Dolby Atmos+ R3E 7.1+ Headphones (Rift)= Awesome!

Discussion in 'Community Workshop' started by Onaflyer, Jun 18, 2017.

  1. Onaflyer

    Onaflyer Well-Known Member

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    I tried 7.1 sound with Dolby Atmos for headphones (Windows 10) in my Rift and I really like the sound. The differences are subtle but definetly there. Easier to locate a locking up wheel and suspension noises over bumps. Best of all it Dolby Atmos is free for 30 days.

    If your using headphones give it a try and post back up, maybe its just me, I'm curious. Remember to set Dolby Atmos in your soundcard properties under spatial sound and 7.1 in R3E. (Attached picture doesn't show Rift sound properties because I am posting from my laptop.) BTW it adds a lot to watching things in VR like Oculus videos.(bonus):D
     

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  2. leon_90

    leon_90 Active Member

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    Which headphones do you have? Have you tried Windows Sonic?
    Thanks for your feedback
     
  3. Onaflyer

    Onaflyer Well-Known Member

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    I am just using the Rift headphones (sound great). Yes I tried Sonic but it didn't make much difference from stereo.
     
  4. Case

    Case Well-Known Member

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    Really? You're one of the few people I've seen that actually like it. To me and many others, there's hardly any noticeable difference, it just sounds like a slightly better stereo. Some even think the Windows implementation is simply not working as it should.

    The good old Dolby Headphone on my soundcard gives me a much better virtual surround experience.
     
  5. fl0wf1r3

    fl0wf1r3 Well-Known Member

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    I also didn't notice any difference. I also tested the razer surround sound. Very disappointing. I never got the surround sound that you can hear in demos. I uninstalled both apps and for my money back. It's really sad that it doesn't work. Perhaps it is only useful with ego shooters.
     
  6. Alex Seran

    Alex Seran New Member

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    Audio technica for me is the best headphone:
    Not biased but its really good
     
  7. fl0wf1r3

    fl0wf1r3 Well-Known Member

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    Has someone tested the "new feature" in Windows 10 called "Windows sonic" for headphones? I saw an MS presentation abiout this feature. It is supposed to be better than Dolby. Unfortunately, I can get it to work or it is not working with raceroom. I activated this feature and ticked the box "turn on 7.1 ...". " raceroom I have chosen everything from stereo, headphones, Dolby surround, 7.1. I have never seen so many sound options in Raceroom lol. I guess it is due to the sonic feature. Anthea, I don't hear any difference to normal stereo with my headphones? I have a Sound Blaster ZxR, all internal sound enhancements are off.
     
  8. Case

    Case Well-Known Member

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    I did. It has the same problems most current virtual surround solutions have - it forces Windows speaker settings to stereo, so any software that autodetects the number of channels it should output based on the (=most games) will only output stereo, severely limiting the experience, and it puts too much emphasis to side cues while too little on front/rear ones.

    Dolby Headphone with tweaked virtual speaker positioning is still the best for me.
     
  9. fl0wf1r3

    fl0wf1r3 Well-Known Member

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    You mean a real "7.1 headphone" will do the trick?
    Unfortunately, the ZxR has only real 5.1 channels. In the sound options of windows I can choose between stereo and 5.1. Somehow it allways goes back to 5.1.
    So when selecting windows sonic 7.1 I have to activate 7.1 in the audio driver settings as well? I thought to choose 7.1 in game is enough to get it to work, the rest is done by windows sonic. Or it does not work with raceroom dx9.
     
  10. Case

    Case Well-Known Member

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    I'm not sure to what trick you're referring to.

    For Windows Sonic to work, you have to enable it, then select the "Turn on virtual 7.1 surround" box. You can't change the speaker configuration in audio devices settings from stereo to 5.1 or 7.1, because if you do, Windows Sonic disables itself again. That's the problem. If you "force feed" it 5.1/7.1 signal, it will work fine even with the stereo speaker setting. So yes, if the game does offer a setting to directly set the number of channels it outputs (like R3E does), then that's fine. However, many, if not most games don't offer such setting and do instead autodetect the number of channels needed, at in that case, it's obviously a problem as the virtual surround will only be created from a stereo signal.
     
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  11. fl0wf1r3

    fl0wf1r3 Well-Known Member

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    Would be cool if Raceroom would offer real binaural audio (cockpit) for headphones :)