New headset

[Codex]

Originally Posted by Les

I don't doubt you heard what you heard and, based on what you experienced, I'd tend to agree with your conclusions. There's a bit more to it than that though when you look at all the possible variations and options there are available more generally.

For example, different stereo headphones give a different sense of three-dimensional 'spaciousness' to the sound you play through them. The ones you listened to in-store aren't the best choice for positional audio. Also, I'm not sure how the iPad's audio was set up internally either, or how it would compare to the setup you use your Medusa's on, but that could easily influence impressions too. And speaking purely in terms of positional audio, ie. being able to hear and locate sounds in a game, there are actually several variable factors involved with that as well which can make a blanket recommendation of 5.1 headsets a bit deceptive.

Anyway, I'll leave it at that, people can research things for themselves depending on their level of interest. I've been finding out quite a bit about all this myself lately, about the products and the science and technology involved, but I don't want to use this thread as a 'hey, guess what I found out today' clearing-house for that, soo...

And that is the exact reason why I went to try them out, because I'm sceptical that 5.1 or 7.1 headphones should be passed off as mere gimmicks.

I used the iPads to playback the youtube track because they were right next to the demo stand but I also realised that when listening to binaural sounds to decide on a stereo headphone purchase it should be done with no assistance from hardware i.e. sound card.

I've just been doing some further testing using my Medusa's coupled with my X-Fi card, setting the speakers to "headphones" , "2.1" and "5.1" while disabling CMSS-3D chip and listening to these samples:

http://www.qsound.com/demos/binaural-audio.htm
(the guys that made the virtual barber shop recording)

Setting the X-Fi speakers to "headphone" and "2.1" the sounds were muffled and tended merge over one another but they were still good and I got the binaural experience. Turing on the 3D chip also improved things further but not by much. Setting the speakers to "5.1" was the game changer, it made the world of difference, but then again they are 5.1 headphones.

Getting back to albx's original question. Based on which headphones would be best for SoW and binaural sounds? Well I think the answer IS more complex than simply saying 5.1 are gimmicks or stereos are only good for music and at the end of the day everyone has to make their own mind up, of which I'm still undecided. But I'm sticking with the 5.1s

Ultimately I think its best if people wait for SoW to be released before making any purchase as that's only when you can put things to the test.

On a side note: If there is one thing I have take from this thread/two day research so far is that Stereo phones are great for Music, but 5.1s are better for gaming and that I prefer closed headphones to open.