Surround sound while in VR

[jnTracks]

I've always used my surround speakers when playing ED. When I got my headset recently (Rift S) I briefly tried the in-built audio but it's not full range enough and even with the positional audio tracking with head movement, it still doesn't feel 3D enough and doesn't sound like it has any front/behind depth to it. (and how would it, as a stereo reproduction source?)
So I leave it set to my surround speakers which is much more satisfying. There is this subtle thing, though, where it's actually still tracking the positional audio with my head position, even though it's playing back on my surround speakers. So effectively whatever I'm looking at plays from the center channel. So if I'm looking over my left shoulder, the panel sounds come from my right, since my head is currently turned away from the center channel.
What would be correct is if I can set ED so it will play sound on the 5.1 system with no head tracking. Wherever I look, sounds still reproduce from my 5.1 as if I'm looking forward.

Is there some way to set this? The audio settings in ED doesn't seem to have a source that I understand; is there a setting somewhere outside of the audio panel? In graphics settings there's the one with options like (HMD) headphones and HMD (surround): does this refer to audio?
What's the correct setting?

Thanks!

 

[jnTracks]

Nobody knows about the sound headtracking, eh?
Well I’ve played with the settings that might impact it, which is under graphics settings on 3D (hmd) headphones, or (hmd) speakers. Don’t know why an audio setting would be in graphics, but I can’t tell if it’s changing anything anyway.

Maybe I’ll write support.

 

[BlackSpaceCowboy]

You should use headphones. Surround sound speakers don't make sense in VR. If you turn your head right to face an NPC where would expect the sound to come from?

 

[Verlaine]

Surround speakers sound great with Elite in VR. To get the positional audio correct, set Elite to HMD Speakers. Then, the audio will maintain its relative position in your speaker setup even as you move you head. If you use headphones, then set it to headphones.

 

[Hooplah]

My Seenheiser PC 363D gaming headset does 7.1 virtural surround sound as well as advanced communications using Discord and other comms apps playing ED with friends for awhile. But in reality most of the time my Corsair SP2500 gaming audio series 232 Watt 2.1 PC speaker system totally takes care of the ED audio without having to redesign a room to get surround sound.

Many accomplishments in ED require repetitiveness. So playing Netflix Star Trek TNG episodes (pick your movie/TV support) on the background TV makes the time seem to go faster. Having surround sound for both could be confusing. I also like being in touch with the outside world while playing for many hours. We lose this with a headset. My three dogs appreciate this and is more important with human relationships. Go figure.

 

[jnTracks]

You should use headphones. Surround sound speakers don't make sense in VR. If you turn your head right to face an NPC where would expect the sound to come from?

Uh, yeah, this ...

Surround speakers sound great with Elite in VR. To get the positional audio correct, set Elite to HMD Speakers. Then, the audio will maintain its relative position in your speaker setup even as you move you head. If you use headphones, then set it to headphones.

I didn't circle back to my thread since it seemed like nobody was paying attention, but I did figure it out. Confusing that the setting is part of the 3D setting under graphics, but that is included in that setting.
Apparently something was going wonky with my settings there for a minute and it kept setting itself back to HMD (headphones) but setting to HMD (speakers) does what it's supposed to do with my surround sound. Sound stays positional to the ship I'm sitting in. So when I turn my head to face an NPC, the sound comes from where the NPC is, which I'm now looking at.
It was very weird when I had surround speakers but setting it to HMD(headphones) positional audio was moving all around. Disturbing; that's why I complained.

I assume true surround headphones would be good also but I don't have any and I'm not interested as I like using speakers instead.

 

[Verlaine]

I love Elite on my 7.1 dual-sub system. Sounds amazing. But virtual surround headphones sound great, too. Haven't tried discrete surround headphones, but I've heard they aren't great.