Razer Buys THX: What This Could Mean for Your Future Man Cave

gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
On Monday THX announced that it was purchased by Razer, a computer gaming hardware company. Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan promises to let THX run independently. Tan added that there will be collaborations bringing together THX audio experience and Razer computer technology. But many see the deal as yet another low point for the once proud THX logo.

Let's take a closer look at what the deal could mean to the future of home entertainment and how it could possibly leap forward Virtual Reality technologies.



Read: Razer Buys THX: What This Could Mean for Your Future Man Cave
 
T

Tao1

Audioholic
As a PC gamer (hopefully a more educated one), I can say that I don't think this is good tidings for THX. Razer is indeed a company that offers 'higher end' PC hardware, but the unfortunate side of it is, that audio is almost always an afterthought.

The enthusiast level of PC gamer will spend $1000 on a graphics card, get a couple of them, or go balls to the wall and spend 5 grand on a computer. These high end machines, that are well on the wrong end of diminishing returns, will often be 'accented' by a $200 'head set' or a $200 5.1 all-in-one PC kit. They have no idea that a well made PC game can leverage a home theatre system BETTER than a Blu ray ever could.

In short, the world of PC gaming has no bearing on what constitutes good audio. The community usually sells itself short in considering a gimmicky headset for $200 is expensive, and $500 for a set of surround speakers is unheard of.



Razer is no stranger to the PC world, and they are one of the main perpetrators of these gimmicky headsets. The 'gold' standard for PC audio is a 7.1 surround sound headset with built in mic with prices ranging from $20-$200 for the typical consumer. These headsets of course have only two drivers, and the surround effect is done by software.

PC gamers have completely swallowed the hook for audio marketing, and fail to realize that they can buy a great pair of headphones from a reputable manufacturer, and get third party software for the '7.1 surround' effect that most are paying for in these mediocre headsets.

PC gamers do a lot of research into all the other hardware they get, look for the best specs with little compromise, but completely do a 180 and go off of the marketing BS companies give them with these headsets.

Long story short: I believe Razor is simply buying the shinny THX logo to take a huge bite of the market share. I highly doubt they will use THX to tear down the myths and false beliefs of the PC community, into seeing what true audio hardware can do for their experience, how much it really costs for a good system, and that it is still cheaper over the long run that spending several hundred bucks every few years of graphics card and monitors that become technologically obsolete.
 
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S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
As a PC gamer (hopefully a more educated one), I can say that I don't think this is good tidings for THX. Razer is indeed a company that offers 'higher end' PC hardware, but the unfortunate side of it is, that audio is almost always an afterthought.

The enthusiast level of PC gamer will spend $1000 on a graphics card, get a couple of them, or go balls to the wall and spend 5 grand on a computer. These high end machines, that are well on the wrong end of diminishing returns, will often be 'accented' by a $200 'head set' or a $200 5.1 all-in-one PC kit. They have no idea that a well made PC game can leverage a home theatre system BETTER than a Blu ray ever could.

In short, the world of PC gaming has no bearing on what constitutes good audio. The community usually sells itself short in considering a gimicky headset for $200 is expensive, and $500 for a set of surround speakers is unheard of.



Razer is no stranger to the PC world, and they are one of the main perpetrators of these gimmicky headsets. The 'gold' standard for PC audio is a 7.1 surround sound headset with built in mic with prices ranging from $20-$200 for the typical consumer. These headsets of course have only two drivers, and the surround effect is done by software.

PC gamers have completely swallowed the hook for audio marketing, and fail to realize that they can buy a great pair of headpones from a reputable manufacturer, and get third party software for the '7.1 surround' effect that most are paying for in these mediocre headsets.

PC gamers do a lot of research into all the other hardware they get, look for the best specs with little compremise, but completely do a 180 and go off of the marketing BS companies give them with these headsets.

Long story short: I believe Razor is simply buying the shinny THX logo to take a huge bite of the market share. I highly doubt they will use THX to tear down the myths and false beliefs of the PC community, into seeing what true audio hardware can do for their experience, how much it really costs for a good system, and that it is still cheaper over the long run that spending several hundred bucks every few years of graphics card, and monitors that become technically obsolete.
I could not agree with this more. There are so many high-end PCs that have the dinkiest, crappiest sound system. Thousands of dollars for the PC and monitor but only a few hundred, at the most, for the speaker system. It's a shame because some games sound great, really terrific sound. PC games use surround sound far more than movie mixes. PC games were doing object oriented sound mixes since the mid 90's. Film sound mixes like Atmos and DTS:X are 20 years late to this party.

And yes, "surround sound" headphones are a scam. There are those headphones that have more than one driver for each ear, and that is about the dumbest thing ever.
 

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