Can Reiza please explain the sound options? For example, what's the difference between 2.0 and headphones? An explanation for all settings would be nice including if strictly just channels/sources are changed or if other characteristics are changed like, for example, equalizer settings and dynamic range.
I find that the Surround Audio works quite nicely on my stereo headphones with a bit of effect balancing using the sliders.
Let me go over them: System Default - Game output audio is set to whatever output configuration is chosen in control panel-> sound card settings. Mono - game is configured to output to only one speaker. Stereo - game is configured for stereo speakers. It is assumed speakers are positioned in front of listener, each of course offset to the right and left Stereo headphones - game is again configured for two output channels, but which are assumed to be one on the left and other on the right of listener Difference between two is not audibly big, but it is there. Surround headphones - game here is configured in 5.1 configuration internally, admittedly still same as 5.1 speaker config, but as we further fine tune surround sound, plan is to tune this more (mostly to exaggerate channels separation with which i already experimented). 4.0 - this is surround more, two speakers on the front and two on the rear are assumed 5.1 - usual surround mode, two main front speakers, two rear speakers, one front center channel and LFE chanel. Other surround modes will become available once they are fine tuned. In all modes all sounds are positional, except few (like ambient sound, menu clicks, music). In surround that means rear engine = sound from rear speakers. Plan is to introduce a switch for this, as not all surround systems have rear speakers are fed same power and in some cases are lot smaller then front pair. In 5.1 currently, spotter voice is output only on center channel. Also one of things to come is to let user choose if he wants it to go to usual front pair additionally, in case center channel in his setup is not so loud... One of the new things that wasn't there before is as you turn your head around, either by using buttons look left / right or mouse free view, sounds are positioned according to where you look to. Especially noticeable in surround mode.
Could be mocked up such that 5.1 is used with channel redirection... Audio output needs to be what Microsoft offers in windows api, and there is no 4.1 available there. Think what you ask for, you can select 4.0 output and check does that work properly. In our case centre speaker while in cockpit is used for wind sound only, but in external view / other cars sounds it is used normally as all other speakers.
Thanks Domagoj. I was wrong with my guesses: I thought heaphones was the same as stereo besides some left/right sound leakage going into the other channel (this is how creative differentiates it's 2.0 VS headphone mode, at-least in older X-Fi soundcards). I also thought surround headphones meant the game still used 2.0 but had it's own built-in surround processing to simulate surround sound (like turning CMSS 3D on with X-Fi soundcards, Dolby Headphone with Asus soundcards, or Battlefield 4's engine doing it when setting "headphone" and "surround" in-game). So, if I have this correctly, 2.0 just means the left and right speakers are, let's say, set to around 30 or 45 degrees, headphone means they're set to 90 degrees, and headphone surround means 5.1 sound but with front speakers set to 90 degrees instead of 30, or 45 like in standard 5.1. Is this correct?
You weren't wrong in all of them. I forgot the bit in first parahraph, there is slightly more leakage from one channel to another in headphone mode (intentional), while testing it and using freeview with mouse, i found out when you turn your head such that engine sound is exactly to the left or right, it sounded like pioneering 60's stereo records, where everything was hard panned. Little leakage that is there (about 10% more then stereo) is not true crossfeed - it needs some delay on feed that goes to opposite channel but that wasn't even the idea behind it. Last bit on surround headphones is wrong, currently: Surround Headphones == 5.1 speakers. For built in surround virtualisation for stereo headphones, chance of that happening for ams is 0.1% . It was meant for discrete surround headphones or any of the dsp's you mentioned.
Great, thanks again P.S. I don't think most people expect in-built surround virtualization / dsp - not even most big-budget games currently use that but I'm a sound guy (only second to physics) so I had to ask
Well i can't speak anything concrete but with enough time it's nothing that couldn't be done. IMO, with VR it would be essential thing. Virtualising from output meant for speakers - you have only 5 or 7 discrete sound directions there, while if done properly in game with alot of HRIR's from many directions (different elevations and angles), that would for sure be more precise and possibly could sound really convincing.
So with stereo headphones, but with enabled virtual 3D-Sound of my Soundblaster Z card, i have to select "surround headphones". Right?
It sounds like you can set the game to 5.1 or surround headphone. If you want to be 100% sure, set Windows to 5.1, soundcard to headphone, enable CMSS-3D (or whatever the 3D surround processing is called for your soundcard), and set game to 5.1. That method is best for 90% of games with standard 2.0 headphones. If you have standard 2.0 headphones and no 3D surround processing from your soundcard, you can download a free 3D surround processing program. i think Razer offers one on their site. If you have 2.0 "surround" headphones (they have their own 3D surround processing), I think you set windows to 5.1, game to 5.1 and then make sure to play the sound through your headphone's USB so it can process the 5.1 for the headphones (like Creative's CMSS-3D, Asus's Dolby Headphone, etc.). If you have surround headphones that literally have seperate drivers (speakers) for front, rear, centre, and subwoofer (AKA LFE), set Windows to 5.1, soundcard to 5.1, game to 5.1 (no 3D surround processing).
And this is working flawlessly in my 2.0 headphones. Very nice effect, when look left-right, the wind sound is more pronounced in the side pointed to front (ex: look left, you right ear is now towards the front of the car, so you listen the wind noise in this ear). Thanks for that!
