surrounded
how philosophical can a sound system be?
imagine a 2-piece speaker system. yep, those little rectangle boxes that come free with your PC. good. how does music sound like from such speakers? crappy? tunog lata? neverwinter nights have never sounded so retro.
now think of a 2.1 altec lansing. hmmm... better? of course! a properly placed subwoofer in the room can make you feel the footsteps of your level 20 paladin. it's not just about hearing it, now it's about feeling it. (a properly placed sub is at the corner of the room on a stable flooring - a wooden flooring does wonders to the acoustics of the room and disaster to the neighbor below)
lastly, how about a 5.1? two front, two rears and a sub? with a 2.1, you could FEEL the footsteps. but with a 5.1, YOU ARE making the footsteps. YOU ARE the one in the middle of the forest, walking randomly in search of strategically hidden treasure chests. YOU ARE the chosen one, out to vanquish the enemies and to conquer the hearts of the ladies. every part of YOUR body, with a 5.1, agrees that a sword hacking a goblin produces less squishy sounds than an orc.
7.1? let's not get to 7.1, that's too funky for our discussion. anyway, that's the goal of surround sound. with surround sound, your experience of the same game can change.
likewise, who you surround yourselves in work, school or life can produce different results for the same experience. there is something about having those extra speakers that make the investment worth it.
right now, i'm hounded by my 2.1 altec lansing. it's not 5.1 or 7.1, but it's still a 2.1 that i am proud of! and if i play my cards right, i'll be getting that 5.1 in the future. i'll upgrade and i'll be surrounded by different speakers in the future. hmm... when that day comes, the extra investment will definitely be worth it.
how philosophical a sound system can be.
imagine a 2-piece speaker system. yep, those little rectangle boxes that come free with your PC. good. how does music sound like from such speakers? crappy? tunog lata? neverwinter nights have never sounded so retro.
now think of a 2.1 altec lansing. hmmm... better? of course! a properly placed subwoofer in the room can make you feel the footsteps of your level 20 paladin. it's not just about hearing it, now it's about feeling it. (a properly placed sub is at the corner of the room on a stable flooring - a wooden flooring does wonders to the acoustics of the room and disaster to the neighbor below)
lastly, how about a 5.1? two front, two rears and a sub? with a 2.1, you could FEEL the footsteps. but with a 5.1, YOU ARE making the footsteps. YOU ARE the one in the middle of the forest, walking randomly in search of strategically hidden treasure chests. YOU ARE the chosen one, out to vanquish the enemies and to conquer the hearts of the ladies. every part of YOUR body, with a 5.1, agrees that a sword hacking a goblin produces less squishy sounds than an orc.
7.1? let's not get to 7.1, that's too funky for our discussion. anyway, that's the goal of surround sound. with surround sound, your experience of the same game can change.
likewise, who you surround yourselves in work, school or life can produce different results for the same experience. there is something about having those extra speakers that make the investment worth it.
right now, i'm hounded by my 2.1 altec lansing. it's not 5.1 or 7.1, but it's still a 2.1 that i am proud of! and if i play my cards right, i'll be getting that 5.1 in the future. i'll upgrade and i'll be surrounded by different speakers in the future. hmm... when that day comes, the extra investment will definitely be worth it.
how philosophical a sound system can be.
posted by Pipboy at 5:27 PM
2 Comments:
Of course, the quality of the sound card is part of the equation :).
I have a 5.1 setup, which I got aroudn two years ago. I'm not really a gamer (which is magnified with my switch to Linux... goodbye cstrike breaks :P), and most of the time play MP3s (which are stereo anyway) so I don't think the investment was a good one. I watch movies though - too bad I have that free soundcard the comes with your computer.
Hopefully, you'll be able to maximize your investment once you make it ;)
of course. silly me. i take for granted my creative sound cards and forgot to factor that in. though they're mere awe64 cards (vs the current line-up ~ they will be mere cards), i think they fare better than older built-in or freebies.
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