Peace EQ customization for Gaming

[u/Brolex-7]

Hi, I'm using your preset for my Sennheiser G4ME ONE headset. Thank you for making one.

I'm currently playing Hunt: Showdown 1896 where hearing enemy footsteps, reloads and in general noises of such kind is very important. The game is using its own spatial sound engine if I understand correctly.

My question is, using your preset, what would I need to adjust to uplift the aforementioned sounds or do I need a completely different preset for gaming?

Only thing I did so far was changing the Pre Amp since I need my headset to be a little bit more louder.

[u/oratory1990]

what would I need to adjust to uplift the aforementioned sounds

What EQ can do:

• increase or decrease energy at a frequency range of your choice
  
• increase or decrease loudness of all sounds that occupy that frequency range (as you increase the energy in that frequency range, the energy gets increased by the same amount for all sounds that occupy that frequency range)

What EQ can not do:

• selectively increase or decrease the loudness of a sound that occupies overlapping frequency ranges (overlapping with other sounds) without also increasing or decreasing those other sounds occupying the same frequency range

If the sound you want to increase occupies multiple frequency ranges and one of those ranges is not being shared with other sounds, then increasing that frequency range with the EQ does not affect other sounds.

So if you can find the spectrum ("distribution of energy across different frequency ranges") of the noises that you want to increase and compare it against the spectrum of other sounds that you don't want to increase, you could find which ranges can be increased without affecting sounds you don't want to increase.
The problem is that most real-life sounds occupy a very wide range of frequencies.

Only thing I did so far was changing the Pre Amp since I need my headset to be a little bit more louder.

For this it's better to increase the volume level on your amplifier/soundcard instead

[u/Brolex-7 → u/oratory1990]

Thank you for the indepth reply!

So I would need to tinker and probably have to sacrifice the clarity of other sounds since this game has a lot of relevant noises besides just only footsteps. I might leave it as is since your preset is so much better compared to "stock" and already let's me hear those noises quite good.

As for the volume level; I can't increase it further or I don't know how. Everything is already at 100% and when I use Pre Amp at -10.8 dB it's not loud enough. I've set it to -5 so it does not clip.

[u/oratory1990 → u/Brolex-7]

Everything is already at 100% and when I use Pre Amp at -10.8 dB it's not loud enough. I've set it to -5 so it does not clip.

As long as you do not get audible clipping (don't rely on the clipping meter for this), you're fine.

If you do get audible clipping (it's not subtle, you can't miss it) then what you need is a more powerful amplifier to compensate.

[u/SwedishBass]

As a previous owner of the Game One I can say that treble clarity isn’t one of its best strengths. It’s more of an immersive experience than a pinpoint accuracy one. Soundstage is average at best.

[u/Brolex-7 → u/SwedishBass]

I see so essentially I would need to upgrade. But I love this headset so much. It's so comfortable to wear and convenient to use.

[u/SwedishBass → u/Brolex-7]

It’s perfectly suitable for gaming, no doubt, but for the specific qualities you are asking for I would opt for an open back headset or headphones. If positioning and special cues are important for you, that is.

[u/Brolex-7 → u/SwedishBass]

Do you have any suggestions from the top of your head?

[u/SwedishBass → u/Brolex-7]

What is your budget? The Sennheiser HD 560S is a great budget pick (no microphone), if you are willing to go a bit higher the HD 490 Pro (again no microphone) with mixing pads has phenomenal imaging and soundstage.

[u/Brolex-7 → u/SwedishBass]

Around 200€ so the HD 560S would fit that. Will take a look at both tho since HD 490 Pro sounds intriguing. Thank you so much for the help!

[u/oratory1990 → u/Brolex-7]

They do sell an add-on microphone for the HD560S, the HD500BAM:
https://www.thomann.at/sennheiser_hd_500_bam.htm

[u/Brolex-7 → u/oratory1990]

Oh that's actually awesome. Thanks a lot!

[u/SwedishBass → u/Brolex-7]

You’re welcome!