wwenze
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Let's play with Windows's headphone settings
While waiting for the SXFi to reach, perhaps we can play with what are already available, so we can better appreciate what SXFi does when it comes out.
So first and foremost, Windows 10 itself supports Dolby Atmos for Headphones. Now, to clarify, Dolby Atmos is not referring to the reproduction of virtual-speakers and mapping surround sounds to headphones and stuff (these are covered under other Dolby technologies, though which are obviously having to be included into Dolby Atmos headphone in order for it to work). Nor is Dolby Atmos about having 15 channels or more which is more than the previous 7.1. (Although Dolby Atmos does allow more channels)
Put simply, Atmos is about the storage and processing of audio "objects".
Or in other words, imagine you are playing a 3D FPS. The game engine knows there is an object at location [23,14,02] from where you are. It maps the sound of this object to your speakers or headphones. Atmos brings this one step further by knowing where each speaker is for even better reproduction accuracy. Compare it to the audio of a video file - It knows there is sound, maybe louder on one channel than the rest, but it does not know or care where the sound originated from.
(The perceptive ones might have noticed that this is suggesting games already support 3D sound in headphones, and indeed, they already do.)
So in short, Dolby Atmos is a separate thing from other technologies e.g. virtualization, and they are not mutually inclusive or exclusive. Even if you have 3D headphone capabilities, you still need Atmos to process the sound objects. And this is what they are demanding money for.
So now that we have that out of the way...
1) Default setting
- Enhancements tab --> "Disable all sound effects" is ticked
- Spatial sound is off
Windows maps all 6 channels of sounds onto 2 channels
2) Enhancements on, nothing selected
- Enhancements tab --> "Disable all sound effects" is unticked
Note that the player software has to be restarted for this to take effect
- Spatial sound is off
- Nothing else is ticked
Front 2 channels are mapped to headphone, rest of channels are missing.
3) Headphone virtualization
All channels are mapped onto the headphones.
More spacious feeling than setting (1). But the rear channels don't sound like they are coming from the rear. But rather, up.
4) Windows Sonic
Not sure what the Windows Sonic itself (without the virtual surround sound) is supposed to do... Still only 2 channels are mapped without virtual surround enabled.
Note that you can choose between Windows Sonic's virtual surround and virtualization in the enhancements tab, and they will both map all the channels to the headphones. But what is different is that, the Windows Sonic's virtual surround is way more aggressive, to the point of unnaturalness. The sound definitely wraps around the head more, but still doesn't reproduce the sound coming from the back.
Conclusion
So there we go, these are the free effects currently available, and none of them reproduces the feeling of rear speakers, much less to say a room.
While waiting for the SXFi to reach, perhaps we can play with what are already available, so we can better appreciate what SXFi does when it comes out.
So first and foremost, Windows 10 itself supports Dolby Atmos for Headphones. Now, to clarify, Dolby Atmos is not referring to the reproduction of virtual-speakers and mapping surround sounds to headphones and stuff (these are covered under other Dolby technologies, though which are obviously having to be included into Dolby Atmos headphone in order for it to work). Nor is Dolby Atmos about having 15 channels or more which is more than the previous 7.1. (Although Dolby Atmos does allow more channels)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_Atmos said:
Put simply, Atmos is about the storage and processing of audio "objects".
Or in other words, imagine you are playing a 3D FPS. The game engine knows there is an object at location [23,14,02] from where you are. It maps the sound of this object to your speakers or headphones. Atmos brings this one step further by knowing where each speaker is for even better reproduction accuracy. Compare it to the audio of a video file - It knows there is sound, maybe louder on one channel than the rest, but it does not know or care where the sound originated from.
(The perceptive ones might have noticed that this is suggesting games already support 3D sound in headphones, and indeed, they already do.)
So in short, Dolby Atmos is a separate thing from other technologies e.g. virtualization, and they are not mutually inclusive or exclusive. Even if you have 3D headphone capabilities, you still need Atmos to process the sound objects. And this is what they are demanding money for.
So now that we have that out of the way...
1) Default setting
- Enhancements tab --> "Disable all sound effects" is ticked
- Spatial sound is off
Windows maps all 6 channels of sounds onto 2 channels
2) Enhancements on, nothing selected
- Enhancements tab --> "Disable all sound effects" is unticked
Note that the player software has to be restarted for this to take effect
- Spatial sound is off
- Nothing else is ticked
Front 2 channels are mapped to headphone, rest of channels are missing.
3) Headphone virtualization
All channels are mapped onto the headphones.
More spacious feeling than setting (1). But the rear channels don't sound like they are coming from the rear. But rather, up.
4) Windows Sonic
Not sure what the Windows Sonic itself (without the virtual surround sound) is supposed to do... Still only 2 channels are mapped without virtual surround enabled.
Note that you can choose between Windows Sonic's virtual surround and virtualization in the enhancements tab, and they will both map all the channels to the headphones. But what is different is that, the Windows Sonic's virtual surround is way more aggressive, to the point of unnaturalness. The sound definitely wraps around the head more, but still doesn't reproduce the sound coming from the back.
Conclusion
So there we go, these are the free effects currently available, and none of them reproduces the feeling of rear speakers, much less to say a room.
