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Showing 1 of 26 conversations about:
Colm4g
18
Feb 17, 2018
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How well do they work for the HD6XX for gaming? I don’t necessarily need the best sound, they always sound fantastic but they suck at gaming cause u cant really tell what’s up and down etc. Any ideas? Would be great, thanks.
Feb 17, 2018
PirateIce
232
Mar 26, 2018
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Colm4gHey colm, hd6xx should be fairly balanced and work ok for gaming, but headphones/ears have a hard time getting a good up/down cue from ordinary stereo. So before I answer Im curiuos, did other headphones give better cues or some other setup? Anyway you can of course help the position by getting decent quality dac but usually they are good enough as noise wouldnt really affect this much. What you need to make sure of is that the games are in headphone mode and if they are like CS:GO they have their own "HRTF" algorythm that should give the ability for up/down queues. Hopefully, the hd6xx should actually be quite good at this as its decently balanced and wont alter the audio cue. If you are looking for soundcards with 3d technology to improve these cues... stop, creative "3d" technologies only emulate virtual speakers and their position, to give a "cool" surround effect, it just gets in the way of any actual 3d audio game. So, to conclude, getting a decent sound card just improves the basic quality of sound, maybe, and 3d technologies are of no real added benefit, so avoid OVERPRICED cards with "features" like these, and maybe even look at a high quality dac that plugs into usb, they will have less noise, and its just where most quality dacs have gone.
Mar 26, 2018
Colm4g
18
Mar 26, 2018
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PirateIcefirst of all, thanks for taking your time and effort, secondly I don’t really get what you mean with „did other headphones give better cues or some other setup“. And thirdly any recommendations for a nice dac or maybe even a dac amp combo which would fit well with these without costing a fortune? Thanks.
Mar 26, 2018
PirateIce
232
Mar 26, 2018
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Colm4gOh I was just asking about when you wrote (about the hd6xx) "they suck at gaming cause u cant really tell what’s up and down etc" and wondering if you had made a comparison to another setup that was better, as in a relative comment, or if you are saying you've never heard a setup with good up/down cues and asking how to do that. It would give a better idea of what to improve to meet expectations. I should note also this whole 3d audio thing is one of the more personal aspects of audio as far as I can tell, because it actually depends on the size of your head and the depth of your ear canal, for real. So in this way sometimes different algorythms and their use/not use can become very subjective. I finally realized this when I got HRTF working for movie simulation and music in a quality software plugin, much like what the creative 3d audio is doing in giving you 5.1/7.1 "virtual speakers". The part I learned was the controls to calibrate head and ear size were very important and thus it could easily sound like garbage to someone else when the settings arent correct for them, and unfortunately 3d audio is crammed so far in the background these days I've never seen a game actually let me calibrate the 3d audio, hopefully that starts showing up one day but companies likes Creative have really stifled what software developers can do since they bought up so many patents in this field.
Mar 26, 2018
PirateIce
232
Mar 26, 2018
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Colm4gIf you have older games you want to try/improve the 3d audio on, a lot ran on OpenAL, even Mass Effect: Andromeda came out as Openal, oddly, its bundled with it, but you can replace it with a modern version thats open source called OpenAL Soft, 1.18.2.
Mar 26, 2018
PirateIce
232
Mar 26, 2018
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Colm4gsorry left out any kind of advice cause I haven't auditioned many setups and I believe the hd6xx can improve a lot with more powerfull amps but there are budget options that will support the hd6xx and its high impedence just fine. I believe the jds labs options here on massdrop are good and schiit also is in the running but I don't own any schiit gear so I can't really tell you if its... schiit. You still get many benefits with the hd6xx and its high impedence cable without going overkill, I have the jds el amp but I think its about 100 dollars over the mark you should aim for since supposedly the objective2 amp is about the same at 130 dollars total. I think you should aim for something similiar to objective2 + odac, so just over 100 dollars on each part. I'd also recommend seperate devices instead of combo as I havent seen many claims that combos sound better or save money and if you do get upgraditis you dont have to buy a whole new combo, usually the amp upgrade is sufficient.
Mar 26, 2018
hobbr
73
May 11, 2018
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Colm4gYou rang? I bought my SBZ a few years ago and used it to push PC37X / K7XX / HD6XX with no issues. I've since bought a Schiit stack for my Audeze LCD2Fs and HD6XX but there are times I don't want to fire it up so I'll plug into the SBZ. The SBZ is far from "perfect" but it's 1/10th the cost of my Schiit stack and more than good enough for gaming / casual music enjoyment.
I'm an old school gamer so I still run all my games in stereo (CSGO / Fortnite / PUBG at the moment), the sound stage on the HD6XX is a beautiful thing! I'm the teammate telling you when someone's creeping up from behind 2 seconds before you can hear 'em.
PS If you're joining this drop make sure you bypass the desktop volume control module and just plug directly into the SBZ. I ran extension cables so they're easily accessible on top of my desk due to the cabinet my PC lives in (4 x 120mm fans installed for exhaust purposes).
May 11, 2018
wtfisdubstep
3
Jun 28, 2018
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Colm4gI've replied here https://www.massdrop.com/buy/creative-sound-blaster-zx/talk/2124211 But I'd also like to point out as phenomenal as I think this card is (no BS here), I've since purchased both a Dragonfly Red and the Cavalli Tube Hybrid and SDAC amplifier. I know this card is good, but what has been said above is true, the HD6XX's are known to scale with the rest of the signal chain, and I'm the kind of guy that will be driven crazy just thinking of what I'm missing out on. I don't think you'd be disappointed with the HD6XX's and the SBZx by ANY means though.
Jun 28, 2018
PirateIce
232
Jun 29, 2018
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wtfisdubstepsuch a weird comment, probably paid
Jun 29, 2018
wtfisdubstep
3
Jun 29, 2018
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PirateIceSorry for coming across like that, can totally see why you'd assume /r/hailcorporate. Just a dude who likes his overpriced sound card. I've never accepted any money to shill for reviews, but I appreciate you looking out for that kind of crap. Far to common nowadays, especially when you're on reddit or Massdrop and most people take you as a genuine opinion.
Jun 29, 2018
PirateIce
232
Jun 29, 2018
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wtfisdubstepwell the confusing part was the mentioning of other hardware but not clear how you are using it, as in did you retire the SBZx, or what amp do you pair it with. Mentioning any other gear you use as reference would help too, thanks for responding.
Jun 29, 2018
PirateIce
232
Jul 4, 2018
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PirateIceseems confirmed shill still to me. It's a SB recommendation, how often are they not?
Jul 4, 2018
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