M-audio sonica theatre + Zalman Theatre6

sambal

Hi,
I just bought a Zalman Theatre6 headphone and a USB soundcard M-audio Sonica Theatre. I was so happy and without hesitated,I opened up the box and tried out.

I'm actually dissapointed with the sound output. I tried most of DVD movies:Troy, The Day After Tomorow. Currently, I am using a eMac 700 Mhz (Macintosh, not PC!).

I did plug their three jacks respectively at the three output: Front, Rear, and Center/SW. And when it comes into a software, I did turn on the Circle Surround II with both SRS Dialog and TruBass. Not forget to increase at 60Hz of all Crossover. Tried to get a little distance at around 6 - 10 feet,but still,I didn't satisfies with their quality.

The sound output tends to be too deep and too packed! At certain times,when the actors talked, the bass are too deep. Hardly to catch between the mid-range. And it pays a lot of nerved to get the swinging swords and arrows.

When I tried my stereo headphone of TDK-100, it seems even better in terms of bass and treble. But when I tried Zalman, I didn't get what I wanted to expected. Any recommendation or suggestions?

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Xal · Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 8:39 am Post subject:

Welcome to TN

Is your dvd software set correctly? Try different sound settings within the player itself, you may find that your system just doesn't like your current audio settings. Good luck

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Sally · UberTweaker Joined: 31 Mar 2004 Posts: 1158 Location: WA

Hoedizzy · Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2004 12:45 pm Post subject:

JayDubya · Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2004 10:07 pm Post subject:

Hmm, you may very well need to tweak with the equalizer settings on this one. Make sure you've got the latest drivers installed for your sound card.
If that fails, you may need to contact M-audio's tech support.
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fussnfeathers · Lord of the Tweak Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 2763

The problem isn't M-Audio, it's the headphones. Unfortunately, they're a great idea that doesn't work very well. Getting decent surround out of a pair of headphones is just about impossible, due to the spatial relationships in frequencies. What you're hearing is overcompensation on the headphones part to make up for a lack of bass in the drivers, and in 5.1, all the bass is mono, so it'll sound "packed"........no spatial reference.

Try adjusting the software controls for the Sonica, that might help. You should have settings for each channel, and I believe it also gives you a "spatial setting", that will allow you to virtually move your listening position. Be aware, though, you'll have to change that setting back to listen through regular speakers............
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