User:Neo The User/Logitech G35
The Logitech G35 is a gaming headset which consists of highly unique features. It is the very first headset to support Dolby Headphone 7.1 technology, three fully programmable buttons on the outside of the left speaker cup, a switch that toggles Dolby headphone technology on or off, and a fully USB headset that uses Dolby Pro Logic II to turn youtube videos, stereo music, and other stereo sources to surround sound.
Since the headset is fully USB 2.0 compliant, it completely bypasses the sound card within the computer, similar as to the Turtle Beach Systems AK-R8, therefor the Logitech G35 then becomes its own sound card. The difference between the AK-R8 and the Logitech G35 though is that the AK-R8 uses an actual external USB sound card, called the SRM, and the AK-R8 also uses 8 speakers, 4 in each ear cup and since the speakers are close togethor, this is actually considered a con, since the human brain has trouble distinguishing the difference between the front left, rear right, and so on. The Logitech G35 however plugs directly into the USB port on the motherboard, or into a USB HUB, without any extra appliances, however this method puts more load on the Central Processing Unit (also known as the CPU) since a Digital Signal Processor is not involved. The advantage though that the Logitech G35 has, regardless of that the frame rate of some video games may drop, the Logitech G35 uses two 40mm speakers in each ear cup, therefor giving the user a better sense of direction as far as sound goes. The Logitech G35 uses highly advanced algorithms to help the user determine where the sound is coming from. The Razer USA Megalodons use Head-related transfer function (HRTF) as well as advanced algorithms, similar as to the Logitech G35 but lacks amd64 support, Windows 7, and not fully up-to-date Windows Vista machines, making the Logitech G35 more ideal. Since headphones that use HRTF technology rather than Dolby Headphone, only certain people will be able to tell that the direction of the sound is coming from.
The Logitech G35, just like any other headset not developed by Creative Labs does not support Environmental audio extensions to provide hardware accelerated audio, for a real-time audio experiencE. Since EAX does not provide a virtual surround sound environment for two speakers, as most people may believe, the Logitech G35 does not suffer any audio loss due to this. EAX is mainly an audio extension which re-creates audio and gives it effects, making it different from Dolby Headphone technology. The Logitech G35 however is completely capable of supporting OpenAL, and DirectSound3D which are two highly common gaming audio APIs used in many PC games such as Colin McRae: Dirt. OpenAL and DirectSound3D are the actual technologies responsible for how the sound is distributed through-out the speaker(s) and adds the 3D sound effect. OpenAL and DirectSound3D differ from how Dolby Headphone works. Dolby Headphone virtually creates a 3D environment for headphones, specifically, where as DirectSound3D is a general purpose technology which add audio enhancements, such as echo. OpenAL
Since the Logitech G35 is completely USB, this can cause problems with certain games. Certain games check the actual audio connectors to make sure there are three phono plugs connected to the 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound card such as Call of Duty: World at War. When the games do this, you cannot make the game set to 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound since the game reads the audio driver as being a stereo source. This is sometimes the reason why some people choose to buy a true 5.1 or 7.1 surround card and an analog headset such as Turtle Beach HPA2, Tritton AX51 PRO, and the Tritton AXPRO. Again, since these headphones consist of multiple speakers, it can confuse the brain. The reason why actual 5.1 or 7.1 surround speaker systems (or Home Theater Systems) don't have this issue is because the speakers tend to be very spread out across the room making it very easy to tell where the specific sounds in a video game or a movie recorded in Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1 are coming from. With a headset, if you have four speakers in each ear cup, you can imagine how compact that would be. Now people have different brains of other people. Sometimes people can distinguish the differences in direction depending on the type of person wearing the multi-speaker headset. The main advantage of having an analog headset, regardless of how many speakers it consists of, is that the sound processing is done in the sound card's micro controller, or chipset, causing less of an impact on the CPU. Logitech did a very large test that showed on a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, with 2 GB RAM, and an nVIDIA 8600 GTS, there was a less than one frame per second difference, as confirmed by CharlesB of Logitech.
Yet another issue with fully USB complaint audio such as the Logitech G35 is that the USB device does not decode nor act as a pass-through for Dolby Digital AC-3 or DTS encoded audio. Even though the Logitech supports Dolby Headphone, that is different from Dolby Digital, as Dolby Digital can only be passed through an HDMI or a Fibre-optic cable. Games are never encoded in Dolby Digital so this is not an issue for gamers, but more so for movie watchers. Since the Tritton AXPRO ships with a Dolby Digital and Dolby Pro Logic II decoder box, this is not an issue if the headset is connected to any 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound card that does or does not decode Dolby Digital or Dolby Pro Logic II, since any sound card can act as a pass-through for any type of encoded audio including Linear PCM and AC-3 over Optical Digital Out.
External Links
[edit]http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-audio/razer-megalodon/
References
[edit]http://blog.logitech.com/2009/05/06/logitech-g35-headset-under-the-hood/
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/gaming/headsets/devices/5095&cl=us,en
http://forums.logitech.com/t5/PC-Gaming/Does-anybody-own-the-G35-Headset/m-p/395152
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16826104281
http://www.dolby.com/consumer/product/games/headset/logitech-g35.html
http://www.dolby.com/consumer/understand/enhancement/dolby-headphone.html
http://www.dolby.com/consumer/understand/enhancement/dolby-headphone-details.html
http://www2.razerzone.com/Megalodon/
http://www.soundblaster.com/technology/ >> About EAX