The best Surround Headphone/set with the ability to hear up/down.

[Rob Nijlaan]

Hello,

Im looking for a surround headset wich besides front, back, left and right, also lets me hear up an down as well.

Its very hard to find it on the web, i was hoping someone who owns such a device could advise me one.

I want a good sound quality, good comfort in wearing long periods, but above all i want to be abled to hear a sound in any direction.

I want it for gaming, and i know not much games support up/down sound, but i think its worth it.
Especially when VR hits the market, like the Oculus Rift next year. I think surround headsets including game support will become a big topic.

So any ideas?

 

[s3anister]

There isn't a headset on the market that does this. In fact so far the only things that do are Dolby Atmos (which is Big Screen Theater tech) and the newly announced AMD TrueAudio speaker virtualization. So to answer your question directly you'd have to buy a GPU with the AMD TrueAudio technology built in.

Link to more info: http://www.anandtech.com/show/7370/amd-announces-trueaudio-technology-for-upcoming-gpus

 

[Rob Nijlaan]

Ok, then ill have to wait for advancements to be made.

Meanwhile i was thinking to buy the RAZER Tiamat 7.1, along with the Asus Xonar DX, or Asus Xonar DSX.

I dont see real benefits for having a more expensive soundcard.
And since i cant find something better then the Razer headset, i just buy that one.
It isnt cheap but the rest seems inferior to it.

 

[s3anister]

I personally use the Corsair Vengeance 1500. It's an excellent unit. I thought about getting the Razer Tiamat but the price and the five 3.5mm jacks was rather a put-off for me. On the upside with the Corsair unit the sound card for it is built into the device since it uses virtualized audio so you don't need to buy an additional sound card (this might also be a con for some people but I find it to be a pro).

 

[Rob Nijlaan]

I have bought the Razer Tiamat 7.1 and i can recommend it to everyone.
The sound is so amazing, i still cant believe it. Crystal clear and with a bass that sounds like your standing in front of a really expensive set of speakers, in a club, with volume maxed up.
With the only difference being that you dont feel the air pushing in and out through your lungs because of the air pressure...

When you say; "since it uses virtualized audio", i think; "Omg! No, no, nooo!!!".
Virtual stands for emulated surround. Wich in term means fake surround sound...
And the 5 jacks are a blessing, i can hook up everything i like to it. You dont need all 5. Only for 7.1 with microphone.
Microphone takes 1 jack. For 7.1 you need 4. For 5.1 you need 3. For 2.1 you need 2. And stereo only takes 1.
And since its easy to get a adapter from jack to lots of other types of connectors, its easy to say that its multi functional.
Your USB sound cant tip that. I only need USB for power to the control panel, but i can get a adapter for it to plug it directly into the grid.

I must recommend to everyone who is planning to buy this or another 7.1/5.1 headset, to buy a decent soundcard.
Ive tested it, and the soundcard, if propperly set up, delivers better quality then the on board sound.

You must configure the speakers from sound panel to be 5.1/7.1, and do all other things in that menu that windows wants you to do. And then also go to properties in the same sound panel to set the highest quality in advanced tab. Then in the menu of the sound card you must also set it up to use 8 (7+1), 6 (5+1) or different channels, and set the card to the same output. Like for me: 8 channels, 7.1 output.
You must also set the soundcard to the max quality. It was 192KHz for me, the same i set up in advanced tab from properties of audio device, 24bit 192000Hz.

Hope this will help anyone reading.

Oh and i can hear all sound directions in games very accurate, games seem to deliver much better jobs at surround then movies do.

 

[Rob Nijlaan]

There isn't a headset on the market that does this. In fact so far the only things that do are Dolby Atmos (which is Big Screen Theater tech) and the newly announced AMD TrueAudio speaker virtualization. So to answer your question directly you'd have to buy a GPU with the AMD TrueAudio technology built in.

Link to more info: http://www.anandtech.com/show/7370/amd-announces-trueaudio-technology-for-upcoming-gpus

Dolby Pro Logic IIz.

Dolby Pro Logic IIz expands on Pro Logic IIx with the addition of a height component, creating front height channels above the front left and right speakers, expanding a 5.1 or 7.1 system to 7.1 Height or 9.1. It identifies spatial cues in low-level, uncorrelated information, such as ambience and effects like rain or wind, and directs it to the front height speakers.[3] The channels it adds are matrixed, not discrete.

Its coming although!