Games

Games!

You know there’s always a danger with long form reviews that a new game will be released and you just have to try out the hardware under test with it. Yes, that’s Fallout 4. I’ll get there. The three games I’ve sunken the most time into, and that oddly use audio to enhance immersion, are Fallout 4, Witcher 3, and Project Cars. None of these games would be very entertaining without audio.

The test machine was configured as such:

Let’s start with Witcher 3 The Wild Hunt. The game of the year has exceptional audio, not just the soundtrack, but also the environmental sounds. Many of the missions require you to use ‘witcher senses’ to find more clues about what you’re looking for. If you don’t find these clues, you don’t get paid. Sound is one of the many senses that a witcher uses to find clues, and so is very important. The Devil HDX’s stereo separation is excellent for positional awareness. It’s the best I’ve experienced, actually. In many situations, the directional sound was a little bit easier to tell where a monster was coming from. This translates into quicker reaction times, less raw meat eaten for healing, but overall, much better immersion.

However, there was one notable difference, the bass. The Devil HDX is a little bass shy, notable in things like horse hooves and footsteps. In the heat of a sword fight, burning up your opponent with a touch of Igni, it’s not really noticeable. But, just trotting around the countryside, slaying beasts, it does. With something like the Audio gd Sparrow, the bass shy nature of the Devil HDX becomes apparent. Objects feel less physical. It’s easy to adjust the Devil HDX with the included equalizer, but this is a detailed analysis of the Devil HDX, and I’m just too lazy to play with equalizer settings.

Overall, the Devil HDX is very clear and detailed, especially for the monumental amounts of dialog in Witcher 3. You’ll not mistake any word spoken in this game with the Devil HDX pumping out very clear sound.

For Fallout 4, the ambient sound is really critical. Especially when you’re facing down a building full of raiders. You know the one, early in the game your task is to clear the Corvega Car Assembly Plant. Again, the Devil HDX makes for a really good bit of difference in positional awareness. The sound of a turret locking on? Check. A raider two floors down looking for you? Check. For comparison’s sake, a high-quality external DAC is great, but the Devil HDX was a little bit more better. So not a huge difference there. Compared to the onboard sound of my motherboard, however, the difference is huge.

Project Cars. Racing sims are pretty static, actually. The sound of your car is fairly static, engine sounds, tire screeching at the edge of adhesion, there’s a giddy sense of fun pushing a digital car to its limits. I’m rather fond of the McLaren P1, which is rendered beautifully in Project Cars. It is a difficult car to drive in this game. You do get a sense of how much power the machine possesses and how easy it is to find yourself looking the wrong side down the track.

So there you have it, how I’ve wasted my time reviewing the Devil HDX. Hours of games, and hours of Netlix and Youtube. And I’ve enjoyed every second of it, to be honest. Yeah, reviewing computer hardware is a lot like prostitution, you work a lot of nights.