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Sound Blaster Z settings question

A

Astralogic

Gawd
Joined
Apr 24, 2012
Messages
581
Hi, in the sound Blaster Z control panel should I set my headphones to stereo or 5.1 for the best surround sound experience? They are stereo headphones.

Thanks
 
What? :eek:
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reaper12 said:
You can't set your headphones to 5.1 or stereo.
Click to expand...

Well you can if you are using optical out and a receiver. You can also change the windows settings from stereo to 5.1. I am playing with different settings and am currently using headphones, SBX Pro at default and 5.1 speakers in windows. It seems to work very well in Planetside 2 which is the game I play the most.

For example, I was on a tower, heard a cloaking sound which indicates an enemy below me and to the left, I look and there he is, boom. It is really helpful when flying too. I can hear the direction a enemy is going even if I lose sight.
 
If you can't figure out whether to select "headphones", "5.1 speakers" or "stereo speakers" for headphones then you shouldn't be using a PC for gaming imo.:D
Surround sound is determined by the input and the "surround" setting.

Stick with consoles.
 
I have this same problem, you plug your headphone amp into the RCA output and you no longer can select the headphone option. Who knows if your missing out on some kind of headphone algorithms to make the 3D sound more accurate with a good pair of cans.

I also settled on 5.1 but I'm not sure I'm getting the best sound. I didn't like how it sounded when I double amped, that is, taking the headphone out that is already amplified by the card and then amplifying it again in my amp before going to the headphones.
 
Vulcan, have you tried plugging your amp into the headphone out? I know that I have done that in the past. Currently, the dac in my receiver is superior to my sound card for music at least so I am using that but I will also plug my receiver into the headphone out and use analogue to a/b this tonight.

I don't think that the headphone out sounds better than a good dac/amp or receiver but maybe while gaming the directional sound will improve enough make it worth switching to the headphone out.

aka maybe the headphone out sounds worse in terms of sound quality but you get more accurate sound as to where the bad guys are at.
 
Listening to the analogue headphone out, I can hear a significant difference bw it and optical or digital out.

There is certainly more echo and effects present in the analogue headphone out.

For gaming, I would try the headphone out either straight or with the help of an amp like I am doing. If you use optical out, there is a change in the sound for sure. Not certain if it is better or worse yet but I think in terms of directional sound that optical is more muffled and faint compared to analogue from the headphone out.
 
spaceman said:
Well you can if you are using optical out and a receiver. You can also change the windows settings from stereo to 5.1. I am playing with different settings and am currently using headphones, SBX Pro at default and 5.1 speakers in windows. It seems to work very well in Planetside 2 which is the game I play the most.

For example, I was on a tower, heard a cloaking sound which indicates an enemy below me and to the left, I look and there he is, boom. It is really helpful when flying too. I can hear the direction a enemy is going even if I lose sight.
Click to expand...

What has any of this got to do with OP's question? He thought when you toggle to headphones mode in the SB control panel, that you could also click the down arrow in the menu just below that and pick 5.1 or stereo or stereo direct and still stay in headphones mode.
 
reaper12 said:
What has any of this got to do with OP's question? He thought when you toggle to headphones mode in the SB control panel, that you could also click the down arrow in the menu just below that and pick 5.1 or stereo or stereo direct and still stay in headphones mode.
Click to expand...

You're right I tried it and it always reverts to speakers. There isn't a way to do it in the SB drop down. My answer is the same as yours. I was replying to Vulcan about the headphone effects.

You can select 5.1 or stereo in windows settings and keep the headphone setting in SB. I am just not sure what effect this has yet.
 
Set your windows sound to 5.1 and keep the SB-Z set at headphones. That will give you 5.1 in your headphones.
 
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