I'm still with the G6, I found it quite better compared to the trial versions of Dolby Atmos for Headphones, windows sonic, Razer THX, and the dolby headphones implemented in the old Logitech G35 headphones. I also really disliked the GC7's SXFI, it had a lot of reverberations while the SBX surround is relatively clean. I did have a GC7 and quickly returned it to buy a cheaper smaller and supposedly better engineered G6 as I only liked SBX anyway. The G6 is nicer on the table as well with smaller size and better volume knob and small simple SBX on/off button (I prefer to disable SBX for stereo content). I set my surround parameter to 33, I found that gives me the best separation between front and rear sounds, which are apparently the most difficult to simulate (they were almost indistinguishable with Atmos and Razer THX, even when setting the Razer THX to be as much "rear" as possible).
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Virtual 7.1 Surround Sound processing in Headphones
- Thread starter Robbo99999
- Start date
My last try with virtual surround solutions for headphones was with APL Virtuoso. I bought it for my personal use. First impression was very good for watching modern movies on headphones, for example. I kept using it for few months before I lost interest, though. While it works very well for some, it didn't for others. Reverberation is an issue. And there are quite a number of configuration options IIRC, so I probably lacked enough knowledge of the different options to get the best out of it. Also, it didn't help that it requires a virtual cable device for it to process the sound. I appreciate minimalistic solutions when possible. All in all, whenever I feel like watching a movie on my headphone now, which honestly it's also becoming rarer and rarer these days, I simply use Windows solutions (dolby or DTS). They are not perfect, but are simple to use and are decent enough for spatial sound on headphones, for me at least.
OP
Robbo99999
Master Contributor
- Thread Starter
- #203
In my experience I think that's a good decision you made re buying the G6 for your virtual surround. In terms of trialling different surround options there was one user in this thread that made different sound files that had been processed by various virtual surround options that were available at the time, and it was possible to listen to those files and work out which one worked best for you in terms of locating front & back and to the sides accurately - so have a look through for that if you're curious to try some different options. He manipulated the original fraunhofer file that I linked in the first post of this thread.
Since you are using Windows, and in case you want better fidelity, you may try Equalizer APO to get rid of the virtual audio cable.
InfiniteJester
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SXFI is absolute poison in my Creative Sound Blaster X1. I scanned myself several times and created numerous profiles, but it always sounds like hearing audio from another room. Truly the worst virtualization I have ever experienced. GEN2, GEN3, whatever. It is terrible.
Hello,
Thanks for the suggestion. Yeah, in fact, I've been using Equalizer APO on Windows for years. I use it because it allows me to apply system-wide PEQ, which is something I always do. I use Oratory1990's PEQ presets.
SXFI was just too much reverb for me. Probably had also other things causing it to sound bad but not something specific I can point my finger at. I returned the GC7 and ordered a cheaper smaller G6 as I ended up just using the SBX virtual surround.
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