Introduction
If you are looking to buy a new desktop PC for gaming purposes, you’d surely want to get a good set of speakers to go with it. That’s when you get confronted by “the choice”. Should you splurge on a full 5.1 speaker system or should you just get the cheaper 2.1 speaker system like me?
The 5.1 speaker system consists of two front speakers, two rear speakers, a center speaker and a subwoofer. That’s six pieces of hardware right there. The 2.1 speaker system, on the other hand, consists only of two front speakers and a subwoofer. Hardly impressive, but certainly a lot cheaper.
As far as audio supports goes, most motherboards already have 5.1 audio support built-in, so that is not an issue at all. Most PC games also support full surround sound with 5.1 channel support. The only question is whether a 5.1 speaker system will really improve your gaming experience. Read on and find out!
Sound Positioning
Many First Person Shooter (FPS) games like F.E.A.R or G.R.A.W have good support for surround sound systems. The latest codecs are supported and are in multi-channel; but let’s take a look at this scenario of a FPS gameplay:
You are soldier walking through a desert on a reconnaissance mission. After a short while, an enemy discovers your position and fires at you.
On a 2-channel speaker system, you hear the shot coming from your right speaker. However, you don’t see anyone on the right side of the screen. Your mind then unconsciously informs you that the shot is coming from your rear right direction. You turn around to face that direction and you see that the enemy is exactly where you thought he would be.
On a 5.1-channel speaker system, you hear the shot coming from your rear right speaker. You turn around to face that direction and you see that the enemy is exactly where you thought he would be.
Next, let’s take a look at this scenario of a racing game:
You are playing an F1 simulator racing game. You managed to overtake your rivals and you are now at pole position. A rival car starts to close in on you.
On a 2-channel speaker system, you can see that there is no car in front of you. Your mind instinctively tells you that the other car must be coming from the back. Based on the difference in loudness between the two speakers, you will know which direction the car is at and how close he is to you.
On a 5.1-channel speaker system, the engine noise from the other car will be heard from your rear speakers. It will help you block the car from overtaking you.
In both scenarios, the result is the same, no matter whether you have a full 5.1 audio system, or just a 2.1 speaker system. Although having more speakers may provide you with more accurate audio positioning information, most gamers will have no problem pinpointing the direction of any sound with fewer speakers. This is even less of an issue with some types of games, like RTS (real-time strategy) games, where audio positioning is not even important.
With that said, a 5.1 surround sound system can not only help improve sound positioning, it can also create a more immersive and realistic sound environment. For example, in a battle game like Ghost Recon: Advance Warfighter 2, you can hear gunshots, the ripping sound of anti-aircraft cannon fire, tank shell explosions, footsteps and vehicle engines all around you. In Unreal Tournament 2004, the sounds of rockets whizzing pass you from your rear left to your front right not only tells you where your opponent is, it really adds to the realism of the game. In these respects, nothing beats physical rear speakers.
Space Constraints
The biggest drawback of a 5.1 speaker system is the space it takes and the inconvenience of setting it up. Many people who purchased a 5.1 speaker system don’t realize what they are getting themselves into.
First of all, the center speaker was certainly not created for easy integration with a PC. You can’t place it between your keyboard and your monitor because it would be too tall and would not only block part of the monitor but also require the monitor to be further back than most people would be comfortable with. If you have a CRT monitor, you can place it at the top the monitor. But with super-slim LCD monitors the norm in most homes, you will end up placing it right next to the monitor, and that’s dumb.
Your rear speakers are also difficult to place strategically. You need to site them at some distance from you, preferably on speaker stands for the best effect. So, small rooms would not be suitable. Not only will it be difficult to site these speakers, the echo from nearby walls can negate their effect.
Speaker Stands
Most 5.1 speaker systems do not come with speaker stands. I don’t know why manufacturers do not include them as they are a necessity if you want a proper 5.1 speaker setup. Of course, speaker stands do cost a lot and are heavy as they are usually made from steel. It is good though to know that certain speaker manufacturers at least offer special speaker stands for their 5.1 speaker products.
The other manufacturers should do the same. It’s quite puzzling that there are still companies that do not offer speaker stands as accessories for their 5.1 speaker systems. I know some of you might think about wall-mounting, putting them on a table behind you, and even building your own speaker stands; but seriously, is it worth the hassle?
Even if you do buy real speaker stands, do not be too happy. Many speaker stands designed for satellite speakers are not proper speaker stands, so to speak. Many have very poor center-of-gravity due to their extremely slim and tall designs, and cheap construction. Thus, it’s very easy to tip them over, especially with messy wires running from those speakers to your PC or amplifier.
Speaker-to-Ear Level
With a 5.1 speaker system, it is important for all the five satellite speakers to be on the same level as your ears; for PC that is. Otherwise, the overall auditory experience will seem messed up and unpleasant. I have personally experienced this problem.
When you use a 2.1 speaker system which isn’t on the same level as your ears, you don’t need to worry much as there are only 2 audio channels. You won’t really notice the difference. Furthermore, if only 2 channels are involved, the built-in pseudo-3D feature found in most sound cards these days will help create a better soundstage, minimizing this problem.
But if you are using a 5.1 speaker system, your typical setup would have the center and front speakers placed on your desk, with the rear speakers to your back. Even though all of these satellite speakers are on the same level as one another, they are usually located at a much lower level than your ears, distorting the audio positioning cues somewhat.
You can correct for this by placing your center and front speakers on mini-stands or items you don’t use; like your textbooks for example, and using adjustable speaker stands for your rear speakers. But if you can’t do that, it might be better to just use a 2.1 speaker system. For me at least, the distortion sounds too weird and spoils the mood.
You might think that many 5.1 home-theatre systems do not need to follow this rule at all. Bear in mind though that home-theatre systems are meant for home threatres, where the distance between the audience and the speakers is relatively big. This minimizes any difference in angle and provides a greater soundstage to allow for the difference in level. Also, movies do not need this “leveling” as much as games because most surround sound tracks in movies are used for spatial effects, rather than the accurate audio positioning gamers need to pinpoint where various sound effects are coming from.
Surround Sound for Everything?
If you think that you can utilize your surround speakers for other things and not just gaming, think again.
For music listening, surround speakers would do no good as the music source is often recorded in only two channels. You could do a quadraphonic setup with the rear speakers repeating the same sounds as the front speakers, but that would ruin the listening experience in my opinion. Music to me is real music when you can imagine the singer/band right in front of you.
For movies encoded in Dolby Digital or DTS surround formats, I believe most people would prefer to watch it on a proper TV, with a home-theatre audio system and a cozy couch; or just stick to cinemas. Most video files downloaded from the Internet such as trailers, YouTube.com videos and such usually do not have a 5.1 audio track.
In other words, your 5.1 surround system would really be as useful as your gamepad – it works best for gaming and nothing else.
Conclusion
PC surround speaker systems never really took the PC market by storm. The main reason is that they cost a lot more than their 2.1 speaker counterparts. Even then, only gamers would really be interested in such a setup. Audiophiles and even movie buffs would prefer a “real” 5.1 home-theatre setup.
With that said, you should still consider a 5.1 surround sound system. Yes, you read that right. Even after pointing out their deficiencies in this article, I would still recommend a PC surround sound system. Just hear out my reasons.
Most high-end PC speaker systems today come with a 5.1-channel configuration. In other words, if you want high-fidelity and power output, you need to buy a 5.1-channel speaker system. Even the best 2.1 speaker system cannot provide that kind of audio fidelity and power output. If you do not use the rear speakers at all, you will end up with a very good 2.1 speaker system.
Of course, this is assuming you are looking for the audio fidelity and power output associated with high-end 5.1 speaker systems. If you can only to buy a low-to-mid-range 5.1 speaker system, it would be a good idea to invest instead in a good set of 2.1 speakers.
Let’s come back to the question at hand – do gamers really need surround speakers? The simple answer is no. This is not because surround systems are bad, but because of the problems associated with setting the system up and the actual usefulness of surround sound systems in games.
My personal recommendation would be this. If you can afford a decent high-fidelity audio system, that would undoubtedly beat the living daylights out of any high-end PC speaker system out there. Or you can just get a pair of headphones and have your games sound much ‘closer’ to you.
