Do we have DTS/Dolby Surround yet?

[WR3ND]

Just a random one, I have better results from USB sound card drivers for surround to headphones than I do with the in game option. Strangely I find the default stereo has more detailed audio to headphones, though that’s probably expected.

Multi channel game audio I always imagined was handled by directx given how it’s one with the sound control panel, though not certain just from observations.

Funny you should mention that. The USB audio out from my turntable to my PC (16-bit 48KHz) sounds better and has higher clarity than going directly from the turntable to my receiver over analog. It's not a straight clean line though as there are some noise caps and the like, using the built-in pre-amp or going "straight" through, unfortunately. Oh well. At least passing the audio through my PC via USB sounds pretty good.

 

[Para Handy]

.......... Your music player needs some kind of matrixing plugin to expand 2-channel to 5.1. I use Matrix Mixer for Winamp.

However that is just digital signal processing to provide simulated surround-sound.

I just re-tested the DTX Headphone: X in-game through my Bose cans and whilst it did provide good spatial cues I still had trouble "projecting" sounds that should be in front i.e. they still seemed "inside my skull" to sort of explain what I experience. Sounds "around" one are definitely well presented and I know I have always had an issue with this forward projection in cans - I can't sense a sound stage as in-front of me in normal stereo, it always seems "around" me - so it is probably a psychological rather than physiological effect on my part.

True binaural recordings present me with no problems in that regard - if you look (and listen ) to some of the true binaural demonstrations then the presence not only of position in front of one but of distance and elevation are clearly observed. ( e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FwDa7TWHHc )

So I think the processing that is carried out by the DTS Headphone: X is not perfect but it does provide a sense of space and anyone who games in cans should try this, it is far superior to the DSP false surround-sound that you get with some headsets. (I have a set of Hyper-X Cloud II cans which have this in its dongle and it is not at all comparable - I never use it - but I only use that headset for comms in flight sims.)

One thing though, I found the station announcements in the cans was much louder than when in normal 5.1 surround conditions.

 

[xondk]

Maybe better suited in a tech section or something, but just wondering in general.

Kind of ironic that I have a virtual DTS headphone surround option in the game settings when my optical out from the motherboard onto my receiver, and Windows 7 have native 5.1 DTS Surround support.

The console master sound race?

Elite dangerous outputs raw multichannel pcm audio, supporting at the very least 5.1 audio, so if your sound card permits it, you can output in as high a bitrate and frequency as possible.

if you are not getting optical out to 5.1 dts then I think your setup is incorrect, i'm using 5.1 DTS myself via my creative soundblaster z to my receiver and the sound quality is great from elite dangerous, if using similar make sure that your normal output is set to allow high bitrates and frequencies, as the conversion to dts happens directly from the signal normally sent to speakers.
Mine are set to 24 bit/96 khz, which is max possible on an optical toslink last I checked.

 

[Para Handy]

OK - here we have from a previous discussion the F D answer about this subject:


S/PDIF sadly isn't supported by the ED client, since it outputs 5.1 uncompressed in PCM format which doesn't provide surround through optical natively. 5.1 via HDMI inputs will work, though.

CMDR Sticks ( https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...ctions-does-ED-support-for-5-1-surround-sound )

 

[WR3ND]

OK - here we have from a previous discussion the F D answer about this subject:


S/PDIF sadly isn't supported by the ED client, since it outputs 5.1 uncompressed in PCM format which doesn't provide surround through optical natively. 5.1 via HDMI inputs will work, though.

CMDR Sticks ( https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...ctions-does-ED-support-for-5-1-surround-sound )

Darn... I don't think my Titan Black Nvidia cards support surround over HDMI. Will have to double check though as the HDMI audio drivers bundled with the display drivers have been updated not all that long ago. Might be able to pass it through the TV and then back out to the receiver otherwise.

Cheers.

 

[rOmiLaYu]

Console pleb, here.

I get surround sound just fine.

 

[Para Handy]

Darn... I don't think my Titan Black Nvidia cards support surround over HDMI. Will have to double check though as the HDMI audio drivers bundled with the display drivers have been updated not all that long ago. Might be able to pass it through the TV and then back out to the receiver otherwise.

Cheers.

Doesn't your receiver have discrete channel inputs? I use the 5.1 analogue surround outputs from my motherboard connected to the 5.1 direct analogue inputs on my Z906 and get the full surround experience from the game.

 

[WR3ND]

Console pleb, here.

I get surround sound just fine.

I mentioned it in the OP as I remember having seen an interview with David Braben about the advantages of consoles for Elite: Dangerous specifically (it may have been when the Xbox or PS4 version came about), having the big screen and surround sound. Funny enough, that's how I typically game on PC as well.

Can't even play Blu-rays on PC with a Blu-ray drive without third party software or other decryption libraries. [blah]

 

[WR3ND]

Doesn't your receiver have discrete channel inputs? I use the 5.1 analogue surround outputs from my motherboard connected to the 5.1 direct analogue inputs on my Z906 and get the full surround experience from the game.

I believe so, though not completely sure offhand what analog outs my motherboard has, to be honest – might not have 5.1. Would be a shame to have to resort to that when I already have the digital hooked up.

 

[Para Handy]

I believe so, though not completely sure offhand what analog outs my motherboard has, to be honest – might not have 5.1. Would be a shame to have to resort to that when I already have the digital hooked up.

UNless you have a really "jobbie" mobo then there will be discrete surround channel outputs and they will provide good performance. (Better than using a PCI card to encode to digital and then have to decode in your receiver. Direct is best. )

P.S. I can play BluRay on my pc and get stunning surround - don't know what your issue might be with that - optical I suppose?

 

[WR3ND]

UNless you have a really "jobbie" mobo then there will be discrete surround channel outputs and they will provide good performance. (Better than using a PCI card to encode to digital and then have to decode in your receiver. Direct is best. )

P.S. I can play BluRay on my pc and get stunning surround - don't know what your issue might be with that - optical I suppose?

https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/P9X79_WS/

A few years old now. Might get some wires and fiddle with it later.

 

[WR3ND]

...

P.S. I can play BluRay on my pc and get stunning surround - don't know what your issue might be with that - optical I suppose?

Just that Blu-ray movie discs aren't natively supported. It's a silly hassle. Sound isn't the issue there.

 

[Globusdiablo]

Maybe better suited in a tech section or something, but just wondering in general.

Kind of ironic that I have a virtual DTS headphone surround option in the game settings when my optical out from the motherboard onto my receiver, and Windows 7 have native 5.1 DTS Surround support.

The console master sound race?

If the game supported DTS/Dolby the trademark logos would be on the cover.

Elite: Dangerous does not support these compressed audio formats natively. It does however have uncompressed 7.1 multi-channel audio (hdmi or discrete signal only, not tos/optical which is compressed).

You either utilise the uncompressed 7.1 (awesome and worth it), or compress it any way you see fit for very nice compressed surround sound/stereo.

 

[WR3ND]

Not sure why it's being refereed to as "compressed" considering the source is digital anyway. [weird]

More of just a QoL/ease of use feature since I have hooked up and working surround through optical already anyway.

How much does Frontier want from me to put DTS on the "tin?" I already have the LEP.

 

[Globusdiablo]

Darn... I don't think my Titan Black Nvidia cards support surround over HDMI. Will have to double check though as the HDMI audio drivers bundled with the display drivers have been updated not all that long ago. Might be able to pass it through the TV and then back out to the receiver otherwise.

Cheers.

Just plug hdmi from card to receiver and you get uncompressed 7.1 multi-channel digital surround sound. If you want some DTS or Dolby logo to light up on your receiver you can probably compress the signal (fidelity loss included).

 

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

Funny you should mention that. The USB audio out from my turntable to my PC (16-bit 48KHz) sounds better and has higher clarity than going directly from the turntable to my receiver over analog. It's not a straight clean line though as there are some noise caps and the like, using the built-in pre-amp or going "straight" through, unfortunately. Oh well. At least passing the audio through my PC via USB sounds pretty good.

That makes sense. I've never used an expensive receiver, but the one time i did put vinyl through a receiver it sounded like garbage, compared to an old analogue amp anyway. Im guessing the expensive ones would have more elaborate kit around their analogue inputs but i was using just a standard mid range home theater one.

Sounds like you like your music too.. for elite the dramatic differences between config i find is how the bass is rendered... if you get it right boost sounds and the fsd sound great and have satisfying presence, but are tinny and not there otherwise.

The eq presets are interesting as well.. from reading the descriptions i can't get anything satisfying apart from night time. When its flat (or equally distributed??) so much of the sound just doesn't come out.. to the point that it almost feels like normal etc are bugged. If you've found the detail for all those i'd love to hear about it.

I'm using audio technica ag1x (closed back) and logitech z-cinema (from around 2008.. these things are so good for pc 2.1's... i won't get rid of them). EDIT 2: For usb soundcard with thx drivers, one was the little inline one that came with the sennheiser pd3d ones.. nothing to say here except they're better than elites software. I'm using an also very old soundblaster x-fi pro.. apparently the headphone amp just supports fully those audio technica headphones.. and the software drivers are amazing. Its the only config i've heard where surround is better left on.. put it that way. Todays models aren't thx anymore however.. not sure if creatives own implementation is any good.

 

[Globusdiablo]

Not sure why it's being refereed to as "compressed" considering the source is digital anyway. [weird]

More of just a QoL/ease of use feature since I have hooked up and working surround through optical already anyway.

How much does Frontier want from me to put DTS on the "tin?" I already have the LEP.

I messed around alot with this back around initial release. I honestly can't say that I can hear the difference between compressed and uncompressed multichannel pcm audio.

Bottom line; if you like the sound output you're getting, don't overthink it.

 

[WR3ND]

...

It goes through my receiver both ways, but passing it through the PC via USB sounds better due to the relatively poor on-board electronics of the turntable itself. It's a known issue with the turntable I have (AT-LP120-USB), but for the features it has, I'm not complaining too much, since it does at least sound decent over USB.

The caps on the turntable muffle the sound over analog, and 16-bit 48KHz over USB and then out to 5.1 stereo over optical for a virtual surround soundscape sounds remarkable better on the hi-fi, even apples to apples, using the same surround sound (up converted, as it were) settings for both input types.

I just find it kind of ironic. I'm sure if I had a better table (the stylus I have is actually pretty good) and a high-end pre-amp, I'd likely be better going analog.

 

[WR3ND]

I messed around alot with this back around initial release. I honestly can't say that I can hear the difference between compressed and uncompressed multichannel pcm audio.

Bottom line; if you like the sound output you're getting, don't overthink it.

Fair enough. Guess I'm just twitching a little since I know the surround sound support is there already built-in on my setup, but the game (apparently) isn't making full use of it.

I think the sound table for what noises the game can place and mix are amazing, but the overall mixing of it does seem to fall a little "flat" and "tinny" or "metallic" to me. Still the same if I use headphones too. It's tough to describe, and I know this sort of thing can be rather subjective, so I'm not sure how much use this sort of feedback can be, especially this late in the game's development.

Vinyl records over this optical digital out to my receiver on the other hand sound amazing, if I'm being fair, and considering the limitations of the format, I don't think it's an issue withe the optical line and it's inherent encoding.

It almost seems like the game is overlaying some digitized metallic synth effect, phase shifting, or something to sound sci-fi-ish.

You guys hearing this too, or is it just me?

 

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

I think the sound table for what noises the game can place and mix are amazing, but the overall mixing of it does seem to fall a little "flat" and "tinny" or "metallic" to me. Still the same if I use headphones too. It's tough to describe, and I know this sort of thing can be rather subjective, so I'm not sure how much use this sort of feedback can be, especially this late in the game's development.

That's exactly it. Have you tried the in game mixing presets? Night time seems to help with that. Im curious as to whether the audio is the problem or its my speakers.

If you're running windows 10, this will help: https://www.globaldelight.com/boom-for-windows/ Im not sadly, but use it on mac. They have a proprietary surround algorithm which is junk (and also only provides a stereo sound device on mac at least.....), but the system wide eq is great.