Virtual 7.1 surround in headphones - worth it or not?

Hi - I was wondering whether anyone here finds any benefit (e.g. greater situation awareness) from using some kind of virtual 7.1 surround processing when using ordinary stereo headphones in R3E or whether this just adversely affects sound quality and eats unnecessary CPU cycles?

Razer Surround is apparently one of the better virtual 7.1 audio processing softwares available, so I've just been trying the free version of it with my headphones (there is also a "Pro" paid version, which allows calibration and more configuration options, but I think the tech is the same), it certainly sounds a little different (and quieter, though can just turn up the volume), though not sure whether it provides any real benefit or not yet...

Does R3E do much with 7.1 sound positioning?

 

My 7.1's sound real good on here, far better than any other racing game

 

I have the Plantronic Gamecom 788 and the 7.1 in RaceRoom is top notch. You really get the feeling that you are in the car. The sound is really around you instead of only in your ears when in stereo mode. The immersion is fantasic.

Assetto Corsa I drive in stereo because that game doesn't have a proper surround sound mode. But boy, Raceroom is quit fantastic in 7.1

 

With headphones?

 

yes mate i wouldnt use anything else now.
i use astro a50's and they sound really good.

 

Thanks for making this thread, Metalogic. I'm glad this point was raised as I'm currently trying to make a decision between the HyperX Cloud without surround or the Cloud II with 7.1 sound.

It's interesting for me reading through everybody's opinions.

 

I have the hyper clouds with 7.1, but frankly I could not figure how to get them to work, so they are connected up to the screen right now as standard headphones. Not sure if it is a USB driver issue or something with my system I need to do. I guess I need to look into it again and get it sorted out. As regular stereo headphones they work nice. The head phones are comfortable.

Ymmv
Hth
Rich

 

I have the Kingston HyperX Cloud II http://www.trustedreviews.com/kingston-hyperx-cloud-ii-review and absolutely love them.

When I switch ON the 7.1, its quite different, much much better

 

The thing is, though, you don't necessarily need to buy a headset that comes with 7.1 sound - in almost all of them, this is just virtual 7.1 sound anyway, which you can provide to any headset or headphone using 3rd party software, such as the Razer Surround software I mentioned earlier, for which there is both a paid and free version available. I'm just using my ordinary stereo Pioneer headphones with Razer Surround and they seem to work fine with it.

On the other hand, some of the headsets sold as 7.1 compatible will offload the virtualisation of the surround sound to their internal sound card and take the demand off the CPU, though am not sure how much of an impact on the CPU 7.1 virtualisation actually has.

 

Also, as I posted in another thread, if you already have a good pair of headphones and a suitable mic input, a better option than buying a headset maybe just to buy a Modmic to attach to your existing headphones - looks like a good solution and I suspect the mic will be much better than those on most headsets!

 

I tried first an advertised 7.1 headset....as mentioned usually just a normal headset with drivers....the one I got had drivers that required a PHD in computer science to still not work.....so I returned it.

Got the Razer surround, was not all that impressed even after calibration and such. Looking forward to setting up proper 5.1 speakers around rig soon.

 

The thing is, a headset has only two speakers, which is enough because we have two ears and the speakers are really close.
So making it sound like having a 7.1 surround system is a bit of a gimmick imho.
If the stereo channel is good you don't need the added effects to make is sound more roomy/3D.
I prefer having it sound like it was supposed to.

Tried using 3D surround in Battlefield 4 and sounded good first, but after putting it back to stereo its was alot easier to hear the direction of the shots.

So my take: in headphones, not worth it.
In a speakersystem yes it sure is.

 

Completely agree. My PC is hooked up to a decent 5.1 surround system in my living room but I also use 7.1 headphones so have experience of both. The headphones simply cannot deliver convincing spatial sound akin to a full speaker setup. Nowhere close.

Get a good pair of stereo headphones instead. There isn't a marked difference.

 

Get a good pair of headphones...non-gaming, non gimmick.

I got a pair of the AKG Q701s on super sale. They are very good. Added a modmic and I can't get much better unless I want to spend 500$.

 

I already have a decent pair of proper headphones - Pioneer HDJ-C70s (I got these because I also do some DJing, but they sound great, especially when coupled with my Cambridge Audio DacMagic XS DAC), but I was wondering whether using these with one of the better 7.1 virtualisation audio software applications might help provide better situation awareness in R3E

 

I use the Turtle Beach Earforce DSS 5.1 with high quality headphones. Couldn't be without it & sounds fantastic in R3E.

Correction : Just went and read the box and it is actually 7.1 sound ! Will have to reconfigure and test 7.1 in RRRE ... woot !
This is the one I have since July 2010 - website says discontinued but Amazon have them really cheap at one third price I paid ... absolute Bargain !!!
www.amazon.com/Force-Channel-Surround-Processor-Xbox-360/dp/B003O0KICS
www.turtlebeach.com/product-detail/accessories-legacy/ear-force-dss/239

 

Have you compared this with Razers free software Surround? Just curious if its worth the money because I wasnt huge on Razers demo for the software.

 

I installed it long time back too complicated & could not be bothered mucking about with so many settings plus not a fan of such drivers that embed all sorts of ad ware & crap in the background. The Earforce DSS connects direct to optical output of soundcard and my Audio Technica ATH-AD700's plug right in no hassles. Incredible surround with the right headphones. This setup is 6 years old but is still awesome ! There is a newer version now I think

 

Okay cool can it hook up to an analog audio connection instead of a digital optical one?

 

It can and comes with an analog audio connector but the docs (which I just read again) say that you will not get the full Dolby Digital output but only the ProLogic II which I think is just stereo upscaled and is not nearly as good. Also it is not 7.1 - but as long as you have a reasonable sound card with the optical output no problem. Mine is an older Creative X-Fi and it does 7.1 no problem via the CMSS 3D built in specifically for headphones.