New headset

[Les]

Originally Posted by Splitter

...
BUT! If I could find ear phones that regulated loud sounds I would be heaven. Sort of bringing everything to a common level of amplification...

I don't know of any headphones that do that. But your question got me thinking I'd like to find something like that for myself, so I went searching and to cut a very long story short I ended up finding this -

http://store.claessonedwards.com/product_p/bap-002.htm

It's a computer program that can pretty much do what you were asking for.

I downloaded the demo and tested it out briefly in IL-2 and on some music. To test the program to an extreme though, I loaded up Crysis to try and bring gunfire and jungle sounds onto the same level, and it pretty much does what it claims to do. In fact it was actually jaw-dropping when I first heard what it could really do.

With some extreme adjustments, basically all the quiet background sounds that sometimes you don't hear at all, can be made as loud as the closest, loudest sounds. You can then turn down the overall sound and not miss a thing. Even in the Crysis menu's I was hearing stuff I never even knew was there.

In IL-2 it was still bringing all the sounds together into a narrow range, but there aren't any great extremes to cover anyway. Planes flying by, ground guns, radio-chatter, hits to the plane, were all brought into roughly the same volume range as the engine, or closer than they were before anyway.

I can see why people would love (or hate) using such a program to alter music too, but I'm not going there.

I found the most extreme settings for bringing all the sound levels into line included using one slider that degraded the overall sound a bit, but that particular one isn't essential and it's not like it totally ruins everything. (It's described in the program itself as making things sound overall 'not unlike FM radio').

Oh, and what it can do for the bass is just BS.

Anyway, just sharing the info. I don't even know if I'd use it myself, but my first impressions are it's a top quality bit of software. From what I could see it's the best software of it's kind for it's price (at about thirty dollars).

[Splitter]

Originally Posted by Les

I don't know of any headphones that do that. But your question got me thinking I'd like to find something like that for myself, so I went searching and to cut a very long story short I ended up finding this -

http://store.claessonedwards.com/product_p/bap-002.htm

It's a computer program that can pretty much do what you were asking for.

I downloaded the demo and tested it out briefly in IL-2 and on some music. To test the program to an extreme though, I loaded up Crysis to try and bring gunfire and jungle sounds onto the same level, and it pretty much does what it claims to do. In fact it was actually jaw-dropping when I first heard what it could really do.

With some extreme adjustments, basically all the quiet background sounds that sometimes you don't hear at all, can be made as loud as the closest, loudest sounds. You can then turn down the overall sound and not miss a thing. Even in the Crysis menu's I was hearing stuff I never even knew was there.

In IL-2 it was still bringing all the sounds together into a narrow range, but there aren't any great extremes to cover anyway. Planes flying by, ground guns, radio-chatter, hits to the plane, were all brought into roughly the same volume range as the engine, or closer than they were before anyway.

I can see why people would love (or hate) using such a program to alter music too, but I'm not going there.

I found the most extreme settings for bringing all the sound levels into line included using one slider that degraded the overall sound a bit, but that particular one isn't essential and it's not like it totally ruins everything. (It's described in the program itself as making things sound overall 'not unlike FM radio').

Oh, and what it can do for the bass is just BS.

Anyway, just sharing the info. I don't even know if I'd use it myself, but my first impressions are it's a top quality bit of software. From what I could see it's the best software of it's kind for it's price (at about thirty dollars).

Awesome find! Thank you!

Splitter

[Les]

Originally Posted by Splitter

Awesome find! Thank you!

Splitter

No worries. If you want to know the settings I found most effective, rather than tweaking and experimenting with your own ears, just let me know and I'll post them here, as it's not the most straightforward of procedures.

Would be good too if some of the other forum members here could confirm the software is as effective as I found it.

And without wanting to sound melodramatic or patronizing, I hope you understand and won't be offended, but I must state I'm not in any way qualified to make recommendations or give advice that even borders on the medical. I'm not encouraging you to do anything but take care. Even with this software, and with the overall volume at a low level, using headphones could still be detrimental to your hearing for all I know.

Actually that goes for everyone reading this now or in the future. Be careful with headphones! Pleasuring your ears can easily be overdone, resulting in permanent damage that isn't always readily apparent.

Okay, end of public service announcement, back to your regular programming...

[Splitter]

Originally Posted by Les

Actually that goes for everyone reading this now or in the future. Be careful with headphones! Pleasuring your ears can easily be overdone, resulting in permanent damage that isn't always readily apparent.

Where were you when I was 18?! lol. Yeah, I will say that people should invest in hearing aid companies. All of the ear buds I see (and hear) every day....there's a lot of hearing loss in the future of our modern societies. I know, I know, it won't happen to you . But one rock concert or one range session, or one flight without hearing protection can do permanent damage or leave you with tinitis.

Tell you what, PM me the settings you tried. I downloaded the demo and might try it tomorrow.

Splitter

[Ltbear]

In general it comes down to volume. Only place i "rock" is listening to manowar driving. Playing games with headphones is not where i "blow" the drums....I have kids, se need to be able to hear them when they start fighting lmao.....

and to the qustion. No not tryed out the analog steelseries, but i can set the 2.5`s to analog and they sound pretty ok. I used to play alot of ww2 online and there the surround part was a life saver, the added bonus is that i can hear the planes if they sneak up on me......



Ltbear

[albx]

Originally Posted by Ltbear

...but i can set the 2.5`s to analog and they sound pretty ok.

sorry, but what is 2.5? i know v2 but not a 2.5

[Ltbear]

Originally Posted by albx

sorry, but what is 2.5? i know v2 but not a 2.5

woops my bad lol....2.0 geeez...need coffee

[Les]

Originally Posted by Splitter

...there's a lot of hearing loss in the future of our modern societies...

Yeah, there's definitely going to be a lot of that happening.

No need for PM's, the settings are really basic, it's just the technology involved and the way the whole program works that can be complicated, but I don't need to explain any of that, beyond saying, basically what the 'Breakaway' program does is sit inbetween whatever application you're using and your sound-card, filtering and adjusting in real-time whatever sound the application (game, media-player etc.) feeds it, before passing it on to your sound-card which works as normal sending the signal to your speakers.

So.

***Once the program is running, all you need to adjust are the 'Range', 'Power' and 'Speed' sliders, by moving them all to the right so they're fully green.***

As simple as that.

That should bring all available sounds into the narrowest range possible, then you adjust the overall volume to a safe level.

Some other points though -

Maxing out the 'Speed' slider might degrade the sound a bit and can be adjusted to suit, it's mainly the 'Range' and 'Power' sliders that are adjusting the effect you're after.

There's a 'Bypass' button up the top that switches off the programs effect and allows you to hear the sound as it usually is. Be careful with that as there can be extreme changes in overall volume level when it's switched on or off.

The 'Breakaway' program, processing sound in the background, is using CPU resources, but I didn't notice any performance differences because of it. I might have heard some glitches in the sound when I was checking out IL-2, but I can't be sure. If you notice the sound distorting or dropping out, you can try going back to the 'Breakaway' install setup and choosing a 'slower' setting, at the risk of introducing latency or lag into the mix.

You might not be able to use the default Windows volume control, even when the 'Breakaway' program is being by-passed, as the 'Breakaway' program becomes your default volume controller. In my case for example, I can adjust the overall volume level by using the 'Breakaway' program itself, or by using my sound-card's control center, or by using the volume button on my keyboard, but not by adjusting the slider of the little speaker icon in the Windows taskbar on my desktop.

Anyway, I think that's about it.