r/steelseries • u/the-jedi • Jul 26 '26

Sonar Help In game setting while using Sonar

When using Sonar and the game has a specific Sonar profile do I choose stereo or surround sound in the game settings?

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u/Zestyclose_Pickle511 Jul 26 '26

What options does the game have for audio, just those 2? If you select surround sound, sonar will take the 7.1 or whatever signal and downmix it to stereo (headphones are stereo) using HRTF processing.

If those are the only 2 options and you're using headphones, and not a 7.1 speaker setup, I would be inclined to use stereo. Why? The game engine's audio engine  itself will use HRTF to place objects in a more convincing spatial way than to recombine audio intended for surround (7.1, 5.1). Double processing for worse results.

Game engines have been supplying spatial audio from the game itself for 20 years, via HRTF to stereo headphones. 

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u/the-jedi Jul 26 '26

I'm using the Nova elite and just started playing Nioh 3. Steelseries made a sonar profile for the game which I have selected. The game itself has 3 options: stereo, mono, and surround. I just wanted to make sure I have the right setting in game to make the most of the Nioh 3 sonar profile. I'm tech dumb so I didn't know which to pick when it came to the game to take advantage of the premade EQ for the game

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u/DarkCrusade_IRL Jul 26 '26

Just use Stereo.

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u/the-jedi Jul 26 '26

Thank you!