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Surround Sound System or Headphones?

killatopak

killatopak

Member
So our sound system is pretty old and the bass woofer got baby mice inside it so it got broken. I figured I would either have to fix or buy a new one. I don't use it much for watching movies anymore and just play games with it but a new system would be pretty expensive.

It got me thinking if I should buy headphones but I don't know if they are better for gaming.

I don't use voice chat so I don't specifically need headsets with mic.

Which one should I go with and what is generally better for gaming?
 
W

wbEMX

Member
I wouldn't trade my 5.1 (AVR can do 7.2, but I can't do that in my room) system for headphones. Games today have kick-ass home theater mixes, so that really improves the experience. I wouldn't go without it anymore.
 
yansolo

yansolo

Member
it depends, are you an audiophile? personally ever since I bought my pair of astro a40s with virtual 7.1 I haven't looked back, made my gaming experience 100x better.

I'm predominantly a pc gamer as well so it makes more sense to use quality headphones. I think they are better for a more immersive experience.
 
5

5taquitos

Member
Depends on what I'm doing.

Good headphones in a game like CS is like having wall hacks.

But sometimes you just want to get cinematic, and nothing does "big" like a home theater.

If the wife and kid are asleep, back to headphones.
 
S

SirMossyBloke

Member
Have a 7.2 Home Theatre system, and if you have the room and budget for it, get one. I'm a massive audio enthusiast so headphones just won't cut it, but I can understand why people have to. I don't have small kids to worry about waking lol
 
Elitist1945

Elitist1945

Member
I have several great pairs of headphones, and just got myself a Sony 7.1 surround system.

Surround sound >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
 
j^aws

j^aws

Member
If don't want to annoy nearby people, then get yourself a good pair of headphones and a matching headphone amp, and go nuts.
 
A

AuthenticM

Member
Surround sound system. Get a good soundbar.

Don't get headphones. You won't get to hear the intruder behind you who's about to stab you 42 times until you bleed to death.
 
P

Piggus

Member
Surround sound is way more satisfying imo, and I just have a basic Onkyo setup. But it's always nice to have a decent pair of headphones for when you have to game quietly.
 
butman

butman

Member
Headphones.
You can put the volume the shit out loud without complaints of anyone and enjoy the game at his 100%.
Trust me there's sounds that on speakers you can't appreciate.
 
A.Romero

A.Romero

Member
Surround sound.

Start cheap (receiver and couple of speakers) and build from there.

I live in the third world and managed to slowly build a functional home theater so I'm sure you can too (given that you are not a student in the third world like I was).

It's worth it, maybe even more so than 4k,in my opinion.

That said if you don't use it for movies most of the time, most likely you are not the kind of person who would care or find it worthwhile.
 
BLAUcopter

BLAUcopter

Gold Member
killatopak said:
So our sound system is pretty old and the bass woofer got baby mice inside it so it got broken. I figured I would either have to fix or buy a new one. I don't use it much for watching movies anymore and just play games with it but a new system would be pretty expensive.

It got me thinking if I should buy headphones but I don't know if they are better for gaming.

I don't use voice chat so I don't specifically need headsets with mic.

Which one should I go with and what is generally better for gaming?
Click to expand...
Both. I like my games loud especially since I play a lot of shooters. 7.1 during the day, wireless headphones at night.
 
K

Kuro

Member
You can get good sound system for much cheaper than a good headphone set up. I'm talkin about $400 headphones with ampdac vs cheap speakers + sub woofer + box. If you're fine with shitty gamer headphones like astros or hyperclouds than just stick with headphones.
 
D

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
If you have no noise restrictions, surround sound 100%. Headphones have gotten good, but nowhere near a nice 7.1 system in your gaming room.
 
S

SirMossyBloke

Member
RoninChaos said:
Anyone have any suggestions for placement of 7.2 speakers? I have a 5.1 right now.
Click to expand...

Two surrounds each side of you, facing inwards, two speaker behind you on the left and right. facing foward.

It take a decent sized room to get the right soundstage for that, so don't force it if the room is too small.
 
Woo-Fu

Woo-Fu

Banned
Unless you're hiring a sound engineer and an architect to build the room you're going to get better positional audio out of headphones every time.
 
R

RomeoDog

Banned
I have the sony 7.1 platinum headphones and I was trying them with prey today. Sounded like a garbage no surround working even when I was on VSS.

I'm preferring my TV speakers for that game. But for a game like the last of us I use my headphones.
 
Exentryk

Exentryk

Member
You should get headphones anyway, coz they're just a good to have. I use the Crossfade wireless ones, and they're great. There is a version 2 of them too now, so take a look.
 
Woo-Fu

Woo-Fu

Banned
SirMossyBloke said:
This couldn't be any further from truth, wtf.
Click to expand...

Feel free to back up your position. I'm going on 30+ years of experience. I'll take $500 of headphones over $50k of speakers every day of the week if it is positional audio I'm interested in. Most rooms are horrible for surround, most surround systems are horribly setup, improperly balanced, speakers misplaced, no wall treatments, nothing. The typical consumer buys a bunch of speakers, sticks them in the corners of a room made up of hard surfaces and then because it sounds different and loud and they can "feel" it think that they've got better positional audio than headphones. They don't. They might have a better experience based upon their personal taste but they don't have better positional audio.

All the headphones have to deal with are your ears and HRTF isn't rocket science.

The only times I choose speakers are for groups and/or when I want to feel the sound with the rest of my body just as much as I want to hear it.
 
R

RoninChaos

Member
SirMossyBloke said:
Two surrounds each side of you, facing inwards, two speaker behind you on the left and right. facing foward.

It take a decent sized room to get the right soundstage for that, so don't force it if the room is too small.
Click to expand...


I have some book shelf speakers I can use for the sides. Just need to get mounts.

Thanks for the reply!
 
T

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
The headphone surround from PSVR is better than Atmos. Too bad it doesn't work for 2D games
 
MoogleMan

MoogleMan

Member
I have both, but if I could only have one it would be a surround sound system.

I have the energy take classic 5.1 set. Amazing speaker set for $400 ($300 on sale).
I recently watched godzilla 2014 again and it still gives me chills when big z roars in surround. :)

That said, I wouldn't be without my headphones either. I use those for gaming mostly. DT770 pro 80 ohm. Amazing soundstage for a closed set and super comfy.
 
T

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
S

SirMossyBloke

Member
Woo-Fu said:
Feel free to back up your position. I'm going on 30+ years of experience. I'll take $500 of headphones over $50k of speakers every day of the week if it is positional audio I'm interested in. Most rooms are horrible for surround, most surround systems are horribly setup, improperly balanced, speakers misplaced, no wall treatments, nothing. The typical consumer buys a bunch of speakers, sticks them in the corners of a room made up of hard surfaces and then because it sounds different and loud and they can "feel" it think that they've got better positional audio than headphones. They don't. They might have a better experience based upon their personal taste but they don't have better positional audio.

All the headphones have to deal with are your ears and HRTF isn't rocket science.

The only times I choose speakers are for groups and/or when I want to feel the sound with the rest of my body just as much as I want to hear it.
Click to expand...

You said it takes a sound engineer and an architect, then go on to say it's actually people not setting it up right that's the problem.

I'm not sure what kind of experience you'd had in 30 years, but even a mid range acoustic setup mic and in built software can program your speakers for distance, range and echo cancellation. It takes 10 minutes and the receiver does it for you.

Sounds to me like you've not touched a home theatre in years.

Only thing close to to a HT right now is binaural audio, which isn't that impressive save some VR stuff, even then the sound is always too close.
 
M

MadSexual

Member
I use a virtual surrounded setup with headphones, and it's great, but nothing beats actual air vibrations for me. All environmental considerations being equal, I think real surround is the way to go.
 
N

Netherscourge

Banned
If you game more than 5 feet from your TV/monitor, go with a sound bar and amp.

Those things cast discrete sound channels better than an actual satellite speaker IMO.
 
E

EvB

Member
I play online with friends a lot, so the fact that 1 ear is covered from a chat mic renders external speakers irrelevant. I just go for virtual surround or stereo through earphones now.

Even better is that Xbox and Windows have built in virtual surround , so you don’t need any external boxes
 
Kacho

Kacho

Member
Nothing beats headphones and now that we can plug them into our controllers there's no reason not to use them. Gaming is so much more immersive using them.

I also have a soundbar, which I got last October to replace my clunky 5.1 setup and I couldn't be more happy with it. It's a very nice and elegant device to have but again, nothing beats headphones.
 
X

xCaptainCanadax

Member
home theater is awesome for gaming if you live in a space where you can have the volume up loud enough to enjoy it. If you don't then getting a set of modern headphones will just as nicely blow your socks off.
 
M

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
Games are made better with a proper 5.1 or 7.1 set up, so I would always recommend that. You can find a setup for almost any budget as well.

What are you looking to spend?

Netherscourge said:
If you game more than 5 feet from your TV/monitor, go with a sound bar and amp.

Those things cast discrete sound channels better than an actual satellite speaker IMO.
Click to expand...

I would completely disagree with this. No simulated surround is ever going to match the real thing.
 
Pagusas

Pagusas

Elden Member
Woo-Fu said:
Feel free to back up your position. I'm going on 30+ years of experience. I'll take $500 of headphones over $50k of speakers every day of the week if it is positional audio I'm interested in. Most rooms are horrible for surround, most surround systems are horribly setup, improperly balanced, speakers misplaced, no wall treatments, nothing. The typical consumer buys a bunch of speakers, sticks them in the corners of a room made up of hard surfaces and then because it sounds different and loud and they can "feel" it think that they've got better positional audio than headphones. They don't. They might have a better experience based upon their personal taste but they don't have better positional audio.

All the headphones have to deal with are your ears and HRTF isn't rocket science.

The only times I choose speakers are for groups and/or when I want to feel the sound with the rest of my body just as much as I want to hear it.
Click to expand...
Yeah no. I've been in the film industry for 12 years. You simply can not replace physical speakers with 2 speakers and get the exact same effect. Has virtualization come a long way? Yes. But it still can not duplicate the full accurate sensation created by rear and side physical speakers. Add in atmos ceiling speakers and you completely destroy headphones. When I'm editing a surround mix do you think I'm wearing a pair of headphones? Why do you think I'm not? Because you can not accurately duplicate the positional audio correctly from 2 speakers, even with the best of virtualization technology. i have to have a legit physical setup to do the mix with.



Also you seriously underestimate people's ability to setup a nice room. Yes some idiots place the speakers without thought, but believe it or not some of us have money and time and enjoy building out amazing rooms that sound incredbable. When my wife and I bought our house we had a list of wants, the very top one for me was a theater room I could gutt and rebuild how I wanted it.
 
F

franklyshankly

Member
Most of my gaming is when the kids are asleep, and the wife pretty much never wants to hear annoying repetitive game sounds. So I'm 100% headphones. Nothing against a good surround though, it's just not an option for me. I'd personally say surround sound if your lifestyle allows it.
 
Z

zbarron

Member
Not really sure for games without headphone surround built in, but for those that support it definitely headphones.

Watch these with decent headphones to hear what I mean.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCCZyUSRRo0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsbWDj2lW6E

I also agree with the poster who pointed out most rooms are awful acoustically, and while it's possible to do room treatments to improve it, they're not always feasible, and so few do it it's irrelevant in this discussion.
 
M

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
Woo-Fu said:
Feel free to back up your position. I'm going on 30+ years of experience. I'll take $500 of headphones over $50k of speakers every day of the week if it is positional audio I'm interested in. Most rooms are horrible for surround, most surround systems are horribly setup, improperly balanced, speakers misplaced, no wall treatments, nothing. The typical consumer buys a bunch of speakers, sticks them in the corners of a room made up of hard surfaces and then because it sounds different and loud and they can "feel" it think that they've got better positional audio than headphones. They don't. They might have a better experience based upon their personal taste but they don't have better positional audio.

All the headphones have to deal with are your ears and HRTF isn't rocket science.

The only times I choose speakers are for groups and/or when I want to feel the sound with the rest of my body just as much as I want to hear it.
Click to expand...


AVS forum would have a field day with this post. It's cool if you prefer headphones but pretty much everything else in this post is either untrue or highy debatable. Also every receiver nowadays, even the low range ones, have auto calibration and on screen guides for correct speaker placement. They usually take less than 10 mins as well.
 
Skyfireblaze

Skyfireblaze

Member
Honestly in my opinion it's not a either/or thing, a surround-sound system is always great but there are still times where you may want to play with headphones because of a myriad of reasons so I would say get a good surround-system and a pair of cheap but decent headphones.
 
dr_rus

dr_rus

Member
Proper surround is always better than headphones or soundbars so if you can afford it (both financially and physically) then the choice is obvious.
 
W

Wolfgunblood Garopa

Member
If I lived alone or had a soundproofed room, then a loud, bassy surround sound setup would be the way to go.

But I don't, and I have neighbors and I game at night.
 
killatopak

killatopak

Member
Let's say I have a budget up to $1000 dollars, no sound restriction except may super late at night when the neighbor's are deep asleep.

Living room where the system should be is 10 by 20 feet and 7-7.5 feet high.

Also is it necessary to have amps for headphones?
 
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