[drago10029]

That's a good question and I would think it's definitely software and maybe some audio codecs.  Not too sure since I'm not very familiar with sound cards.

 

[Crazymoose]

  That's a good question and I would think it's definitely software and maybe some audio codecs.  Not too sure since I'm not very familiar with sound cards.

So far what I am finding/reading is that the titanium is a good card. But it is not a amp. So a external desktop amp would be a good choice. As for the DAC. The dac in a card like the titanium is pretty OK. So spending more money on a dac seems useless.
 
That means i would go for a titanium for the dac and surround, Any reccomendations as for the amp?

 

[Crazymoose]

I also found an external soundcard from creative. X fi HD (no titanium) But i can't seem to find any comparisons between this one and the titaniums. 

 

[drago10029]

I think from here on since you have the surround sound info you need.  you can just look up the individual product reviews, read the specification sheets on each you're considering and take it from there.  Hopefully you'll get something to drive your sound amazing!
 
Let me know what you decide.

 

[Procrastinating]

All "surround" in headphones is virtual surround, and is almost always Dolby Headphone. As long as the sound-card features it, and is relatively recent (2008+), the software behind them is all exactly the same.
 
The core problem with all "virtual surround" however, is that every person has a different head-related transfer function (HRTF). The software is designed for a "generic head", but because of this your results could be varied.
 
Modern videogames are getting better at handling headphones by themselves; you might be better off just sticking to stereo, and let the game handle the headphone audio. Personally I find that games with a "headphone" audio setting produced much more realistic results than "surround" + soundcard "virtual surround".

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

The only people who would suggest plain stereo over a virtual surround like SBX or Dolby Headphone are people living in the stone age. Those with the purist mentality that cant get over the fact that virtual surround is going to sound different from what theyre used to.

A headphone with little soundstage and virtual surround will trump a headphone with a huuuuuuuge soundstage with a basic stereo signal.

Why? Because virtual surround literally emulates sounds as if you weren't wearing headphones at all. Headphones in stereo is just that, headphone sound.

I'll take a $25 pair of headphones that sound decent + virtual surround, over a $20000 headsphone setup with just stereo.

And I'm referring to using hardware virtual surround like sbx and Dolby Headphone. Not in game settings which fail miserably to throw out a proper surround field.

 

[Rahmiel]

I've been messing around with audio on my computer for about 2 years now.
 
I started with an x-fi titanium fatal1ty card from creative, but when I bought the audiotechnica ath ad700x (or something) headphones there was a buzzing noise in the right ear that wouldn't go away.  I then moved to the xonar phoebus.  The xonar sounded great with my new headphones but there was a brutal buzz on the microphone port.  So I was at a loss there, and ended up buying a blue yeti microphone to use but that didn't last because it picked up too much environmental noise.  I ended up going back to my sennheiser pc360 headset and somehow, in one of the phoebus drivers I managed to eliminate the buzz on the microphone.
 
(My workaround for the buzz on the mic was lowering the mic level in windows under recording devices, AND enabling the noise cancellation effect within the phoebus control panel)
 
The thing is, the positional audio for the xonar phoebus doesn't.. doesn't quite sound right to me.  I can hear things clearly, and distinctly, but I have no sense of position in the world.  It's like.. everything's at the same volume and happening right beside me, whether it's 5m, 25m or on the other side of a wall, down a hallway, etc.  If I don't play with the volume leveler on, then I don't seem to hear things unless they're right beside me.  Again, I dislike the positional audio.  I find it very difficult to distinguish sounds from above me, from ones on my level.
 
So.. I decided to buy a usb dac.  I went with the dragonfly 1.2 and it's nice.  Sounds great.  Problem is, how do I get virtual surround on it?  I've reinstalled my x-fi card and followed nameless' guide where he links to SniperCzar's post re: virtual surround on an external dac.  And it does work.  Sounds clear, and the positional audio is really nice.  I like hearing the cmss-3d again.  But not everything's perfect.  There's a pretty loud hiss if I increase the volume level under the "What U Hear" device or if I increase the volume on the headphones themselves.  If I enable SVM in the mixer, the hiss is really loud, and if I increase the high frequencies under the EQ the hiss also increases (which, both are recommended for fps footsteps and such).
 
So... I'm kinda at a loss here.  But what are my options here?  Is there anything I can try or do?  Is there a way to try my usb dac with the xonar phoebus, or is that creative only with "What U Hear?".  Should I remove the sound cards completely?  But then how do I get virtual surround?  I understand that everyone hears differently and it's all "what sounds good to you".  But I'm wondering if there's a way I can use this dac with my computer to get clear virtual surround sound with a great soundstage.
 
Thanks

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Plenty of souncards with virtual surround. You must make CERTAIN that sound devices is set to 5.1 speakers. That is the ONLY way it ensures the 5.1 sound is then decoded into virtusl surround for headphones. I'm being that was your mistake before.

Dragonfly is not a surround enabled dac, so you're out of luck.

 

[Rahmiel]

Hmm.. alright, I was hoping to use the DSP of my soundcard and output it through the dac to my headphones.  At least, I thought that was the whole purpose to SniperCzar's workaround.  I don't see that with the xonar phoebus.  I know a lot of cards have virtual surround, my x-fi does 5.1 and 7.1 and the phoebus I just use dolby headphone theatre which.. I don't know what surround it is.  Since you don't pick speaker setup or anything.  All this stuff is really aggravating.
 
But, to my understanding, if I have a soundcard installed and a usb dac, the sound coming out of the dac will not have passed through the soundcard so it will not have the virtual surround features of the card.  Or, am I mistaken?
 
The hiss I'm referring to when passing the signal through the soundcard to my dac (as in SniperCzar's method) is due to the "level" setting.  If I lower the level to where I hear no hiss, the volume is really low.  If I increase the level then the hiss comes in.
 
I'm beginning to think the best virtual surround is to skip soundcards altogether and get an hdmi cable and a receiver that can do all the surround stuff and pass that to headphones.