5.1 and 7.1 what does it all mean?

**Savage** · 02-13-11, 01:55 PM

Lately I've been interested in buying a surround sound headset. Yes, I'm a cheap skate and well I trying to get the biggest bang the for the buck. I have a standard sound card nothing special at all. My current headset is:
This My mic is still working fine so I plan just to buy the surround sound headphones.
I know 5.1 is cheaper than 7.1 so I'm looking into 5.1. Some ones I've looked at are:
Headphone 1
Headphone 2
Headphone 3
Headphone 4
So what I'm really wondering is that if these are alright? Bad? etc.. Also I was wondering if even buying one of these would be useless because my sound card. There's also even an adapter I might have to buy? Well Thanks for reading, obviously I have no idea what I'm doing so lol.

**Bunni** · 02-13-11, 02:11 PM

that number represents the number of audio channels a given item has, the standard goes:
2.0: left, right
2.1: left, right, sub
3.1: left, right, center, sub
5.1: left, right, center, back left, back right, sub
7.1: front left, front right, center, middle left , middle right, back left, back right, sub
9.1: front left, front right, center, middle left, middle right, back middle left, back middle right, back right, back left, sub

for headsets, it means theres a DEDICATED channel. Old days, there was 2.1 headsets that just did virtual surround sound, but since theres only 2.1 channels the missing channels were blended in.

Ensure your soundcard has an out jack for however many channels the headset you are looking at has.

The advantages to physical surround sound channels over virtual surround sound is arguable. Personally, ive always prefered 2.1 because its easy to setup, works allround. 5.1->7.1 youll have to configure and dink with the eq and speaker balance to actually balance the output, otherwise your hearing will be dominated by otherwise worthless sounds.

**Blood_Thirst** · 02-13-11, 02:23 PM

The Turtle Beach ones are the best in my opinion, because they have the individual channel adjustments. But I have to question them at $10, even if they are refurbed. 5.1 means 5 speakers/1 sub, normally 2 front 2 rear and a center, while 7.1 adds side speakers to the mix. Not too noticeable of a difference unless you have a good sound card. What card do you have or do you just have onboard sound from the motherboard?

**Thorsen** · 02-13-11, 02:34 PM

Buy some Sennheiser HD 280's. They're not surround sound, but virtual surround sound is perfectly fine anyway for gaming, and your music will sound like sex on them.

**Ripper762** · 02-13-11, 04:33 PM

I use the Turtle Beach AK-R8. It looks just like Headphone 4 in your post. These have 4 drivers (speakers) per ear cup and give you more fine tuning than you'll ever need. It also uses an inline (external) USB card. These are also very comfortable to wear. I paid $140 years ago and it looks like the new comparable model is the HPA2 for $99 MSRP. I wouldn't go with refurbished but that's me.

I use 7.1 for my home and I can tell the difference between 5.1 and 7.1 there. However, I don't see how anyone can hear the difference between 5.1 and 7.1 in a headset. The speakers are just too close to your ear.