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Ingame sound doesn't give you directional and space sensations

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#23
even if sound processing is done by the CPU, you still get the benefits of having good sound cards and speakers/headphones.

Dont think for a second that a realtek is giving as good of sound quality as a card like the xonar essence is, even with sound processing is done on the CPU.

I personally havent noticed any problem with the 3d positional audio. One of the few things i dont have a problem with.
 
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#24
Dread_Moose said:
even if sound processing is done by the CPU, you still get the benefits of having good sound cards and speakers/headphones.

Dont think for a second that a realtek is giving as good of sound quality as a card like the xonar essence is, even with sound processing is done on the CPU.

I personally havent noticed any problem with the 3d positional audio. One of the few things i dont have a problem with.
Click to expand...

Totally bypassing a dedicated chip under any circumstances defies rational explanation. People buy dedicated hardware for a reason and I can think of no reason to dump on them unless it was to save money.
 
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#25
Dread_Moose said:
even if sound processing is done by the CPU, you still get the benefits of having good sound cards and speakers/headphones.

Dont think for a second that a realtek is giving as good of sound quality as a card like the xonar essence is, even with sound processing is done on the CPU.

I personally havent noticed any problem with the 3d positional audio. One of the few things i dont have a problem with.
Click to expand...
The quality of the sound itself after the processing, yes it will be slightly better due to having better amps than on-board audio, however perhaps the biggest benefit of having a "gaming" sound card such as something with a creative x-fi chip is its ability to process audio efficiently, giving better sound effects while lowering the load on the cpu.
 
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#26
I plan on getting some 5.1 turtle beach headphones, but i dont have a soundcard in my PC other than onboard from my SABERTOOTH MOTHERBOARD.

So my question is should i even bother with the headphones if i dont have a proper sound card? Will i be able to get surround sound produced without a sound card? THANKS
 
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#27
I work with sound and it's very difficult to give you the impression that something is above you or below you without speakers in those positions. Not to mention the fact that the human ear is already pretty bad at detecting what is above and below you if you were suspended in the center of the room.

It's often the case, the only reason you know something is above or below you is by the changes in the frequencies and the material properties around you. Think of sitting in a room and someone moves a table, grinding it along the floor as they push it to one side. Whilst our ears pick up a little bit of the direction which is vibrating through the structure approaching your ears from multiple angles. The main audio clue is in the sound itself.

The best way to simulate these audio cues/audio direction is to simply record the sound in the same scenario. Then play it back. example

Someone is shooting a gun in the room below you. Place a microphone where your ears are and then have someone fire a gun in the room below you. This technique is also known as Binaural recording. You can do some crazy things like this.
 
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#30
flavin420 said:
I plan on getting some 5.1 turtle beach headphones, but i dont have a soundcard in my PC other than onboard from my SABERTOOTH MOTHERBOARD.

So my question is should i even bother with the headphones if i dont have a proper sound card? Will i be able to get surround sound produced without a sound card? THANKS
Click to expand...
5.1 headphones are terrible, don't buy into the marketing gimmick. You have two ears, right? The sound can come from 2000 directions but it won't matter if they're right next to your ear. All you get is 5 **** and cheap drivers instead of the much better ones in stereo headphones.

As for the soundcard, it plays a minimal role compared to a proper set of speakers or headphones. Yes, you will hear a difference but the jump between **** headphones to good headphones and onboard sound to a good soundcard is extremely high. Get a sound card and headphone amplifier if you think you've invested enough into your headphones and want to get more out of them, but it should definitely not be prioritised.
 
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#31
vyyye said:
5.1 headphones are terrible, don't buy into the marketing gimmick. You have two ears, right? The sound can come from 2000 directions but it won't matter if they're right next to your ear. All you get is 5 **** and cheap drivers instead of the much better ones in stereo headphones.

As for the soundcard, it plays a minimal role compared to a proper set of speakers or headphones. Yes, you will hear a difference but the jump between **** headphones to good headphones and onboard sound to a good soundcard is extremely high. Get a sound card and headphone amplifier if you think you've invested enough into your headphones and want to get more out of them, but it should definitely not be prioritised.
Click to expand...

To give advice on the other side of the stick:

For those who aren't audiophiles, and/or aren't willing to jump into onboard sound cards, the 5.1 headphones are great. It's not true SS, it's simulated, but it's still a step up from nothing. I still use mine.
 
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#34
Mauser98k said:
To give advice on the other side of the stick:

For those who aren't audiophiles, and/or aren't willing to jump into onboard sound cards, the 5.1 headphones are great. It's not true SS, it's simulated, but it's still a step up from nothing. I still use mine.
Click to expand...
5.1 headphones for $80 will sound better than iPod headphones for $5, but considerably worse than stereo headphones for the same price ($80).
You basically pay for the mic.
 
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#35
THD said:
This is all because twi chose to use xaudio2 (instead of openAL), which does not support hardware acceleration and is a lot worse at 3d sound positioning. So not only does it sound worse, but it also lowers your performance, compared to what you would have if you have a good sound card.

They've also pretty much confirmed that it will stay this way in another thread, because "xaudio2 does what they want it to and they aren't gonna spend 3 months coding a new sound engine". Enjoy your great audio. :D
Click to expand...

Thanks now I understand HOW they made this poor sound, because i thought they use , like RO1, the OpenAL API. Its really getting horrible since Win7
 
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#37
Ok. Just to clarify; I have an X-Fi gamer card. If I up the channel count in the .ini files, will I realize some degree of benefit? My rig has lots of spare horsepower.
By the way, there are two sets of identical .ini files. One set in documents, and one set in the game folder. Which set do you change for a permanent adjustment?
 
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#39
Inuki said:
I work with sound and it's very difficult to give you the impression that something is above you or below you without speakers in those positions. Not to mention the fact that the human ear is already pretty bad at detecting what is above and below you if you were suspended in the center of the room.

It's often the case, the only reason you know something is above or below you is by the changes in the frequencies and the material properties around you. Think of sitting in a room and someone moves a table, grinding it along the floor as they push it to one side. Whilst our ears pick up a little bit of the direction which is vibrating through the structure approaching your ears from multiple angles. The main audio clue is in the sound itself.

The best way to simulate these audio cues/audio direction is to simply record the sound in the same scenario. Then play it back. example

Someone is shooting a gun in the room below you. Place a microphone where your ears are and then have someone fire a gun in the room below you. This technique is also known as Binaural recording. You can do some crazy things like this.
Click to expand...

+1

Thank you. I learned alot reading this.
 
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