Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Computer Audio › Foobar -> 5.1 surround with ortho?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Foobar -> 5.1 surround with ortho?

post #1 of 32
12/14/11 at 7:31am
Thread Starter 

Hi, i use dolby headphone and freesurround to listen to all my music with my akg k701's which i think is the most amazing thing that ever happend to headphones and i was wondering if people had tried these plugins with orthodynamic headhones like the hifiman he6, lcd2 and he-500 in particular.

 

so dolby headphone with either freesurround or channel mixer with planar magnetic headphones - i would love your impressions on this.

 

thanks

 

Update - I thought i would post all my settings so people can try them out:

 

k701.png   eq.png

freesurround.pngdolby.png

noname.pngExtra eq tweakage.

 

Just bare in mind that these settings were perfected to my personal preference with the K701.

 

My foobar :)

 

foobar.pngcredit for the skin goes to - tedgo from deviant art - http://tedgo.deviantart.com/


Edited by OPrwtos - 1/1/12 at 6:14am
Reply
post #2 of 32
12/14/11 at 8:34am

Why do you want to ruin perfect stereo sound by converting it to surround?! And why people with ortho phones would do such a rape on sound?

 

lol dude

Reply
post #3 of 32
12/14/11 at 11:35am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by shadowmanpl View Post

Why do you want to ruin perfect stereo sound by converting it to surround?! And why people with ortho phones would do such a rape on sound?

 

lol dude

lol for me its impossible to listen without it because it sounds so cramped. But with it! damn! its so damn good i love it so much.
 

Also why do u think its bad? have u tried it? my music is like 98% film scores and it makes me feel like the music is all around me; breathtaking!


Edited by OPrwtos - 12/14/11 at 11:58am
Reply
post #4 of 32
12/16/11 at 7:23pm
Thread Starter 

anyone :(

Reply
post #5 of 32
12/16/11 at 11:58pm

I just tried the freesurround plugin for foobar with the HE-6. In short, it degrades sound quality and ruins the dynamic range.

 

With these headphones there's plenty sense of being surrounded by the music while running bitperfect without the plugin.  

Reply
post #6 of 32
12/17/11 at 2:12am

There is no shortage of threads discussing Dolby Headphone and other various software crossfeeding configurations, see this one in particular:

 

http://www.head-fi.org/t/555263/foobar2000-dolby-headphone-config-comment-discuss

 

It appears that they cover about every angle possible in that discussion...one thing from what you posted initially that I question is the use of Dolby Headphone and Freesurround at the same time since they have similar operations.  I have not used Freesurround, but from its description, it appears that it does not upmix stereo to multi-channel.  Do you have source audio that is already coded in surround?  I use the following dsp stack with favorable results:

 

*Graphic Equalizer - I EQ first...it appears to be more effective with this setup...many EQ after upmixing or Dolby

 

*Channel Mixer - I upmix to 5 channel (some folks go to 6 channel, but Dolby Headphone only uses 5 channels) depending on the mastering of the track, I toggle the subwoofer on/off...there are many other setting that can be tweaked, though I left most at their default settings. 

 

*Dolby Headphone - 90% Amplification, DH1 Reference Room and Dynamic Compression Off.

 

*Advanced Limiter - to smoothly prevent > -6dB spikes

 

There are more complex setups, but this one seems to cover all of the bases and requires less tweaking during listening sessions.  As you will see, there are no shortage of opinions to be found through digging in the forums.

Reply
post #7 of 32
12/17/11 at 9:26am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ZorgDK View Post

I just tried the freesurround plugin for foobar with the HE-6. In short, it degrades sound quality and ruins the dynamic range.

 

With these headphones there's plenty sense of being surrounded by the music while running bitperfect without the plugin.  

u used freesurround with dolby headphone right?
 

 

Reply
post #8 of 32
12/17/11 at 9:35am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Kracker View Post

There is no shortage of threads discussing Dolby Headphone and other various software crossfeeding configurations, see this one in particular:

 

http://www.head-fi.org/t/555263/foobar2000-dolby-headphone-config-comment-discuss

 

It appears that they cover about every angle possible in that discussion...one thing from what you posted initially that I question is the use of Dolby Headphone and Freesurround at the same time since they have similar operations.  I have not used Freesurround, but from its description, it appears that it does not upmix stereo to multi-channel.  Do you have source audio that is already coded in surround?  I use the following dsp stack with favorable results:

 

*Graphic Equalizer - I EQ first...it appears to be more effective with this setup...many EQ after upmixing or Dolby

 

*Channel Mixer - I upmix to 5 channel (some folks go to 6 channel, but Dolby Headphone only uses 5 channels) depending on the mastering of the track, I toggle the subwoofer on/off...there are many other setting that can be tweaked, though I left most at their default settings. 

 

*Dolby Headphone - 90% Amplification, DH1 Reference Room and Dynamic Compression Off.

 

*Advanced Limiter - to smoothly prevent > -6dB spikes

 

There are more complex setups, but this one seems to cover all of the bases and requires less tweaking during listening sessions.  As you will see, there are no shortage of opinions to be found through digging in the forums.

hey, yes, just to clarify things. Ive used dolby headphone and channel mixer for a few months and i have done tonnes of experimenting and tweeking with the settings, but then i found freesurround. You swap channel mixer with freesurround not dolbyheadphone. The reason i use freesurround now is because i find it much more pleasant to listen to and it gives a better field around the listener. The eq  i use is "noname eq" which i think is the best ive used so far.

    I just made this thread to ask about the specific use with orthodynamic headphones since the people that post in the other dolbyheadphone threads dont have orthodynamic headphones.
 

 


Edited by OPrwtos - 12/17/11 at 9:36am
Reply
post #9 of 32
12/17/11 at 9:43am

Fair enough.  I'll have to try the swap from Channel Mixer to Freesurround sometime.  Good luck with your orthos.

Reply
post #10 of 32
12/17/11 at 9:57am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Kracker View Post

Fair enough.  I'll have to try the swap from Channel Mixer to Freesurround sometime.  Good luck with your orthos.

im going to post all my settings here so people can try it out, but i have the k701 which my settings are all tweaked for.
 

 

Reply
post #11 of 32
12/18/11 at 2:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by OPrwtos View Post

u used freesurround with dolby headphone right?
 

 


Yeah, it's not my cup of tea.

Reply
post #12 of 32
12/18/11 at 6:32am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ZorgDK View Post


Yeah, it's not my cup of tea.

:( someone told me they loved it with their lcd2's
 

 

Reply
post #13 of 32
12/18/11 at 9:51am

I only use Dolby Headphones with surround recordings (I have a few from films, audio DVDs and such), I hate what it does to good stereo recordings though (which is what I listen to most of the time). 

Reply
post #14 of 32
12/18/11 at 3:05pm

I also like to use dolby headphone for my music listening due to how it sounds like music surrounding you and use it pretty much all the time but only with the right settings, out of box it's not good without finetuning (read EQ compensation for changed frequency balance + tweaked channel settings). I still prefer channel mixer to freesurround when I compared the two myself but only with certain channel mixer settings.

 

Also helps if having your source in case of a soundcard set to 5.1 speaker config output.


Edited by RPGWiZaRD - 12/18/11 at 3:18pm
Reply
post #15 of 32
12/18/11 at 4:10pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by RPGWiZaRD View Post

I also like to use dolby headphone for my music listening due to how it sounds like music surrounding you and use it pretty much all the time but only with the right settings, out of box it's not good without finetuning (read EQ compensation for changed frequency balance + tweaked channel settings). I still prefer channel mixer to freesurround when I compared the two myself but only with certain channel mixer settings.

 

Also helps if having your source in case of a soundcard set to 5.1 speaker config output.

yh,  i would pretty sacrifice everything to get soundstage as wide as much entire room lol. I think in my list of importance the first is soundstage then clarity.

 

Its also funny because every single person I've let listen to my headphones have said the same thing EVERYONE OF THEM, things like - "oh **** i thought it was comin from the speakers!", "is that playing through the headphones?", "you gona play it in the headphones or what?", "can everyone here the music or is it just me?" and the one where they stare blankly waiting for you to play through the headphones LOL.
 

 


Edited by OPrwtos - 12/18/11 at 10:05pm
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Computer Audio
Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Computer Audio › Foobar -> 5.1 surround with ortho?