3D surround sound

[MavericK96]

Yeah, it works okay with actual 5.1, but my main concern is that using a headset (in my case, high-end stereo headphones) results in no real difference between front and back. I was curious to know if a "5.1/7.1 headset" would make a difference or not in this game.

[MavericK96]

Has anyone tried anything like this before?

http://www.amazon.com/Force-Channel-...3972961&sr=8-6

[MavericK96]

Just thought I would update with an interesting bit of info.

After doing some research, I found that for headphones there are basically two virtual surround algorithms: Creative's CMSS-3D and Dolby Headphone. I have an X-Fi card, and so have tried CMSS-3D in ArmA2 with little to no success, the main problem being that it is nearly impossible to distinguish between front and back.

However, I wanted to try Dolby Headphone to see if it was any better. I purchased an Asus Xonar DG sound card (only $16 after rebate, normally around $25), which is a 5.1 PCI audio card with a dedicated headphone amp and Dolby Headphone.

As soon as I got it set up and tried ArmA2 with DH, the result was amazing. In my opinion Dolby Headphone works WORLDS better than CMSS-3D in ArmA2. The only downside to the Xonar DG is that the sound quality with speakers is not as good as the X-Fi (96 kHz sample rate vs 192 kHz on the X-Fi), but there is a Xonar Essence ST/STX which also has the DH and headphone amp with better sample rate, but it is much more expensive. So for right now, I will stick with the DG, which is by no means a slouch for the price.

Anyway, just thought I would share my experience. I am using Sennheiser HD590 headphones, by the way, which have a very nice soundstage. I've heard the Audio Technica AD700s are better, but I don't have the money to test that theory yet.

[Striezel]

Since I have tried the ACRE-Mod, I am interested in some 3D Sound for ArmA 2.

In Arma, I use my Plantronics .Audio 770 Stereo-Headphones with plain old onBoard-Sound. Aside from that, I use the Creative I-Trique 3220 2.1 sound system

Now, I was thinking of getting a better sound card mainly for the purpose of better sound direction detection. So far I have seen recommendations for the
Creative X-FI XtremeGamer and the
Asus Xonar Series
DS,
DG or the
D1.

The reviews for the Creative Recon3d cards were rather bad and since EAX is sort-of-dead I am leaning towards the Asus cards. I bet some of you have already tested some of these cards and are able to give me a recommendation.

Which gives you a better feeling for sound direction in game?
Would I want Dolby Headphone only (DG) or DTS only (DS) or Dolby Headphone with Dolby Digital Live (D1)?

[Striezel]

Well, I bought a D1 now.
The sound has much more punch with the additional "Dolby Headphone" and "7.1 Speaker Simulation" combined.

[Slendermang]

I aswell have the D1, the Game option in the panel enables EAX FYI.

Have you found a way to make rear sound channels work with it?

[Striezel]

I aswell have the D1, the Game option in the panel enables EAX FYI.

Have you found a way to make rear sound channels work with it?

Well, its not real EAX, but the software alternative from Asus. Also Arma 2 does not support EAX, since it uses Windows XAudio.

I don't use rear channels, I only have a 2.1 Sound system.

In addition, the dolby headphone and 7.1 sound emulation add a weird delay to the sound which can be confusing, so I don't use them anymore.

[BasileyOne]

yeah, Creative had Alchemy, Realtec had 3DSoundBack, ASUS had another tool too to bring back DirectSound support w/HTRF etc cookies ingame, but ...nobody support it anymore :[
anyone roll-out things for cheap/impotent[yet] Xaudio, which development/improvement slowed to crawls, along with DirectX and WIndows development itself in favor of pushing Xbox-related [horrific]stuff into customers and developers throats to maximize corporation profit, destroy humanity and resurrect Hitler !
that pesky actions must stoped NOW !! demand moving toward OpenAL/OpenMAX and dense co-operation with Khronos Group !!
save Earth ! think about Kids !!