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3DS-GAF: When using headphones do you set to Surround or Stereo?

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Vanillalite

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So if you are going to use headphones do you switch your base 3DS sound settings to stereo or do you keep it on surround sound?
 
Surround, it's actually pretty amazing. If you just need it to be loud (like you're on a plane with headphones), I've found stereo works better.
 
Stereo

It actually makes things a tad louder becuz on surround, it always sounded kinda soft

And I mean this thing only has two small speakers anyways
 
I wonder if surround would require any additional power draw over stereo, maybe for additional cpu overhead. Probably neglible though?
I had it on stereo, and I flipped it over to surround. Let's see how it goes...
 
I'm pretty sure everyone who's going to try it out is already getting Surround Sound. I think that's the default option in the 3DS menu system.

Bellow that is both Stereo and for some reason Mono (I haven't figure out why they still include this). So you can toggle to one of these, but I'm pretty sure Surround is the default.
 
Brettison said:
I'm pretty sure everyone who's going to try it out is already getting Surround Sound. I think that's the default option in the 3DS menu system.

Bellow that is both Stereo and for some reason Mono (I haven't figure out why they still include this). So you can toggle to one of these, but I'm pretty sure Surround is the default.
Click to expand...

Mono's probably in there for the one-piece headsets they released for the original DS. Surround is on by default though, but it's soft.
 
Brettison said:
I'm pretty sure everyone who's going to try it out is already getting Surround Sound. I think that's the default option in the 3DS menu system.

Bellow that is both Stereo and for some reason Mono (I haven't figure out why they still include this). So you can toggle to one of these, but I'm pretty sure Surround is the default.
Click to expand...
For people deaf in one ear?
 
Are all of you people using headphones of some kind though or are we just talking settings with the stock speakers?
 
Brettison said:
What's your reasoning? Do you have the surround sound? Do you think stereo sounds better? Do you think stereo just works better inherently with stereo headphones?
Click to expand...

My reasoning is that everything is designed for stereo playback, so while using phones i really prefer to hear the sounds as they where crafted. We all know that the surround algorithm conversion from Nintendo is one of the best out there but when using headphones there isn't too much difference. I like the spatiality of real stereo rather than a converted/simulated surround one, again, despite how awesome is the Nintendo surround conversion.
 
As far as I understand, Surround Mode simply involves playing a delayed, quiet copy of the left channel to the right speaker, and vice versa.
Occasionally the sound would glitch on my DS and it would sound extra echoey, never sure if that was just my damaged unit or a general bug.


Brettison said:
I'm pretty sure everyone who's going to try it out is already getting Surround Sound. I think that's the default option in the 3DS menu system.

Bellow that is both Stereo and for some reason Mono (I haven't figure out why they still include this). So you can toggle to one of these, but I'm pretty sure Surround is the default.
Click to expand...

It's so stupid hiding it away in the System Settings app, should be an option on the brightness button so you can change it mid-game.


And if you must know, I have it on surround at all time, partly because I forgot the option was there until you reminded me.
 
waicol said:
My reasoning is that everything is designed for stereo playback, so while using phones i really prefer to hear the sounds as they where crafted. We all know that the surround algorithm conversion from Nintendo is one of the best out there but when using headphones there isn't too much difference. I like the spatiality of real stereo rather than a converted/simulated surround one, again, despite how awesome is the Nintendo surround conversion.
Click to expand...

We don't know if it's converted surround, though. For the MP3 player, of course, but for games? This is Nintendo: they like to prioritize the control games have over the hardware.

It's very likely that the games simply read the sound settings and must act on their own to provide the correct output and can control the "spatial separation" (aka: the delay) of individual audio samples.
 
Kyzer said:
Sometimes I like to listen through one earbud to keep an ear open.
Click to expand...

plus some people actually prefer mono for aesthetic reasons. getting rid of mono wouldn't affect the majority of people, but it's costless for nintendo since it's all software, and it would upset some people.
 
Surround for headphones the stereo for speakers because of the low volume issue with surround. But sometimes I forget to switch.
 
Interesting that people seem to have varying opinions on this. Guess I'll have to do some of my own tests to see if I can figure out which one I enjoy more.
 
I like it. I keep it on even when it's on speakers. While playing oot I could actually hear where the chickens were and knew by hearing which painting Phantom Ganon was comming out of.
 
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