How big a difference did you notice between the positioning and overall soundstage/environmental feel for each? I've been debating between an Essence STX, Omega Claro, and Titanium HD. I do mostly gaming, but overall sound quality in games is slightly more important to me than positioning. However, positioning is still very important - so hopefully you've found that the drop-off isn't huge from CMSS-3D to Dolby.
@Incursus41 That's very subjective and also much depends on headphones. As I've said, I like the overall feel and sound of DH (at least on Xonar) better, feels more to me like I'm actually "there". But at the expense of positioning - it depends on specific game, but mostly, the positioning in DH is a bit "fuzzier", CMSS is usually more specific regarding sound cue direction.
@Incursus41 I currently own both Xonar DX and Titanium HD and I've yet to decide which one I'll be using as primary. I like the overall sound of Xonar DX better, despite it costing fraction of Titanium HD price, but the CMSS directionality in games can give you quite an advantage, even though it can be a bit too exagerrated and therefore unrealistic. For movies, THX TruStudio in Entertainment mode is all right, better than CMSS-3D in Game mode, but I still like DH better for that.
@TheRicSantos Xonar DG is much better than X-fi Xtreme Audio for music, in my opinion, the sound is much better. As for gaming, well, it uses Dolby Headphone, not CMSS, so if you're interested in CMSS, then X-fi cards are your only option. One big drawback for musicians with Xonar series cards, though - they don't support live monitoring of the input signals under Windows. There's this small latency that makes live recording ie. guitar or other instruments pretty much impossible.
@Casef great vid, I have the xonar D2 and I can't seem to get the same quality sound as in your vid, could you tell me what settings you used in xonar software such as how many audio channels you have set and what surround modes and sample rate, cheers
@evilcrow1001 It's standard settings for Dolby Headphone, as far as I remember - 8 channels input, of course, Dolby Headphone set to the "reference room" aka DH1 mode and sample rate is probably somewhere around 96KHz (I really can't hear much difference going above 48kHz in games, though).
@TheRicSantos I think you should be aware that Xtreme Audio is not really a "true X-fi", it's just a rebranded old SB Live. It does not offer any hardware acceleration (=everything is done in software) nor the "Game mode" setting. For music it's still much better than most onboard sound cards, but for games it's not really a good choice. If you want a true X-fi, look for Xtreme Gamer or Titanium cards. Those have the EMU20Kx chipset and are much better suited for gaming.
@Piepsien It's hard to choose. I tend to slightly prefer DH as it sounds more "real life" to me and the "feel" of the environment is better. CMSS sounds too "sterile" for my tastes, but then again thanks to this "sterility" it has more accurate sound source positioning, which is usually an advantage in gaming (which, of course, is what CMSS is mostly intended for). So if I have to choose one, I'd choose DH as the all-around winner, but not by much and CMSS wins in games, I guess.
Using CMSS-3D, I've herd both and well, both are pretty awesome but CMSS-3D has a definite advantage for games.
GregLH0 3 days ago
Hi , how you settings on the windows and the creative console for CMSS 3D?
TheRicSantos 1 week ago
How big a difference did you notice between the positioning and overall soundstage/environmental feel for each? I've been debating between an Essence STX, Omega Claro, and Titanium HD. I do mostly gaming, but overall sound quality in games is slightly more important to me than positioning. However, positioning is still very important - so hopefully you've found that the drop-off isn't huge from CMSS-3D to Dolby.
Incursus41 1 week ago
@Incursus41 That's very subjective and also much depends on headphones. As I've said, I like the overall feel and sound of DH (at least on Xonar) better, feels more to me like I'm actually "there". But at the expense of positioning - it depends on specific game, but mostly, the positioning in DH is a bit "fuzzier", CMSS is usually more specific regarding sound cue direction.
Casef 1 week ago
@Incursus41 I currently own both Xonar DX and Titanium HD and I've yet to decide which one I'll be using as primary. I like the overall sound of Xonar DX better, despite it costing fraction of Titanium HD price, but the CMSS directionality in games can give you quite an advantage, even though it can be a bit too exagerrated and therefore unrealistic. For movies, THX TruStudio in Entertainment mode is all right, better than CMSS-3D in Game mode, but I still like DH better for that.
Casef 1 week ago
Dolby headphone is better...
newR4Zi3L 2 weeks ago
You know me indicate a vendor I trust the U.S. to import to Brazil? stores like ebay or amazon?
TheRicSantos 1 month ago
thanks for replying . But i live im brazil , i dont have many options ,and this product have a high Price ,and Asus Xonar dg what do you think?
TheRicSantos 1 month ago
@TheRicSantos Xonar DG is much better than X-fi Xtreme Audio for music, in my opinion, the sound is much better. As for gaming, well, it uses Dolby Headphone, not CMSS, so if you're interested in CMSS, then X-fi cards are your only option. One big drawback for musicians with Xonar series cards, though - they don't support live monitoring of the input signals under Windows. There's this small latency that makes live recording ie. guitar or other instruments pretty much impossible.
Casef 1 month ago
@Casef great vid, I have the xonar D2 and I can't seem to get the same quality sound as in your vid, could you tell me what settings you used in xonar software such as how many audio channels you have set and what surround modes and sample rate, cheers
evilcrow1001 3 weeks ago in playlist Favorite videos
@evilcrow1001 It's standard settings for Dolby Headphone, as far as I remember - 8 channels input, of course, Dolby Headphone set to the "reference room" aka DH1 mode and sample rate is probably somewhere around 96KHz (I really can't hear much difference going above 48kHz in games, though).
Casef 3 weeks ago
@Casef cheers for that, all working good now, amazing sound quality.
evilcrow1001 2 weeks ago
Very nice comparison man!! i will buy the model Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio - SB0790 soon , what do you think? (music and games). I use Win7 64bit.
TheRicSantos 1 month ago
@TheRicSantos I think you should be aware that Xtreme Audio is not really a "true X-fi", it's just a rebranded old SB Live. It does not offer any hardware acceleration (=everything is done in software) nor the "Game mode" setting. For music it's still much better than most onboard sound cards, but for games it's not really a good choice. If you want a true X-fi, look for Xtreme Gamer or Titanium cards. Those have the EMU20Kx chipset and are much better suited for gaming.
Casef 1 month ago
Thanks for this video :))
The CMSS 3S sounds much more natural. Which one do u prefer ?
Piepsien 1 month ago
@Piepsien It's hard to choose. I tend to slightly prefer DH as it sounds more "real life" to me and the "feel" of the environment is better. CMSS sounds too "sterile" for my tastes, but then again thanks to this "sterility" it has more accurate sound source positioning, which is usually an advantage in gaming (which, of course, is what CMSS is mostly intended for). So if I have to choose one, I'd choose DH as the all-around winner, but not by much and CMSS wins in games, I guess.
Casef 1 month ago