[Gaming Audio] Astro MixAmp presets + Best Audio Gear Guide + Headphone Reviews

[alanmcgregor]

Yeah I remember Emperor Potara did it for Game One, is on his discord.

[Jadehe]

Hello Alan,
 First I want to thank you very much for the time spent looking for a great audio option like the one you propose!  I have various doubts?  Monolith Liquid spark is sold out ... I will buy SBX G6 !!
 Do I have to use Mixamp and SBX G6 simultaneously?

 And another question is regarding mixamp, is there any way to listen more to the game than the ps4 audio group chat without losing game volume?  If I turn the wheel towards the game under the volume of the voice chat but also the game and it is impossible to listen to the enemies when the classmates speak ... I need to listen loudly to the game and softer the voices of my classmates

 Sorry to ask you so many things but you are an expert in this audio and you are a Savior for the uneducated audio

 Thanks a lot again

Hola Jadehe . Gracias por tus comentarios. No te preocupes por el inglés entendí tu pregunta, te contesto en español, ¿sale?.

En teoría, puedes usar el SBX G6 y el MixAmp de la siguiente manera:
MixAmp Salida de Audífonos -> Adaptador en Y que separa micrófono y audífono -> extension de macho a macho 3.5mm -> Entrada de Audio del SBX G6. SBX G6 conectado a un cargador USB externo.


Así, podrías usar audífonos de alta impedancia con el MixAmp a través del SBX G6 y con la perilla de Chat Mix regular el volumen entre el sonido del juego y del Chat Party (tus compañeros de equipo). Es muy importante que uses el SBX G6 en Modo Directo, sin Surround ni ningún, filtro sonoro SBX sino el sonido se distorsionaría aun más.

Pero esa no es la manera correcta, es más no necesitas el MixAmp para nada cuando tienes el SBX G6, este DAC/Amp es mejor en todos los aspectos.

Así es como lo puedes conectar:
Conecta el SBX G6 por USB a tu consola,
Salida Optica SPDIF de tu PS4 a la Entrada Óptica SPDIF del SBX G6.

Después en: Configuración / Sonido y Pantalla / Opciones de Salida de Audio, En Puerto Primario de Salida, Principal Selecciona DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL), activa la casilla Dolby Digital 5.1 Ch y Aceptar.

Siguiente, en Formato de Audio (Prioridad), selecciona Bitstream (Dolby).

Después en Configuración / Dispositivos de Audio, asegúrate que Sound Blaster X G6 este seleccionado tanto en: Dispositivo de entrada y Dispositivo de Salida.

Importante: En la opción Salida de Auriculares selecciona: Audio del chat

Hasta aquí ya tienes todo listo. 

Ahora, así es como vas poder controlar el volumen entre el juego y el audio del chat:
En la sección Sonido/Dispositivos en la opción Control de Volumen (auriculares) -este es el audio del chat- ajusta el volumen del audio del chat a tu gusto, el audio del juego no cambia, seguirá claro y presente; mejor que la perilla del MixAmp.

Sé que fue mucha info, espero que me halla explicado bien.

-TL;TR Short Version in english, for everyone-
While you can use the SBX G6 as external headphone amp with MixAmp, is not necessary or optimal. Is better to use SBX G6 alone, you need to use the Optical SPDIF output on the SBX G6 input, set Audio to Chat Party and you can control the Chat party volume through the Headphones Volume option, game sound volume source is coming from the OPTICAL source and it won't be affected.

Thanks a million Alan!  You are God in this section !!  I don't know how to thank you for this information .... A big hug

[mickyg77]

I went with no headphone budget here and got to try both ATH-ADG1X (open back) and Sennheiser GSP 600 (closed back) headsets with the mayflower ARC amp/DAC. I thought I'd give my feedback since, as Alan says, everyone's ears are different. It goes to say that these are both obviously great headphones for FPS like Alan has already laid out and I'm just going to focus on the knit picks and differences according to my needs / preference. This could be almost more of a closed back vs. open back dissertation.

ATH-ADG1X headset

PROS: Extremely light and comfortable. Almost feels like you aren't wearing a headset and due to the openback design it's half-way towards being surrounded with speakers rather than wearing a headset. The sound imaging is quite spread out. It's nice how in between gameplay you can listen to youtube videos on your laptop without even taking your headset off. There's great airflow and you don't feel like you're cut off from your external environment.

CONS: Sound is a little bit diluted compared to closed back headsets. Would be nice if the microphone could be retracted when you're not using it.

Sennheiser GSP 600

PROS:

Closed back design provides very focused sound. While it may seem gimmicky.. I actually love how you mute by pushing the microphone up and out of the way. This means when you're not using it it's completely out of the way. And you're also never going to accidentally be muted when you don't want to be and vice versa.

CONS: Closed back design can feel a little claustrophobic after wearing the open back ATH-ADG1X.

Like Alan has said he recommends have both a closed back and an open back headset. But since these are expensive headsets I'm going to explain why the Sennheiser GSP 600 works better for me in my situation:

I live in a studio apartment with my girlfriend (no bedroom - bed is in living room). So closed back it better for both keeping the game sound from her and keeping the sound of the tv etc. from me.

Furthermore, my hearing I believe is a tiny bit dulled from working around machines quite a bit through my life. All the time my girlfriend complains about the neighbour playing music too loud and I literally can't even hear it. Or my phone is ringing in my pocket and I don't even notice it. I also have a really hard time talking to people in a loud bar (I don't think my brain is great at filtering an onslaught of different noises). All this goes to say I feel like the more focused, less spaced out sound of the GSP 600 works better for me. If I want to really focus on footsteps it's easier for me to do with the GSP 600. Sound imaging for me is still great and for me it's beneficial to have it slightly less spaced out than it is with the ATH-ADG1X. Sometimes my brain tells me the footsteps are far away with the ATH-ADG1X and my subconscious danger close reaction doesn't kick in as fast as it does with the GSP 600. I feel like if you have a quiet room and you want to have an immersive experience it could be greater with ATH-ADG1X. However, if you purely want to sweat and have every advantage I feel like using the GSP 600 is kind of like applying a bit of a magnifying glass on sounds (like being slightly zoomed in with ADS if you will) and you sacrifice a bit of comfort and wider immersiveness. But again this is just for my ears and how my brain filters and reacts to sounds. So for me if my main goal is to sweat on COD I'd use GSP 600 closed back but if I wanted an immersive experience out of Last of Us I'd use open back ATH-ADG1X.

[alanmcgregor]

Excellent mickyg77 thank you very much, for taking your time to share your feedback!.

Open invitation to everybody, participate and share their experience with us on audio gaming is what this thread is about. Show us your audio gear

About your post, I totally agree find what ever works for you. GSP 600 are very unique closed back drivers, even though are closed these have remarkable sound-stage which is alchemy, but only with a very good DAC/Amp you can hear how unique are, yep another weapon in your arsenal for sweat gaming.

Love how you accurately point that out, the compromise between open-back and close-back. Yep, generally wider sound-stage hinders sound imaging accuracy, is really rare to find a headphone that can do both.

Only planars can deliver this mix. The HifiMan HE-4XX are like a mix of both: exceptional imaging, with open-back wide sound-stage no as wide as ADG1X but wider than HD58X /HD660S and very speedy and punchy bass similar to a closed back.

I'm feeling I might be initializing you in a new drug but.. hehehe if you can give yourself a nice planar as a gift for Christmas do it, and the HifiMan HE-4XX are fantastic sounding affordable planar.

Thanks again for share 

[Jogi]

Hello and good evening,

I´m back with another question 

My girlfriend found her Sennheiser HD 599, which she thought she had lost when she moved. Since she also uses the Astro Mixamp Gen 4, I wanted to ask if there are also special EQ settings for these headphones, like for the Game One, the ath-adg1x etc.

Thanks again for your help 

Greetings

[alanmcgregor]

I'm not sure, you need to check on Emperor Potara at Discord.

[alanmcgregor]

My Mayflower ARC MK2 arrived today -after a big delay on customs-

First impressions:
It feels heavier, same metal housing and quality components that screams homebrew handmade.

Sound dynamic range and performance, is the same, straight.

Improvements:

Microphone Performance
Mic is now suitable for streaming purposes, voice sounds with a more natural bass than before. The noise gate on the first Arc was a bit more aggressive, which was hit or miss because, my blue cherry switches were completely silenced with caveat of low quality voice sounding. Now, voice sounds more natural but cherry switches are noticeable, also it needs more volume than the first Arc, (ModMic5).

3.5mm Audio Input to connect, your phone, tablet, (mixamp) or any other analog audio is appreciated (before you need a Analog to Digital SPDIF converter).

Switching between RCA and Headphones with a button is a nice to have, however if you play in PS4 you don't need it, everytime you turn on the ARC the audio will be shut-down from the speakers. For PC or XBoX switching between sources without connecting the headphones is very welcome.

It doesn't need a splitter, its headphone is now 4 pole compatible so headsets are ready to plug.

Powered by USB it removes the DC power adapter.

Final Thoughts:
So if you have Mayflower ARC MK1, and you are OK with its mic quality (which is decent for communication, not adequate for streaming) or use the optical input, and your mic through a USB card or mic interface, don't care about analog input, or switching modes, you are completely OK, no need to upgrade.

If you don't have the ARC for $10 bucks you get a lot more functionality with MK2 even though the sound quality is the same.

I going to use the ARC MK1 for my lone PC gaming, and the ARC MK2 on my PS4 gaming/streaming.

[alanmcgregor]

One common question on my inbox is:

How good is Mayflower ARC compared to Sound Blaster X G6 and MixAmp?

The Arc (or a DAC and AMP stack, like ODAC + JDS Atom, Schiit Modi+Magni) is Next level,

You can play with SBXG6 or MixAmp, with the right tuning EQ you can sound whoring (footsteps) and live happy your gaming audio, BUT once you hear audio coming from the Arc...

Soundstage resolution is night and day, hearing and locating footsteps is effortless and insane accurate, dynamic range is huge leap, basically you will never want to go back, It will hurt similar as:

- When you play on 144FPS and go back to 30FPS
- When you are used to a fast loading SSD drive and go back to regular mechanical HardDisk
- From a Optic sensor mouse sensor back to ball
- From a 4K back to FHD

[Au1d Yin]

"My Mayflower ARC MK2 arrived today -after a big delay on customs- "


Bought one at the end of last week and it still hasn't been picked up by UPS lol.
So Alan, after reading your thoughts on the MK1 I went out and ordered the MK2 ... to add yet another amp to my collection 
I'd been playing with wireless headsets (Arctis 9x and Lucid sound) for a while, just because of the freedom of no wires.I thought the games sounded ok but then I decided to use my Beyerdynamics DT880/600 ohms again ... man I'd forgotten how good they sound with the x7 amp, I'm hearing so much more effects and footsteps that I missed out on by using a wireless set up.

So I'm looking forward to the Mayflower ... I like the addition of USB power, much easier to have it sitting beside me.
So just one question ... how is the volume level ... do you think I'll have to have the volume level maxed out on high gain with 600 ohm phones?

[alanmcgregor]

Awesome Au1d Yin I'm pretty sure you are going to enjoy it.

I have the DT990 Pro/250 Ohms on low gain, the volume knob (start at 7 o'clock) is at 2 o'clock to have it loud and clear. On High gain 10 o'clock is about the same volume.

I currently don't have 600 Ohms headphones but accordingly DT880/600 Ohms sensitivity and impedance, you need 79.35 mW of power to make it sound loud as a Jackhammer. The Arc delivers 92mW at 600 Ohms, so yeah you are good to go.

From memory, is way more powerful than X7, and the channels are balanced (same volume on both drivers from the start) at the range, and no noise floor at high volume, neither distortion.

[Au1d Yin]

Awesome Au1d Yin I'm pretty sure you are going to enjoy it.

I have the DT990 Pro/250 Ohms on low gain, the volume knob (start at 7 o'clock) is at 2 o'clock to have it loud and clear. On High gain 10 o'clock is about the same volume.

I currently don't have 600 Ohms headphones but accordingly DT880/600 Ohms sensitivity and impedance, you need 79.35 mW of power to make it sound loud as a Jackhammer. The Arc delivers 92mW at 600 Ohms, so yeah you are good to go.

From memory, is way more powerful than X7, and the channels are balanced (same volume on both drivers from the start) at the range, and no noise floor at high volume, neither distortion.

Thanks for the info 
It will be nice going back to having an amp where you can tell where 7 o'clock and 2 o'clock is on the dial ... I don't like the endlessly revolving volume wheel on the x7; and yes the volume is not so powerful on the x7 ...  it's loud with the "sbx" on, but switching that off and using plain stereo makes me have the volume at near max level.
One thing I'm not looking forward to though, is going back to the mess of wires setting up my mic again with the xbox 

[chad20]

What setting should I change on ps4 pro with sbx g6?

[alanmcgregor]

You can use the SBX on USB only, set Game Audio to All

or (Recommended)

Connect your PS4 SPDIF out to the SPDIF in of the SBX, got to Video and Sound settings/Audio Settings/ Default: OPTICAL, check Dolby 5.1, format Dolby Bitstream, careful a pop might sound in your headphones, its OK the Dolby LED on the SBX will turn on (indicating is decoding Dolby signal).

Set Game Audio to Chat Audio, now you can control the volume of your Chat Party / Teammates, through the Headphones Volume setting. 

[chad20]

Thanks for the quick reply. I thought you said not to use surround?

[alanmcgregor]

Thanks for the quick reply. I thought you said not to use surround?

Sure for campaign immersive single player, I like the FPS profile or CoD MW or Doom.

But for tryhard, competitive, precise footsteps and directionality in order to really have and advantage, then you should go Direct Mode = Stereo (side button rings are turned off), Audio will be decoded as Dolby Stereo Digital without surround.

The main reason why Surround is not recommended for competitive serious gaming, is because this add a reverb effect, that creates the illusion of hear sound coming from the walls, not from the actual source sound cue position.

Example you are in a cathedral and someone far behind you scream your name, you will hear him from the roof and somewhere behind you. Now same scenario, instead of a hall is a room, you will hear him behind you clearly and even notice if is hiding crouch at your 7 or 5 o'clock, or if it's at a second floor or under

Surround on headphones is not like on audio home systems or theater where we have many speakers and walls to bounce sound creating a more accurate surround representation. With headphones the best way to achieve a natural surround like, is by using a open-back headphones with wide soundstage signature (like: ATH-AD700X/AD900X/ADG1X, AKG K702/K7XX, HD600/HD650/HD6XX/HD660S, SHP9500) and pure stereo sound coming from a quality DAC/amp so it can separate sound cues.