What games benifit from 7.1 Virtual Surround Sound headphones?

[KamWithK]

I just got the HyperX Cloud II's, which are have 7.1 Surround Sound, so what games would benifit from them? Are there any good free ones that would? Also, is this thread in the right place?

[wirs]

Next to none. I used 7.1 headphones for over 10 years and I've only came across a handful of games that even support it. You can find surround sound options in older games, few indie ones and pretty much every game made by valve.
Another problem is that the Hyper X Cloud II's are Virtual surround. This brings problems in some games that try to emulate surround sound. Some games do that so that stereo headphone users get a smoother experience (not all sound is on the left/right for example which happened often in old games). To achieve that they mix the audio channels which is something you do not want to happen in a virtual surround sound headset since it also mixes audio channels. That leads to some audio channels (voices for example) getting lost in the process.

So here's what i found out during my 10 years with different surround headsets:

Most new ubisoft games will have problems with sound due to the mixing thing. They patch it in most games but it always takes them ages

Support for surround is scarce, you'll just end up having a gimmicky stereo headset.

Since the headset is virtual, it will require a driver which may or may not always work (razer has serious problems with their 7.1 headsets and the Hyper X cloud II's are famous for having lots of issues)

To get around that problem you would need a real surround sound headphone which also sucks cause the speakers themselfs will be so tiny that you'll loose a lot of sound quality and fidelity.

7.1 is gimmicky you think you'll be able to better detect where the sounds are coming from but that's not true. Because it's earphones we're talking about, the speakers are not far away enough from your ear to give you the "real" immersion. I found myself often switching back to stereo modes since it was so much easier to track where footsteps and such where coming from.


All in all, don't get surround sound headphones, they don't work, costs lots of money and bring next to no benefit.

[Talby]

I disagree - virtual surround / hrtf either works for you, or not.

Got a set of G430s last year on sale for $30 (not a lot of money lol), it came with a dongle that supports dolby and dtx surround, and the headset itself sounded ok, not the greatest quality (and felt a bit cheap) so I gave them to a good friend of mine who didn't have a headset. What blew me away was when I plugged my open-back Philips SHP9500S into the dongle - wow the sound stage really makes the difference, and movies sound incredible compared to without the dongle and vsurround... and again, it's a largely personal preference. When listening to music, I prefer to plug directly into my AV unit...

ok back on topic lol - there quite a few games that support vsurround, some better than others and some are best with just stereo only - so I can see the negative attitude towards them. Agree true surround headphones are a complete waste for the same reasons previously mentioned. Good reads about vsurround is here[linustechtips.com] and here. The most recent game I played that supported surround was Lifeless Planet, and bioshock before that also sounded really good in my opinion. Since you have it, enjoy it, eventually you will either like it or become a hater. Most folks I know enjoy it for what it is.... cheers

[KamWithK]

Originally posted by Talby:

I disagree - virtual surround / hrtf either works for you, or not.

Got a set of G430s last year on sale for $30 (not a lot of money lol), it came with a dongle that supports dolby and dtx surround, and the headset itself sounded ok, not the greatest quality (and felt a bit cheap) so I gave them to a good friend of mine who didn't have a headset. What blew me away was when I plugged my open-back Philips SHP9500S into the dongle - wow the sound stage really makes the difference, and movies sound incredible compared to without the dongle and vsurround... and again, it's a largely personal preference. When listening to music, I prefer to plug directly into my AV unit...

ok back on topic lol - there quite a few games that support vsurround, some better than others and some are best with just stereo only - so I can see the negative attitude towards them. Agree true surround headphones are a complete waste for the same reasons previously mentioned. Good reads about vsurround is here[linustechtips.com] and here. The most recent game I played that supported surround was Lifeless Planet, and bioshock before that also sounded really good in my opinion. Since you have it, enjoy it, eventually you will either like it or become a hater. Most folks I know enjoy it for what it is.... cheers

Thanks for that mate, do you know any good free or cheap games with Virtual Surround Sound? I know like Half-Life 2, Portal 2, L4D2, all the rest of the payed games I have don't suppor it.

[Talby]

here[satsun.org] is a great list of games that support various surround sound modes...