[lillepede]

Hello,
 
I just discovered OSSIC X through kickstarter, and think the product idea is really cool. But im just having a hard time believing that the product live up to the expectations and what they show in their promotional videos. It's because i have a very strict budget, so im not sure if i should take the chance and buy the headphone, or just skip the kickstarter offer and wait for other headphones to be released?
 
Hope you can help
Thor.

 

[RRod]

  Hello,
 
I just discovered OSSIC X through kickstarter, and think the product idea is really cool. But im just having a hard time believing that the product live up to the expectations and what they show in their promotional videos. It's because i have a very strict budget, so im not sure if i should take the chance and buy the headphone, or just skip the kickstarter offer and wait for other headphones to be released?
 
Hope you can help
Thor.

 
As someone who has a big interest in virtual surround, I'll probably be getting these. But unless you're just really keen on the potential of the technology, I would wait until at least more heads have tried them on or, even better, you get to try them. There's lots of potential for great things and for being completely "meh". Also, with the Oculus Rift just coming out there might be a sudden surge in solutions for headphone virtualization.

 

[Bloos]

Since it has a "MULTI-DRIVER ARRAY", I'm very skeptical of it having "immersive 3D audio". As most if not all headphones with this fail to deliver. More info (from 3:32 to 4:38) at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgCMRai9K8I
 
Besides Binaural audio accomplishes immersive audio for most people anyways. So to answer the question: When was the last time your headphones made you feel like you were actually there?
Answer, Everyday with my HD558s (as any quality headphones should, especially open-backs, so you can save ~$100 from their asking price of $219). This basically makes me feel like these are definitely not marketed towards audiophiles.
 
And as said in the kickstarter video, their team has a combined 50 years experience designing "gaming headphones". again prob best for gamers.
If you're into z reviews as much as I am, here's what zeos has to say: https://www.reddit.com/r/ZReviews/comments/47682o/surround_headphones_kickstarter_probably_snake/
 
Of course though, I haven't heard these so they might be pretty good. 

 

[Sordel]

It's because i have a very strict budget, so im not sure if i should take the chance and buy the headphone, or just skip the kickstarter offer and wait for other headphones to be released?

The hard and fast rule here is that if you are on a strict budget, never, ever, pledge for a Kickstarter tech project. I have been burned by one of these in the past and nothing beats the Buyer's Remorse that you get for sinking over $100 into something and slowly, over a matter of months, realising that nothing is ever going to come of it.

That said, I pledged for the Ossic X. The discount on the pledge is pretty good, the Kickstarter is clearly going to be massively oversubscribed (which will mean robust economies of scale) and - if it works at all - it should provide at least some novel fun thanks to the head tracking.

 

[PR4XXIS]

Was just about to post a topic about this. So does anyone know how many drivers are stuffed in each side of these cans? As I recall many 7.1 cans(in the gaming arena) were touted to be great for gaming and music enjoyments bu the small drivers never delivered on the promise of superb audio and felt weak unless driven by a powerful amp. It seems having to be "amped" and have the equivalent of a helmet on your head in VR is not exactly very immersive. 

 

[RRod]

  Was just about to post a topic about this. So does anyone know how many drivers are stuffed in each side of these cans? As I recall many 7.1 cans(in the gaming arena) were touted to be great for gaming and music enjoyments bu the small drivers never delivered on the promise of superb audio and felt weak unless driven by a powerful amp. It seems having to be "amped" and have the equivalent of a helmet on your head in VR is not exactly very immersive. 

 
Their page seems to indicate 8 total / 4 per side. I don't quite know why they went this route since the whole HRTF setup can be used with normal cans, the hard part being the measurement, the automation of which to me is the actual cool thing about these.

 

[Sordel]

   
Their page seems to indicate 8 total / 4 per side. I don't quite know why they went this route since the whole HRTF setup can be used with normal cans, the hard part being the measurement, the automation of which to me is the actual cool thing about these.

The automatic measurement is indeed cool, if it works. For good commercial reasons they're keeping quiet about exactly how this thing operates, but I think that practically speaking you've got to go in assuming that the marketing claims are at the high end and the reality will be somewhere South of there.
 
I hope that the project creators don't get distracted by some of the requests coming in the comments: too much attention is being paid by backers to things like bluetooth/wireless and the length of the USB chord. They're acting as though the technical challenges of the project are all completely solved and all that's left is to get as much bang for their buck in the box.

 

[PR4XXIS]

Well I am not holding my breath per se. But this is curious because some headphone makers try to position their static drivers to give the most natural audio reproduction, but with this hitting the market perhaps we will see some bigger players enter the space with similar tech for regular stereo sets. Assuming it is the drivers that are moved within the headphone.

 

[Sordel]

  Assuming it is the drivers that are moved within the headphone.

 
Is that the assumption? I would have thought that moving eight drivers on eight servos would have resulted in a headphone one hell of a lot more expensive than the Ossic, even supposing that the tech was clever enough to work out where they should be. I would have thought that they sit where they are and the tech makes do with a simple "in front/above/below/behind" channelling.

 

[RRod]

   
Is that the assumption? I would have thought that moving eight drivers on eight servos would have resulted in a headphone one hell of a lot more expensive than the Ossic, even supposing that the tech was clever enough to work out where they should be. I would have thought that they sit where they are and the tech makes do with a simple "in front/above/below/behind" channelling.

 
I didn't get the impression they were going to use moving drivers. I would think that the purpose would be to make life a bit easier for the HRTF filters by starting the sound off in a slightly better place in relation to the ear for a given broad directionality.

 

[PR4XXIS]

This puts it to rest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko-VeQ7Aflg   looks like no moving drivers, just sensors and "sound beaming" from individual drivers as Sordel pointed out, which makes me skeptical about the quality since I had a plenty good experience from 3D sound produced by the software of my steelseries 5H headset back in the day. The Turtle beach 5.1 headphones I have tried sounded pretty decent as well albeit with weaker overall sound. 

 

[RRod]

See here at about 15:30; they start talking about the multiple drivers and how they use them:
 
 
edit: another important take-home (around 19:00); they don't actually have a sensor to measure the pinna shape at all, but rely on the multiple drivers to deliver the high-frequency components from the right direction. So the actual encoded HRTF part consists only of the between ear measurements.

 

[PR4XXIS]

I guess they changed things around since posting the kickstarter image explaining how it all works. Still I am not going to be convinced until I hear these myself.

 

[TattooedMac]

They have the solid backing of THX, so as a very good reduced price, I'm happy to outlay the $$ to give them a go.

 

[valleynomad]

Once I saw those fancy terms such as "HRTF Anatomy Calibration" and "Active HRTF" in their KS campaign description, I knew that HRTF has been used as just a marketing term instead of the real thing. Acquiring HRTF with head related geometry calculation is not yet possible. Besides, it doesn't make much sense to use HRTF processing and the real pinnae at the same time. I can see that OSSIC X is just another multi-driver based so called surround sound headphones with some limited headtracking capability. With more than $1M crowdfunding, they are going to disappoint a lot of people.