I want 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound, but the only "true" surround sound headphones (meaning actual surround sound not virtual surround sound) were the old Razer Megladoon (or something like that) and I can't see to buy those anywhere. I had a set that has now after 10 years (give or take) they have quit on me.

So I guess I'm going to have to settle for "virtual" surround sound. I have noticed mistakes frequently with virtual surround sound headphones before where the software rendering (right term?) of the surround sound would get the direction wrong. For example, it would sound like an enemy on my left in Fallout 4 but I could see the enemy was actually on the right. Those Razer Megladoon (or whatever) were by far the best, most accurate surround sound headphones I ever heard because it wasn't virtual... the headphones actually had separate built in speakers for each channel.

Can anyone recommend some good virtual ones? Preferably without the need to download and/or install separate software? I will try and find a picture example of the Razer headphones I was talking about, but it doesn't matter the correct name really because I have checked lots of places and cannot find them for sale anywhere anymore. If I find an example online I will return and edit this post with the picture. Just curious if I'm remembering the name correctly really.

EDIT: Found it on amazon and it was actually over 10 years ago when I purchased it. On my birthday lol.

Those Razers apparently only had 2 drivers as well... kinda misleading to label them 5/7.1..

That said, personally i think that the virtual surround sound works pretty well... I'm using the standard windows version, no Atmos plugin here yet. It feels like there is a bit of a blind/deaf spot directly behind the head, but in general it feels pretty immersive and accurate to me.

So... Id stay away from gaming headsets altogether, unless an integrated mic is important. The built quality often seems to be worse than decent Hifi headphones, from what I've seen. Also, they're often pretty ugly. ;)

I don't think that's true. I know that I've used at least a dozen virtual surround sound speakers and NONE of them showed up as 5.1 or 7.1 within the Windows Sound Control Panel. Only the Magalodon above shows up in the Windows Control Panel as 7.1 with the ability to send a test signal to each separate channel. If you go to the Windows Sound Control Panel, select an output source (such as headphones) and select "Configure" you can see which speakers actually show up with separate channels. All of the virtual 7.1 headsets always just show up as stereo with the ability to test only two channels.

Plus, going off twelve year memory now since the box is long gone.... I remember specifically them being sold as having separate 40 or 50 mm drivers for each channel.... one of the reasons I paid the premium price for them. IIRC they were over $200 new. And as I stated above, they were ALWAYS superior to any other headsets I ever tried. I kept trying others because I have several laptops set up in different rooms that I wasn't willing to pay that premium price for on all of them. When I played an RPG where in game sound and direction was important... it was always on that Megalodon headset that I got the best and most accurate sound. They literally sounded as real and authentic surround sound as did my 6 separate speaker set that was literally separate speakers in my tv room.... 2 left speakers, 2 rear speakers, 1 central speaker and one subwoofer. I kept purchasing cheap virtual surround sound headphones and would always discover times in games that the direction was in error. It got to the point that if I wanted to play such a game that it was important to me I would only play it on the laptop with the Magalodon headphones on it or I would transfer the headphones to another laptop. Not an option now that I'm bedbound and now that they finally wore out. Well, wore out might be misleading. I've probably dropped them literally a hundred times over the 12 years I owned them and I'm guessing one of those drops finally worked something loose as all sounds on in the left earpiece are now in and out of nothing at all.

Agreed, have Beyerdynamic DT 880 edition 250Ohm (my motherboard actually has an amp), which give me a nice totally flat soundscape and I hear _every_ step of people in FPS games. taptaptaptaptap
If i'd buy cans today I probably pick the DT 900 PRO X.

Thought I would post the old site for you as it lists the specs on these phones and may help people to recommend alternatives for you:

https://www2.razer.com/ap-en/gaming-audio/razer-megalodon

They don't appear to be anything special. Unfortunately I cant recommend any brand directly but would advise that 5.1 or 7.1 in headphones is just smoke and mirrors.

I am still using sennheiser PC350s which are way over 10 years old now but pricey at the time.

I believe that sennhesier still offer gaming headsets in the price range you are suggesting, some of which are 7.1, but I can't offer any recommendations on them as still using my old pc350s.

Hopefully this is of some help.

Thats because its using its own soundcard, it registers as surround device under Windows, receives the full surround signal and does the downmixing per hardware. Maybe it did a better job than the builtin option, dunno.

Maybe there were several versions, but the Megalodon breakdowns i looked at all showed just 2 40mm drivers. Hm, Haven't tried the 880s, but read that they're at least a bit closer to neutral, even if still pretty bright sounding. I have a pair DT 990 Pro/250 Ohm and the bass/treble are way too pronounced imo. I like them for games and movies/TV but for music they get fatiguing pretty quickly, prefer studio headphones for that.

Kinda curious about the Pro X as well though... they look great at least.

If you must go gaming headset, consider Sennheiser ones. They know what they're doing with sound. Unlike probably a gaming peripheral company specialising in mice.

Sure.
Don't play your games, music, movies, too loud if using headphones.
It will ruin your hearing over time.

I can't add anything to the other (much better informed people than me) have. However I can a big THANK YOU for explaining how you accessed the sound settings and enabled the headphones.

When I had this pc built for me a few years ago all was well (and still is BTW). After a few months I thought I'd try some headphones to see how they sounded. Nothing. Ho hum, perhaps there's a missing connection somewhere, everything else works so never mind. I sometimes thought it would be nice have headphones available, such as when I want the windows open, but dogs, kids, chain saws, mowers etc...

After reading your posts I had a fiddle about and got it working. Now if the phones are plugged in they work, if they aren't plugged in then the speakers do. Just as it should be.

I have said before on here that I know what I know and it's more than some people, but I know it's much less than others.

Should I change my pronouns from "Pointless / Unnecessary" just yet?

Thank you OFG and I hope you can get better or at least no worse.

Don't really have recommendation, just my 2 cents here. On tech side of these razer megalodons it seems that the surround sound virtualization happens in that volume box connected via usb, or the onboard controller simply IDs the headset so it then gets recognized as 7.1 device on driver/software/os side, despite hardware-wise the cans having standard 2x 40mm drivers. Still the virtualization should in theory sound better on them compared to some generic implementation where the results may vary between random combinations soundcards, drivers and their implementation of surround virtualization.

I had a true 5.1 surround headset once, it was very heavy and the sound was off.

For 7.1 I stick to real speakers.
But if it has to be headphones, I use studio phones, Superlux HD 681/681B (the latter has stronger bass), replaced the cuscions however.
Very good price and awesome quality. You can easily spend 10 times as much without any sound improvement.

ps: You never need special software. Your windows soundcard driver works for all of them.
But never ever buy that USB shit, get some good analog headphones connected to a high quality sound card.
If you have a good external USB sound card, ok. But in these mini adapters there just isn't enough space for good D/A transformers.