How do I go about getting 5.1 to work on normal headphones? Anybody know how to do this for games exactly?

 

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define normal headphones. do you mean headphones that don't have 5.1 speakers inside them? cuz i've had a few 5.1 headphones and a few regular headphones and i can guarantee you that you won't get the proper surround effects on normals.

 

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Best you can do is simulated surround on 2 speaker type thing and as Cao said "you won't get the proper surround effects on normals"

 

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No, there is some Dolby Headphone thing I keep hearing about with simulated effects that sounds pretty good but I cant find much for details on it.

 

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"simulated effects" while it might "sound pretty good", it won't sound as good as 5.1

 

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Is this what you are looking for

http://www.dolby.com/us/en/professional/technology/gaming/dolby-headphone.html

Apparently you need to buy a decoder

http://www.timefordvd.com/tutorial/DolbyHeadphone.shtml

Apparently CMSS does as good if not better job

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1489372

 

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I own both 5.1 headphones (from Zalman) and normal headphones with supposed "surround" effect from soundcard (CMSS 3D or others).
The surround effect works to some extend. You will NEVER have a convincing sound coming from behind if you don't have a real speaker behind. If you want real surround effects, get real surround speakers or headphones.

You really want to be "surrounded" by sound? You need speakers in front and behind you. Just one speaker for each ear won't do it, no matter how hard you try.

 

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That may be true but when privacy is an issue the headphones are an awesome alternative. I'm using a 7.1 headset right now and it sounds amazing and it seems to pickup sounds behind me fairly decently for being a headset.

 

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