looking for surround sound headphones can you help???

[Bormak]

hi! I'm from Canada and I'm looking for a good surround sound headphone for gaming and watching movies. because a don't want to annoy the neighbors. I tried to find the zalman zm-rs6f but they don't sell it in canada (well no were i could think of). oh and I'm lookin for a mic to. if you have other suggestion that be cool to.

[Drubbing]

Get a good pair of stereo headphones instead, open backed. They sound better and do sound-stage (positional audio) better for gaming, because the drivers are higher quality and are far more capable, than the poor drivers they put into gaming headphones.

5.1 aren't 5.1, nor is it true surround.

[Ian W.]

The only advice i will offer is dont bother, i tired a few surround sound headphone and tbh i thought they were a bit of a gimmick.

I found a good stereo is far better when it comes to headphones, I ended up going for a set of Sennheiser HD650 and a Pro-Ject head box 2 headphone amp.
So much detail can be heard, its quite amazing.
Just make sure you have a good soundcard to back it up.

As for a mic i have a logitech Destop Mic ( one with the silver base), find its great for the money.

[Drubbing]

Good pick up, I forgot about the clip on.

You don't have to go as high end as the Senn 650; phones in that range often need an amp to drive them.

Personally, I wouldn't spend more than the equivalent of 100 pounds if gaming is your priority, even with a good soundcard, the diminishing returns to get anything else out of gaming SFX filess kicks in swiftly after that.

[trott3r]

Originally Posted by Bormak

hi! I'm from Canada and I'm looking for a good surround sound headphone for gaming and watching movies. because a don't want to annoy the neighbors. I tried to find the zalman zm-rs6f but they don't sell it in canada (well no were i could think of). oh and I'm lookin for a mic to. if you have other suggestion that be cool to.

I have the zalmans and i do use them for films or tv programmes that might improve with 5.1. The zalmans do have extra speakers/diaphragms which is why they look weird with the 2 exra bulges.

They are okay but nothing like a speaker setup however i dont have the room for the speaker setup so the headphone route was what i went with. They are poor for music but better for scifi programmes than standard cans.

I would only recommend them if you cant use 5.1 speakers and have a decent pair of stereo cans as well.

It would be interesting to see a proper headphone manufacturer use the same idea coupled with quality diaphragms.

Martin

[Erazerhead]

Most so called surround sound headphones are are based on the idea that cramming several little speakers in around your ear gonna create surround soundstage. It is BS.

There are 2 other approaches to this that make more sense. One uses digital signal processing - you are getting headphones with in-built audio processor that calculates reverbs etc for credible surround experience.
E.g.: Aurvana X-Fi headphones use this technology
Creative Aurvana X-Fi | Noise-Canceling Headphones

The other approach is sort of a novelty and it makes use of so called waveguide system. you can read about this here: Interview with Psyko Labs Inventor | Hardware Secrets

[trott3r]

Originally Posted by Erazerhead

Most so called surround sound headphones are are based on the idea that cramming several little speakers in around your ear gonna create surround soundstage. It is BS.

There are 2 other approaches to this that make more sense. One uses digital signal processing - you are getting headphones with in-built audio processor that calculates reverbs etc for credible surround experience.
E.g.: Aurvana X-Fi headphones use this technology
Creative Aurvana X-Fi | Noise-Canceling Headphones

I have had the sennheiser lucas delayed electronics type of surround sound although it was only hx pro. Unfortunately the Transformer has died so i cant use them anymore.

I find the zalman more convincing than the sennheiser lucas although the zalman are far from perfect.

Martin

[VALUEFORMONEY]

try a jvc su dh1 or an astro a40 mixamp.

these act as an official 'dolby' 'headphone surround' processor or buy an amp with this feature built in.

i personally have just purchased the jvc off these forums and am using it with a pair of sennheiser 600's.

when i have used them for a bit longer and on different things (only tried them on killzone 2 at the mo), i am gonna post a review.

initial impressions are very good - compared to just stereo, they really open the soundstage - maybe not so much from the front but create a more realistic effect from back left/right to front left/right including front left/right to back left/right - lol if that makes sense!

add in the obvious stereo effect you get anyway and put them all together, you get a more open soundstage and therefore a good surround effect .

have a look through more threads to see what other people think on dolby headphone.