[lini]

I've been visiting Dolby at CeBIT today for some chatting about technology stuff. At that opportunity I was also presented a new Dolby Headphone system that's going to compete with HCT's and Thrustmaster's offerings - thingy is called Creative HQ-2300D and is a decoder box/phone combo just like its competitors. Suggested retail price over here is supposed to be 99 Euro. The box itself sports DTS, Dolby Digital and ProLogicII decoding (the latter with selectable music/movie mode), input can be either optical digital or analogue stereo, outputs are 2x 1/8 ", but right on the box instead of at the end of a little cable. There's also some difference in the power supply (2x AA instead of 2x rechargeable AAA). The headphone looked ok, too, but I didn't have a listen yet - maybe I can do that on Monday at Creative's own booth...

Still, that new Creative system is already "old technology", 'cause Dolby has recently been able to optimize the Dolby Headphone algorithm so that it needs a lot less processing power and memory size - they claimed a figure of 10 % with unchanged sonic results, but I couldn't say whether that goes for cpu or memory use or both. Anyway, Dolby expects a lot more Dolby Headphone solutions to come up soon because of that improvement.

Greetings from Hannover!

Manfred / lini

 

[Takashi]

interesting news. thanks for the info.

 

[Erik Garci]

I came across this big picture of it.

Creative Headphones HQ-2300D.jpg

Some European stores claim that they will have stock in mid-April or May.

 

[lini]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Erik Garci Some European stores claim that they will have stock in mid-April or May.

That sounds fairly realistic - 'cause that's the same time-frame the German Creative pr guy for technical stuff told me, when I was asking for a test sample about a week ago.

Greetings from Hannover!

Manfred / lini

 

[kin0kin]

LOL look at the headband! doesnt it look familiar?

*cough* hd500, hd570 *cough* good job creative, 1st ipod, next sennheiser

 

[Doug411]

They are CREATIVE indeed.

 

[taymat]

I was going to get the thrustmaster t510 (when it came out in the UK) until I read a mini-review. TWO hour battery life is a joke, I'd need to change batteries halfway through a longer gaming session!

I hope creative will do a better job than thrustmaster, they *must* give this an ac adapter. If they do, that and the price could swing it for me and I'll buy one even if the amp is mediocre.

 

[Helter Skelter]

*hugs his new Pioneer SE-DIR800C*

 

[jimbobuk]

Just recieved the Phillips HP-1500 dolby headphone system today, a present for my sister (who's DT231's were broken) .. damn difficult to hand over if truth be told.

Ordered from Germany, arrived within a week.. all working well.. nice looking reciever, mains powered, twin headphone outputs handled the stock HP1000 headphones and my SA5000s nicely, although the sensitivity and characteristic differences meant it was too loud for my SA5000.

The sound is very good, the headphone amp part seems fair.. not exactly easy to compare.. the HP1000 headphones have a slightly noisy (microphonic when moving) headband mechanism but its not a problem once you are comfy watching the movie.

I may get myself one at some point.. i'm happy with my nvidia nvdvd dolby headphone output via my Tag Mclaren DAC20 and WNA amplifier and on initial first impressions it didn't sound drastically different the dolby headphone part that is.. some have said that software dvd players are too reverby compared to the hardware solutions.. dolby headphone in general sounds like this to me till you adjust to it. But still for use away from the machine it would be good..

Recommended, only about £150 delievered to me in the UK. They do a wireless model but i just dont have time for wireless headphones and the HP1000 seem a reasonable headphone to start with (excellent headphones compared to the £30 ones that seem to be thrown in with the thrustmaster and similar devices at £99).. as for why this box isn't officially released in the UK (or the US?) who knows!!!