Obsessive hobbies....

[Robert D]

I'm really liking the Sure 846 Gen 2 in ear phones. Great bass, very smooth midrange and good highs. They are highly efficient and have good dynamic range. I could run them as low as 16% in game plugged into the Aero and still hear what I needed, but about 36% was good all around and didn't deafen me.

So what device is acting as your DAC? I know that on my systems I have built, using a Sound Blaster card produces far superior sound for me. Much better than the onboard audio on the motherboard and that on the video card. Sound cards rock. I'm not sure how the signal gets to wireless headphones. On the wired Sennheiser headphones for my VR, I have them plugged directly into my sound card jack.
What decodes the digital into analog and then gets the signal to your headphones?

 

[RCHeliGuy]

The headset has a "reasonably" strong analog signal and these headphones just plug physically into that. I'm not using wireless anything. It's a 4 pole plug for stereo headphones and microphone. I'm hearing things I never noticed in game before, so that's a bit cool.

I'm picking up a separate set of cables with a boom mic for them.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B8SR4WBC
I'm running the Motherboard optical out to my surround receiver when my wife does virtual yoga, or when we have visitors over and I mirror the in game audio out.

Then there are 8 channels of analog out of my SoundBlaster X4 to DSP's to amps for my tactile system.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

You don't have to justify yourself. You are a responsible adult and can play whatever game you want. Playing a game doesn't mean you're going to carry out those acts in the real world.

He's just poking his head in here because I stopped weighing in on the old debates. Live and let live. It's all good.

 

[Robert D]

He's just poking his head in here because I stopped weighing in on the old debates. Live and let live. It's all good.

I'm playing Rage 2 now on my pc. It's got a crashing problem, but I think I might have figured the cause out. I turned the variable frame rate to manual and just put it at 90. Its originally set at auto, so the game varies it according to demand. I tried it turned off and it still crashed. I played about 2 hours last night and no crash.

 

[Gordon Gray]

He's just poking his head in here because I stopped weighing in on the old debates. Live and let live. It's all good.

Not true but that is OK. I was not referring to you but about the content in the video. There is ample evidence that violent video games, depending on the person, can lead to violent acts. Sorry to derail the thread.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

I'm playing Rage 2 now on my pc. It's got a crashing problem, but I think I might have figured the cause out. I turned the variable frame rate to manual and just put it at 90. Its originally set at auto, so the game varies it according to demand. I tried it turned off and it still crashed. I played about 2 hours last night and no crash.

I tried something different for the audio and just ran through my surround sound speakers and it wasn't bad.

 

[Robert D]

I tried something different for the audio and just ran through my surround sound speakers and it wasn't bad.

How was it exactly? I wanted to do that from the beginning but was told by those that know more about vr than me, that the sound wouldn't be correctly coordinated with my movement in the game. They said that the only way to do it is use a headset.

How was the aspect of directional tracking of sound? Does the sound follow correctly when you move in the room and turn your head? I think it should, but others convinced me otherwise. Is that game room scale, where you walk around the room and move in game, or is it a stationary type game? Can't remember the terminology. I've not played with my VR in a long time.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

iRacing actually has support for surround sound and has a checkbox to track your head position.
It appears that there are a number of titles that can do this, but I don't know the full extent of that.

I tried it with iRacing and it worked pretty well, except the Crew Chief voice echos. It would be great if I could direct his voice to the center channel, but as it is now it isn't working well.

 

[Robert D]

So it does seem that using a headset is the way to go for VR. Playing regular PC games I use a decent dolby 5.1 setup and it sounds great. I'm not a fan of using headphones unless I have to.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

I ended up with a Kimera IEM boom mic. Surprisingly the cord is much more comfortable than the stock Sure cord. The over the ear sections are very flexible and don't put any tension on the EIM like the metal bendable over the ear section on the stock cord. As a result I can feel them even less.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

Quick test of how well the rejection on the Kimera Boom mic works with my rig.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

Things have been crazy lately.

I can now run my Aero at highest resolution for all SteamVR games.

For SteamXR games (all my sim games) I can also run highest resolution.

I have native dynamic foveated rendering running in DCS which allows running highest resolution while still getting great frame rates.

I added an HTC Vive Tracker 3.0 to my rig for motion compensation and it works for any OpenXR game. I still need to create a prettier mount for it. It's currently on a Manfrotto video tripod head.

Now I can add more motion to my rig like additional brake dive and not have it break immersion by having my whole cockpit shift up and then back down in VR from when I start braking to when the car returns to level.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

I know I've only had my Aero for 4 months, and this won't be released for another 2-3 months, but it has my attention.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

In preparation for the Big Screen Beyond, I needed a USB-C DAC/amp for my IEM's and this tiny little $12.99 thing really surprised me. It also drove my little $100 Sure 215's extremely well. Granted the 846's do sound more natural and full, but I'm not sure they sound 10X better.

It is SHOCKING how something this cheap can actually sound good.

It looks impossibly small to sound like this.

BTW I'm not suggesting I would use this to drive my ML's, but that doesn't mean I wasn't surprised.

 

[Russr]

I've been in-and-around tech since I was 12 years old (let's just say the early '80's!), and I still find the year-over-year growth of the tech you can buy for the money to be awe-inspiring. To bring it back to the MLO forum, it's why I think so much more can be done with DACs and per-driver amps, etc. .... these things just would not have been financially feasible just 5 years ago (never mind 30!)...

Enjoy your new toy! Speaking of "toys", that photo a few posts up of you sitting in your "sled".... Howy Cwap, Batman!!! That's taking things to 110%! Side-note.. you don't have kids, do you?!

Enjoy!

 

[RCHeliGuy]

Side-note.. you don't have kids, do you?!

I have two children, but am empty nesting. One is an engineer the other a computer scientist.

I also don't spend that much time playing on my rig.

 

[Brandon Hartwick]

This is my latest "hobby" that's probably going to spiral out of control and take all my money. I picked up a super cheap 2004 Toyota 4 Runner V8 from a coworker and I'm going to turn it into a machine to tackle the Northern Ontario wilderness here in Canada.

She's getting a new paint job, suspension upgrades and some big nobby tires. Can't wait

 

[Robert D]

My wife's brother in law is into camping with his SUV. He bought a small camper to haul with it. You can sleep in it laying down. Can't remember the brand name, but it's based out of Michigan where he lives. He knows the owner of the business, he lives nearby. It's pretty cool because it has no axels and huge tires/wheels. You can tow it through crazy terrain.

 

[Robert D]

Here is the brand he has. I saw it, it's pretty cool. Looks like you could easily haul it off road to many remote locations.
https://roctrailers.com/

 

[RCHeliGuy]

Not really a hobby, but I recently built a deck joist winch so I can repair my deck when I have time without needing a helper.
I think this will be much safer. The winch makes it very easy to raise and lower the arm.
There are rollers under the joist so it slides easily. I'll pull it towards me while I'm under the deck.
I'm removing the interlocking drainage ceiling for the screen room as I go and have a 16x20' tarp covering the deck so it stays dry in the screen room area.