[Enverxis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Falqon I agree completely on the lack of center with the Zalmans, and I realize that they aren't good for sound quality, that's why I don't own a pair. And thank you for the sound perception lesson. I just know that I've never had the cash for a 5.1 setup, and I've never owned a pair of speakers or headphones that I was able to discern left front and left rear with. I listened to that binaural .mp3. I'm not saying that everybody should go out and buy these things, I'm just saying I've been to a Zalman booth (or maybe it was creative) either way, I've played with there little sound flying around you demo and it was very convincing. I've even played games with them on my head and I was shocked at the sound discernment. IMO they're not for everybody, but the are well designed for gamers, the seal (on my friends head at least) is really good, I sit right next to him when we play and I either have to shout or knock him upside the head to get his attention, which is great for loud LAN environments. All I'm wondering is how many people have honestly tried them for games, not read a review saying they suck.

forget the Zalmans, if you are HELLBENT on getting 5.1 Headphones, then the Speedlink Medusa is the set to get from www.medusa-usa.com
Although I prefer my MS-2s for playing Counter-Strike, i feel that Counter-Strike is unable to support surround sound very effectively.
Although in Call of Duty I believe my Medusa's were better, but only just.

 

[Falqon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enverxis forget the Zalmans, if you are HELLBENT on getting 5.1 Headphones, then the Speedlink Medusa is the set to get from www.medusa-usa.com Although I prefer my MS-2s for playing Counter-Strike, i feel that Counter-Strike is unable to support surround sound very effectively. Although in Call of Duty I believe my Medusa's were better, but only just.

lol, which counter strike? Cause the almost 7 (I think) year old one isn't exactly a sound quality demo. Honestly, if you want to test audio setups with a game, Doom3 is your best bet.

edit: Whew, as for those medusa's, I see why you guys are always apologizing to wallets.

 

[D4RPA]

I'm going on a tangent here since no one really talked about it, but what do you guys think about onBoard sound? I know that onBoard has been getting pretty decent. How do you feel about onBoard sound, specially with the nForce chipset from nVidia?

 

[halcyon]

I think this is getting OT and should be moved to another forum, but I'll digress for a second...

- Many onboard sound have bad implementation, even if the theory is good: bad noise supression, lousy dacs, overhearing from output to input, etc.

- Soundstorm DD output is really good for games, imho. In fact, combine that with a dolby headphone virtualizer (say, Philips SBC-1500 combo) and you have a really killer headphone setup, imho. Unfortunately it is only available for the Athlon XP platform

- For highest fps, highest number of concurrent DirectSound3D streams and most occlusion effects, there is still no substitute for a Creative (audigy series) card. Granted, they are not without faults, but for games I think they are on many fronts unsurpassed.

That's my two cents worth.

regards,
halcyon

 

[lindrone]

I think for games... Audigy is probably the best solution there is out there. Although the onboard sound these days has improved to a point where playing games with them really isn't that big of an issue. I myself no longer have an add-on soundcard of any sort for my games. I've found onboard sound's 3d positioning mostly acceptible.

Of course, there's the issue with "noise".. (I can hear electrical noise sometimes.. when my mouse moves!)... but in games it really doesn't matter that much.

For music though, they're obviously not up to par.

What I find really sad, is that the best 3d positional sound for games that I've ever experienced was Aureal3D... but Creative Labs put them out of business through their juggernaut marketing and money... and Creative's own EAX is just reverb and echo.. lame.

 

[D4RPA]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lindrone Of course, there's the issue with "noise".. (I can hear electrical noise sometimes.. when my mouse moves!)... but in games it really doesn't matter that much.

I've found that to be annoying as well. Especially when trying to spectate a match and you're trying to focus on something else, with a ZIZZing noise in the background everytime you move your mouse. It sucks. That's the main reason I would recommend getting a soundcard instead of using onBoard sound.

 

[D4RPA]

Quote:

Originally Posted by halcyon I think this is getting OT and should be moved to another forum, but I'll digress for a second...

I don't think its getting OT. Everything discussed in this thread can help some curious gamer down the road, looking into purchasing some good quality headphones and wondering what else he can do to boost his equipment's performance. This thread will be quite helpful. I know its been for me.

 

[Vadi]

The Philips cards with the Thunderbird Avenger chip - IIRC they've been discontinued - were the only ones which provided 96 3d audio sources (Audigy max 48).

 

[Enverxis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Falqon lol, which counter strike? Cause the almost 7 (I think) year old one isn't exactly a sound quality demo. Honestly, if you want to test audio setups with a game, Doom3 is your best bet. edit: Whew, as for those medusa's, I see why you guys are always apologizing to wallets.

CS 1.6

no that is definantly not a sound quality demo.

I hated Doom 3 and will never play it again, 1. It ran **** on my computer, 2. It lost its effect on the second level of the game

 

[D4RPA]

Here is an interesting thing I read in MAXIMUM PC in their Januar 2005 issue about Half Life 2:

Quote:

Originally Posted by MAXIMUM PC Like Doom3, Half Life 2 eschews hardware sound interfaces like EAX and DirectSound3D in favor of a homegrown, CPU-based audio engine. Valve's engineers found they simply couldn't deliver the high-quality aural experience they wanted using currect technology. Its proprietary sound engine employs some cleaver tricks, detailed below, to create sound that behaves much like it does in the real world. The overall effect is extremely convincing -Many supported sound effects in Half Life 2 are split into two - a high-frequency portion and a low-frequency portion. By playing different combinations of the high- and low-frequency sounds, the engine can approximate the way sound functions in the real world. For example, when you hear a sound under water, the game fades out the high frequencies, but leaves in the low frequencies. Likewise, when an object comes between you and a sound source, the high-frequency sounds are reflected by the object and never make it to you. In real life, low-frequency sounds are not as easily reflected. To emulate this effect, the Source engine automatically drops out the high-frequency sound effects in these situations. If you're in close proximity to an explosion or gunshot, the engine cranks up the high- and low-frequency sounds for dramatic effect. -In addition to storing physics information for all the objects used in the game, the materials engine also stores sound effects for the various materials. Fire three shots into a piece of wood, and you'll hear three slightly different sounds. This isn't limited to bullet impacts, either. When two materials - say the metal of a barrel and the earthen ground - collide, they make one of many unique sounds. - Because they weren't using standard sound API's, Valve's engineers went out of their way to support different speaker configurations. In Half Life 2, the in-game sounds and dynamic music have been mixed to support two-channel, four-channel, 5.1, and headphone setups. As a result, you'll get sound that's specifically tuned to your configuration. Loads of small positional sound effects effectively immerse you in the game. For example, when something on one side of your body makes an extremely loud noise - say a grenade explosion - you lose hearing on that side for a few seconds.

I know its kind of off-topic, but you gotta appreciate great technology, right?