In Search of Optimal Positional Audio Option for FPS Games Like CS:GO. Suggestions Please!

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ampreston85

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So the title pretty much says it. To give you a little detail, I play a lot of Battlefield, and CS:Go even more (which is my primary reason for this post), and am looking for my best option to get optimal positional audio (such as 5.1/7.1 surround sound). I've looked through software options such as Razers Surround software, but this causes an audio delay that is unacceptable in games like CS:Go. I've also looked at things like a Sonar U7 by Asus, or the MixAmp Pro by Astro as viable solutions, though I've read that something like a MixAmp Pro is best suited for consoles only, and also only gives you the surround sound capability with a motherboard or internal sound card supporting Dolby Digital Live and Dolby Headphone. What makes this more confusing is I've read elsewhere that these external options are great solutions for positional audio. So I figured I'd throw up this post and see what everybody has to say.

NOTE: I've also taken a look at this DDL/DolbyHeadphone fix that enables these features on a motherboard that otherwise wouldn't have these features. https://youtu.be/z3vLvFgVlzY
Not sure if this is a feasible option.

PC SPECS:
i7 4770k CPU
Asus Maximus VI Hero Motherboard
Samsung 850 Evo SSD
EVGA GTX 970 GPU
***No internal/external soundcard currently***
Steelseries Siberia V2 3.5mm Headset
 
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ampreston85

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I've watched both of those videos multiple times, and I'm subscribed to Tek... That was more or less irrelevant. I'm not asking how to improve sound quality, or how to better power an expensive set of headphones. Also, the external hardware i mentioned act as DACs, given that the signal is sent to the external hardware digitally, and then converted to analog and sent to the headset.

Anyway, many CS enthusiasts have some type of positional audio solution to better hear and distinguish things like movement coming from behind.
 
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C12Friedman

C12Friedman

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While I understand what you're asking, I've found that audio spatial awareness doesn't really improve with add-ons (that I can notice and is why I used the Virtual Barbershop link and recommended turning off whistles and bells) but, as you point out, there are others that swear by add-ons (I'm not one of those since I try to be a software minimalist). Wait and see if someone who does subscribe to that mindset joins in with something that they feel better produces audio spatial awareness (honestly, I haven't looked for that beyond the software that came with my headset - long since removed from my system)
 
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ampreston85

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Thanks, I appreciate your response! Ya, I understand where you're coming from (and the tek vid taught me a lot when I first watched it too), but you're totally right... To each their own. I probably should have mentioned, I used to own an expensive pair of Turtle Beaches... They plugged into a small box that they came with (similar to something like a mixamp pro) and from there, connected to my PC via toslink SPDIF... I know that in actuality, the 7.1 'surround' sound is just emulated, but ohhhhh man. I could hear people running or reloading half way across the map in CS:Go, and the location accuracy of the sound was amazing. And the reason why it makes so much more of a difference in CS is because that game is so broken... No matter if you choose headset or 5.1 in the audio options, it still only plays in stereo, and if you close your eyes and have a friend randomly choose whether to make noise in front of you, or behind you, there is no difference in sound. Too bad my Turtles broke a while back. =[
 
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Arronleeds

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you are right on the mixamp part, the mixamp requires ddl something that motherboards do not come with, why you may ask? companies say its too expensive (greedy i know). I had to buy a soundcard when i had astros but i got a refund as they were so bad sound quality wise. honestly, i play cs:go and like you say, stereo vs 5.1 there isnt a difference (expect 5.1 sounds more tinny), i think stereo is a lot cleaner, positional audio is great for me with my sennheiser g4me one headset :).

ps- i had some tb like you, the px5 they were called, but i thought they were garbage.
 
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