Beyerdynamic Headzone Game Review

[rc10mike]

Today, I finally got my hands on a Beyerdynamic Headzone Game system. Im a console gamer and I love using simulated surround sound. Ive used nearly every type of surround equipment out there for consoles. From the Turtle Beach DSS, Mix Amp, Astro A50, AVR with Dolby Headphone, the list goes on.
 
The Headzone is something I knew existed, but I never thought I would own due to price. I never found any actual critical reviews of it, but it was always intriguing to me. As a console gamer, we dont have the ability to use software and drivers that PC gamers can. We have to rely on stand alone units that can do the work for us, and to me the Headzone looked like the ultimate solution.
 
Purchased used, my Headzone system arrived today. Everything was in pristine condition. The problem was the seller didnt include the power adapter! The other problem is Im currently deployed overseas and will have to wait another couple weeks until I can power this thing on.
 
More to follow

 

[rc10mike]

So I managed to put together a 5v2a power adapter the other day. Ive spent the last 2 days experimenting and this is pretty much going to be my first impressions. I actually kind of regret making this thread since I hate trying to describe how stuff sounds with words over the internet, but Ill do my best to make it make sense.
 
There are 2 settings which you can adjust to suit your preferences:
 
Room Size
With the “Room Size” parameter you can adjust the size of the virtual room / living room and the distance to the virtual speakers, i.e. you decide how strong a small or large room will change the sonic impression of audio material reproduced by loudspeakers. This will
mainly affect the sound pressure at the position of the listener and also the balance between direct sound and reflections.
Please note that this parameter will directly affect the volume of the reproduced audio material. The larger the room and the greater the distance of the loudspeakers will lower the volume. With large distances you will probably have to compensate the low sound pressure by increasing the volume in the “Volume” menu.
 
Ambience
The “Ambience” parameter basically controls how much colouration your room should add to your audio material - in other words: if you want the acoustics of your room to be “dry” or really “wet”. You should be aware of the fact that in reality the room sound has quite a big influence on your spatial impression and also on the sound of your loudspeakers. For this reason very low “Ambience” settings tend to be slightly unrealistic, because your virtual room is turned into an anechoic chamber.
Note: Please note that the parameters for the room settings are interactive! For instance, when setting the “Room Size” parameter to “0”, the virtual speakers will be “nailed” to your ears and you will obviously not hear any difference when adapting the “Ambience” parameter of your room. Likewise, if you turn “Ambience” to “0” (which simulates an anechoic chamber), high “Room Size” settings will influence the volume, but not the reflections in your virtual living room, as there are no reflections in an anechoic chamber.
 
After reading this in the manual I fired up the Headzone for the first time. I decided to start with Room Size and Ambience at 0%. This made the soundstage sound like everything was behind me. It sounded quite odd and not good. Right away I decided to move both settings to about 50%. Things improved dramatically. The soundstage widened and I was better able to pick up on enemy sounds, more on this later.
 
My only experience with simulated console surround is the stuff I mentioned in the first post, and Ive been using Dolby Headphone processors for console gaming for almost a decade, so that is pretty much the only thing I can accurately compare the Headzone to. That being said, compared to DH, the Headzone has a much cleaner sound, and not as colored as DH. I would say you can hear much more detail with the Headzone. The big thing here; directional accuracy. The Headzone hands down performs much better with directional accuracy as well as distance accuracy that DH. I can immediately pinpoint where and how far sounds are coming from with the Headzone. DH was pretty good at it, but this is on another level for console gaming (I primarily play FPS).
 
After only a few hours of use with the Headzone, Im probably going to put away my DH devices. I do think that DH produces a wider soundstage, but the clarity, positional accuracy and overall experience is better with the Headzone. Im also still trying to find my "sweet spot" in the settings. I currently have Room Size at about 75% and Ambience at about 60% which seems to produce a good sense of stage and reflections. The only thing I dislike so far is it doesnt turn on/off on its own lol.
 
Hoping any other console gamers with a Headzone will chime in and offer their experience.

 

[rc10mike]

Bump for interest.
 
Am I really the only one out there who tried this thing with consoles? Just looking to share experiences.

 

[rc10mike]

I made this thread 6 years ago, but I figured I would give an update. When CoD MW22 released, I was completely upgrading my entire gaming setup for my PS5. Switched from a 27in PC monitor to a Sony 42in 4K OLED (more on that later) and also had to upgrade the AVR to HDMI 2.1. I wanted to experience 4K 120Hz...

With MW22 specifically, I was having a hard time getting my audio setup correct. If I made it to where I can hear footsteps, everything else was extremely loud and annoying. For the last 3 years, I was NOT using headphones. I was using a simple but good 5.1 setup. I just couldnt get the results I wanted with MW22 even though I could in older games.

So I decided to try my headphones again. This is where it got interesting. First I had to figure out the best way to get optical to whatever unit I was going to use. I already had the Astro HDMI extractor, which I tried first with a Steelseries Game DAC V1. I have used many different variations of this type of processor in the past with good success (Mixamp, TB DSS, AVR etc..) but the Steelseries Game DAC V1 has overall been my favorite.

With everything set up (Astro HDMI audio extractor to Game DAC) it sounded as good as I remembered, but I was getting split second audio drops every minute or so. I had a feeling it was the Astro Extractor causing the drops, so I decided to look around for a better one, but at the time a better one didnt exist. Then I remembered that some TVs offer an optical output, which is one of the main reasons I switched from a PC monitor to a Sony OLED.

After getting the Sony TV I tried the setup again, PS5 via HDMI to the TV, then optical from the TV to the Game DAC. The audio drop outs were gone thankfully proving the Astro unit was at fault. After that, just for the heck of it, I decided to try the Headzone Game with my new setup, which has been sitting in the box for 5 years...

Let me just say this, I was instantly blown away by how much cleaner everything sounded with the Headzone. I dont really know why I ever stopped using this thing, but the bass as well as positional accuracy were miles ahead of my go-to setups of the past.

As of now, I have this dialed where I can hear everything, and know where its coming from. AND get to enjoy the higher fidelity sound of a stronger amp (compared to USB powered virtual surround devices). Im using DTS output from the PS5 since Dolby seems to add a small audio delay, but other than that, they sound the same IMO.

I realize most people dont own one of these processors but getting the best audio on console using high quality headphones has been a hobby of mine for years. I did try the PS5 3D audio but found in inferior in pretty much every way.

Hopefully someone finds this useful in some way.