Hi all. I have a dilemma with trying to find a headset that works for both, decent earphone sound and a quality responsive microphone.

Many people (including myself) see the 7.1 labeling on headsets as nothing more than a gimmick, because it requires some form of software which will no doubt only be available on Windows and is emulated in software. Because of this, if you use a typical 7.1 headset on any Linux distribution, the headphones will sound like muffled wet farts (for lack of a better way to describe it).

This can even be noticeable on Windows, if you simply plug in a 7.1 headset without installing or running the "software drivers" or program that the manufacturer tells you to run.

Now my main question is, what does anyone here do on Linux to get a 7.1 headset to actually work? And by work, i mean it should sound crisp, clear, with both bass and trebles to the point the sound is correct.

Every time i've ordered a 7.1 headset, i have to return it because they sound terrible without the software. Is there a universal "thing" i can enable, or tweak within pulseaudio itself, or an application that helps to get these headsets working as intended?

Agree totally, 7:1 is a gimmick, and I'm not interested in it.

You have only two ears. Now, accepting that our ears are extremely phase sensitive you still can't recover information that isn't there. Stereo was only a total success for one person in a room with his head in a fixed position. In practise, very little music uses stereo anyhow, in case somebody's listening with one earphone dodgy. Every instrument seems to be on both tracks with the balance a little tilted. Quadrophonic was coming out as I was getting trained, and that was a joke too.

With our ears, we can hear if a sound is high up or low down, on left or right side, and in front of us or behind. I don't know how we detect that. But I'm pretty sure that goes once you put headphones on, all that refinement goes. Microphones don't detect or reproduce what the ear is capable of resolving. I'd advise realizing that PC sound is what it is, 'low fi' and nothing more. Your purchases "sounding like wet farts" could be a treble problem, but I think your money is better off in your pocket than theirs.

It isn't until we understand the ear fully that we can attempt to recreate what it detects.

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Yeah, you're right there. Even if there were a way to get them working on Linux with the 7.1 gimmick, feels wrong to rely on software for it which could even potentially break down the line.

I actually ended up getting a HyperX Cloud Alpha headset, which is very good for both audio and microphone (and ofc standard 3.5mm, plug and play with no gimmicks). Finally found something that just works!

If anything, the past several weeks taught me one thing, to never buy Logitech or Razer headphones. As those either have the 7.1 thing with a high reliance on windows software to make their products not sound like a landline telephone... quite shocked that Logitech are selling headsets for £50-70 which sound like garbage. Strangely the un-branded chinese brands which tend to be in the price range of £10-15 sound 200% better than Logitech's standard 3.5mm non-software headphones!

I guess this is solved, but i would definitely vouch for that HyperX Cloud Alpha headset.

if a headset is promoted as 7.1, 5.1 or whatever than this promotion is a proven indicator that it is garbage. it can never compete with a real hi-fi equipment.i never trusted this and always use the soundcards-output to drive as pre-amp for my hi-fi-amplifier and from there i'm using real hi-fi equipment.
an alternative would be a real ear-phone amplifier.

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