The software application:
Right after connecting the headset to the test computer, which included an I7 920 CPU along with the Foxconn BloodRage motherboard (onboard audio disabled from BIOS), Windows 7 x64 Ultimate started installing automatically the drivers for the product; the headset was identified as being an USB Multi-Channel Audio device and started working perfectly. To access the extra features, it was recommended to use the software included with the product:
After the software installation was complete, a restart was requested by the installer:
The Arctic Sound P531 software interface looks very similar with the one that C-Media sound cards used to have; the interface is split into multiple tabs like Main Setting, Mixer, Effect and so on. In the Main Setting screen, we can specify how many channels we do have at Input, how many channels we want to have at Output and on the right, we can see what really happens when we select those options (in the current case, the 2 channel sound, which is very frequently used when listening to MP3s, is transformed into 5.1 so it can be listened in all the speakers the headset does have:
In the same screen, we have some recommendations on which setting to use as input when using various audio sources:
Also here, we can do a swap of the center/bass output, but also enable or disable the Bass Enhancement feature, depending on the sound source:
In the little drawing where we can see the speakers, we can set independently the volumes for each speaker; we do also have a Reset button, so we can get to the default settings:
The 7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter is available, so we can transform the 5.1 environment into a 7.1 virtual one; when this is activated, we can see the 7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter icon on the right side:
The Speaker Shifter feature can be configured in more detail; we can move each speaker drawn in the virtual space and the modifications will be made on the fly (for example, we can get the front left and right speakers closer to us in the virtual space and we will instantly hear them getting louder):
The Shifter can also give us the possibility to rotate the virtual speakers continuously around us, in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction:
The Mixer menu allows us to set the volumes for the playback and recording features of the product:
The Effect menu holds options where we can add some interesting effects to the playback, we can modify the Equalizer manually or select from some preset options; here we can also select the simulated environment size:
Here is a list of the available environment effects we can add:
In the Karaoke/Magic Voice menu, we can set to playback the microphone into the speakers or to apply certain voice disguises with the help of the “Magic Voice” feature; here we do also have some more options related to Karaoke like Key Shifting or Vocal Cancellation:
When Magic Voice is selected, we can press certain buttons to get the desired effects:
Finally, in the Information tab, we get some information regarding the driver, the 3D Audio Engine, Audio Controller or the DirectX version:
Besides the drivers, on the installation CD we can also find the AC3_Filter, to be able to play multichannel audio in many media players and also some video and audio demos with multichannel sound:
