# Razer Surround (7.1 virtualization software)



## azncookiecutter

http://www.razerzone.com/surround
   
  Anyone give this a try yet? Seems like an all-software virtualization solution that can work with all sources, ideal for USB DACs that usually don't have any surround sound virtualization options for headphones.


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## NamelessPFG

I would not be surprised in the least if this is the same sort of processing they previously tied to the drivers for their Megalodon USB headset (which is basically a Carcharias headset hard-wired to a USB DAC).
   
  This might be worth investigating, though I doubt it'll be of much use for DirectSound3D or OpenAL games. (Not that I'd worry too much about the latter when there's Rapture3D...but I still wish they'd offer a DS3D wrapper with it.)


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## ninjapirate9901

I tried it this morning with my Bifrost and it doesn't seem to work that well. With the enhancement enabled, the test sound (helicopter noise) becomes intermittent and has a lot of static noise. It does seem to work for some people though so maybe I need to play with my settings a bit more.


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## Ezio

Best used for gaming. A friend of mine owns it and i frequently use it whenever im at his house. NOT FOR MUSIC. only for pc, it is directly connected to the pc by 5 jacks. also, it doesnt use the same virualization as the Megalodon. Another friend of mine owns it, and the Tiamat is way better than the megalodon. I mostly use it for CS:GO, Dota 2, AC, GTA, Diablo, Battlefield, etc.


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## benbenkr

For what it's worth (free), it isn't actually too bad. I find that it works best with closed cans though.
  Disable bass boost however as I find that it makes everything sound really processed, no matter if your headphones are bass shy or not.
   
  As for its immersion and positional accuracy, I'd place it somewhere along the lines of the THX Surround with the latter having a somewhat better sense on the rear.
   
  Again, it's free. You do not need to buy a product to get it, so for what it is — because it's free, you can't really fault it much especially when it actually works decently.


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## kungmarten

If you download this to enhance your stereo experience, then you're doing it for the wrong reason.
  To get the right experience, please uncheck all Audio checkboxes.
  Next, calibrate your headphones (I just leave them at default).
  The neat trick is that it acts as a playback device on your computer, so everything just works. Just set your playback device to Razer.
   
  For the best intro experience of this software, acquire Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero 5.1 DVD-A and download the software MPC-HD (free software).
  Play the DVD-A 5.1 and get ready to be blown away.
   
  I really don't like Razer's hardware (I've tried some, and they mostly suck), but this 7.1 surround mixing simulation is really good.
  Compared to Dolby Headphone, which makes everything kind of murky, it is a great piece of software.
   
  Usually I play music through GNU/Linux and MPD (with libsamplerate of course), but this software makes me reboot to Windows when I want to listen to records I have in the 5.1 format. It is really that awesome.
   
  Hopefully this becomes a hit (not the software, but the use of emulation to achieve surround sound), because I'm in love.
  I want this technology to come to GNU/Linux (before you suggest mplayer -af hrtf then compare it with Razer Surround and then post.)
   
  Disclaimer: Since the Razer Surround and Synapse software is not free (as in freedom), I'm not certain it is free from malicious code, use at your own risk.


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## StudioSound

I gave it a try over the weekend. Spent some time configuring it, and checking that configuration was as good as possible for my setup.
It may be useful for gamers that need positional audio, but I was primarily interested in using it for film playback.

For that purpose, I was less than impressed. You certainly notice surround effects more, and it is more positional than a standard 5.1/7.1 stereo downmix, but audio quality was generally poor, and while surround effects were easier to position, audio positioning sounded very strange overall, rather than action scenes with bullets flying past your head etc.

It seemed more like it was jumping between discrete sound positions, rather than creating a sphere of audio around you.


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## kungmarten

I haven't tried it with movies, so I can't argue with you over the effects.
  What I did notice, however, is that the audio mix is very important.
  In NIN - Year Zero it was flawless, in Manowar - Warriors of the world it was separated.
  I guess it depends on how much crossover the audio engineer allows in the mix.
  It would be nice if you could set the crossover manually in the more separated cases.


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## AxelCloris

One thing that slightly bugs me about the software is the lack of setting audio playback priority. I play on a Macbook Pro running bootcamp, so I have both an SPDIF and speaker output, as well as a headphone out port and a USB DAC. I'd love a way to rank or sort the output. Default to headphone jack when plugged in (traveling) and then to my Aune T1 when connected. I don't ever use the SPDIF out and the processing does nothing for my speakers, obviously. The only priority option I see is the "default to USB headset" checkbox.


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## Mad Lust Envy

Tried it, with tweaks, etc. Didn't do it for me, at all.

Rear positional cues are virtually non-existent.

Pass.


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## th2ndchmst

Tried this (and currently trying to re-install).
   
  Definitely *NOT FOR MUSIC *(I can't emphasize this more). Even made Razer Electra sound worse (It has some exclusive selectable features for Razer headsets but I don't know what it can bring). But it's actually good to have if you're not ready to spend on hardware (as in, trying to get surround feature for free), which is obviously better. Use this only when wanting to experience a little bit of surround sound.
   
  Tried this only with iTunes with onboard sound card (I know) when finally decided to give this up for music. It replaces sound output cannot be roughly changed to initial sound software (I don't know what its name is) so I had to uninstall this. Very inconvenient.
   
  Had to agree with Mad Lust Envy.
   
  Notes: I know, I'm doing this with Razer Electra. Switching up to AD700/AD700X soon.


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## xdmkii

I feel this software is unfairly dismissed by some. I've done quite a bit of testing and comparing it with Dolby Headphone and CMSS-3D for positional audio. I found that it's very dependent on the headphones you use.
   
  When I first tried it out, I was using a pair of HD 580's. The positioning was terrible and only slightly better after tuning. I went back to Dolby Headphone, but the added room ambience kills the immersion in some games and it's not exactly dead on accurate. Later I listened to some comparison demos on youtube while wearing a different pair of headphones and saw the light. You need to use a pair of headphones with a shallow soundstage. The ATH-M50 is a good example of a headphone that works very well with the Razer software. The closer the driver is to your ear, the better. It does not work well with headphones that have a wide soundstage.
   
  To have competitive positional audio I recommend disabling all the audio settings, drop the last EQ slider about 4-5db and leave the tuning at default settings. This works very well in games like battlefield 3 where bass from explosions can mask some of the other things going on around you. I can tell it's working well when I hear footsteps and spin to the exact position where a teammate just spawned behind me.
   
  Hopefully this can help some others out there enjoy this free software. BTW, those 5.1 headphones with 4 drivers in each cup are a joke, don't even bother.


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## derbigpr

Its soooooo bad. If this is Razers idea of surround sound, then no wonder why their products are so horribly bad.


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## xdmkii

Have you tried it on different headphones or just the AKGs and Sennheisers in your profile? I find it's quite accurate with the right headphone. See my post above. I'll admit that lately I've been using a pair of DT 880's with Dolby Headphone, but that's mainly a comfort issue.


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## derbigpr

xdmkii said:


> Have you tried it on different headphones or just the AKGs and Sennheisers in your profile? I find it's quite accurate with the right headphone. See my post above. I'll admit that lately I've been using a pair of DT 880's with Dolby Headphone, but that's mainly a comfort issue.





Tried with most headphones, including T1's. Sucks with all of them. Dolby headphone built into Asus Xonar drivers is far superior. There's nothing "surround" about the Razor surround sound software. Oh wow, it makes the sounds sound as if they're coming from left or right. Big deal. Its hard to expect anything better from a company that knows absolutely nothing about audio, can say that with full confidence after hearing several of their more expensive headphones. Logitech for example makes far better gaming headsets, as well as Creative, with actual real surround sound, that makes the feeling of virtual space around you.


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## mononymous

Have been using the surround software, I was not able to get the surround experience at all. Could have been the choice of headphones (Grado SR325is). Prefer using the Creative Zxr over this.


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## n0str3ss

I might give it a try with my CAL!.


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## derbigpr

mononymous said:


> Have been using the surround software, I was not able to get the surround experience at all. Could have been the choice of headphones (Grado SR325is). Prefer using the Creative Zxr over this.





Nah its just a bad software. Does nothing but make the sound muddy and crappy. No surround at all.


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## xdmkii

It doesn't really work well with any of my high end open headphones. The positioning is always off. For my ears, it works really well with the ATH-M50, and decent with Koss supra aural headphones. Of course every one's ears are unique (size, shape, etc), so rear positional cues might not sound the same to you as they do to me. I'm going to see how it pairs with IEM's tonight.


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## asdbasbdkjabbsk

how to use razer synapse with sennheiser headphones?


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## musicreo

I just tested it  because at the moment you get it for free.  I use a Sennheiser HD 555 (with HD595 mod) and used some movie  trailers, DVDs, stereo and surround music. For playback I use MPC-HC with  ffdshow (mixer enabled for 5.1 to 7.1 upmix ) and foobar2000 (with 5.1 upmix).
 It sounds ok.
 But for me the out of head effect is much less than with DH.  The channel seperation sometimes is to harsh and the bass have less punch than with DH. As I like the cinema room model in DH for movies  I miss something similar in Razer Surround. There are no different room settings.
  
 Overall it is not bad but no improvement compared to DH


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## Glasofruix

I've been using it for quite some time now with a sennheiser hd598, for gaming exclusively, and it was really an enjoyable experience so far.
  
 I own a xonar phoebus and the card's effects just don't cut it (a disappointement for a gaming sound card, the sound is good however). Xear surround headphones gives adequate positionnal audio, but it sounds really terrible. DHT is a false surround emulation since it's not detected as a 5.1/7.1 setup by games which autodetect audio settings (more and more common now), and sounds tinny/plastic with games that let you choose the audio setup.
 So when someone suggested i try the razer software i jumped on the occasion, it was free after all. Sound wise, there's a slight dip in quality (with all audio "enhancements" such as bass boost, volume leveler etc... disabled), but not as bad as with xear and no plastic feeling, so i'd say it's acceptable. After calibration and a lot of adjustements i found the sweetspot that works for my ears and it works great i would say. The positional clues are spot on and the slight quality loss is not problematic in games, the added atmosphere compensates for it. In FarCry3 for example, with DHT aside from left/righ separation EVERY sound feels like it's just in your face and in front of you, there's no way to determine if something is coming from behind. With razer software it gets way better.
 On the annoying side, most of the time i have to fiddle with the software when i want to enable it (i don't use it for music). The common problem is the cracking noise between channel changes. I've discovered that when you change outputs a few times in razer software's control pannel, with the effect enabled, the cracking disappears completely.


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## lneysbsaye

yes,It may be useful for gamers that need positional audio, but I was primarily interested in using it for film playback.thanks


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## xdmkii

Just a reminder, it's free until the end of the month (donation is optional). After that it looks like it will be $20, so if you have any interest in trying it you should get it now.


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## Glasofruix

lneysbsaye said:


> yes,It may be useful for gamers that need positional audio, but I was primarily interested in using it for film playback.thanks


 
  
 Dolbly sounds better it seems.


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## gamerk2

In my case, with my Xense + ATH-m50, I'm leaning more towards Razer then DH.  DH has always sounded flat to me, and the audio cues between channels subtle at times.  Razer Surround is a LOT more aggressive, which is bad for music, but better for games, in my opinion.  Need to play more though.


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## x7007

Hi,,
 Anyone has problems with the crackling and static noises that comes when using the razer surround ?
  
 I have Xonar Phoebus + DT990 Berdynamic and I have crackling randomly and some music or movies have Static noise, even in the helicopter razer test it has random static noises and sometimes crackling.
  
 I couldn't figure how to fix it, all the are enhancement off.
  
 anyone knows how to fix it ?
 I really like the surround it makes, but the crackling and static noise kills the mood.
  
 Test it in Need for Speed Rivals on the menu when u need to click ENTER before the first load after the game intro. u will hear terrible static noise from the right ear, all the time the music plays, like it has 20% normalization.
  
 Please if someone can check it, or knows how to fix it, it greatly makes the surround good, like skyrim and such.
  
 the Phoebus Xear surround just add so much echo and reverb. and I can't use DHT v4 cause it doesn't make real 7.1 speaker.


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## Glasofruix

I have the same problem with my phoebus, you can fix it by changing outputs in razer software and then going back to you usual settings. Enabling and disabling virtual audio peripheral also helps, you can check the presence of static with the helicopter test during channel changes. Dunno if it's because of the phoebus but the software is a bit stubborn, you'll have to play with it every time.


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## x7007

glasofruix said:


> I have the same problem with my phoebus, you can fix it by changing outputs in razer software and then going back to you usual settings. Enabling and disabling virtual audio peripheral also helps, you can check the presence of static with the helicopter test during channel changes. Dunno if it's because of the phoebus but the software is a bit stubborn, you'll have to play with it every time.


 

 Really ? it happens only to phoebus ? so annoying,,,
  
 I tried that too, it still gets back so fast, I can hardly play for 10 min and I hear it again.
  
 No one else expect phoebus have that ?? I need to know so I can tell razer or asus.


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## Glasofruix

At least for me it works without static once i mess a bit with the settings. Anyway, no point of telling asus about this, they don't listen to feedback given the 9 months delay between driver releases.... What driver are you running with? What's your OS?


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## x7007

glasofruix said:


> At least for me it works without static once i mess a bit with the settings. Anyway, no point of telling asus about this, they don't listen to feedback given the 9 months delay between driver releases.... What driver are you running with? What's your OS?


 

 Windows 7 SP1 x64.
  
 The newest driver  7.1.30
  
 What can I do to fix it, I tried to change settings and such, but nothing helps, I disabled everything on the razer cause I don't need the enhancement. I tried to activate the normalization and put it on 0 and other setting on 0. nothing helped.


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## Glasofruix

Here's what i do
  

  
 Just before activating the thing i click on the different sources (shown with the highly artistic red arrows), then i enable the program and do the switching again. I test the presence of static with the test button and usually at this point it works perfectly.
  
 Maybe you have some other problem, like a too high sampling rate in the phoebus control panel or some DHT treatement you forgot to disable.


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## x7007

glasofruix said:


> Here's what i do
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
 And the noise get back ? or it fix peremently ?


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## Glasofruix

Nope no noise, sometimes i don't disable the thing for days and even after a reboot it works perfectly. But i have to do this everytime i disable it and want to use it again.


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## x7007

glasofruix said:


> Nope no noise, sometimes i don't disable the thing for days and even after a reboot it works perfectly. But i have to do this everytime i disable it and want to use it again.


 
 ok , I will test it,
  
 Do you have Need for speed Rivals ? Can you check if you hear the crackling noise after the 1st intro ? when u need to click enter and there is looping music before the 1st loading screen.
  
 There is crackling noise from the right speaker on the headphone.
 I tried without DHT at all, it was not installed at all, and then I tried it with it installed just to see if it effect anything.
 In phoebus I tried all the Sample and depth, it didn't change antyhing.


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## x7007

I still have noise, after doing what you said :X
  
 I don't know what else to do


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## Glasofruix

Try reinstalling phoebus' drivers, ti might help.


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## Nec3

Just to necro an old topic, and to avoid making an entire new thread just for this.

*I'm running the Razer Surround 7.1 with an ODAC/O2 + Q701, playing Battlefield 4.*

 For gaming, these are simply amazing. The Q701 has unnaturally large soundstage, soundstage depth, bright treble, somewhat leanish (but solid/detailed) bass.
 So what does the Razer Surround 7.1 do to my setup?

 Well first off, I did a few things.
 -Enable Virtual Audio Device
 -Enable Stereo Enhancement (Description: Increase the dynamic range of sound by widening the stereo field)
 -Disable EVERYTHING ELSE (Sound normalization, bass boost, voice clarity)

 Because the Razer Surround already boosts the bass by default, and voice clarity makes the midrange for gunshots sound muddy

 On Battlefield 4, I used the Headphone setting with Surround.

 The result?

 Pinpoint accuracy of audio cues. The Q701's have a ~45 degree audio positioning depending on the direction of the audio source. What the Razer 7.1 does is narrow this down to 30 degrees.
 Mix this pinpoint accuracy with accurate bass location, and the amazing depth the Q's already have. This is essentially the most immersive gaming experience I've had.

 When I mean accurate bass location, an explosion off in the distance will really sound like it's far away. One that's extremely close will rumble the Q701's and be quite a theatrical experience.
 The downside is that the treble peak is lost, that's about it.

*Now I tried using my A900X with the software.*

 Nope. Did not sound good, the A900X has a midbass hump and adding more midbass hump made things more muddy. The A900X has great soundstage for a closed headphone, but it's a two layered 2D soundstage compared to the Q701's 3D soundstage depth. The A900X also has angled drivers which does not work that well with this software, since audio cues are more in front rather than  to the side. There's an option on the software to fix this, but it didn't do it for me.

*Now let's try it with music**.*

 Nope. Nope. Nope. Treble lost, loose bass, pulled back mids? No thanks.
 The midrange is not balanced at all. It feels like the ~300-800hz section of the mids are pulled back, while the rest is still flat. Not the best for music. Although, amazing for games without a doubt.

*Is the Razer Surround worth it?*

 It's free, give it a shot, I loved it. With the right headphone, I think these are quite amazing. Especially with my open back Q701's. I didn't get the best results with other cans that are listed in my signature.


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## x7007

Hmm,
  
 But when u choose heapdhones in BF4 u actually use the game own sound management, u lose the 7.1 speakers from home cinema/Hi-Fi and the game just use it's own HERF or whatever it's called. forgot the name.
  
  
 and many people suggest to use in any game with the max speakers u can set in the game.


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## Nec3

Alright, I've tried every game. Pretty much every headphone (except the Q701's) in my inventory sucks with Razer Surround because they all already have some type of mild bass boost. Attempting to EQ them just made a muddy mess.

 Although with just the Q701's and Razer, I couldn't find a game that didn't benefit from these. Assassin's Creed Black Flag made local chatter sound lively and initimate, Need For Speed Most Wanted 2012 had car audio at the front end of the soundstage, while the music took advantage of the background. Games made by valve just had more depth in soundstage as they already implement amazing 3D audio cues.
  
 Battlefield 4 offers a setting called Wartapes as well which is supposed to bring out better details, but Dice dun goofed and everything sounds clipped and over-compressed with no room for dynamics. Battlefield 3 is the only game with the best Wartapes that resembles the type of pleasing audio coming from the Battlefield Bad Company series.


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## xdmkii

War tapes is supposed to sound all clipped like that. It's supposed to sound like old war footage. Try "home cinema" or "hi fi" instead.
  
  
 x7007, You probably don't want to use the in-game "headphones" setting with virtual surround. That's for people who don't have a surround output device.


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## Nec3

xdmkii said:


> War tapes is supposed to sound all clipped like that. It's supposed to sound like old war footage. Try "home cinema" or "hi fi" instead.
> 
> 
> x7007, You probably don't want to use the in-game "headphones" setting with virtual surround. That's for people who don't have a surround output device.


 

 I just went for headphone surround, home cinema was too bassy, hifi felt a bit too distant. Headphone option still had the sharp treble punch and mild rumble.

 Edit: I just went through this article, it's pretty neat. http://web.archive.org/web/20100125145238/http://blogs.battlefield.ea.com/battlefield_bad_company/archive/2010/01/22/an-audiophile-s-guide-to-bf-bc2-full.aspx

 Just note that it doesn't explain the audio modes, just that the game is designed for 5.1 surround.

 I went back to headphone/stereo, what I missed is that the original sound signature of the Q701's made incoming gunfire more frightening.


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## doveman

My turn to necro 
  
 Just wanted to add that it doesn't work well for me with my Samson SR850, which I thought would be well suited being open-back. It gives things a bit more atmosphere, much like reverb would but I can't say there's any great positioning effect that I can notice. I tried it with my Creative Fatality gaming headset and a pair of high-quality Yamaha earbuds and didn't get the positioning with those either. Might just be my ears though!
  
 If I want to play a game on my TV and set the default audio device to the AMD HDMI output, then I select that in Razer, I get nothing from the TV when testing in Razer (I have headphones plugged into the TV's headphone socket, I wouldn't expect to be able to appreciate Razer on the TV speakers) and when I play games some sounds are missing, like some speech in cutscene disappears or is really low, so it's probably not downmixing the centre channel or something but I don't know why.
  
 I'll probably just stick a couple of bookshelf speakers on my rear wall and power them with a cheap tripath amp, as I did something like that before and even though those speakers were mostly only good for mid-range, it sounded amazingly immersive, with atmospheric sounds like bird song and crickets chirping filling the room and not feeling like they were coming from just two points behind me at all. It doesn't even need to be loud, so I shouldn't annoy my neighbours even with my flat's poor soundproofing.


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## cdsa35000

You'll never get true far Front and Back sounds simply because there are only L/R side speakers to your ear.
Everthing will sound center-ish in/out of your your head except the clear L/R directions.
CMSS seems to be the best directional sounding because of the enhanced squeaky mids.
Compare it for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGbf--jR3HQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NirHR5l9AU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnpLUlD20z8
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sbx+dolby
---
Razer won't work with hdmi, simply its a separate intergrated audio in the videocard out of control from Razer.
---
Only real 5.1/7.1 loudspeaker setup will give you real front and back directions.


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## doveman

Yeah, I wanted it to work but it just doesn't do anything worthwhile for me, more of a enhanced/wider stereo than surround, so real speakers it will have to be.
  
 I don't really understand why Razer wouldn't work with HDMI though, as I thought Razer processes the sound coming from the game and then passes on a stereo signal to the soundcard, so I wouldn't think it should matter whether that's the onboard realtek headphone socket or my AMD GPU's HDMI socket. Both will quite happily work with a stereo signal from a program/game, so I don't see why Razer's stereo signal should be a problem.


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## overhaze

*By the power of Hood it command this thread to rise!*


Does Razer surround have any negative impact on stereo sound when turned off from synapse? When switched off the audio source switches back to your physical audio device right? At that point Razer is keeping its oar out of my audio?


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## x7007

overhaze said:


> *By the power of Hood it command this thread to rise!*
> 
> 
> Does Razer surround have any negative impact on stereo sound when turned off from synapse? When switched off the audio source switches back to your physical audio device right? At that point Razer is keeping its oar out of my audio?


if it's off then it wouldn't effect.  though I wouldn't use this  as it gives very high of distortion and some ugly compression ,   this is just bad if you're using high-end headphones ,  there are far many better options.


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## overhaze

x7007 said:


> if it's off then it wouldn't effect.  though I wouldn't use this  as it gives very high of distortion and some ugly compression ,   this is just bad if you're using high-end headphones ,  there are far many better options.



Such as?


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## x7007 (May 9, 2017)

Out of your head  but it cost money. there is trial thought you can see that the quality is better. there is a thread here you can search by the name


Dolby Headphone Surround if you have realtek or some other card.   there is a mod. realtek dolby surround mod.  you will find the thread in google.

SBX if you have motherboard with card that has creative card.

you have Windows 10 creator  Atmos trial and cost money after, but also Sonic surround which is free.

GSX 1000 which cost money but great surround as people say. I am trying to find where to buy to Israel. 

the razer is just too echo and
I don't know.. just low quality


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## overhaze

x7007 said:


> Out of your head  but it cost money. there is trial thought you can see that the quality is better. there is a thread here you can search by the name
> 
> 
> Dolby Headphone Surround if you have realtek or some other card.   there is a mod. realtek dolby surround mod.  you will find the thread in google.
> ...



What is the pricing like on Out of your head these days? Last time I checked it cost hundreds of Euros (unless I'm remembering it wrong) I'm using my odac/02 combo. I'm guessing I can't use the realtek mod to get dolby surround on that.


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## x7007 (May 9, 2017)

overhaze said:


> What is the pricing like on Out of your head these days? Last time I checked it cost hundreds of Euros (unless I'm remembering it wrong) I'm using my odac/02 combo. I'm guessing I can't use the realtek mod to get dolby surround on that.



well kinda $150 + 1 free present , for every present it cost extra $25


I still want to know if GSX is the best , if it's worth to buy it, or to use Out of Your Head...  I can't decide.


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