It's not reverb though, the idea is to use delay to simulate an environment. Listen to this with headphones and decide if all that you are hearing is added reverb. It's also an example of what is possible.
I'm thinking that once there is the processing power, virtual surround will hopefully be able to do that type of thing in real time as a headphone option in games. As it stands, surround decoding is attempting to reproduce the sound of having a full surround system, which is attempting to reproduce the sounds of real life audio. Eventually headphones should be able to go straight to attempting real life audio reproduction, and cutting out the "middle man", but will people actually want that?
There's all sorts of things involved with this stuff: nostalgia, associations, placebo. Look at the term "home theatre", it's states that it's trying to reproduce a theatre, not life. Surely that's an association with what is considered fun by many people, and what they're used to. Having the smell of popcorn might be more important to the experience than having good sound for some, and no less valid. It's about the idea of "being there", it's then just a matter of what "there" is. A theatre? real life? a perception of real life through a perception of a theatre? See, if the sound of stereo headphones was reproduced in the setting of a home theatre (ie. lack of any room reverberation or delay), it would likely sound ridiculous, dry, and uninviting. But would that be because it's not what we're used to, or because it wouldn't actually sound any good?
For me, I think that in general, audio for games and movies is designed for surround sound listening, so I'll try to run with that concept. Music on the other hand tends not to be, so I work with that in a different way.
We can't achieve what is good, only our current perception of what is good. I actually choose between virtual surround or stereo depending what game I'm playing, and what my particular "being there" is within that context. I'll say flat out what I think is bad, good, better, and best gear, but I certainly won't tell anyone what they prefer, and what their "being there" is.
That youtube clip is definitely different from what you get from games. I agree that it's not reverb in this case, but as said in the clip... two microphones placed at the point where your ears are. Yet I still have trouble at times (like with the razer) knowing the difference between what's exact above me or what is exactly behind me.
But yeah, virtual surround doesn't have the two microphones at hand. It just has to use whatever the left and right channels are fed by the output of whatever is being put out by your soundcard.
EAX on the other hand did try to mimic the rooms back in the day, but that was halted when Microsoft screwed over DirectSound. Now game developers have to put in their own efforts to get the correct effects in place and actually build them into the game itself, instead of using Creative's EAX API.
About attempting to recreate real life audio, virtual surround will have to go analog else it will be technically impossible. That's the first step they need to make. How can they use the computer to edit sounds in an analog fashion (using digital to do something analog).
Well, I recently decided on a new years resolution for 2014. I am going back to black (vinyl). The reason why is because...
1. The sound is more complete.
2. Vinyl is involving.
3. You actually care about your records/music (handling them safely, cleaning them, etc).
4. It's an experience to hear that needle hit the record and watching that record spin, while enjoying the music.
5. Sound coming from it isn't harsh like digital sound. I can turn any record's volume up easily far beyond the digital copy's volume without having the feeling of pressure on my ears or that my ears start to hurt because it is too loud.
6. The simple experience of going to a record store, flipping to those huge albums with their nice covers until you find that one record that peeks your interest.
That's the experience I like. So if I want to go to the theater for a proper experience I will too. Though the last film I went to was Dark Shadows staring Johnny Depp. Before that it was 2012 I think.
With that last one I knew that whatever I had at home could never match what they have in the theater. Cause if I would put out that many decibels (especially in the low frequency range) at home, I probably would have to deal with the cops not that long after I started to watch my movie (THX into anyone?).
Besides that... going to the theater is a night out. Which is completely different to a night at home watching a movie. No matter if the popcorn is included or not. So its not just the big screen or the big sound, but also seeing different faces and going places to be in a different atmosphere. Different from your own home.
Now as to your comment about games and movies being designed for surround listening. Games yes, movies... meh...
Movies have the issue that during a lot of CG stuff that the surround/3D sound stage has to be mimic'ed. And when faking stuff, you can bet your ass that a lot of stuff is left out. Doesn't mean that it isn't good. However, if you'd be able to put a real scene of a bustling city next to a CG scene in which something happens (say Iron Man flies into the sky). I think in that case you would indeed hear a difference. Do you miss it though? No, not until you know what is actually missing.
Which is the reason why I go back to vinyl. I played digital music for 10 or 20 years. CD's and later MP3/AAC. However, I recently got a few records that I owned digitally and was just blown away by how much sound was missing from my music. Vinyl ended up just being more pleasant to my ears all around.
So yeah, you won't miss it until you know what you were missing.
I agree with what you said at the end there. We all just have to go about it our own way. All of us can only tell our stories about our point of view on the subject, but in the end each of us just have to make up our own minds of what we like the most.
So to the OP... good luck with the headphones. I hope you enjoy them.
