[DJINFERNO806]

I remember when I used to hang around on this one computer enthusiast forum and try and explain that hardware acceleration wasn't dead in Vista - DirectSound3D was.

One of the guys there said I was talking rubbish about that and mechanical keyboards while hyping up Logitech gaming products and such. He was a moderator, too, albeit not the owner.

Arguing with him would lead nowhere fast, so I deemed that forum a lost cause and left.

Hah sounds like the Google + PC gaming community I joined. Daily arguments with people who are in the "industry"....

Yet seem to know actually very little about PC gaming Audio. I just had an argument with this one dude who thought all modern games use EAX... After some schooling, he did not answer back.

 

[EarwaxDAC]

Does anyone know if the X-Fi Titanium HD has a mic boost / preamp? I finally received mine and everything with CMSS-3d works great, but there isn't any mic boost in the driver settings. My onboard Realtek has this feature and it helps with my mic.

 

[EarwaxDAC]

Research completed. There is no mic gain on the Titanium HD.
 
What are folks out there using for a mic then? I am using a mic that is very similar to a ATR-3350, it's a generic knockoff I purchased almost a decade ago. No spec on sensitivity.

 

[Evshrug]

Hmm, nameless will have better familiarity to answer that one... all the newer Creative devices I've tried (yep, even the Recon3D USB) offered mic gain settings, so in surprised to hear this result of research. If there isn't a gain setting on the X-Fi software suite, is there maybe an option for mic-gain boosting within Windows itself?

 

[NamelessPFG]

What the hell, I could've sworn I got a reply through from my smartphone a few hours ago...
 

Does anyone know if the X-Fi Titanium HD has a mic boost / preamp? I finally received mine and everything with CMSS-3d works great, but there isn't any mic boost in the driver settings. My onboard Realtek has this feature and it helps with my mic.

 
You're right, Creative removed the mic boost feature from the Titanium HD for some stupid reason. Might have helped my desk mic a bit, but fortunately, cranking the mic volume up to 100 is still plenty for my MMX 300's mic (which my friends already think is noticeably better than the desk mic over Skype, I might add).
 
I should note that the other X-Fi cards, like the non-HD Titaniums and Auzentech's models, still have the mic boost option...along with optional speaker-out mute when the headphone-out's connected, rather than forced in hardware. I'm frankly not sure what Creative was smoking when they decided to take those choices away from the user with the Titanium HD; fortunately for me, they don't hinder my usage any.
 
By the way, the Titanium HD does have a mic pre-amp, otherwise it wouldn't have ANY mic inputs at all. That's part of the reason sound cards aren't just plain DACs: they have pre-amps and ADCs for audio input as well as output.

 

[DJINFERNO806]

Not sure if any of you still care, however the badmouthing of Head Fi has begun over in the Tek Syndicate forums over some of our responses on their audio myths video.
 
Chicolom, they specifically quote your post you made here.
 
https://teksyndicate.com/forum/sound-cards-dacs-other-hardware/head-fi-respond-gaming-audio-myths/165123
 
Apparently some guy who says hes a guitarist thinks nobody on this site knows anything about basic audio circuits.
 
Lol not sure if I should start a separate thread for this.

 

[SaLX]

Yeah - I see some guy has been communing with "He Who Shall Not Be Named" and is doing a séance to pass on his pearls. Even in the afterlife, this guy knows his ****.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Not sure if any of you still care, however the badmouthing of Head Fi has begun over in the Tek Syndicate forums over some of our responses on their audio myths video.
 
Chicolom, they specifically quote your post you made here.
 
https://teksyndicate.com/forum/sound-cards-dacs-other-hardware/head-fi-respond-gaming-audio-myths/165123
 
Apparently some guy who says hes a guitarist thinks nobody on this site knows anything about basic audio circuits.
 
Lol not sure if I should start a separate thread for this.

Of course the guitarist knows what he is talking about, don't most guitarist have a day job as Rocket scientists?

 

[Klawsome]

I'm getting the AudioTecnica ATH-A900X Headphones with the Creative Sound Blaster Z soundcard. I was recommended this soundcard since I honestly don't know much about them. I'v posted enormous essay sized threads about my very specific needs for a gaming headset and finally decided on the A900X's and to just get a seperate mic. Now they are just basic stereo as far as I know but I need very precise surround sound for gaming. I'm specifically looking for 7.1 surround sound for gaming but i'v heard the Creative Sound Blaster Z soundcard only outputs in 5.1. Now are there really any good soundcards out there that can put out real sounding 7.1 surround sound for my A900X's? Is it possible or should I just get a Sound Blaster Z? My price range is $100 and below for a soundcard. I could go higher if needed though.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Tech syndicate. Lol. Nice name.

 

[EarwaxDAC]

Nice headphones. What games are you playing?

I returned the Titanium HD. The price is too high to justify the mic input limitation. I am thinking of a Z series simply because even though it processes in software it will still render in legacy mode in csgo, which is what I am after.

 

[NamelessPFG]

Not sure if any of you still care, however the badmouthing of Head Fi has begun over in the Tek Syndicate forums over some of our responses on their audio myths video.
 
Chicolom, they specifically quote your post you made here.
 
https://teksyndicate.com/forum/sound-cards-dacs-other-hardware/head-fi-respond-gaming-audio-myths/165123
 
Apparently some guy who says hes a guitarist thinks nobody on this site knows anything about basic audio circuits.
 
Lol not sure if I should start a separate thread for this.

 

 
In the best case, we'll all debate this in a civil fashion and all come out the wiser for it.
 
But we're starting to head toward the worst case, where people start flinging insults and FUD at the other side, just making a mess of things. I can already see it happening in that post's comments...from the site owner/video guy himself, no less.
 
Of particular note is this bit:
 

It's sad to see so many of you ready to agree with someone from head-fi. I really try to stay away from head-fi. There are some great users on there... but there are a zillion shills and a zillion morons as well. So, I avoid it as much as possible.

 
Another commenter directly responded:
 

lol no offense, but its so funny how you trying to labeling some as morons and shills.. if thats the case we have to abandon youtube and many other sites as well... may be we have to live in a cave to get away from those so called shills and morons...

 
This is why people shouldn't really brand entire communities, especially as the head of communities themselves. Each one comes with its good and bad folks, and no community is perfect.
 
I think one of the problems is that people have this absolutist attitude regarding their preferences, particularly regarding the virtual surround-vs.-stereo debate. Instead of going "I disagree, and here's why", there's a general vibe of "You're flat-out WRONG and you should be doing exactly as I do" flying about. By the way, that's not something that applies strictly to this debate, but any debate in general.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

My best friend is almost fully adversed to virtual surround gaming, and owns a pair of Turtle Beach Z11s... cheap, stereo, and easy to connect. He has heard and has appreciated many of the headphones I've owned or demoed.

You think I'd ever force something he doesn't want? He's happy, and I'm just glad he understands that headphones give better competitive awareness than speakers.

That being said, he totally hears how well virtual surround works, etc. He just doesn't want it for himself.

Now when someone argues that it's useless and inferior... that's when I have a problem with it. They have clearly not demoed it at length, and come into it with an already closed mind. That's when I tell them to shove off.

 

[SaLX]

 https://teksyndicate.com/forum/sound-cards-dacs-other-hardware/head-fi-respond-gaming-audio-myths/165123

Fight!!!!

 

[chicolom]

 

 
In the best case, we'll all debate this in a civil fashion and all come out the wiser for it.
 
But we're starting to head toward the worst case, where people start flinging insults and FUD at the other side, just making a mess of things.

 
 
Agreed.
 
If I can figure out how to do multi-quoting on that site, I'll pop over there and try and steer the debate/discussion back on track.