# A Comparison of different Virtual Surround Sound on the same Audio Track



## AUserName501

*Update: I've recently been given a full license to the Spatial Sound Card App by New Audio Technology. I'm currently working on creating a test track*:
  
 List of VSS software I currently have:
  

SBX Pro Studio
CMSS-3D
Dolby Headphone 5.1
Spatial Sound Card App by New Audio Technology
Razer Surround
  
 VSS software I need to get:
  

THX TruStudio
Dolby Headphone 7.1
Out Of Your Head by PhongAudio
  
 I would also check out SAGE (Spatial Audio Game Engine) if you have Doom 3 (not BFG edition).
  
*Your impressions on the differences between each recording are welcome.*
 

 I'm going to start doing comparison videos of different virtual surround sound software. The aim is to use the same video footage and apply the VSS processing afterwards.

 I record the footage the footage in Fraps using multi-channel audio recording. Then play back the video with the desired VSS software and record the stereo output. I then overlay this VSS processed audio on to the original footage.

 I'll be uploading these as videos to Youtube but because of the audio compression that Youtube uses I will also upload them to Mega in FLAC.

 I've uploaded some test audio of Dead Space recorded in 5.1.
  


Spoiler: How To Listen To These Recordings



*How To Listen To These Recordings*
  

 Go to Playback devices and right click your default playback device.
 Click Configure Speakers and set to Stereo
 Tick Full Range Speakers
 Turn off any Virtual Surround Sound you are using Use Headphones






Spoiler: 5.1 Surround Sound: The Audio From Dead Space With Different Virtual Surround Sound - Download Links Inside



*Here is the audio from the beginning of Dead Space with different VSS applied:*

 For Dolby Headphone I'm using this wrapper for Foobar2k which is 5.1 and has DH1, 2 and 3. I don't have a sound card with Dolby Headphone 7.1 at the moment and neither can I afford it right now. In the future I'll get a Xonar U7 which has Dolby Headphone 7.1 which will be used for my 7.1 recordings for Razer VSS, CMSS-3D 7.1 and Dolby Headphone 7.1
  
*All are in FLAC and about 70MB each*. The 6 channel Raw is 160MB.
  
Raw 6 Channel Audio
  
CMSS-3D 5.1 Game Mode Crystalizer Off Full Range Speakers Off

CMSS-3D 5.1 Game Mode Crystalizer 65% Full Range Speakers Off
  
CMSS-3D 5.1 Entertainment Mode Stereo Envelopment 67% Crystalizer Off Full Range Speakers Off

CMSS-3D 5.1 Entertainment Mode Stereo Envelopment 67% Crystalizer 65% Full Range Speakers Off

CMSS-3D 5.1 Entertainment Mode Stereo Envelopment 100% Crystalizer Off Full Range Speakers Off

CMSS-3D 5.1 Entertainment Mode Stereo Envelopment 100% Crystalizer 65% Full Range Speakers Off
  
Dolby Headphone 5.1 DH1 - Reference Room

Dolby Headphone 5.1 DH2 - Live Room

Dolby Headphone 5.1 DH3 - Movie Theater

SBX Pro Studio Surround 67% Crystalizer Off Bass Off Smart Volume Off Dialog Plus Off Full Range Speakers Off

SBX Pro Studio Surround 67% Crystalizer 65% Bass Off Smart Volume Off Dialog Plus Off Full Range Speakers Off

SBX Pro Studio Surround 100% Crystalizer Off Bass Off Smart Volume Off Dialog Plus Off Full Range Speakers Off
  
SBX Pro Studio Surround 100% Crystalizer 65% Bass Off Smart Volume Off Dialog Plus Off Full Range Speakers Off
  
Razer VSS Stereo Enhancement Off Bass Boost Off Sound Normalization Off Voice Clarity Off

Razer VSS Stereo Enhancement On Bass Boost Off Sound Normalization Off Voice Clarity Off





Spoiler: My Audio Impressions So Far



 
*My Audio Impressions So Far*
  

Dolby Headphone sounds the most distant as if the speaker source is further away. The differences between DH1, 2 and 3 are relatively minor.
Razer VSS sounds like the speakers are closest to your head
SBX Pro Studio and CMSS-3D sound very similar to each other.
CMSS-3D is louder relative to SBX Pro Studio. Digital volume control is at 100 for all of these tests.
I'm pretty sure CMSS-3D is clipping during loud sections.
Positioning behind is clearer with CMSS-3D than SBX Pro Studio but this may be due to CMSS-3D being louder
I'm surprised by how similar they all sound if you ignore Dolby Headphone.






Spoiler: Recording Method



*Recording method*
  

 Record game footage with Fraps with multi-channel selected.
 Save WAV audio from AVI with VirtualDubMod
 Using Audacity record "What U hear" @ 2 channel and source sampling rate while playing back WAV audio in Foobar2K (100% volume) using WASAPI and VSS enabled e.g. Output Device: WASAPI Push Sound Blaster Z
 Save and recorded Audacity recorded audio as FLAC. Removing beginning silence and end silence.
 Overlay this audio on to video
 
 The problem with this setup is that it is slow. Does anyone have any ideas in how to speed it up?
  
 Mega has 50GB for free so hopefully that will last a while.





Spoiler: Comparing 5.1 and 7.1



*Comparing 5.1 and 7.1*

 I don't believe it will be possible to compare 5.1 and 7.1 VSS. The reason is that the side speakers for SBX Pro Studio are at 110° whereas in a 7.1 system such as CMSS-3D they are at 90°. This means that you can't take a 7.1 track and remove the 2 rear channels.





Spoiler: VSS Applied To Stereo Music



*Expanding Into The World Of Stereo Music*
 So we know how VSS sounds with 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound. But, how does it deal with stereo music?
  
 I'm going to include links to the same track with different VSS applied.
  
Raw 2 Channel Audio
  
Dolby Headphone DH1 - Reference Room
  
Dolby Headphone DH2 - Live Room
  
Dolby Headphone DH3 - Movie Theater
  
SBX Pro Studio Surround 0% Crystalizer Off Bass Off Smart Volume Off Dialog Plus Off Full Range Speakers Off
  
SBX Pro Studio Surround 67% Crystalizer Off Bass Off Smart Volume Off Dialog Plus Off Full Range Speakers Off
  
SBX Pro Studio Surround 100% Crystalizer Off Bass Off Smart Volume Off Dialog Plus Off Full Range Speakers Off
  
SBX Pro Studio Surround 67% Crystalizer Off Bass Off Smart Volume Off Dialog Plus Off Full Range Speakers On
  
SBX Pro Studio Surround 67% Crystalizer Off Bass 0% Crossover 80Hz Smart Volume Off Dialog Plus Off Full Range Speakers Off





Spoiler: Videos



*Videos*
 You should follow the steps in "How To Listen To These Recordings" for these videos as well.
*Twitch Streams*
  
Dead Space Ep1 - SBX Pro Studio Surround 67% Crystalizer Off Bass Off Smart Volume Off Dialog Plus Off Full Range Speakers Off


  
  
  
  


Spoiler: This Section is Currently Under Maintenance and being reworded.



At the moment there are quite a few virtual surround sound comparison (from here onwards will be called VSS) videos out there. They are pretty good but they are fundamentally flawed in that the video game footage and audio is not the same for each VSS. As a result, it is not possible to A/B test them correctly. I hope to change this by creating a standardised video that all VSS can be applied too.
  
 VSS software no longer takes data from the game now that OpenAL, EAX and DirectSound are deprecated. Modern audio processing with fmod and Xaudio is all done in software on the CPU. Modern VSS software such as SBX Pro Studio, Dolby Headphone, Razer VSS, CMSS-3D only take the outputted PCM audio channels from the game and use it in their Head Related Transfer Functions. As a result, this means that if we record game footage and have the PCM audio channels remain intact we can then use any VSS and record the Stereo PCM output which has been processed by the VSS software.
  
 Creating a standardised test track means that any future VSS software can be directly compared with other VSS software using the same track.
  
*Here are questions that need to be asked:*
  
*How do we evaluate VSS software?*
  
 To evaluate VSS software we need to understand what it is being used for. I'll broadly segment game audio into different categories.
  
*Competitive audio* is where all useful information is emphasised and useless information isn't. Here is what I think is important for this type of audio:

Clear positional cues 360° around the player and verticality as well
Clear sense of distance
Bass is greatly reduced
Frequency response where footsteps, gunshots and voices are located are increased
Clarity. How clear are different sounds in a cluttered soundscape
  
*Immersive* *audio *is to recreate the sound as if it were an actual environment. This is an objective ideal in that you can compare to a real environment.
  
*"Fun" audio* is sound that is enjoyable to the listener. This usually has an elevated bass response, perhaps the sound of bullets moving through air is emphasised, voices are emphasised etc...
  
 So, I've thought of three categories but I want your feedback on how these categories can be expanded and improved.
  
*What games and what events should be included in the VSS test track?*
  
 If we are to evaluate using a test track then we need to make sure that all the information we would need is there to be evaluated. When comparing headphones listeners usually use small segments of tracks as a reference point and use this for all headphone comparisons. We need to do the same. With headphones you may want to compare the sound of a cymbal crash on a particular song, the sound of a drum in another etc...
  
 So what would we use for games?
  
*Here are some of my ideas:*
  

Helicopter travelling around the player:
 You can test how well the positional cues in a 360° circle and whether the helicopter sounds above you or not
  
Battlefield is a good game to use:
 It has gunfire in the distance, jets and helicopters flowing over head, close quarter gunfire. The soundscape is cluttered with a lot of noise.
  
The sound of footsteps of someone running above you or around you
  
 There must be more and people with more competitive experience can say what they want and find important.
  
*The Recording of Footage*
  
 Fraps allows recording of multi-channel PCM and that is what I will use. The master video will be edited together footage that contains 8 channels (7.1).
  
 How to record the VSS stereo:
  

Play the Master Video and record the stereo output with your VSS using the desired settings.

 There should be an option to record what you hear in Windows. Record that with Audacity. Overlay the stereo output recorded on to the original video or send the stereo audio to someone else who can overlay it on to the original video.
  
 This makes it incredibly easy because you don't have to worry about recreating the same conditions. You just need to make sure the stereo output from the VSS is recorded correctly and someone can do overlay it on to the original video. It also means that a person doesn't need to have a lot of soundcards and newer VSS can be compared using the same video.
  
 I'll add a proper guide later but for the moment this is only the planning stage.
  
*The critical problem of 5.1 and 7.1 VSS*
  
 There is however at the moment one key problem. SBX Pro Studio is 5.1 and CMSS-3D is 7.1. You can't record both 5.1 and 7.1 from a game at the same time so it wouldn't be possible to compare the same footage as SBX Pro Studio is 5.1 and CMSS-3D is 7.1
  
 I hopefully have a solution of taking the 8 channels (7.1) and removing the two rear channels to create 6 channels (5.1). I have even done this already using the game Hard Reset.
  
 Hard Reset support both 7.1 and 5.1. Using the benchmark tool in Hard Reset I have recorded the benchmark audio as 7.1 using Fraps, then removed the rear channels using Audacity and this creates 6 channels (5.1). I then recorded the benchmark tool again using 5.1 rather than 7.1 in Fraps.
  
 I then processed the audio with SBX Pro Studio (67%, Crystalizer off, bass off, smart volume off, dialog plus off).
  
*Here is the two FLAC files:* https://anonfiles.com/file/ae346e7ab01e7d419e806430c24e63a2
  
*One is the native 5.1 process through SBX Pro Studio and the other is 7.1 with the two rear channels removed processed through SBX Pro Studio. I want to know if they sound the same to you or not.*
  
 If it sounds the same then the game footage can be recorded in 7.1 and to compare 7.1 VSS such as CMSS-3D to 5.1 VSS such as SBX Pro Studio you only need to remove the two rear channels from the master video.
  
 It sounds like the speakers for SBX Pro Studio are at 110° and the side channels for CMSS-3D are at 90°.


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## SaLX

Great post - subbed!


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## kalston

Try with the free Isone Surround too! use some VST wrapper on foobar (or I'll do it if you want, as soon as I get back home)
  
  
 Also, Out of your Head would be interesting to try out.


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## 3stun

Great job!
 Why don't you also upload the video itself, without any sound? So that we could compare sound clues with video, to check how accurate they are.


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## AUserName501

Spoiler: Quote: 3stun






Spoiler: Quote: 3stun






3stun said:


> Great job!
> Why don't you also upload the video itself, without any sound? So that we could compare sound clues with video, to check how accurate they are.


 
  





 
 I'm going to do so.


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## SaLX

Are you going to use a movie editor to overlay the audio onto the video ie one file as opposed to two? Looking forward to these.


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## AUserName501

Spoiler: Quote: SaLX



Quote: 





salx said:


> Are you going to use a movie editor to overlay the audio onto the video ie one file as opposed to two? Looking forward to these.





 
  
 Yes. I need to be careful with the timing.


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## AUserName501

Some significant updates made.


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## SaLX

Will check them out.


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## 3stun

Checked DH1 vs CMSS with Crystalizer 0%, and DH1 definitely provides darker sound, and I agree that sounds seem to be coming from a greater distance.
 I did the sound test before watching the video, and tested the opening part where they see Ishimura for the first time, approach it, smash into it and enter it.
 I'm using AD900X headphones.
 The man & woman talking before the crash seem to be like 1-1.5m from the protagonist with CMSS, while with DH1 distance seems several times longer.
 Besides, DH1 provides much darker sound, with less highs, more bass & lower mid, more body.
 CMSS sound thinner, with much less bass and forced highs. This gives more clarity, and it is easier to understand what characters are saying.
 On the other hand, the part when they smash into Ishimura is more impressive with DH1 due to more bass and fuller sound.
 Besides, the salutation they hear through dynamics when entering Ishimura, while other characters are talking, is also rendered better by DH1, in my opinion.
 I didn't notice much difference in positioning in this episode. Perhaps CMSS is a bit better due to accentuated highs & better clarity. But DH1 gives somehow fuller sound, with more body and texture. I would pick CMSS for darker/veiled headphones like Sennheisers and DH1 for brighter headphones like Audio-Technika or AKG.


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## Fegefeuer

Very good effort. How about EQing CMSS-3D to SBX levels and compare? Could you do that? 
  
 What other game have you planned for recording? How about Bioshock Infinite?


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## SaLX

Wish I could weigh in having listened to quite a few different VSS's and headphones. I have a prolonged ear infection = certain frequencies sound like a robot just said them - so I'd be useless basically 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





. 
  
 Dunno if you've ever read this by a poster here called benbenkr: http://www.overclock.net/t/1392877/a-couple-questions-about-cmss-3d-dolby-headphone-and-similar-technologies. An extremely pertinent post and I couldn't agree more. Not enough is said as to the pros and cons of open/closed when used with DH, SBX or CMSS-3D. Even listening to your files with one or the other type of headphone may well colour the results.
  
 BTW: Was it you Dreyka that said you wanted to try out this new tech?: http://www.newaudiotechnology.de/produkte/sage-spatial-audio-game-engine/


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## Stillhart

I don't see any Youtube links.  Did you change your mind about that or am I just blind?


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## adgame

I do prefer 5.1 raw,is it normal ? it seems more natural to me


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## SpiderNhan

Subbed


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## Schroeder

Great topic and not many people care about


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## AUserName501

schroeder said:


> Great topic and not many people care about


 

 My computer currently has some problems with audio streaming that makes certain VSS not work. I'll be getting a new computer later on in 2015 at which point I'll start updating this post. Sorry to everyone that it's taking this long.


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## bigbeard

What is the best way to listen to virtual surround on headphones...specifically, do i tick full range speakers in windows on or off?


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## thomaspabst

Dreyka,
  
 I just saw that you announced the other day you wanted to compare the different virtual surround sound technologies and products.
 Did you end up doing it and what findings did you come up with?
  
 I'm curious 
  
 Best,
 - Thomas


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## Mad Lust Envy

DH 5.1 and DH 7.1 sound exactly the same


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## Giogio

Wow @Dreyka, that was quite a lot of work you did there. Much appreciated.
  
 I personally was unable with the my headphones to perceive any real difference between the raw 2 channel and the SBX files. Can other people feel any? Or are my headphones?
 I could perceive a little difference with the Dolby, and I did not like it.
  
 I have downloaded Razor but the installation seems to have failed. Not a good beginning.
 Out of your Head was a major disappointment, organized for presets which imitates/reproduce the sound of existing speakers. An idea which I find very boring. You can not customize the sound as you want. I am looking more for something like the App of Parrot Zik 2, where you can tweak things as you wish to place the sound where you want.
 Besides most presets on Out of your Head were just abusing of reverb in a metallic way.
 I am looking for a "only software" solution with can works under Windows 7 64 bit and if I find an App for Android it would be great.


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## darinf

giogio said:


> Out of your Head was a major disappointment, organized for presets which imitates/reproduce the sound of existing speakers. An idea which I find very boring. You can not customize the sound as you want. I am looking more for something like the App of Parrot Zik 2, where you can tweak things as you wish to place the sound where you want.
> Besides most presets on Out of your Head were just abusing of reverb in a metallic way.


 
 Sorry you did not like the sound of Out Of Your Head. 
  
 In some cases, the initial impression of Out Of Your Head can be mixed. However I have posted on the Out Of Your Head thread about possible solutions. In the Troubleshooting section (at the end) of the FAQ on our website, I also have some similar solutions.
 http://www.head-fi.org/t/689299/out-of-your-head-new-virtual-surround-simulator/15#post_9970019
 http://www.head-fi.org/t/689299/out-of-your-head-new-virtual-surround-simulator/30#post_9989480
  
 Other times, users have found that the poor sound quality has been due to other audio software applying some additional audio effects and interfering with Out Of Your Head. 
  
 I also wanted to point out that Out Of Your Head does not add reverb in the conventional sense. It recreates the acoustic signature of the room and speakers that were measured. Yes, if the room was bright and did not have a lot of room treatments, then you will hear more reflections of the audio in the room. But for environments that had a lot of acoustic treatment like the recording studios, then the sound will have much less reverberation. There is no "reverb" setting internally or user controlled setting to change the sound of the measurement.
  
 I know Out Of Your Head is not for everyone, but I would highly recommend people try it for themselves on our pre-rendered online demo page. No need to install any software. Just plug in your headphones and listen to the clips on our demo page.


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## Giogio

@darinf, thanks for the feedback, but, I just felt the idea of reproducing the sound of existing speakers not interesting. For my needs, of course.
 I am only interested in something which I can personalize.
 I understand you may not have used reverb but, the sound is often very metallic.
 Some preset are cool. I like the Magic Speakers, the Zen, the Italian. A few more.
 But, I do not find cool that the bypass option is NOT a real bypass. The difference between the bypass option and the sound with your program completely off, is HUGE.
 When your program is off, my headphones sound wonderful. WIth your program on, and the bypass option, the headphones sound flat, boring. So, when I switch between one of the effects and the bypass, to see the difference between using your program or not, I actually am NOT seeing the REAL difference, because your bypass make my headphones sound BAD.
 I do not know if this is a bug or what else, but you should improve it, because it gives the impression of an unclear and unfrai strategy to convince people that your effects are cooler than they are (that without them the headphones sound flat).
  
 Anyway. There is some value in your work. It still is somehow nice for some music. But, for my tastes the uses are too limited, if I cannot customize the sound.
 Besides, it is TOTALLY useless for watching movies with a Bluetooth Headphone, because it makes the Latency absolutely impossible. As soon as I use your program, the audio goes immediately out of sync.


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## darinf

giogio said:


> Besides, it is TOTALLY useless for watching movies with a Bluetooth Headphone, because it makes the Latency absolutely impossible. As soon as I use your program, the audio goes immediately out of sync.


 
 Yes, There is an audio delay with Out Of Your Head. As mentioned in the manual, in order to sync the audio, you can adjust the audio sync in your media player app. Most media players have audio sync adjustments to compensate for the latency of the Out Of Your Head processing. We are working on a lower latency version of Out Of Your Head, but for now, there is a significant delay when using Out Of Your Head processing. However, it's not an issue for most video playback applications like JRiver, VLC, Kodi, Netflix, etc.


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## Giogio

darinf said:


> Yes, There is an audio delay with Out Of Your Head. However, it's not an issue for most video playback applications like JRiver, VLC, Kodi, Netflix, etc.


 
 Future is streaming online.
 No chances with Out of your Head.
 I must say I did not try it wired.
 Anyway. It's all ok. You must know what you want to do.
 People will always complain. Nothing will ever satisfy everybody.
 I do not like your program. How it sounds, how it organized, the idea behind it, the false bypass, the delay.
 But I am I. I am as important as anybody else, but no more than that.
 So, just think about it and then make out of it what you believe in.
 As far as you realize your vision, that's good.
  
 I wish you all the best.


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## pauliunas

Where do you get Dolby Headphone??? I have read that it's the best VSS software, but I can't find a download link... Can you please help me out?


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## SamApocalypse

pauliunas said:


> Where do you get Dolby Headphone??? I have read that it's the best VSS software, but I can't find a download link... Can you please help me out?


 
 http://www.head-fi.org/t/555263/foobar2000-dolby-headphone-config-comment-discuss
  
 RazerSurround is good too, for movies and gaming. its only $20.


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## pauliunas

samapocalypse said:


> http://www.head-fi.org/t/555263/foobar2000-dolby-headphone-config-comment-discuss
> 
> RazerSurround is good too, for movies and gaming. its only $20.


 

 Thanks, but that's a configuration for foobar2000, and I find surround sound useless for music, I just want to make it work for my games... Is there any way to apply Dolby Headphone system-wide?


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## SamApocalypse

pauliunas said:


> Thanks, but that's a configuration for foobar2000, and I find surround sound useless for music, I just want to make it work for my games... Is there any way to apply Dolby Headphone system-wide?


 
 Yes, it's possible but you have to jump through hoops.
 You need the VST wrapper, the DLL, a VST host and a virtual audio cable.

 1. The VST wrapper
 2. Cyberlink DVD Software (the DLL is located in the install folder)
 3. VSTHost (I'm a novice and found this difficult to use, I don't think it has Wasapi) or Reaper (I use it personally, 60 day trial isn't crippled) or any VST host
 4. VBcable (free) or Razer Surround (more reliable and possible to use the WDM driver without buying it, I own it but just use the driver nowadays)
 5. Here's a thread on setting it up for reaper 

 If this is too much I think you should just try Razer's software it doesn't add the reverb DH does and has 7.1 support


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## pauliunas

samapocalypse said:


> Yes, it's possible but you have to jump through hoops.
> You need the VST wrapper, the DLL, a VST host and a virtual audio cable.
> 
> 1. The VST wrapper
> ...


 
 Thank you sir.


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## RamGuy

I'm looking to get rid of my Creative Titanium HD due to the SPDIF Out (optical) to my Asus Xonar Essence One is not working properly. During short bursts of audio I notice clipping and part of the audio (the middle portion) is simply gone. I have tried to get rid of the problem but I'm not able to. And now we have Windows 10 right around the corner and my Titanium HD is not working with Windows 10 at all and Creative have said they won't provide any drivers for my card until October at the earliest so I guess it's time to look around for some ways to just get rid of it completely.
  
 The only reason why I have kept using my Titanium HD after getting myself the Asus Essence One has been positional audio and virtual surround. I have enjoyed CMSS:3D immensely, even though it's uses have been reduced greatly the past few years as barely any games relay on OpenAL or EAX any more and most games tend to have their own virtual surround for headphone users included within their game engine as so adding another layer (CMSS:3D, SBX Pro, THX True Audio, Dolby Headphones or whatnot) on-top of the in-game one tends to cause more issues than anything else. But for games with ****ty headphone virtualisation in-game, and especially game without any at all the addition of CMSS:3D has been golden for my Sennheiser HD 650 while gaming.
  
  
 I do notice that Creative have started to sell their own software suit directly to end-users; http://software.store.creative.com/p/software/sound-blaster-x-fi-mb3. But they don't have any list of supported audio cards and solutions and from what I have read it seems to only support Realtek on-board cards so it should not work with my Xonar Essence One. I also notice reports of the software being unstable with Windows 8.1 which doesn't sound promising in-terms of Windows 10 support.
  
  
 Are there any other solutions that should work with my Essence One over USB? From what I can tell the Razer Surround solution is supposed to be "universal"? Is it worth grabbing? Or should I try to get used to my Essence One being stereo only, without any support for any kind of virtualisation solutions whatsoever and start relaying strictly on in-game solutions for now on? Are these solutions worth it any more?


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## pauliunas

ramguy said:


> I'm looking to get rid of my Creative Titanium HD due to the SPDIF Out (optical) to my Asus Xonar Essence One is not working properly. During short bursts of audio I notice clipping and part of the audio (the middle portion) is simply gone. I have tried to get rid of the problem but I'm not able to. And now we have Windows 10 right around the corner and my Titanium HD is not working with Windows 10 at all and Creative have said they won't provide any drivers for my card until October at the earliest so I guess it's time to look around for some ways to just get rid of it completely.
> 
> The only reason why I have kept using my Titanium HD after getting myself the Asus Essence One has been positional audio and virtual surround. I have enjoyed CMSS:3D immensely, even though it's uses have been reduced greatly the past few years as barely any games relay on OpenAL or EAX any more and most games tend to have their own virtual surround for headphone users included within their game engine as so adding another layer (CMSS:3D, SBX Pro, THX True Audio, Dolby Headphones or whatnot) on-top of the in-game one tends to cause more issues than anything else. But for games with ****ty headphone virtualisation in-game, and especially game without any at all the addition of CMSS:3D has been golden for my Sennheiser HD 650 while gaming.
> 
> ...


 

 Really, I have never heard of a game which has its own virtual surround. They all require some third-party virtual surround for headphone users.


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## AUserName501

Spoiler: Quote: pauliunas



Originally Posted by *pauliunas* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 





> Really, I have never heard of a game which has its own virtual surround. They all require some third-party virtual surround for headphone users.





 
  
 They probably meant a decent "headphone mode" to a simulated dummy head for binaural audio. Very few games of the games that have a headphone mode have a decent one.


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