RPGWiZaRD

I got this idea after helping a few users, why not start a thread where you can share your favorite configs you've carefully spent so much time within order to get the best possible sound for you (yet 3 years later I keep fiddling with EQ and other settings every now and then), perhaps others also would like them or find it useful for newbies to quickly get some glimpse of what can be done with kX Audio drivers.


The Basshead 5.1 Surround Headphone setting for Windows 7 / Vista


Link: kxBasshead.kx - Windows Live

Alternatively you could try kxBasshead-Surrounder+-GeniusAction.kx - Windows Live if you don't like very big bass. ;p

Purpose

It's purpose is to make your headphones produce heavy and rich bass output which most headphones lack so it sounds like you were at a club while still keeping the clarity in high frequencies and add a spacious sound signature like you had a 5.1 setup or were in a large room with added reverb to help simulate the environment. Since kX Audio drivers provide the best bass output and the best simulated "surround" sound I know of, I thought why not make a good use of it!

I've used my Sennheiser HD 212 Pro headphones together with Audigy 2 ZS to find the optimal config for these particular headphones so other headphones might not agree with my EQing, I've tried it on a couple of others like AKG K 518 DJ that have quite a lot of thumping upper bass so I'd especially lower 125Hz slider and perhaps 62Hz a little too in that case and for bright sounding headphones like AudioTechnica ATH-M50 or Grado's, you may find the 8K and 16K sliders a bit too high for comfortable listening for example.

Installation

1. In kX Audio panel right click -> settings -> load settings and open the cfg file

2. Change Playback device in Windows 7 sound settings to "Wave out 4/5" if you haven't as otherwise you'll get no sound! (I use Wave 4/5 because it sounds best in my ears, provide the warmest sound signature with the fulliest bass sound)

3. Set the Windows 7 Wave 4/5 (should be the active volume slider when you changed playback device in sound settings) Windows volume slider in the taskbar to 25~35% and change kX Audio Master Volume slider as you please. It's important to not set the Windows 4/5 volume slider too high or it starts corrupting the sound, use kX volume slider instead to adjust volume.

4. Tweak the 10-band EQs as you please, there's two of them because for me one wasn't enough to get the "skullshaking" bass I like for my headphones. One of them I just highered low frequencies on, the other has the whole frequency ranged tweaked according to what sounds best for my headphones which might not necessarily sound great for yours. Also in the "FX" page in kX audio panel you can change the amount reverb to your liking thanks to CLEAX2Reverb "Auditorium" config I personally found to provide perhaps the best reverb effect, it's set to "23" by default with this config which adds this noticable reverb effect that I enjoy especially for music but is not too much to ruin the gaming experience either.

5. Listen and enjoy!

Optional (Recommended!)

Here's also my foobar2000 config which uses "Dolby Headphone" effect which adds even more width and dynamics to the sound and works perfectly along with the kX Audio drivers. Just extract it and it should already be using the proper settings. Things like "width" and volume of the "simulated" 5 speaker configs can be tweaked in the settings with DSP manager and configuring "Channel mixer" and "Dolby Headphone" although my settings should work pretty well out of box I reckon.

Link: http://www.mediafire.com/?58uyd4xly330jlb



The Basshead 5.1 Surround Headphone setting for Windows XP


Link: kxBasshead-WinXP.kx - Windows Live

Here's similar config as above but tweaked for Windows XP as the Win 7 / Vista setting didn't quite sound that nice on Windows XP so I booted up Windows XP to try and adjust values, EQs, Reverb, Surround settings etc what sounds best for Windows XP. I personally slightly favor the sound quality of Win 7 but it's not really a night and day difference but you should be able to distinguish a difference though.

Installation

1. In kX Audio panel right click -> settings -> load settings and open the cfg file

2. Adjust EQs as you please (should automaticly show up after you loaded cfg file), notice the two instances of the 10 band EQ!

3. Adjust volume in kX Audio panel and listen and enjoy!

PS, changing Wave Out playback device will have next to no audible difference in this case! Use whichever works for you. Also no need to touch Surrounder+ settings in Win XP!

Optional (Recommended!)

Here's the dolby headphone and simulated 5.1 foobar2000 preset tweaked by me same as above but this one is for Windows XP (there were some issues using the same foobar2000 package as I posted for Win 7/Vista in XP).

Link: foobar2000-WinXP.zip

PS, I always use headphones personally so that's why kX Audio is such a great option to me as I can get my headphones both delivering the bass output normally is limited to only a proper speaker setup and also the surround sound of a multi speaker setup! Despite I'm not any music freak by any means, I'm so happy with kX Audio I usually have to listen at least 1 - 3 hrs a day.

EDIT: As of 15.7.2010, I made some minor tweaks to the configs as I moved from an Audigy 1 to an Audigy 2 ZS card.

peate

There is a preset exchange site already happening. Check it out here:

kX Project Preset Exchange System

RPGWiZaRD

Cool, I didn't know. Still it doesn't hurt having a section in the forums either I guess as I want to be more comprehensive and explain exactly how to install and why I chose this and that.

RPGWiZaRD

Added a separate config for Windows XP users as the Windows 7 / Vista config didn't sound really that great on XP.

I'd appriciate some opinions. Altough it's tweaked for headphones, normal stereo setups should work just fine too but the bass might have to be lowered a lot depending on the speakers (unless you're a real bassfreak ofc).

GeniusAction

Your Configuration is wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here Windows 7 64bit 8gb Ram and SB0530 Audigy 2 zs Notebook with AKG 272 HD Headphone.

SPEECHLESSSSSSSSS



bye bye and thank you!

RPGWiZaRD

Good to hear, I should perhaps use a lower reverb amount than "50" by default though, for gaming, I find around 22 - 24 to be most suitable so speech won't sound overly reverbtastic and the 3D positional sound is more clear then as well as the reverb is mono only (same output for left and right channel).

EDIT: Changed reverb by default to 23 now as 50 was a bit too much for most friends I let try altough they thought it sounded quite good with music tho but for speech it was a bit too much.

GeniusAction

Hi two questions for you

1) Tell me actually your preset have inside 23 so I need to redownload it? I'm asking for it because in Windows 7 64bit with 3550 kxdriver 64bit version as soon as I make some change inside dsp my system FREEZE completly I need to SHUTDOWN.

2) You have said that is wonderful for 3d positional sounds in game... ok tell me I need to set 2.1 or headphone in the game? For example Counter Strike Source.. or 5.1 audio?

Here Notebook Alienware m17xr2, Audigy 2 zs Notebook SB0530 10k8, Windows 7 64bit, 8gb RAM.

Could you please create for me a preset identical but not with surround plugin but with Virtual5.1 plugin and less bass boost? Thanks a lots for your affort.

Tony

RPGWiZaRD

1) Yes I changed the default now to "23" after you downloaded it so you'd have to redownload the config to get the lower amount reverb (in case you're unable to change it yourself)

2) I normally use and recommend 2.1/2.0 ingame setting rather than headphone or 5.1 setting. My config is tweaked for headphones in particular so using the "headphone" ingame setting it usually results in less "spacious" and worse surround sound and more bass and less clear sound. The kX Audio drivers adds pseudo surround sound to a stereo setup which is why 2.0/2.1 config ingame works usually best.

As far as your request goes, here's the same config with lower bass and virtual 5.1 plugin instead of surrounder+. Why you would wanna use that though is beyond me because it worsens the sound quality significantly and I find Surrounder+ to work best. I'm a UT3 freak myself and play this game daily online and the surround sound is just perfect with this game, even X-Fi users complain about no working surround sound in this game but for me it works perfectly.

I changed reverb to "20" with virtual5.1 plugin as it sounds a bit different than with Surrounder+ and even 20 may be even slightly too much.

kxBasshead-Virtual51-GeniusAction.kx - Windows Live

And lastly I added also another config with Surrounder+ plugin with the same equalizer settings as above (lower bass and slightly tweaked highs) so you can compare the two plugins directly to each other with same settings except I put Reverb to "22" with this config as that's the sweetspot for gaming with this plugin IMO:

kxBasshead-Surrounder+-GeniusAction.kx - Windows Live

For me Surrounder+ wins hands down in every possible way (sound quality & surround sound). Virtual5.1 sounds too metallic and "screetchy" and the sound positioning is a bit worse IMO.

GeniusAction

I must agree with you SURROUNDER+ plugin is better for positional AUDIO 3d, in counter strike source some players call me cheater..... yep. Yes as you have said we need to set speaker 2.0 or 2.1 or headphone in the game and plugin does the job.

Now presets are perfectly calibrated very nice about reverb and also less bass so my head don't shake a lots lol.

Thank you a lots for your time affort.

You have a pm also.

Tony