Is oculus rift worth getting now?

[MongGrel]

Oculus Rift and Cyberdildonics

Teasing a bit, but really

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2KeuptfCOc

http://www.fleshlight.com/fleshlight-kiiroo/kiiroo-pearl-and-onyx-couple/

No, I don't have one

 

[darkswordsman17]

You obviously don't know much about headphones. Headphones that would be good for music mostly suck for gaming because the positional audio capability is terrible. It doesn't matter if you have sennheiser hd800 with a headphone amp. You will never replicate a true 5.1, 7.1, 9.2, 11.1 or whatever system.

I am not taking about just bass. If all you care about is bass why not just use some shitty beats headphones?

Also no, no headphones or headset ever will beat a proper home theater setup for surround sound. It can't, doesn't, and won't happen. Period. You are on crack if you think so. Good luck trying to get Dolby atmos from headphones (it's coming with Star Wars battlefront). It isn't possible, and the separation of a simple 5.1 system with a good receiver and proper speakers blows away any headphones you can buy for separation of the sound channels. Sorry man.

You're joking right? Talk about being on crack you must've snorted a mountain big enough to make Tony Montana's eyes widen. Funny thing is you seem so focused on me talking about including a sub (because bass is generally omnidirectional, meaning you could add the extra oomph that people tend to miss with headphones without screwing up the positional aspects) that you're assuming I don't know what I'm talking about. Fact is, I mentioned it because I knew you were exactly the type of person that doesn't understand this stuff. And your post proved that. Your focus on surround sound systems and Dolby just shows you're one of those people that buys into marketing BS and wants the hyper-processed fake surround sound that is actually the problem.

That's the point, you wouldn't want to replicate a surround system, you want to replicate the actual environment of the game (which surround systems do not). You don't want it to separate it into channels like that. That's not natural. If you think that's superior to a cohesive sound field then I don't know what to tell you. Sorry man, but you're delusional if you think that surround systems that isolate it to certain channels is "good" audio.

You very obviously have not used any actual decent positional audio setup or ever listened to a binaural recording, let alone on decent headphones as you'd know competent headphones absolutely can provide spatial positioning no problem (while also providing a coherent soundfield far beyond what surround systems do, it's not even close). Your understanding of audio in general is based on silliness (the fact that you talk about channels and yet another hyped Dolby system, which by the way Dolby is a joke, they've been promising stuff that the PC was able to do like 15 years ago by Aureal, and yet everytime they keep trying to force headphones to mimic a surround sound setup which is just stupid).

The sad thing is, we have the capability to go beyond both the old PC stuff and the modern processed Dolby BS, but companies don't. Part of it is because of Creative (although they're actually a big part of why modern games have some as it's baked into OpenAL which a lot of games use, although too many slap on some Dolby processing over it which the Dolby stuff is all about trying to mimic surround setups and not about accurately portraying the actual environment).

A good game engine as far as sound will process things and then determine for itself how to present it based on your speaker setup. Unfortunately they generally do this by leveraging Dolby tech that is trying to shoehorn everything into a 5.1/7.1 surround setup (that in no way takes into account the technical capabilities of your equipment, which alone makes as much difference). Atmos is just more of the same. It's just Dolby's continual rebranding of doing the same thing (although they keep trying to add channels and other things to try and get people to keep upgrading even though that's not the problem).

Dolby is trying to make games sound like the fake produced surround from movies. I also laugh at you dismissing what I said because of me mentioning bass when that's a hallmark of surround sound setups (is to jack the LFE and low end up). Also, the fact that you say no headphone can outdo a surround setup is so hilariously complete BS it might be the most obvious thing that shows you don't know what you're talking about. Have fun with surround experience out of one of those Bose systems where most of the sound comes from the bass module (or whatever it is Bose calls it) and the speakers can only do about the frequency response/range of tiny computer speakers.

But hey, keep on trying to call me an idiot while proving you don't even understand what you're talking about. :thumbsup: Have fun with the rest of the crack, it'll go well with your Dolby experience.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Beats has bass? I try all the demo displays and I can't believe people enjoy that shiat.

The problem with a home theater setup is it has no place in VR. It is correct 1 degree out of 360. Do we have ideal headphones? probably not. We have amazing sounding headphones for sound quality, but on their own they don't have much strength for positional sound. Is it POSSIBLE too? I very much think so. There is no reason we can't scale down the audio pattern of a home theater so that the speakers are right next to the ear. We just need to spend some more R&D on developing them. ATM it seems like only a few gaming audio manufacturers (who we would never suggest for their high audio quality) attempted it but none of them are using good enough driver positioning or using good enough drivers, period.

It will come with the many new controller types we will see when the technology is released to the common folk. Which isn't now.

Him mentioning Beats is all the proof I needed to know he's just making silly arguments. I can only laugh at him trying to say I don't know headphones or what I'm talking about since everything he mentioned just shows he barely knows anything about this stuff and what little he does is based on marketing BS by companies like Dolby.

There's no need for surround headphones as proper audio positioning can be done with two channel headphones. It'd be better to use two higher quality drivers instead of trying to recreate the awful fake surround sound of movies.

That's the point, you don't want to recreate home theaters. Why you people act like that's the holy grail of audio I can't even fathom. Surround audio should present the environment, not this fake hyper-positioned surround they do for movies that is just gimmicky nonsense compared to cohesive soundfields.

Games should process audio completely free of channels, and then let your equipment decide how to fit it into your specific setup, so if you have 1 or 100 speakers your system should know how to fit audio to it. The game should treat it like it does graphics, process everything in a 3-dimensional space and then just let your equipment relate that to you. And then your equipment should let you dictate whether you enhance sounds either to gain an advantage or to make it sound more like a movie, or if you just want a natural sound field.

Exactly, it isn't there yet. When I game on my 5.1 setup(soon to be 7.2) the positioning of the audio is perfect. When I have to use the headphones it is just ok. It's missing the separation of the multiple speakers. I did calibrate it for the room etc. so maybe that makes the difference.

No, you're wrong. It is there but people keep wanting this hyper-positioned fake surround sound. That's why you think it sounds bad because you want it to delineate the sound to a specific speaker which is not good audio.

Your headphones are not that good and you're not using them in a system setup to make them do positional audio well. That's why it sounds so inferior to you. Well that and I'm guessing your speakers are actually substantially better quality compared to your headphones so you're not even putting it on equal ground to start with.

A good setup with headphones will actually let you pinpoint sound even more than a surround setup. Some of this is literally the physics from the fact that headphones will be right next to your ears, which enhances the spatial detail, meaning things like elevation will actually be more apparent.

Now you might prefer it a certain way as it helps you pick out enemies, but you need to understand that is not good audio and that there are factual reasons why you're incorrect in stating that only surround setups can do things properly. Personally, I'd greatly prefer them to make natural cohesive soundscapes and then it be up to your equipment's technical abilities and your own hearing on being able to discern details. What they are doing is exaggerating certain sounds to make them more apparent, and then they work to make their position apparent by mapping it to a certain speaker.

 

[JeffMD]

There's no need for surround headphones as proper audio positioning can be done with two channel headphones. It'd be better to use two higher quality drivers instead of trying to recreate the awful fake surround sound of movies.

I think the problem is, our brains can calculate positional sound including up and down because of decades of analyzing those sounds as they are reflected and positioned through our earlobes into the ear canal. These earlobes are different for everyone so the 3d sounds are different for everyone. We could emulate the sound for one ear and ouput it through just 2 channels, but it would be wrong for the next. It would be virtually impossible to create a 2 channel positional sound that would work for everyone. On the other hand with current tech we can place the sounds positionaly outside the earlobe and it would work for everyone.

 

[sxr7171]

My problem is I often play with a decent 5.1 setup with an A/V Receiver and proper sub etc. This wouldn't be ideal for that because when you turn your head you are no longer facing the proper direction for positional audio. Almost requires you to use a headset and most times I don't prefer headsets unless I have to use voice chat. The quality just isn't as good as a proper surround system.

If implemented correctly this will not be a problem. With today's DSPs any soundfield can be rendered out in 2 channel just as having 2 ears is enough to hear "positional audio" in the real world. The issue with headphones is comfort and headphone bass doesn't feel like real bass. Bass can be added in with a real subwoofer to complement the headphone audio. Deep bass is mostly perceived as feel.

 

[sxr7171]

I think the problem is, our brains can calculate positional sound including up and down because of decades of analyzing those sounds as they are reflected and positioned through our earlobes into the ear canal. These earlobes are different for everyone so the 3d sounds are different for everyone. We could emulate the sound for one ear and ouput it through just 2 channels, but it would be wrong for the next. It would be virtually impossible to create a 2 channel positional sound that would work for everyone. On the other hand with current tech we can place the sounds positionaly outside the earlobe and it would work for everyone.

That's actually a valid point. Which is why people have strong opinions of the headphones that work for them, while others don't like the well revered headphones in question.

What will happen one day when this technology matures is real time correction of the signal based on a 3d captured model your own earlobes. It will happen.

 

[JeffMD]

Yea this goes back to my first hope.. when VR is finally out there, more audio research is done on positional sound through 2 channels.

 

[Fallen Kell]

I will leave this right here....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJwUVCXH-gM&index=25&list=RDitLxXeyM2aM