Vortex III audio question

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HonestFlames

Bronze Level Poster
I think you would benefit much better from a quality stereo headset from Sennheiser. Such as: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/senn...-noise-cancelling-with-air-vents-xxl-ear-cups

The Astro headset is one of those types of devices that sucks people in with glitzy bullet point marketing. You are not going to get a convincing 7.1 surround experience from stereo speakers. Nor are you going to avoid a whole *bunch* of audio latency due to both the wireless transfer and heavy processing required to downmix 7.1 surround to stereo and then filter it for pseudo-surround.

Sennheiser have been in the earphones/headphones game for a very long time, producing top DJ performance gear as well as pro-sumer and audiophile listening gear.
 
C

ccalum07

Member
Hi HonestFlames, thank you for your input. I've check them out and they seem to be extremely good, the one thing that worries me is that most reviews say you should steer clear of them if you do not have an audiophile quality of sound card, apparently a laptop card is definately not suitable..

I could buy the mixamp and plug it into that, doubt that would make a lot of difference though as it's not really carrying out any signal improvements - plus it would work out at £200 anyway for the pair. If I get the A40 and mixamp then at least it would be cheaper.

A note on the comment about latency though, the a40 I linked is not wireless so I guess the latency wouldn't be as noticeable as you suggest?
 
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nipplepie

Bronze Level Poster
Sorry thread steal :)
I have an Astro A40 with 5.1 Doby Mixamp (not wireless), so far I've being using it on my Vortex 3 without the Mixamp, so as only analog signal.

If I get this http://www.nexxia.co.uk/pics/NX-OPT-131.jpg will I be able to use have access to the surround sound 5.1 the Mixamp can provide the headset with? I have an optical cable, but is the other end of that SPDIF for an optical connection?
 
C

ccalum07

Member
Well that's interesting actually, so you have the a40 but don't use the mixamp.. What would you say about the sound quality in general even though it's just stereo? If it's good enough for games/music/movies without the surround?

Looks to be like that cable is the SPDIF to optical that you'd need for the mixamp, sadly as I'm not getting my laptop till tomorrow I can't check the output but I believe that the SPDIF is a 5.1 optical output. Which should in theory mean that the mixamp will provide the headset with the surround sound.
Sadly I think that you need a Dolby Digital Live sound card output to make the a40 setup (even with the mixamp) work. The laptop does not have that capability, but this seems to have it - Asus Xonar U1 http://uk.asus.com/Multimedia/Audio_Cards/Xonar_U1_Audio_Station/#specifications

The question then is, since the Xonar U1 can output dolby headset (basically what the mixamp does anyway) - Do you need to use the mixamp at all?

/confused !!
 
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nipplepie

Bronze Level Poster
Damn, good question lol My impression was that with the Mixamp you don't even need to have a sound card. It is the sound card, is it not? V3 comes with the Intel 5.1, but unless you have a USB (or SPDIF) headset you will only get the Stereo analog signal, two channel output.

I'm going to get competitively into CS:GO, http://blog.counter-strike.net/index.php/2012/08/sound-spatialization/ and as you can see here they are really working hard to bring true realistic 5.1 which is why I want to start using my MixAmp again to deliver me with the 5.1 What is the best way to do this?
 
J

Jay5

Active member
Unless the Vortex 3 has an optical out (which i don't think it does?) You can't use the 5.1 surround sound on Astro headsets. I own a pair of A30's myself with a wired mixamp. I still think there's a way to use the mix amp without an optical out.. but i couldn't tell you how... there seems to be a 3.5mm jack at the front of the mixamp.. maybe that's how... But you still won't be able to produce v 5.1 surround without that optical out.

As for Astros' headsets.. I only have the A30 and it's a great headset, i've had no problems with it thus far and the mixamp is a great bit of kit.. although the combination is a pricey one.. i've got no complaints. I was also worried at first that the Astro headsets just look "pretty" But this was not the case.
I mean... there must be SOME reason to why they use the A40 as the official MLG headset.
 
C

ccalum07

Member
After much confusion and eventually speaking to the IT guy at my work, which still wasn't conclusive.. I ordered this setup on next day delivery (so should arrive today with the Vortex 3) -

I'll let you know how I get on.

Product Quantity
----------------------------------------------------------
Sennheiser PC 350 Gaming Headset wi 1
Asus Xonar U3 Headphone AMP Soundca 1
----------------------------------------------------------

Total £169.76
 
N

nipplepie

Bronze Level Poster
Jay5 said:
Unless the Vortex 3 has an optical out (which i don't think it does?)
Click to expand...
The Vortex 3 has a SPDIF. I can get a SPDIF to Optical cable connector. Would that now work? I mean the sound card is Intel 5.1...how do I use the 5.1 lol?

If I get a new sound card (external) which is 5.1 and connect it via firewire or usb3.0 and then connect my mixamp, would I get 5.1 sound? Or if I get a new sound card I wouldnt need the mix amp?
 
J

Jay5

Active member
It may work. I think the 5.1 refers to the fact that the vortex 3, 17.3" has 5.1 built on. Im pretty sure the 5.1 you experience with most headsets will only be virtual surround rather then true 5.1. I couldn't tell you the difference, but the button on the mixamp let's me switch between the two, and it is noticeable and does sound better when the 5.1 is on. All I know is that I have a USB and optical going into my pc (USB for microphone and optical for audio) from my mixamp and this works fine.

Ps - after reading up about it, it would seem a spdif is the same as optical. You can grab an optical cable for fairly cheap, so it will be worth a shot. I can't comment until I get my laptop I'm afraid, but if you do get a cable, it will defiantly sound better!
It may be wise to have a quick search yourself. :)

Regards,
Jay.
 
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nipplepie

Bronze Level Poster
Yeah my MixAmp is currently at my parent's house, I am at my uni House, so I can not just buy the cable and test it. Will arrange something soon, and post here the result if you haven't already. When do you get your V3?
 
J

Jay5

Active member
Not sure, waiting on the GFX card! Sorry I couldn't be any more helpful, hopefully it all works out.

Jay.
 
H

HonestFlames

Bronze Level Poster
Sorry for not noticing wired / wireless difference. I mustn't have been paying attention!

I think you're right in that you would benefit more from 'audiophile grade' output, with the Sennheisers. But... I wonder at the quality grading of the amp built in to the A40's. There will still be an amp between the optical out and the bits near your ears. It won't be upgradeable, like a solution with Sennheisers would be.

I don't know what to think, really. A quick solution is the A40's, but a longer lasting one is Sennheisers followed by a future external soundcard purchase.

Horses for courses!
 
C

ccalum07

Member
Hi all,

Quick post to let you know how I got on with the V3 and the headset/usb card (senn PC350 and Xonar u3).

Well the V3 itself is quite simply astounding, very very happy with it! One single fault for me is that I have quite big hands/fingers so the keyboard is quite tight for me to use, however it's not a deal breaker as if I can't get on with it I'll just plug in my Logitech KB anyway..

The headset is so far, very very impressive.. For music it's absolutely brilliant, I simply can't express how good it sounds. For games I'm not sure yet as I've not got anything installed, however I played a few scenes from Blu-rays and that was using the virtual surround and it was certainly an impressive result (not close to the music quality though) so I'm quietly hopeful about the games dolby digital live results which I'll hopefully get round to later :)

I should mention of course that these comments are based on the Xonar U3, as the built in sound is frankly pretty meh.. And it certainly doesn't do the headset any justice - yet after plugging in the Xonar, the grin spread from ear to ear :D

Happy days, thanks to PCS for building an awesome laptop :)

/me
 
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nipplepie

Bronze Level Poster
Will this be good enough to connect my MixAmp to the PC's SPDIF 3.5m to get 5.1 surrounds sound? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Techlink-WiresNX-Toslink-Optical-Adaptor/dp/B001C5R98S/ref=pd_bxgy_ce_img_b

Or do I need to get some sort of a digital signal changer box, or a brand new optical to spdif cable?

Also I tested the 5.1 suround sound in Windows configuration. I had connected my mixamp to the 3.5m stereo jack with the lead that splits into the Red and White connections. And I could only hear the sound in the front left and right, not Centre, Sub or Rear Left Rear Right. I tested it with the Realtek HD thing, same result.
 
eddywatson

eddywatson

Bronze Level Poster
hello i am sorry to bring this back to life but i also have an audio issue. Ive got the Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack

It runs as "realtek HD audio manager"

I also have the astro A40's but im having problems with audio, sometimes it wont play in VLC in yourtube or even on games... is that because I need an opitcal input from teh mixamp?##thank you
 
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