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.
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sinPiEqualsZero - Thursday, November 18, 2010 - link
Hi Dustin/Anandtech,I truly believe that you’ve given your best recommendation based on the available data, and I appreciate the time spent doing the review. I pay particular attention to speaker reviews since I wear hearing aids and need amazing speakers to understand speech, and thanks to you I have some more data with which to make a decision. I'm even in the market for them since my old ones just died last week.
In general, as you are well aware, audio review is an under-appreciated and subjective process. In this case, I have reservations about the one used for the review. But first, a small bit of relevant background based on some of Anandtech recent accomplishments.
When SSDs were coming out, you picked apart their parts, algorithms, and used the awesome collective knowledge of Anandtech to make big waves in the industry. We are still benefiting from those articles today and I guarantee that the major manufacturers and engineers are reading all related articles they can. You even referred to working directly with some manufacturers!
Then the iPhone4 reception issues came along, and you did what no one else did; you measured the effect of the wild claims that were flying around and erased all doubt. We may never know the true extent that your article influenced the notoriously secretive Apple, but I bet the impact wasn't small.
Let's get back to speakers. There are so many things that can be measured with speakers: distortion, maximum/minimum settings that can be compared to manufacturer's claims, and more. The quantifiable data is there, you just need to find ways to measure it. Heck, you could even disassemble the speakers and look at their components, and comment on how their use/placement/etc. affect the sound and cost.
I'd love to see a true "Anandtech"-level audio review where that creativity was on full display. Given the shady claims and misinformation that pervade the speaker market, connecting repeatable readings, analysis, and some physics know-how with the overall listening experience would be amazing and unique. That is exactly the reservation I mentioned above - there is no reason that a speaker review should only be subjective, and I've love to see some of our finest minds in the industry tackle the problem of defining "good" speakers.
Again, thank you for the time and effort you’ve put in. No matter how many negative comments you get, there are many who appreciate what you do. In this case, though, I believe you have chance to once again take up the mantle of industry leader and go where almost no one else does. Best wishes to you and to all of the people at Anandtech!
VietPham - Friday, November 19, 2010 - link
I can't believe that this review was on AnandTech. I've read the criticism of the review methodology (all warranted) but there are more fundamental issues. The reviewer just doesn't seem to understand the basics.For instance, he uses the term "double blind" when it's clear that he doesn't understand what it means. It's okay if he's not already familiar with the term, but he could have taken just a few minutes to google the phrase if he was unsure if he should use it. To skip this basic self-education is a disservice to readers, who expect better from AnandTech.
I'm also troubled by his claim that he uses a set of Bose as his standard speaker system. Bose? I believe this is the same reviewer who compared the HS1 to a set of Bose headphones a few weeks ago. Lots of people do think Bose products are of sufficient quality, but I'm worried when an audio reviewer uses them as a benchmark.
Between his admission of his liking for Bose, his testing audio with YouTube clips, and his misuse of very basic terms, I'm afraid that this review has told me nothing about the actual quality of this product. It's more like a diary of his experience with a free set of speakers he got, written from the point of view of a non-audio expert.
Not AnandTech quality.
rscoot - Friday, November 19, 2010 - link
I'm not an audiophile but I concur with using Bose speakers as a baseline. They're overpriced snake oil junk.Shinobi_III - Friday, November 19, 2010 - link
For that kind of money you could easily get a pair of Behringer 2x20watt digital studio monitors.Obviously there's no subwoofer, but accuracy and pressure is high. probably more bass anyway. And since they already contain DAC's, you won't even need a good sound card..
Matrices - Saturday, November 20, 2010 - link
I don't really see the need for an army of numbers in this sort of review, since they will simply march past the consciousness of readers who don't measure their listening experiences quantitatively - but I do think that you really need to have at least two comparable systems for comparison. And I also think that those systems should almost never be Bose products, for obvious reasons.At any rate, $250 for a 2.1 PC setup is, quite frankly, ridiculous. The reason Klipsch and Logitech all but stopped producing PC speakers around that price range is because most PC users who have that sort of money to spend on PC sound realized that they could do far better with real speakers hooked up to a cheap receiver. Even back then, Logitech's mid-tier 5.1 system went for around $250. A 2.1 system from a new contestant that's the same price? It's going to tank terribly.
plague911 - Sunday, November 21, 2010 - link
but seriously why does it seem like none of the major manufactures put any effort into that for these smaller sound systems. I mean half of them are outright ugly.musicgadgetz - Friday, June 4, 2021 - link
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