it's entirely impenetrable, even to a hardened PC user like myself. There's another control-panel addition called "AC3 Filter" which appears to have been developed by Martians, for Martians. In the "CMI Audio Config" application in the taskbar, I have shut off every 3D audio emulation setting I can. I have tried shutting off everything I can. And since I actually enjoy playing FPS games with headphones on, to catch the full audio experience, and because I have neighbors who DON'T want the full audio experience of my games, playing them with speakers isn't a viable option. The speakers would sound fine, no noticeable 3D "emulation," but what could be heard through the headphones was still craptacular. At one point I had a cable-splitter in-line, with one output going to the speakers, and one to the headphones. The wierd thing is, the sound is nearly perfect (or as good as it was before the driver update) if I'm using the speakers. It's the worst on those games without their own 3D audio support.
On games that have their own support for 3D audio, the effect is mitigated, but not gone. Talk about a clumsily-exaggerated 3D audio effect! I have to turn sideways to something to "hear" it properly. And it sounds as though two paper towel tubes are taped to my head. Any player speech or user-interface noises are muted or lost entirely. I can't hear any sounds that the player makes, only echoes off nearby surfaces. This is especially bad in first-person shooter games. In games, I can hear what's supposed to be ambient noise perfectly, but anything happening in the field of view is muted, or I hear what are supposed to be echoes of it, but not the sound itself. If I run an MP3 player with the headphones on, it sounds that I am listening NOT to the MP3, but to the MP3 being played through cheap speakers in a padded room, from the viewpoint of somebody just outside the window. It's as though there is some "ad hoc" 3D sound emulation going on. Now I have a few extra control panel applications added to my system, and my "headphones on" listening experience is wrecked. I have not had any trouble with it until I recently updated the driver for it (that'll teach me to pay attention to Windows Update). I have an ASUS P4S8X motherboard and am using the on-board AC-97 sound hardware.
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