A 5.1 headset vs a stereo headset

[nighthawk4]

good day to you all.

i've been looking into a new headset to play BF3 with (once they fix squad VOIP and all the other stuff of course, lol. Skype works though ), and i have a 5.1 sound system at my pc which helps immensely with locating sounds.

now, here's the problem; do 5.1 headsets deliver that same sound-locating clarity? Because they are all very small speakers.

my budget is about €100,- (~$120,-), and so far i've come up with these:

a simulated 7.1 headset: Logitech G35 (http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104281&Tpk=Logitech%20G35)

a real 5.1 headset: Turtle Beach Earforce HPA-2 (http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826502008)

or a stereo Sennheiser headset: Sennheiser PC320 (http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826106472&Tpk=Sennheiser%20PC330) <<bit high on newegg, apparently. in my country it's a lot cheaper .

so, does a 5.1 headset really deliver as much as a real 5.1 home speaker system? are the headsets i've listed any good, or would you recommend me something else. in that case, which one?

thanks

 

[nighthawk4]

bump?

 

[nighthawk4]

no one? really? guess i'm at the wrong forum then :\

 

[ssddx]

@op

you posted on the weekend when people are busy with their personal lives. just bump the post on a monday and you are more likely to get a response. also, if you did a forum search you might have netted a few results to help you out in the meantime.

as far as your question goes...

from what i've heard the multidriver headsets do sound somewhat like a 5.1 set but are really no comparison to the real thing. the bad part though is that the audio quality from such sets and a set of stereo headphones of the same price range might very well be lesser.

as far as locating sounds goes... i personally find a stereo set sufficient to locate sounds with although yes some people do claim that a multidriver headset helps them out. i use studio headphones myself and not a headset (with mic) as i want the beset possible sound quality.

as far as models to choose from... i'm not well versed in "headsets" but the speakers i've had in the past from logitech have been well worth the money i paid for them. the best source of information in regards to quality is by reading the actual customer reviews on websites such as newegg.

 

[lovely2510]

Sennheiser gives you a quality sound and it is not that expensive also. You can easily find this headsets in the net.

 

[G78]

good day to you all.

so, does a 5.1 headset really deliver as much as a real 5.1 home speaker system? are the headsets i've listed any good, or would you recommend me something else. in that case, which one?

thanks

nighthawk4 i explored that alley... Don't buy any so called 2 Speaker headphone that are said to use 5,1 or 7,1. Its a marketing trap.
They are using a frequency effect that give a impression of 3D sound, basically the front is good. the left and right side effect are meh... and the back is quite bad most of the time .

Only buy Headset that have 4 speaker in each ear. Those are the true 5.1 headset.The you ont have only 4 zone... you have true surround sound.
I didn't try allot of them. But as far as i know Turtle beach were the first.

Their first 3 model are the real one. Then they started to walk on the dark side like the others.
Now they have 2 real model and a huge batch of false one.

All current gaming console doesn't handle True 5.1.. the cake is a lie. Its all that frequency trick again that really isn't worth it as far as i go. 4 crappy area.. that's it.

As for computer, yeah, there's still some option

In turtle beach, look up for the Z6A this is the real deal. Ignore all others from Turtle beach. I bought 4 of them for friend and i compared them with mine witch is the very first HPX. Basically the Z6A is a watered down version of the HPX series, but still quite good.

Doesn't have a removable mic anymore, there's more plastic in them also, mine is almost all in aluminium. But seem to be good quality and thick plastic in the Z6A.

The ear confort is great on the Z6A, a full day and still going.. My HPX gave me red ears after 2 hours.

The bass was stronger ( skullshaker) on my HPX on the Z6A its at a reasonable level, you still feel it. but doesn't rattle the skull as much.

i have a 500 watts pionneer sound system that i bought at around 3500$. Since i got my HPX i almost never use it anymore. That should give you a idea how good it is. Plus the neighbours stopped complaining.

The last one Razor announced seems like the real deal. And there was also Thrustmaster that did make one a few years back also who seam legit also.

If its only written 3D, surround sound 5.1 or 7.1 dolby on them ... be carefull 98% chance of being a 2 speaker.

You cannot create TRUE 5.1 with only 2 speakers. So if its not written somewhere in the specs that it has at least 4 speaker on each earcup. Its a lie.

The funny part of all this, all the one over 250$ are lies.. even more if its wireless or on USB. What a scam really.

The four 1/8 stereo plug model with 8 speakers like the Z6A are around 125$ each right now.

I can tell ya also when i first got my HPX. Everybody called me a cheater. Cause i was strafing when a jeep was about to roll me over from behind, and i could actually even AIM blindly jet with those remote cam missile in BF2.( My video card was crap, but not my soundcard at the time.. lol

Hope this helped ya.

 

[G78]

Sennheiser gives you a quality sound and it is not that expensive also. You can easily find this headsets in the net.

They are really good quality stereo headset.
But he was asking for True 5.1 headset.

Tho its better a stereo Sennheiser then all the crappy wireless false 5.1

 

[bullwinkel]

This appears to be extremely late however...

Speaking from personal experience, I would get the 5.1 headset over stereo if I was working with onboard audio. However, if you have a sound card that supports dolby headphones for the synthetic surround, I would find a nice pair of headphones in the same price range and order a clip on mic.

I used to have the HPA2. With true 5.1, they gave solid directional audio. These weren't very kind to the ears in terms of comfort however. While I owned these, I didn't have a sound card.

Just a week ago I ordered the Xonar DX and the ATH-AD700 headphones. The sound quality on the AD700 is far superior to the HPA2 (tested sound through onboard and on the DX). To me, the synthetic 5.1 on the AD700 is superior to the HPX when the dolby headphone option is enabled on the sound card. Because of the AD700 design, some 3d audio sounds like it is coming from outside the headphones and gives you a sense of how far away the sound is (BF3).

Also, the sound on the zalman mic was better than the mic on the HPA2 headset. For this reason, I will always recommend a nice pair of headphones with a clip on mic than any comparable headset.

 

[G78]

My friend uses Logitech G930 . She bought it for 80 bucks on some online web store. For sound decoding it has built-in software. Logitech G930 quality of sound is really good. I definitely reccomend this Logi tech G930headset

Logitech doesn't sell True 5.1/7.1 headset.
Again "Dolby" are sound dynamics filter and modifier to improve sounds.
In the G930 case you have two 40 mm diameter with neodymium magnet.

So basically you have a emulated frequency impression of a 7.1 system set through 2 speakers.
This might very well be a good stereo headset. But it simply cannot be a True 7.1 headset.

 

[G78]

This appears to be extremely late however...

Speaking from personal experience, I would get the 5.1 headset over stereo if I was working with onboard audio. However, if you have a sound card that supports dolby headphones for the synthetic surround, I would find a nice pair of headphones in the same price range and order a clip on mic.

I used to have the HPA2. With true 5.1, they gave solid directional audio. These weren't very kind to the ears in terms of comfort however. While I owned these, I didn't have a sound card.

Just a week ago I ordered the Xonar DX and the ATH-AD700 headphones. The sound quality on the AD700 is far superior to the HPA2 (tested sound through onboard and on the DX). To me, the synthetic 5.1 on the AD700 is superior to the HPX when the dolby headphone option is enabled on the sound card. Because of the AD700 design, some 3d audio sounds like it is coming from outside the headphones and gives you a sense of how far away the sound is (BF3).

Also, the sound on the zalman mic was better than the mic on the HPA2 headset. For this reason, I will always recommend a nice pair of headphones with a clip on mic than any comparable headset.

I do agree with you about the microphone, there is better mic out there. Most headset use basic Piezo microphone. Some with enhanced gain and filters.

The Z6A is confy, as i said hours of gameplay with no ears redness compare to the HPA2 witch only have half of the ear cushion needed to be confy.

The soundcard your suggesting is intriguing, But again its for virtual speakers. So not True 5.1/7.1
This might be a very good soundcard but i still prefer my golden green plating auzentech.

The thing is, with virtualisation, you tend to have smaller left right area with small gradual transition towards other channels. And the rear area are way too small with barelly no sound transition at all towards the other channels. Tho your Xonar DX seem to eliminate most of the distorsions of the surround virtualisation. Its still working on 2 speaker. Thus not True 5.1/7.1.

On a true 7.1 you can pinpoint the source of the sound projection at around 1 degree. Both system can generate distance with volume, echo, vibrato, FX filter, flange etc. But having that much precision actually give the True surround a mighty advantage.

You dont have to believe me.. But just check how much Reznor from NIN worked on the sound mechanic of Doom3. I dont think he even bothered to buy a headset, it would have been ridiculous to build the game on Stereo even with all the advances of Dolby filtering. He actually invented the sound technology for total immersion in gaming. Witch didn't even existed at the time. Now you see a bunch of game trying to copy it, some actually bought his system with his expertise. but most game are in the ditch as far as surround goes. Butched coded system. So am not surprised that allot of gamers dont see the difference between True 5.1/7.1 and virtualisation.