HEADPHONES - SURROUND SOUND?

[CableTongue]

I'm thinking of buying some headphones for gaming, but is there any reason to get surround sound?

[Omega]

Whenever a headphone mentions 7.1 or surround it's marketing BS. With 7.1 or surround they mean it can emulate it, which any stereo headphone can..

These are all just stereo devices.

[tacoshy]

no, every stereo is capable of emulating surrond. And surrond sound adervertised headphones do the exact same or use multipel small drivers to call themself true surrong. in the end they suffer in sound quality and still are emulated.

And stay away from gaming brands or hyped stuff liek Beats Audio. Dont trust gaming companies to build quality stereo hardware. Aim for companeis that have actual experience and knowledge in building ehadphones

[Air]

Publicado originalmente por Omega:

Whenever a headphone mentions 7.1 or surround it's marketing BS. With 7.1 or surround they mean it can emulate it, which any stereo headphone can..

These are all just stereo devices.

There are actually a few exceptions to this, but not many. I'm not sure if they're worth getting either.

[Cathulhu]

They're not worth it. There are true surround headsets, but they use such small drivers that the sound quality is just crap.
Use a good Stereo headset and emulate surround sound through the sound card. Way better quality. And cheaper too.

[_I_]

if no others are bothered by a surround system, do that

no headset can match a good 5.1/7.1 setup
but be prepared to spend $500+ for a good system
receiver, $300+
speakers, $200+
powered sub, $100+
or htib, $200+ (but most do not have an optical or digital input)

this 5.1 setup looks good for the price
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16886971054

[pasa]

Hm, for the 200 you may get a pair for the surround, for the other 3 it will be apiece. Same for a sub that worth having. So 1200-1500 is a more realistic range for entry-level good.

[Talby]

Have to agree w/ the consensus - just get a half-way decent studio headphone - I'm using a Samson SR850 (still on sale for under $30![www.amazon.com])

Virtual surround is available for your headphones in quite a few ways:

Some games have a surround driver built in, if there is a "headphone" option in the audio output that is sometimes a virtual surround driver, varies by game.

If you are using on-board realtek, if it supports virtual surround it will have the option in the output, example[i.ytimg.com]

Windows 10 also has a virtual surround driver, just enable "Windows Sonic for Headphones" in your spatial sound options[docs.microsoft.com]

Sound cards also have them available, my Sound Blaster Play!3 uses SBX surround, enabled in the audio config.

[Duck]

Unless you get normal headphones and a gsx 1000, all other surround sound options in headphones is terrible.

[Adam]

7.1 does not exist since there is only virtual surround sound which is a marketing gimick effect, Stereo headsets are the best for gaming, most gaming headset have a stereo and surround sound setting in the software so you can try both out,

Headsets only have 2 speakers which is L,R stereo so unless u have a headset with 7 channels surrounding you than it's not surround or headphones and most games don't even support 7.1 like some new films .

[Talby]

Publicado originalmente por Duck:

Unless you get normal headphones and a gsx 1000, all other surround sound options in headphones is terrible.

Somehow, I don't think you are taking cost into consideration:

GSX 1000 = $200
SB Play!3 = $25

IMHO the SBX quality at nearly 1/10th of the price is pretty dang good... Never heard the GSX, not sure if it would convince me it's worth 10x the price.