this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2025
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7.1 Headset compatibility (piefed.social)
submitted 16 hours ago by keyhoh@piefed.social to c/linuxquestions@lemmy.zip
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Hello and happy holidays!

I've recently made the switch to Linux and I'm looking for a headset with 7.1 surround sound that'll also work with my PS5. I'm ok to switch to any distro as some won't work as well as others with the sound drivers. I'm currently using PopOS.

I did some research and even asked at a computer store but I found it difficult to get a reliable answer on a good set. I'd also like wireless and I'm ok with a usb over Bluetooth connection.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a great headset that'll work with what I'm looking for? Hunting for Linux things is certainly harder than that crappy os I switched from, but I know it's worth it.

Thank you!

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[–] Grntrenchman@lemmy.world 9 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

There are no "surround sound" headphones (at least not since razer hp1), it's a gimmick, any advertised as such are using a single driver per side and doing fake surround in software (driver).

You can use any headset and set up various virtual surround programs in Linux, you might want to look into details of that before buying a headset.

You can probably assume if the headset wants to use some windows software or drivers to "set up" the surround sound that it won't work on Linux the same way, but it is possible to do with other programs.

[–] KickMeElmo@sopuli.xyz 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

To be clear, some do exist with distinct drivers. I own one: https://www.gskill.com/product/13/34/1541055875/SR910-EOL

Problem is that many drivers is kinda heavy. But it does work great with Linux out of the box.

[–] keyhoh@piefed.social 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Will this headset work with the most common Distros, as well as PS5? I have trouble with high levels of customization to get things to work.

[–] KickMeElmo@sopuli.xyz 1 points 7 hours ago

I don't have a PS5 to verify, but it should. Never had any issue with the distros I used it on, it was just plug and play.

[–] keyhoh@piefed.social 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I didn't come across this while researching but I'm glad you brought the truth of the claim of 7.1 headsets to my attention. Still though, I'm happy with the illusion of surround sound as my brain won't tell the difference

Can you recommend some programs that would work with many headsets? I'm still very new to Linux and was a moderate level Windows user at best. It's not always straightforward to figure things out for myself.

[–] Hond@piefed.social 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

I played around with the "fake" surround stuff a few weeks back. I must say it didnt win me over for gaming. Tried it out with my 70$ Chi-Fi stereo IEMs. Might work better with open headphones with a "wider sound stage". I spent several hours on an afternoon switching around. IMHO the localization of sound in a 3d space wasnt any better compared to simple but good stereo output. My main comparison would be the spatial sound of my VR Headset where sometimes sound really seem to come from behind me and other mind boggling trickery. This didnt happen once with all the virtual surround solutions i tried.

Anyway i followed the instructions in this post:
https://piefed.social/post/219030

But i also tried this approach:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc4lSt_-_uw
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire/-/blob/master/src/daemon/filter-chain/sink-virtual-surround-7.1-hesuvi.conf
https://airtable.com/appayGNkn3nSuXkaz/shruimhjdSakUPg2m/tbloLjoZKWJDnLtTc

Maybe it works for you. Try it out. Its free.

Edit: Oh yeah and the famous binaural barbershop works really well with the IEMs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsJn0R-Ff_E

So idk if i just messed up or this whole virtual surround stuff is just yet another software audio voodoo bullshit.