Antec Soundscience Rockus 3D 2.1 Speakers
by Dustin Sklavos on November 18, 2010 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Audio
- Antec
- Soundscience
- Rockus 3D
Movies and Games on the Rockus 3D
The 3D mode on the Rockus 3D seems to exist more for these two purposes: producing—or at least simulating—a surround sound environment in video games and in movies.
First, when playing games where pitch-perfect sound accuracy isn't as big a deal, the 3D mode can actually shine. While Grand Theft Auto IV sounded a bit thin regardless of which mode I played it in, I found that the simulated surround space in Left 4 Dead 2—a game where spatial recognition can be downright vital—was much better than I expected. The weather effects in the Hard Rain campaign sounded excellent, and I found I was able to locate my teammates and the infected more easily than I could using the Music mode.
Playing Modern Warfare 2, the 3D mode didn't feel quite as impressive as in Left 4 Dead 2, but it still produced a notable improvement in sound quality. Everything in the game felt like it had more body and depth, and it was a little easier to spot enemies than playing in Music mode.
The other big usage for the 3D mode is in watching movies, and here I ran into my first real snag with the Rockus 3D. I'm not sure whom to blame on this one, either, but it goes something like this: to test movie playback I use ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre 3, and for the majority of my testing I had the Rockus 3D plugged into the optical jack on my motherboard. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, someone (we'll say Realtek) screwed the pooch. Realtek's implementation of Dolby Surround doesn't work and results in a silent movie, while the Xonar DX is able to produce audio perfectly fine. No combination of settings between the Realtek audio (with a digital connection) and ArcSoft worked, while the Xonar had no such issues.
When I was finally able to test movie playback and actually hear the movie, I used Iron Man 2 and routinely switched back and forth between the Music and 3D modes during the attack at the Stark Expo. My findings here essentially echo the experience I had when gaming: Antec's 3Dsst produces a fuller, richer sound and improves the spatial quality of the movie's audio track compared to the basic Music mode. While it was still nowhere near the level of having dedicated satellites, it was at least a marked improvement over just having the basic 2.1 sound. Audiophiles and purists may very well take some issue with this: 3D mode does change the character and quality of the sound of the movie in a very real and obvious way, but that's what the toggle is there for.
My ultimate opinion on simulated surround sound remains essentially unchanged: while I was impressed with what Antec was able to achieve in 3D mode, particularly in Left 4 Dead 2, it's still no replacement for an authentic 5.1 system. That's fair, because it's not entirely intended to be (not the way Bose's Companion 3 and 5 systems grossly attempt to). The idea here is that if you simply don't have the physical space to hook up a surround sound system proper, 3Dsst offers a reasonable alternative and in that respect it's easy to say I'd rather have it than not. Turn it on when you like, and off when you don't—simple.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
67 Comments
View All Comments
DanD85 - Thursday, November 18, 2010 - link
I'm not sure if Antec sound better than Edifier. I know it's quite unfamiliar brand name around here but I've heard it and it really really good. The price is quite reasonable too.http://www.edifier.ca/english/speakers/s330d/s330d...
warisz00r - Thursday, November 18, 2010 - link
As an owner of the S330D I can definitely vouch this poster's opinion. The Edifier compares pretty well with the Klipsch Promedia 2.1 and is also way better than any similarly priced 2.1 systems from Logitech and AL.Patrese - Thursday, November 18, 2010 - link
Agreed as well. I have a set of Edifier E3100 for 5 years now and they're easily the best sounding 2.1 computer sets I've ever heard.The0ne - Monday, November 29, 2010 - link
I have two sets of Klipsch Promedia 2.1 and don't have any complaints. They're un-used mostly now because of my Z5500s but they are still very good when I do use the other PCs. I have another comparable 2.1 but can't remember the brand name, urgh. It also has very good sound qualities and still going strong.dramaqueen - Wednesday, July 8, 2015 - link
Edifiers are decent but what about the Harman Kardon SoundSticks?http://www.pricenfees.com/best-2-1-speakers.html
Can't really compete when it comes to overall sound quality IMO.
wtfbbqlol - Thursday, November 18, 2010 - link
Things like:- Frequency response
- THD+N
- Speaker sensitivity
Unfortunately to make all these things happen, and have them be valid, you'll have to go all out and have an anechoic chamber with proper measurement equipment (measurement mics, and hardware testers like some Audio Precision stuff) for your measurements. If you don't have an anechoic chamber, use maximum-length sequence type measurements to circumvent room reflections.
Anyway, my point is, if you can't at least provide some valid baseline measurements a purely subjective review is more or less useless. Better spend Anandtech time on other more useful stuff.
ninjaquick - Thursday, November 18, 2010 - link
S/N, FR are almost always marketing gimmicks. While it is true that many high quality speakers advertise these values, their relevance is questionable at best.Ultimately it is the subjective hearing tests that matter most. The shape of the enclosure, the aspiration of the drivers/woofers., the material of the cones and even the wires used inside the system + the amplification/DACs all affect how the system will sound past the S|N/FR statements. What I am getting at is until you hear how it sounds you will never know how it sounds. I could, right now, grab top shelf drivers and wires, get it to be 15hz-25khz / 112 dB S/N but they would sound awful. Hell, even with null THD they would sound bad.
I don't even care anymore to get to where I was going.
wtfbbqlol - Thursday, November 18, 2010 - link
Without some form of valid lab measurements you have no reference to judge the audio performance. The measurements aren't an absolute metric of what sounds good or bad, but its value is in showing whether the product has any gross deviations/defects in its audio performance. For example, if I see weird 10dB peaks or dips over a wide band in the frequency response, I am almost certainly sure that the audio product is not worth my time at all.What the reviewer thinks "sounds good" to him/her may not be good for you. His/her ears are not yours. Meanwhile, measurements which are done properly, even if they don't give the full picture, allows you some way to gauge the audio performance and compare one like product to another.
Also, notice I suggested that Anandtech perform their own lab measurements, and not use the advertised "specs" of these products. It's a huge undertaking, make no mistake about it, and one I think Anandtech is currently ill-equipped to deal with currently and is of questionable value even if they do. It's going to take a lot of money, time, and effort just to improve one small portion of their output. Either do it right, or don't.
I'm going to be blunt; this kind of review doesn't belong on Anandtech. I expect rich analysis like some of the better hardware articles here (SSD, motherboard reviews etc).
wtfbbqlol - Thursday, November 18, 2010 - link
For example, here is a page from a speaker review of another site with reasonable effort put into some of the measurements.http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/speakers/booksh...
anactoraaron - Thursday, November 18, 2010 - link
I would agree with this. I am only going to compare and refer anyone reading this post to Anand's SSD trilogy. The depth of how nand works wasn't necessary nor was the controller's inpact on performance and why, but it is that depth that makes Anandtech.com what it is. This article just doesn't match up with the SSD articles. I know this is more of an issue of "the manufacturer sent us this to review it and this is the only way we are able to do so as of now" but maybe this should be filed under the News section and brief specs listed there, rather than doing this and calling this a full fledged review.my 2c