[wilsonbj]

Just wondering what the correct in-game audio setting for Atmos is? Do you set it to Surround Sound or Headphones? So many conflicting answers online. Trying to make the most of my new Maxwells.

I opened a reddit post asking the same thing with Audeze_CS replying saying always select Surround Sound, but another user pointed out conflicting information on the Audeze support page:
Support Page Link:
https://support.audeze.com/hc/en-us/articles/15894700928013-Enabling-Dolby-Atmos-on-Xbox-and-PC

Reddit Post Link:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Audeze/comments/1cnreyo/ingame_audio_settings_for_dolby_atmos/

Just can't seem to get a straight answer on this and was wondering what everyone else thinks here.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I'm gonna edit this, since there's so much conflicting info.

All I'll say is all you need to do is test 2 channel, headphone, home theater options in a game you know. If it's an FPS or third person shooter, move the character like 10-15 feet away from sound that is constant in and repeatable, Like say a waterfall in front of you.

One of those game sound options will place that sound around you better than the others with Atmos enabled. Turn your character around to put the sound (i.e. waterfall at your 4 o clock behind you.)... It should evidently sound like it's behind you at your 4 o clock. The wrong sound option will make it much harder to tell if it's at your 4 o clock, or at your 2 o clock in front of you.

If it all sounds the same to you, then it ain't gonna matter. Some people can't really tell of HTRF improvements, and just prefer stereo without any processing.

I'm gonna be doing my own tests, as for a very long time, Home Theater was always the option for any and all virtual surround processing options like Dolby Headphone as feeding it headphone/2ch would be limiting the information to convert down to virtual surround.

However, this may have changed with Atmos itself. Our article states using headphone, which... is different from my own experiences, so I'm gonna look into it, personally.

 

[wilsonbj]

I'm gonna edit this, since there's so much conflicting info.

All I'll say is all you need to do is test 2 channel, headphone, home theater options in a game you know. If it's an FPS or third person shooter, move the character like 10-15 feet away from sound that is constant in and repeatable, Like say a waterfall in front of you.

One of those game sound options will place that sound around you better than the others with Atmos enabled. Turn your character around to put the sound (i.e. waterfall at your 4 o clock behind you.)... It should evidently sound like it's behind you at your 4 o clock. The wrong sound option will make it much harder to tell if it's at your 4 o clock, or at your 2 o clock in front of you.

If it all sounds the same to you, then it ain't gonna matter. Some people can't really tell of HTRF improvements, and just prefer stereo without any processing.

I'm gonna be doing my own tests, as for a very long time, Home Theater was always the option for any and all virtual surround processing options like Dolby Headphone as feeding it headphone/2ch would be limiting the information to convert down to virtual surround.

However, this may have changed with Atmos itself. Our article states using headphone, which... is different from my own experiences, so I'm gonna look into it, personally.

Thanks for the reply, how did you go with your testing?

 

[zilax002]

Thanks for the reply, how did you go with your testing?

You'll also want to look out for games that have specific options related to Atmos.

Resident Evil 4 remake, for example, has a 3D audio option that's grayed out on PC until you enable Atmos through Windows, at which point it flips on but you can't turn it off (the game enables/disables Atmos purely based on the Windows audio settings).

I hope we'll get better transparency and visibility going forward (i.e., in-game menus making it clear which setting should be used for Atmos audio over headphones).