How to get more out of your audio setup and optimize your sound better for gaming with Nahimic by SteelSeries.
Do you want to get more out of your audio setup and optimize your sound better for gaming? With Nahimic by SteelSeries, you can improve your sound quality no matter what headset you are using.
When playing games such as Warzone, PUBG, LOL, or any fast-paced game where atmospheric sound plays an important role, you can make sure you hear the slightest movement or event in the game by tuning the sound frequencies from your PC.
This hasn’t always been easy to do, but if you want to optimize your sound for a specific game or for your setup, Nahimic can help. Inside the app, you can optimize the in-game sound to improve what you hear and how you play. Nahimic now offers a professional and precise 10 band equalizer for each audio profile so you can adjust the sound to improve what you hear while playing. To understand what adjusting your EQ does for your audio, it is important to know some basics about how sound works.
Sound frequency basics
When we talk about ‘Highs’ and ‘Lows’ of sound, we are talking about sound frequency. Sound moves in waves; the faster they appear, the higher the pitch of the sound we hear. Lower pitched sounds have waves that repeat less frequently.
In an equalizer, the sliders give you control over individual frequencies in separate bands. This allows you to hear more or less of the sound from that frequency range. In simple terms, adjusting each band lets you hear more of what you want and less of what you don’t.
How to get started
Begin by opening the Nahimic software and select the audio panel in the top left-hand corner.
Next, select one of the audio profiles. I'm going to pick gaming since that's what you're here for.
Now you can fine tune your audio by clicking on the "Equalizer" icon above the volume slider on the left. This will open up the 10-band equalizer. As you make your edits you can try out the effect of your tuning with sample audio by clicking the "Try" button.
Fine-tuning for First Person Shooters
To get the most out of shooters you may want to increase the frequencies on both the high and low end of your equalizer to hear your enemies as they move through the game. Don't include too much bass or you may miss out on footsteps in some games.
Footsteps and gunshots are often found in the higher range of frequencies so adjusting the 4kHz, 8kHz, and 16kHz bands may improve how easy those sounds are to identify. In addition to the EQ we recommend turning on the Treble FX feature to ensure the sounds are crisp and clear.
For games where explosions are important, the best sound is frequently found in the lower frequencies, so we suggest adjusting the frequency of the bands from 32Hz to 250Hz range from and switch on the Nahimic “Bass” FX.
Creating an immersive experience
If you are looking for a more immersive and atmospheric experience, we recommend increasing the lower frequency bands. For example, Fortnite can have lots of sound from the structures that add to the game and can be experienced better by increasing the lower frequencies. In addition to tuning the EQ, you may want to switch on the Nahimic Voices FX to make sure in-game dialogue comes through clearly as well.
There are no universal settings
The best part of being able to use an EQ is that there isn't a single universal setting, everyone will experience sound differently. You can use the EQ to fine-tune your sound independent of your setup and the games sound design until you get the results you are looking for.
Want to know if your hardware is compatible with Nahimic?
Here is the list of compatible Motherboards and PC desktops or laptops.
Download Nahimic here.
Interested in learning about our other software? Try Moments for the easiest way to capture, edit, and share your gameplay.
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