Dreamcast games with verified surround sound

[gamevet]

SONY are to me, very like Apple and look to charge over £100 more than their rivals based on name alone and where most of their rivals offer products of similar spec and quality at a cheaper price. I won't try and pretend I knew about the USA audio sector in the 90's or took any interest in it, but I will just say what it was like in the UK. In the 90's TV and separate sound amps were big ticket items, cost a lot of money and were investments you looked to hold on to for decades. Kenwood in the UK (not the Kitchen one) were the brand you looked to go to, for quality products at a reduced price and if wanted cheap crap you went to Amstrad LOL, the likes of SONY and Yamaha were super high end and you never really saw a Pioneer products in Wales.

Like I said, Sony didn't offer the best sound equipment over here. They were middle of the road, but they offered the best bang for the buck. Pioneer, Yamaha and Onkyo had better quality products, but they came at a premium price.

Not many gamers had a surround sound set up in the 90's, in the UK it was hugely expensive and even today when I look at some people gamer rooms on the various forums there's no surround sound set up's its expense loads can do with out.
I can only say the truth and say that for me I didn't see much different from playing the likes of Super Turrican 2 on the Snes or Fifa on the Mega CD in dolby, I saw a big improvement with Road Rash on the 3DO and when I got my Xbox in December 2001
I was lucky enough just a few weeks later to get a 5.1 Dolby Digital Kenwood amp in a Richersounds manager special; basically an unboxed ex display model, with speakers thrown in and also more discount for playing in cash . That's ,when I really heard the massive impact of surround gaming could have.

Most gamers didn't know any better. Like I'd said, I'd bought a pro-logic receiver for movies and having that setup for games was a bonus. Most gamers were clueless about the added benefits of having surround sound for gaming.

I get annoyed a little when even today so little focus is given to sound in reviews of games. Playing Gears IV in Atmos was just an incredible experience like the 1st time you heard a Wind Flair storm come in; It was a real stand out moment for me with this generation of sound

Reviews don't focus on sound, because every game provides surround sound. Atmos is a joke to me, because there are/were much better options for sound on consoles and PC, for those people that actually invested in good sound hardware. My desktop PC has a Turtle Beach X12 headset paired with an Earforce DSS setup that provides pretty good surround sound. My Creative Labs sound card provides Dolby Digital Live sound, as well as scout mode, where I can hear footsteps behind me. The options were there in the early 90s'. Just because a lot of people didn't know any better, or didn't have the money to invest in it, doesn't mean it didn't matter.

[Team Andromeda]

Sony is not a go-to name when it comes to sound. I mean look at the SNES. Everyone hates the sound it makes. .

I don't agree. The SNES got fantastic music and for me the better sound chip than the one in Mega Drive and people will always have their own fav makes or systems. I found Kenwood to be amazing and was so sorry I got rid of my 5.1 Kenwood amp for a Yamaha one when I got an Xbox 360 Elite and PS3 and was looking for an amp with HDMI inputs. To me, despite costing far more and the man in the shop swearing by Yamaha and looking at the reviews on AV forums, I liked the sound my old Kenwood made better.

I currently have my Denon Atmos Amp and while it's nice and really good. I think it controller and the unit interface and set up sucks, but people then swear by Denon.

Like I said, Sony didn't offer the best sound equipment over here. They were middle of the road, but they offered the best bang for the buck. Pioneer, Yamaha and Onkyo had better quality products, but they came at a premium price.

To me, Kenwood offered the best bang for your buck when it came to Hi-Fi. I've not even been the biggest fan of SONY TV's ok I only ever had a 14' Triniton (and to its credit it still works) I found my old Hitachi CRT to the best and my old Mitsubishi to be the best VHS player, but that's just me LOL.

Most gamers were clueless about the added benefits of having surround sound for gaming

That is true but it was also up to games to make good use of the extra channel rather than just play rudimentary sound from the back speaker. I guess given Dolby was only mono in the back that didn't help. Like I said Road Rash on the 3DO really used the back speaker, where Fifa on the Mega CD just played more or less the same sound coming from the front at the back.

Halo in 5.1 was a game changer moment for me and when it comes to Atmos playing Gears IV in Atmos for the 1st time was an utter showcase for the sound format and incredible audio experience .

Reviews don't focus on sound, because every game provides surround sound

You can add so much to experience but how you mix and use the extra channels; In Shadow Of The Tomb Raider, I thought it was great how with Atmos all the sound just came out of the front speaker, when trying to get out of the confined cave, then when you broke free and climb up to the jungle, all the sound starts to come out of all the speakers and the top/ceiling speakers and it really helped to give you the impression that you broke free

The way Atmos sound is used in Call Of Duty Modern Warfare to give the impression of the distance of gun fire is stunning and the use of the top speakers for the helicopters just makes you feel you're in a war zone, or when raiding a house and you can hear footsteps coming from the top speakers, really helps built up the tension. It has always wound me up a little how tech people like DF and the like on YouTube only focus on GFX Screen Res and FPS and hardly any focus is given to sound and sound design.

When you look at Film reviews, at least some will take the time to compare the sound options explain is it a good sound mix, does the new atmos track add anything ECT. It really should be the same for games

[Baloo]

Sony is not a go-to name when it comes to sound. I mean look at the SNES. Everyone hates the sound it makes. But seriously for electronic equipment like receivers and speakers etc etc Sony was just kind of blah. At least Apple offers good products (wouldn't trust them for sound though). I recently went from a Pioneer to a Denon AVR and the Denon doesn't sound as good as the Pioneer to me and the unit itself is a bit clunkier to control. It also refuses to see the internet any more. That's because it would drop picture on Xbox One or PS4 after it was powered on for a few minutes until I reselected the input I was using. Updating firmware didn't help, so Denon wrote me a special firmware that I had to update over USB, and that killed the unit's internet functionality. I am waiting for Pioneer to get HDMI 2.1 and then I'm going back.

Stuff like this is why I chose to stick with my old receiver and amp setup rather than try to get a brand new all in one receiver. I have heard that they sound worse, and that you can't even buy used because HDMI Passthrough sucks and drops video. My TV is an older Panasonic from 2011 so it only does 1080p and the picture is not the best. But I am not about to scrap an entire audio system just for the sake of HDMI, which seems intent on breaking receivers every few years and sucks for music anyway. As crazy as it is, I will stick with analog out through my Genesis and turntable, and Digital Output through my TV. Sounds pretty good for Digital 5.1.

[gamevet]

I use Optical connections for my sound into my Sony 5.1 receiver and just use the HDMI to pass though Video to the television. I’ve never had any video output issue.

I don’t think Joe was being serious, btw.

[Team Andromeda]

My Denon only does HDMI 2.0 So I just use the eARC on my LG CX so I can use the full feature set of my Series X VRR and 120FPS, whilst also getting full Dolby Atmos out of my Amp.