Sound Quality and Games; Opinions

[DSKrek]

The title of this forum is "Game Rooms & Home Theater", however, most of the time when I look at pictures of people's game rooms, I don't usually see a home theater system, or good stereo to compliment their collections. There's very informative posts on this forum about which TVs are best for retro gaming, but there's a void with regard to people showing off their sound systems. Is it that sound quality just isn't an issue for a lot of people?

I realize the topic of sound quality is very subjective, and, at times, quite esoteric (I've heard of people buying special rocks that somehow increase the quality of sound from their stereos), but I think we can all agree that a good Home Theater Receiver / Processor, or even just a two channel analog stereo, with a decent set of speakers will sound much better than the speakers integrated into a television set. The depth of sound that can be revealed by a decent set of speakers is incredible: think of all the sounds in-game that you're missing!

When building my game room, of which I don't currently have any pictures, but will provide some as soon as possible, integrating a good sound system into the room was essential. Actually, both my game room for retro consoles, and my living room with HD consoles both have decent sound systems.

Think of your AV cables, you want the best possible video connection, but don't forget about the second part of that cable, audio.

As a disclaimer, one of my other hobbies is HiFi audio, so good sound has become quite important to me. I realize that HiFi is an expensive hobby and that not everybody can afford it, but I don't even see $50 mini component systems in people's game room pictures.

Please tell me your opinions on this subject as I'm very interested to read what you have to say.

[AppleQueso]

Growing up, I pretty much have had a cheap component stereo hooked up to my consoles since the day I realized you could do that.

I don't think I could ever afford a 'proper' Hi-Fi system, but I do have an Onkyo 5.1 system hooked up to the HDTV for movies and modern gaming. Unfortunately my other consoles have been somewhat neglected on the audio side. I wouldn't mind changing that later.

Metal Jesus Rocks has a pair of studio monitors for his gaming speakers. I imagine that sounds pretty nice. Maybe I'll pick up a set of KRKs again and do that myself one of these days.

[Xeogred]

Because my parents place was rather small and I love loud volumes for music, movies, etc, I started gaming most of the time with my Sennheiser HD 555's several years back... fast forward to now and it's become a tough habit to put down, haha.

I actually don't even have speakers for my PC, which I've had for two years now or something. Only had a laptop before then for years too, so that was crap sound... so just used headphones all the time too.

Now the only major issue, is that sometimes I get dizzy/headaches after awhile, a weird "delusional" kind of vibe sometimes during longer sessions. It does seem to be a bit of an issue with bigger headphones like the HD 555's from the things I've read online. Something about the pressure on your head and the enclosed surround sound.

Now that I'm moved out though, not caring about my neighbors at the apartment, I'd love to get a good sound system I can use for both my PC and TV (simultaneously perhaps?), so yeah. No idea where to go from there though.

But in the long run I think when it comes to atmospheric, or scary games, or something I just really want to soak into... I'll still go for my headphones, haha.

(Blade Runner alone in the dark with great headphones... is out of this world).

[dogman91]

Setting up a basic surround system might not be too expensive compared to everything else but man, the sound I'd "want" to have can quickly escalate out of control in terms of cost. There's the DAC first of all, then preamp, then amplifier, then of course speakers; each easily costing $1000+ each (definitely twice that for speakers though) if you want something *significantly* better to make it worth it more than a basic surround set IMO, and that's just starting out. And if you're one of those nutcases about cables, those are basically $1000 a pair too, though I would definitely want to skimp on that.

I do have Logitech Z5500 surround speakers ($300+) that basically has all that rolled into one (obviously not "optimal" quality at all but it's miles ahead of simply using Bose headphones), and I don't find that it makes too much of a difference compared to the speakers in my WEGA FV300... bass and everything sounds really nice as it is; way better than some of the sound "bars" that come with LCD TVs now I find. Of course I would get those big tower speakers but to sum it up, I'm not rich enough to sink so much money into it, as much as I'm dying to try it out. Conversely for video, you can basically get a once $3000 Sony WEGA for free on Craigslist, and a decent LCD HDTV in the 3-digit range.

Just as a semi-related sidenote, there is a Super Nintendo mod you can do to output digital audio that seems REALLY interesting.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

I've never felt the need for a surround setup, but, I am a bit of an audio nut. A good set of speakers is essential for me. I have a Bose Companion 3 Series 2 setup for my PC, and a very nice stereo setup for the plasma TV. I plan on buying my dad's B&W setup before I move out, as they're low-wattage and don't require an amp.

[gtmtnbiker]

I used to be an audiophile wannabe when I was in college/post-grad. I had some nice speakers with some good components (nakamachi, bang & olaufssen, carver, etc) but nowadays, it's not that important to me.

In my current setup, I just have a Yamaha receiver with some Polk Audio 5.1 speakers. The sound is fine, good enough for me.

It is impressive when you play a game with good 5.1 sound.

[isiolia]

I've got a surround system in my living room that current gen consoles are piped through. Right now I've got Tritrix mains and a sub that I built, with an old Infinity center and some Polks in the rear. Plan is to replace everything but the sub with Aviatrix kits using the MTM configuration for mains/center and MT for the rear. I bought a couple kits, which are for MTM pairs, so I'll need a few more parts to do the rears (and to actually put time into building them...).

My retro consoles are currently hooked up to my old Yamaha receiver, with my even older Bose 701s (yes, Bose, I know I've had them for around 16 years though). Fairly solid for most older stuff, except that due to room arrangement the speakers are at best to either side, if not behind me. I figure on changing that up when I free up speakers from the living room.

On my PC I have an Audiosource amp with a pair of Mission bookshelf speakers and a sub that I built. I've pretty much used a receiver plus speakers (or similar) on my PC since college, unless I was mostly limited to headphones. IMO, most "PC speakers" are garbage, unless you're paying what you could just buy a good amp/speakers for anyway, making that the logical thing to do in the first place.


Honestly can't say I'm a huge audiophile, but a decent sound setup has been a solid consideration for me since I was a teenager. My dad made sure my brothers and I all had a receiver and speakers growing up.
Might seem expensive, but it tends to last. The two receivers I'm using are the second and third that I've ever owned - the first I'm only not using because one of my brothers wrecked the amp driving 2 Ohm speakers with it . My rear speakers in the living room are the first speakers I ever bought, close to 18 years ago, for $25 at the flea market (Polk Monitor Series IIs). Heck, one of my brothers has speakers in his game room that my dad bought in college.

[Cronozilla]

I've got some kick ass Fisher speakers hooked up to a decent (but elderly) Yamaha receiver ... but that's about it.

They do sound fantastic, though.

[shallowgamer]

I had the luxury of starting from scratch in my basement (see my post from a few years ago in this forum), so 5.1 is in use for the current gen stuff. I have a "portable" cable from my receiver with RCA / 1/8" adapter. So if I feel the need to rock the genesis, turboCD, or neo geo it takes a few seconds to connect.

As for the receiver, I "upgraded" recently to a cheap-ass sony 7.1 channel unit for $200 new from Amazon. No auto-calibration, no graphical interface, no phono preamp (had to buy that separately, but most receivers don't have it anyway). Just 4 HDMI ports and a horrible manual. Once I suffered through setup, It's exactly what I need. I was looking at $400-500 models, and my own snobbery kept me from looking at the sony. Then I finally told myself that I would never use half the bells and whistles in the "entry-mid level" so I saved some cash and took a chance. I'm very happy with it, goes well with my "entry-mid level" JBL stadium series speakers.

I'm not knocking the audiophiles. One of my friends had an amazing setup, and he could truly appreciate the nuances of the preamp, amp, cables, etc... My whole speaker setup cost less than his center channel. I just know that I would never utilize a great system even if I spent the cash.

[DSKrek]

Here's my setups:

Retro consoles:
This is a pretty good mid level stereo setup that consists of...
Preamp: Rotel RC-1082
Amp: Rotel RB-1080
Line Conditioner: Rotel RLC-1080
Speakers: Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) 703
Wires: Audioquest Sidewinder from TV to Preamp. JPS Labs UltraConductor 2 from Preamp
to amp. JPS Labs UltraConductor 2 from Amp to Speakers.
Other components in stereo not used for retro consoles:
CD Player: Rotel RCD-1072
Cassette Deck: Rotel RD-965BX
Digital to Analog Converter: Rotel RDD-980
Turntable: A crappy Stanton, the model number eludes me.

Current Generation Consoles:
I use my TV as a "receiver" as my actual receiver does not have HDMI, it's component only. So, I plug my XBOX 360, PS3 and Wii U into my TV via HDMI, then run the SPDIF/Toslink Optical Out from my TV to my receiver and let the receiver do all the audio processing.
Receiver: Rotel RSX-972
Speakers: Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) CDM1-NT monitor speakers
As a side note, I had the capacitors swapped out in these speakers, and the
sound totally transformed. It went from good to amazing.
Wires: HDMI cables are from Amazon, or MonoPrice. Optical cable is a CinemaQuest brand
that's about as old as me, I don't know the exact model. The speaker cable is
AudioQuest Midnight, I believe.

There's some things to not about my setups... I favor Rotel electronics. I find the price to be great for the performance of the products, especially good condition used pieces. I run two channel only. I'm just not into surround sound. Plus, two channel is way cheaper as you don't need to buy the extra speakers and wire. I have no subs! It's a tragedy, I know, but I don't have space for one in my game room with my retro consoles and, well, I guess I just don't have one. If I had to choose a sub I'd get the JL Audio Gotham Sub, but that's way out of my current price range. Realistically, I'd get the B&W PV-1D (this may fit in my retro game room).

If you're looking for decent audio components, check audiogon.com. There's always good stuff for sale on that site, in good condition, for extremely fair prices. Ebay is a good resource too.