... I couldn't return the gsx fast enough. I mean I'd be buying the gsx just for bf1, since it didn't impress me in other games like witcher 3 or fallout or titanfall, eso... But now I realize, thats because of EAAudiocore, and the DICE devs, and my sennheiser game zeros.... not the gsx, which degraded the sound.

And yes I also have a decent logitech 5.1 surround system. Even after countless hours of balancing the channels, Believe it or not, I prefer the 3d audio with my headphones for fps gaming.. But For movies I definitely prefer the 5.1 speaker setup.

 

[Glasofruix]

Most games output 16b/48khz audio at best, dunno what you're complaining about. You can't hear the difference between 24b and 16b anyways, and upsampling actually harms the quality. The gsx is also capable of outputting 24b/96khz in stereo.
The gsx sounds great in games with no reverb and minimal quality loss, it's not garbled either (tested with gsp 300 and hd 598 with a xonar phoebus for comoarison)
The mic quality is quite good too (tested with modmic and gsp 300).
You're either deaf or you had a faulty unit.

When it comed to "3D audio" no, games don't do 3d audio mostly (as already explained) because the final audio is mixed with only 8 available channels at best.

 

[CooloutAC]

Most games output 16b/48khz audio at best, dunno what you're complaining about. You can't hear the difference between 24b and 16b anyways, and upsampling actually harms the quality. The gsx is also capable of outputting 24b/96khz in stereo.
The gsx sounds great in games with no reverb and minimal quality loss, it's not garbled either (tested with gsp 300 and hd 598 with a xonar phoebus for comoarison)
The mic quality is quite good too (tested with modmic and gsp 300).
You're either deaf or you had a faulty unit.

When it comed to "3D audio" no, games don't do 3d audio mostly (as already explained) because the final audio is mixed with only 8 available channels at best.

but you can. you mean tell me you change your windows sound settings from 16 to 24 or 32 and don't notice the difference?

16 bit imo, has more bass. then 24 or 32 which will sound slightly more tinnier, but more clarity. I feel like soundstage increases too but could be result of something else. And i'm the one whose "head" is "imbalanced""?? /facepalm. Why would they make 32 bit chips if it didn't have any difference? I haven't used a 16 bit sound card for years. Thats old outdated technology.


And as far as the no reverb thing. I posted my gsx settings when i used it. They were pretty much the same as what sennheiser recommends. Their engineers definitely have more balanced ears then most of the posters here. I used w/e the minimum reverb setting was for fps games, and the next level up of reverb for open world rpg games.

Problem is their product is overpriced for what its worth. The only time I didnt use reverb, was for music. And I never used stereo for anything. But to each his own. I just disagree with most of you and prefer sennheisers recommendations. I'm probably the normal one here lmao... I'm sure they had beta testers.

I also use reverb with my sonic studio software that came with my card. Which, coincidentally, is on by default for everything but music preset.

The only setting on the gsx that was not used by me, besides stereo, was the e-sport setting. Really wish they had custom eq option. With my sonic studio i can level adjust every effect.


And not sure which of the 3 or 4 3d audio definitions you are using. Its definitely diff then mine...

 

[Glasofruix]

To hear 24 or 32b content, you have to actually use 24 or 32b content. CD qualty music is 16b/44.1khz, games are 16b/48khz. Setting your soundcard to higher values means it has to upsample the sound and it can't magically add the missing information. There is no gain at best or a clear degradation at worst. From human hearing perspective there is very little to no difference between 16 and 24b anyways.

No, on "neutral" settings the gsx does not add reverb.

 

[CooloutAC]

To hear 24 or 32b content, you have to actually use 24 or 32b content. CD qualty music is 16b/44.1khz, games are 16b/48khz. Setting your soundcard to higher values means it has to upsample the sound and it can't magically add the missing information. There is no gain at best or a clear degradation at worst. From human hearing perspective there is very little to no difference between 16 and 24b.

No, on "neutral" settings the gsx does not add reverb.

I disagree man, because i clearly hear a difference... You seem like another guy more concerned about whats on paper, or said online by so called "experts" then what you actually hear with your own ears.

Similar to the old timer sheep who parroted the opinion for years that the human eye can't see more then 60 frames per second. Or that the hz of the monitor should match the frames, etc.... When we clearly can see differences..

I don't even think its my hearing that is different then yours. I think its my focus and attention to detail. Sennheiser definitely has good sound engineers, but they went cheap in sound qualilty, to budget other things it seems.

I bet you think human ears can't hear more then 20khz lol.

I use 24bit 48000khz, only reason I don't use 32bit, is for processor resource reasons and compatibility. It might be incompatible with some sources. if I put it to 16 bit I notice a difference. Not drastic but its there. I feel 24 bit has more clarity. Maybe its not adding more source information, but thats what it sounds like to my ears. windows must be doing something.

I preferred the reverb for gaming with the gsx. But I guess i'm very different then most posters here. The sennheiser engineers seem more in tune with my hearing... But I still think headphones matter the most. I use game zeros.

 

[Glasofruix]

I disagree man, because i clearly hear a difference... You seem like another guy more concerned about whats on paper, or said online by so called "experts" then what you actually hear with your own ears.

What you're hearing are the artifacts your soundcard adds when it interpolates 16b audio into 24b audio, because it has to add something, be it "blank" samples or copies of adjacent samples. The quantity of those artifacts depends on your sound card's processing. It's either that or you manage to convince yourself that 24b > 16b no matter what. If you do, i have gold plated toslink cables to sell. I mean it's physics 101, aka real world.

Similar to the old timer sheep who parroted the opinion for years that the human eye can't see more then 60 frames per second. Or that the hz of the monitor should match the frames, etc.... When we clearly can see differences.. They get the same reply.

Because objectively speaking human hearing is easier to test than human vision, you can either hear sounds, or you can't simple as that. As for the framerate question, what you're mentionning is actually an evolution from the the "humans can only see 24 fps" hoax that came before that, it was immediatelly proven as bullcrap then, as it is now.

 

[CooloutAC]

What you're hearing are the artifacts your soundcard adds when it interpolates 16b audio into 24b audio, because it has to add something, be it "blank" samples or copies of adjacent samples. The quantity of those artifacts depends on your sound card's processing. It's either that or you manage to convince yourself that 24b > 16b no matter what. If you do, i have gold plated toslink cables to sell. I mean it's physics 101, aka real world.

whatever is going on. I prefer it lol.

Because objectively speaking human hearing is easier to test than human vision, you can either hear sounds, or you can't simple as that. As for the framerate question, what you're mentionning is actually an evolution from the the "humans can only see 24 fps" hoax that came before that, it was immediatelly proven as bullcrap then, as it is now.

Strange since people are quick to shout imbalances and different "heads" as reason for thinking the gsx sounds muffled or muddy. Strange that I hear a difference between diff bit rates and you seem not to hear any diff at all.


And it was 60 fps, not 24. and Some people still believe it. alot of FPS counters to this day still show anything under 60 as yellow, under 50 as red, and anything over 60 as green. But once you get use to 120 fps, 60 feels like in the red lol.

People can get used to anything and it becomes normal to them, if they have never experienced anything else, or even try it.

Then again my mother has always joked that I can hear a firetruck coming almost a minute before anyone else. But I don't think its my hearing, I always tell her its just my focus and attention and noticing it sooner. I'm just more conscious of my surroundings.

 

[Glasofruix]

I do hear the difference between 16b and upsampled 24b on a bad sound card (any realtek chip), the quality takes a noticeable dip. The difference between true 24b and 16b sound is nearly nonexistent.

Oh and we're not talking about bitrates here but bit depth, that's what the "b" after 16 or 24 stands for.

 

[CooloutAC]

I do hear the difference between 16b and upsampled 24b on a bad sound card (any realtek chip), the quality takes a noticeable dip. The difference between true 24b and 16b sound is nearly nonexistent.

oh so now you hear a diff? I disagree and think the clarity and soundstage increases. And what would the chip matter, if its windows doing the upsampling?

If you are setting your windows audio quality less then the defaults, You really are depriving yourself.

 

[Glasofruix]

It really does not.

 

[DasKobold]

Listened to HardwareCanucks vid and sounds like a typical gimmicky soundcard. I would not buy this over a normal dac/amp combo.

 

[CooloutAC]

It really does not.

well we agree to disagree, to each his own.

Just like I think the sennheiser engineers are more consicous of sound then posters on here, who just follow others. The same must go for the windows sound engineers. I guess its the reason they have the jobs they do, and you guys don't. lol.

Seems even crazier for you to use the gsx then me, since you don't even like any of the settings on it.

 

[Glasofruix]

Listened to HardwareCanucks vid and sounds like a typical gimmicky soundcard. I would not buy this over a normal dac/amp combo.

That's because Dimitri cranked the reverb to 11 on top of the quality loss induced by the recording, it sounds way better than that. And it's solely meant for gaming, not for adiophile (whatever that means...) sound quality. A better sample here:



(notice that the recording induces a slight quality loss)

 

[CooloutAC]

That's because Dimitri cranked the reverb to 11 on top of the quality loss induced by the recording, it sounds way better than that. A better sample here:



(notice that the recording induces a slight quality loss)

what do you mean cranked reverb to 11? The gsx only has 3 presets? None of which you even use since like many, you've stated you don't like the effects.

Sonic studio with my "cheap realtek" on the other hand. has level adjustments for reverb. as would any soundcard.

BTW, now that you admit upscaling makes a diff in windows audio settings. One day your community will realize, it sounds better for it.
some people prefer to use 24 bit at 196,000khz, and contrary to your belief, they think it sounds fuller. I just use windows defaults, cause I try to get the best fps in gaming. But i'd be crazy to put it lower.