Get Great Artificial Surround Sound With the New Razer App
Surround sound can enhance any video game, but getting it right requires expensive speakers or a high-quality gaming headset – at least not before. Razer’s new Windows 10 app can add THX Spatial Surround Sound to any pair of wired or wireless gaming headphones you use on your PC, including the crappy ones you haven’t replaced since 2013.
The Razer Spatial Audio app creates a virtual sound card on your PC that records the sound of a game or app, applies any enhancements you enable, and then pumps the amplified audio into your headphones. This allows you to run games in THX 7.1 virtual surround sound, adjust EQ, and even apply post-processing enhancements such as bass boost or voice clarity to your games, movies or music without the need for an external DAC or sound card. Best of all, the app does all of this for just $ 20 – and you can even try it free for 15 days to see how it sounds.
How to try Razer’s THX Spatial Audio app for free
- Go to https://www.razer.com/thx-spatial-audio.
- Click Download Trial.
- Run the installer and follow the instructions on the screen.
- Run the app after installing it.
- The first time you launch the app, you will be prompted to sign in with your Razer, Google, Facebook, or Twitch account. There is also a guest option, but ignore it; it just gives you an overview of THX Spatial Surround Sound and a video demonstrating how it sounds.
- Then right-click the Windows audio icon in the system icon bar and select Open Sound Settings. Make sure the output device is set to “THX Spatial”.
- Back in the Razer THX Spatial Audio app, go to Settings and make sure your audio output device is set to a 3.5mm headset port or USB port.
The app has four tabs, each with its own set of options to try:
Audio Tab: Switch between stereo or THX virtual surround sound. You can turn this on and off for all apps or for each app in the App Mixer window.
EQ tab: adjust sound mixing. You can choose from four EQ presets (default, Game, Music, and Movie), or use the full 10-band mixing controls to tweak the sound on the fly, or create your own custom EQs. This screen also includes post-processing options for Bass Boost, Sound Normalization, and Vocal Clarity.
Config Tab: Adjust the spacing of each virtual surround channel.
Demo:Plays videos mixed with THX Surround Sound .
Despite the name, the demo tab doesn’t allow you to showcase any other options or presets other than the included pre-mixed video, and this points to the app’s only major flaw: there are many options, but you can’t test them all in the app. You will be able to hear all your changes only after you start the game. The app also uses Stereo Mix by default instead of Spatial Surround for every new game you play, which means a lot of switching between games / apps to make it sound right.
How well does the Razer Spatial Audio app perform in games?
However, it is worth it. While using THX Spatial Surround Sound will not improve real-world sound quality in cheaper headphones – and I certainly cannot speak to Razer’s claims that using spatial audio “improves focus and reduces mental fatigue” – virtual surround sound matters a lot. difference. You will get a boost from the demo video linked above, but this is even more obvious when it is actually used in the game.
I tried the Razer app with both an old pair of Apple 3.5mm wired headphones and the Arctis Pro gaming headset. I used both the basic 3.5mm Arctis Pro connection and plugged it in via an external USB DAC mixer, and tried every connection with and without the included SteelSeries mixer software. I played a little Phantasy Star Online 2 , a little Warframe, and a couple of rounds in Fortnite . All three games sounded more accurate with surround sound enabled, but the benefits varied depending on which pair of headphones I used.
I noticed the biggest difference with the Arctis Pro headset over 3.5mm, but even the relatively flimsy Apple headphones sounded slightly better (although they lacked the clarity of the Arctis Pro). I haven’t gotten that much of a boost with the Arctis Pro DAC or its mixing software, but it makes sense – both of them already do most of what the Razer app is designed to do. Regardless, fiddling with THX virtual surround setup and post-processing parameters had a noticeable effect, even with these other components.
Skip the Razer Spatial Audio App for Movie Night
I also tried the Music and Movie presets in the Razer app, but was less impressed.
The Movie preset makes videos and movies more immersive, but virtual surround cannot fully reproduce the true surround speaker setup. There are some minor inconsistencies with the front and rear surround channels that I found more noticeable in non-gaming applications where dedicated speaker settings or a pair of headphones specifically designed for music and / or movies are used if you want the best possible experience.
However, the Razer app comes very close to creating an artificial surround sound gameplay. For $ 20, this is a great buy for anyone using a gaming headset without surround sound or plain old headphones. Not only is it cheaper than buying an expensive surround sound headset or external DAC, but it also works over 3.5mm, USB, Bluetooth, and wireless USB. This is overkill for high-end headsets with their own virtual surround sound options and software, but otherwise the money is well spent.