5.1 Surround Sound Headphones? Help!

Now I consider myself a pretty big gamer, have been since the 80's with my Nes. You could say I'm a bit of a Nintendo nut job for the most part. lol And I absolutely love playing the Wii on my 5.1 Surround Sound system...Sure the Wii may only pump out Dolby Pro Logic II, but it's still sounds great. And of course I'm rocking a killer sub as well. For Bluray i get DTS HD Master Audio which for newer films is mind blowing....But the problem is, is that i don't own my own my house and using my SS system doesn't seem ideal considering it's too loud and my Sub shakes the walls. ;p

I've also got a pair of Sennheiser HD555 Open-ear Headphones which are great....But they just don't match up to the awesomeness that my 5.1 channel SS system provides for Wii gaming. It's fantastic and amazing hearing grasshoppers buzz and hop behind on you from the rear view speakers or be it a water blasting out out of a fountain ect ect....Ya, i'm pretty much talking about Super Mario Galaxy hehe.

Anyways, I can't get that 5.1 with my Sennheisers since they're only 2 channels. Not only that, but since they're open-ear they leak way too much sound from the outside where you can hear what's going in the next room or even down the hall way. Because of this AND because my HD555's are busted up a bit considering i've owned them for aroun 4-5 years...I just ordered a pair of closed-eared Sennhesier HD380's.

BUT, now I'm kicking myself.....because i really wan't to get a pair of headphones that support surround sound. I'm now looking at the Sennheiser RS170 and RS180.....Now I can live without the 5 channel surround sound for movies, but for gaming it's practically a must.

RS170

http://www.sennheiser.ca/live/senn/produit/en/1168/40 

RS180

http://www.sennheiser.ca/live/senn/produit/en/1169/40 

How does the surround sound perform on these 2 headphones as well as the sound in general? and i hear the surround sound is simulated.....Also the fact that they're wireless is a huge plus in my books.

How do the RS170's stack up against the RS180's?

And do the HD380's sound as good or better than both of those models?

I mean for now, I don't think i can settle for Open ear headphones because of the sound leakage as to why I'm going for these models instead PLUS the simulated Surround Sound that that those 2 wireless headphones offer.

How 'does' the 5 channel simulated surround sound on both headphones by the way? Beause that's basically the main selling point for me.

Thanks for the advice guys!

Yet right now I'm looking at a couple of Turtle Beach MixAmp reviews and it says that you have to have a USB Slot for it to connect to. Luckily the Wii has 2 in the back of the console, but it says it supports Dolby Digital 5.1/7.1 which would of course be perfect for DVD's and Bluray(then again I'm guessing i can't normally get DTS HD Master through my headphones, bare with me i'm a noob.lol) & Dolby Pro Logic II'X'....

Which I'm guesing based on my experience 'X' takes the 5 channels and expands them into 6 or 7....Wii games aren't intended for that, so I'm wondering if just the normal 5.1 DPLII is possible? Wii games are mostly 5.1 while some are 2.1. Virtual Console titles of course are all 2 channels so that's no biggy right there.

Also, i think i may be confused. but what's up with the optical connection? My Wii uses the regular Red & White(since it doesn't support Optical or HDMI) from the component cables hooked up to my Receiver...While my PS3 using HDMI for Audio. Wouldn't an optical connection be a downgrade?

And why won't it most likely work with the Sennheiser HD380. The entire reason why i bought those in the first place to replace my HD555's was so i wouldn't have to worry about sound leaking out.

Also..Based on reviews, the negatives seem to be....

Inconsistent surround-sound performance; included cables may not be long enough; final set up is cluttered and awkward; no devoted AC power option. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by TMRaven 

Red and White is just regular RCA, each color is its own channel of audio.  It's also an analog cable, meaning it travels straight to an amp to output the sound.  Optical is able to carry a 5.1 signal, and it's digital, meaning the sound has to travel to some sort of dac before it can even think about outputting to headphones.  Something like the astro mixamp has both dac and amp inside of it.  The surround sound of the mixamp (in this case dolby headphone) is not inconsistent.

 

Not sure if this applies to headphones at all, but 'Optical' can not carry a 96hz DTS Master HD/Dolby True HD signal, that's where HDMI comes in. But again, this i'm guessing doesn't' apply to headphones, so i'm guessing weather I 'use' HDMI or Optical as an audio source for my headphones there won't be any difference in sound quality...er, right? :P But as for my actual surround sound system i don't even bother with optical anymore, HDMI made ALL the difference and I get that 96hz for Bluray movies and it's amazing.

But in this case, the optical connection for the Amp Mix would be for the PS3's DVD and Bluray...But would you get inferior sound quality to HDMI when using headphones? As for the Wii, like you said it has an RCA connection that pumps out Dolby Pro Logic II which is it's peak. I've been looking at these MixAmps and I'm still confused as to how they even hook up to a reciever....Looks like you also have to use a headphone jack splitter, does that alone weaken the audio performance at all?

At this point, I just want 5.1 DPLII on my Headphones for Wii gaming.....But I'm still confused how the entire USB connection, RCA connection, or however you hook the bloody thing up to a reciever.