"Antonio Huerta" <> wrote in message
news:d188484b-408c-4d31-8b47-...
>I have stormed through Bioshock and through a part of Dead Space, and
> enjoyed their sound-rich atmosphere. (By the way, are there any other
> such games ? This appears to be the only games I get excited.) I used
> onboard sound (Realtek HD, Azalia 1.0 spec). But now people tell me
> that my experience with those games (and other games) would be much
> richer if I used a sound card.
>
> I did a search on the Internet. Here are my findings:
>
> -- The main reason of having a sound card in gaming is the surround
> sound. This gives one an opportunity to pinpoint the source of sound.
> It is not clear to me yet whether onboard sound adapter can provide a
> surround sound as well.
>
> -- Sound quality from Realtek HD is almost as good as a sound card (we
> are talking about gaming in here, not music or movies).
>
> -- Games like Bioshock use EAX 2.0-5.0, which is a fancy way of saying
> that the game engine generates directional sounds and pumps through
> 2-5 speakers. Quality of sound reproduction improves. (One of the
> features of EAX is that the sound can reflect several time in a
> corridor from a stone wall or other material, and one can hear that.)
>
> -- There is a separate 5.1 standard (pumping sounds through 5
> speakers) to play non-EAX games. The sound card should have a Dolby
> surround sound for that; onboard sound cards apparently do not have
> it.
>
> -- Creative Labs is a manufacturer of sound cards, and they came out
> with an "X-Fi", which is s set of sound technologies, one of them
> being EAX effects.
>
> -- Creative Labs is virtually a monopolist on the sound card market,
> and they have an XtremeGamer card which is for the gaming (around US
> $100). A recent contender is ASUS which came up with a Xonar line of
> sound cards. The cheapest but able contender is the "DX" card (around
> US$80) (and that's what I recently ordered).
>
> It is still unclear to me whether one can get surround sound (via the
> headphones) using only the onboard sound card. I need this function to
> play the games such as Dead Space or TF2. It seems to me that the
> onboard sound adapter provides such a capability, but I am not sure if
> the sound cards have some additional sound technologies which provide
> an enhanced sound experience (such as directional sound etc).
>
I have on board Realtek HD audio and it has surround sound. I have a 5.1
surround speaker setup and when I test each speaker with the Realtek speaker
setup utility you can hear the sound from each speaker independently, that
is you hear the 5.1 surround sound working. It also works well with my
Zalman surround sound headphones that have four separate speakers, two front
and two rear (the center and subwoofer speakers sounds are simulated ). The
surround sound is good, but not having a subwoofer leaves out some of the
bass, but that's OK with me. I have read about other headphones with too
much bass.
Most other surround headphones have only two speakers and all the surround
sound is simulated. I believe that for a good simulated surround sound from
two speaker headphones, it need to be Dolby or maybe the X-fi. Some
headphones have USB and built in sound card with Dolby surround sound, that
way you don't need a sound card in the PC. I have read a lot of mixed
reviews on these other headphones and its hard to know if they work any
better than the Zalman for surround sound.
I have tested the surround sound in games also by standing near a constant
sound like a radio and then I turn around and hear it in all speakers. Works
well with both my 5.1 speakers and with the Zalman headphones.
|
Similar Threads
Linear Mode
