[thomase]

I'm trying to help out some guy posting on the Creative forums. He says he is using HD555s for gaming, and that CMSS3D-Headphone makes everything muddy and "horrible". My intuition is that the distortion introduced by the DSP is simply more noticible with "audiophile" cans compared to cheaper ones, and that's why he has such a problem with it. I told him NOT to use CMSS3D with music. Anyway, if this is the case, the bottom line is that some amount of distortion is the price you pay for 360 degree 3D positioning. Any other ideas?

Also, he is insistent that quality is much better when he has 2/2.1 speaker mode selected, even if CMSS3D is on. This doesn't make sense to me. Since 2/2.1 mode is supposedely the same amount of HRTF filtering as headphone mode, WITH crosstalk cancelation on top of that, how could he perceive LESS distortion in 2/2.1 mode. Maybe my idea of how 2/2.1 mode works is wrong? Perhaps the problem has something to do with the fact that he is experiencing some kind of crosstalk due to the open nature of his HD555s?

 

[twc5964]

I have only the Audigy 4....the headphone selection sounds horrible but the 2/2.1 speaker selection sounds so much better.I cant explain why.

 

[maarek99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thomase Also, he is insistent that quality is much better when he has 2/2.1 speaker mode selected, even if CMSS3D is on. This doesn't make sense to me. Since 2/2.1 mode is supposedely the same amount of HRTF filtering as headphone mode, WITH crosstalk cancelation on top of that, how could he perceive LESS distortion in 2/2.1 mode.

There is less distortion. When listening to music with CMSS3D in headphone mode it tries to emulate two speakers in front of you. It doesn't work. Works in games, but not for music.

CMSS3D with 2 speakers doesn't try to emulate anything, it just expands the soundstage a bit so it works a lot better.