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More sound channels=better?

Z

zero940

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 19, 2009
Messages
156
Can someone give a brief explanation on what more sound channels actually means to the experience? I have the option of 2, 4, 6 and 8 channels with my Asus Xonar Essence STX. I've heard two channels is the best for music, but I haven't heard much about gaming. I'm a noob when it comes to this field, so could someone, IN PLAIN ENGLISH, explain what it all means?
 
Music is generally only recorded and stored in stereo, 2 channel. I don't know why it would necessarily sound best that way, no quality should be lost upconverting to 4 or 5 channel.

More sound channels for gaming means better positional audio, speakers located behind or beside you can more accurately tell where sounds are coming from. Can lead to a more immersive movie/gaming environment.

In some configurations, the bass, the subwoofer gets it's own dedicated low frequency channel. Generally designated by .1.
 
Upmixing to more channels will create more comb filtering. That's basically how noise cancellation headphones work--the amplitude of some frequencies are reduced to null because of destructive interference.
 
I'm a noob when it comes to this field, so could someone, IN PLAIN ENGLISH, explain what it all means?
Click to expand...

Well, for gaming, I really enjoy my 5.1 surround sound. When set up right and with the right games, you can essentially hear everything going on around you in a 360 degree radius, and you can just about point to where the sounds are coming from. For example, when you're on point in Counterstrike Source, it's pretty unreal the first time you hear your team opening fire behind you while hearing the opposition shooting from the front and sides. Very enjoyable and it can give you a tactical advantage as you get used to it.
 
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