[Giogio]

You know that Dolby Headphone  also tries to imitate real speakers in three different rooms and is not customizable? 
With the right BRIRS you can get a much better effect as Dolby Headphone (if you want you also can get the same effect as Dolby Headphone).

No, I didn't know, thanks for warning!
Then I'm not interested anymore.
While I really would like you to tell me more if this convolution and how i get it

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

I'd also wanna know, I've never heard of BRIRS before.

 

[musicreo]

If have written a short tutorial how to setup convolution reverb with BRIRs. Unfortunately the tutorial is not written in English yet and I have not enough time in the moment to  translate it.
 
So here is a very short explanation:
Convolution reverb is a well known method for creating    an “acoustic-fingerprint” of different sound stages.  Normally a frequency sweep is played through speakers and is recorded at one or several positions at a specified distance.  After deconvolution of this recording you get an “impulse response (IR)”.  This impulse response contains the whole information of the room and used speakers.  If you use the IR in a convolution reverb dsp the incoming audio will be filtered with the IR and playback will sound like the audio was recorded in the room where the IR was originally measured.  When a dummy head (or a real head) is used for recording the IR you will get the so called Binaural Room Impulse Responses (BRIR).  If you use a BRIR in a convolution reverb dsp incoming audio will be filtered with the BRIR and playback will sound like the Audio was recorded with a dummy head in the room where the BRIR was originally measured.
 
Using BRIRs with foobar2000:
Download:
VST-Convolver: http://convolver.sourceforge.net/
Resampler:  http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?showtopic=67373
VST-Host: http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?showtopic=84947
 
Impulse responses:
The BRIRs are recorded at 5 different rooms with a dummy head (full 360° rotation, 720 channels) and there are filters for some headphones. You should choose the headphone filter which comes closest to your own headphone model. The BRIRS are published under a  CC BY-SA 3.0  license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode)
 and can be found here:
http://www.audiogroup.web.fh-koeln.de/wdr_irc.html
They can’t be used directly with the convolver VST as it can only handle wave and PCM.  But I already have created wave files of the BRIRS which can be used with the convolver.
 http://www.xup.in/dl,13480571/Binaurale_Wiedergabe_ueber_KH24022015.zip/
 
Setup:
1 Install foobar
2 install the VST-Host/ resampler component (sometimes  the Convolver files must be put into the foobar folder in order to install them)
3 Install the Convolver
4 unzip the Impulse responses and put the file “BinauralAudio” to C:\Program Files
5 load the resampler into the active component list and resample to 48 kHz
6 load the convolver VST into the active component list and load one of the txt-files you find in the file “BinauralAudio” and choose a useful attenuation.
 
That’s all
 
Informations and tutorials  how the convolver works  can be found on the download site.
The linked BRIRs are just a example. You can use every IR as long it is  wave or PCM. You can find a lot other  IRs for free and if  you have the rigth hardware you can make your own IR or BRIRs.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Interesting, thanks for the info. Will give it a shot when I find the time.

I also have to respond to some earlier comment regarding the Dolby Headphone not being configureable. The reason I started with this custom config for foobar2000 is the ability to tweak HRTF and this happens through either Surrounder+ (laid-back config) or Channel Mixer (neutral & forward). These are the ones which you can alter how it sounds rather drastically, you basically tweak how the virtual surround will be percieved.

The tweaks I did with the whole config has a positive effect (to me anyway) on how Dolby Headphone sounds like. I also added slight EQ counter measures as a bonus to help restore the balance (but every headphone/listener will prefer or need various balance anyways) but the important thing was how the soundstaging was percieved. Every slider in the forementioned plugins will affect the sound in one way or another and I've took one slider at a time, A/B'd, switched back n forth to nail down configs that I thought appealed me most and this process had been refined over a course of like 1 year probably. My goal with it though which is important to understand, was the focus on keeping Dolby Headphone sounding as natural as possible, sure, I could make it sound much more expansive and what not but my goal was to provide something which also sounds natural and not gimmicky or overdone. 

The only thing I wish was possible to improve regarding DH is removing the focus around the extra reverb being the prime reason for the ability to further being able to extend the size of the soundstage. For the most part, that's where the greater stage is coming from in DH. More reverb though has especially bad impact when it comes to EDM lovers, electronic generated bass beats are the first ones which tend to suffer from extra reverb in the sense of "muddying up" and providing lesser sense of impact. It can be that some of you which disagree with my EQ settings vs the other suggested setting aren't EDM lovers but I happen to be and I've tweaked especially (being a guy with a bit of bass emphasized headphone setup), made sure, that the bass YOU FEEL, stays also roughly the same. Yes, with my setup, I do not only hear the beats but I actually can FEEL them too and this has always been an important measuring factor for me so that when the bass lands that initial impact or "punch" if you will, that is kept similar. 

 

[Giogio]

 
If have written a short tutorial how to setup convolution reverb with BRIRs. Unfortunately the tutorial is not written in English yet and I have not enough time in the moment to  translate it.

Thanks!
In which language is your tutorial?
I speak perfectly Spanish, German, Italian and English.

 

[musicreo]

@Giogio: It is in german and it is included in the  above  download link.

 

[Giogio]

  @Giogio: It is in german and it is included in the  above  download link.

Danke

 

[bavinck]

I have some flac files that are 6 channel. Foobar says it cannot play them. Any idea of a plug in that will convert 6 channel to 2 channel stereo on the fly? The files play in Hqplayer no problem.

 

[Fabithierry]

I have some flac files that are 6 channel. Foobar says it cannot play them. Any idea of a plug in that will convert 6 channel to 2 channel stereo on the fly? The files play in Hqplayer no problem.

try Channel Mixer http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?showtopic=29985

 

[bavinck]

try Channel Mixer http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?showtopic=29985

Thanks, I got it working.

 

[Drsparis]

 

Here's an updated link for the preconfigured package for this Dolby headphone config which includes the dll file. It's a new "neutral" setting I loaded as default which is right in-between the two old settings "forward" and "laid-back" presets in the sense how it positions things like vocals, instruments in the soundstage so this neutral setting doesn't really push vocals or instruments more in-your-face than vanilla foobar2000 sound does, it's roughly the same. The forward is a bit more aggressive / in-your-face and the laid-back as it suggests less in-your-face sounding, little bit expansier stage as a result etc.

Be sure to check whether or not the dolby headphone dll is loaded though since I don't know whether or not it works for people that grabs the package if it's directly loaded or not despite the checkbox "remember path relatively to foobar2000 dir" is checked and the dll file placed inside the foobar2000 folder.

http://bit.ly/foobar2000-dolby-neutral
 

Would Love to try the new setting! long time fan, I enjoy switching it up sometimes, some songs/albums/ styles sound better with one, or the other. The link says the file is deleted, or I don't have permission to view it.
 
Thanks for all your work

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Try now, the permissions had changed on that folder.

 

[musicreo]

  Interesting, thanks for the info. Will give it a shot when I find the time.

I also have to respond to some earlier comment regarding the Dolby Headphone not being configureable. The reason I started with this custom config for foobar2000 is the ability to tweak HRTF and this happens through either Surrounder+ (laid-back config) or Channel Mixer (neutral & forward). These are the ones which you can alter how it sounds rather drastically, you basically tweak how the virtual surround will be percieved.
 

 I agree that you can change the sound with equalizing and changing the upmix parameters. Your work is great as many people don't know you can change DH sounding drastically with equalizing and "tweak" the upmix.
 
But  you can't change DH directly. You have the three rooms and that's all. There is no way to change virtual speaker angels or to change room parameters and that is what I mean with not configureable.

 

[batman1]

Hi RPGWiZaRD,
 
I sent you a PM kindly requesting some of your expertise

 

[Joe Bloggs]

I have some flac files that are 6 channel. Foobar says it cannot play them. Any idea of a plug in that will convert 6 channel to 2 channel stereo on the fly? The files play in Hqplayer no problem.

But that's the whole point of Dolby Headphone--just put it in the DSP chain (without anything above it) and it should work to convert 5.1 into headphone stereo!

The "Dolby Headphone config" here is for upmixing 2 channel audio to 5.1 and then downmixing it again to 2 channel using Dolby Headphone with "enhanced" spatial cues--you don't need any of that if your source material is already 5.1 channels!

:confused_face: