[Sordel]

So what about VR and gaming? Is the positional 3D audio here actually worthwhile? For me the application of VR is the reason I am looking at these but doesn't built in 3D audio from the headset and the head tracking from the headset's sensors defeat the purpose of a second head tracker in the OSSIC?  

Besides the Sennheiser GSX 1000 has a binaural rendering engine that does 7.1 surround pretty well from what I heard even with stereo cans for ~$200 so again can you really justify a single set of these cans when most of my headphones will work with the Sennheiser for gaming.

I've never experienced VR gaming but I follow developments in the game industry pretty closely and personally I feel that Ossic is unlikely to be much of an upgrade for games. As you point out, the game already knows exactly where your head is, and your eyes are reinforcing that very strongly. With good headphones, you should already be 95% of the way there, so the questions is whether the Ossic X is good enough to get you another percentage or two towards perfection ... or whether (as I rather fear) it backs you up a couple of per cent by being sonically inferior to the sort of headphones than a Head-Fier would already own. Also, you're puttiing what look to be some pretty heavy cans on a head that is already wearing a VR headset. If I were buying for VR I'd go for some decent IEMs.

In my envisaged use, I'll be wearing the Ossic for ordinary PC gaming ... makes a lot more sense to me because that's where the added immersion gains you the most ground.

 

[OSSIC]

Hi everyone, 
 
I'm one of the employees here at OSSIC. I've seen a lot of great questions in this thread about the OSSIC X. 
 
Some of our founding team will be at CanJam this weekend, Gold Ballroom booth #61. For any of you headed there we'd love to meet you and hopefully answer some of your questions in person (as well as show you a demo). 

 

[PR4XXIS]

Multi driver IEMs are rather pricey and will probably be in the same range as the ossic for good quality.
 
The bigger issue I think is how well will their multi driver setup work. When the Razer Tiamat 7.1 came out it was pretty much universally panned even by those with beastly DACs and audio cards. There is the Asus STRIX 7.1 which uses more 40mm drivers per ear than the Tiamat making for a better low frequency response. However even then most folks seem to say that the more drivers the worse the sound reproduction due to lower quality drivers being used. 
 
However OSSIC seems to have the drivers positioned above and below as opposed to forward and back as in most multi-driver setups. So this leads me to believe that maybe it will better mimic sounds that are coming from different directions. However at such close proximity to the ear will it really make a difference?
 
I know with IEMs due to them being inside the ear they can push the air around easier making for a more quality experience but it seems the consensus on the web is that virtualized 7.1 defeats many multi-driver setups and headphones cannot replicate an actual standing speaker 7.1 setup.

 

[Sordel]

Ossic, Good that you're keeping a watching brief here and I know from your FB feed that you're just starting to ramp up your social media, but we're way past the point where product details should be passed one-on-one at consumer trade events. In this day & age even Microsoft was willing to give Digital Foundry unfettered access to Project Scorpio over half a year out from launch. It's past time to start getting something other than vague hints and the news that the box it ships in is REUSABLE!!

 

[OSSIC]

We hear you loud and clear. Preparations are being made to release more detailed information and video content over the course of the next month as we lead into first shipment of the beta units. 
 
Regarding the reusable box – you got us there. We probably mentioned it a few more times than necessary, and you won't hear about it again until we ship  

 

[Richter Di]

We hear you loud and clear. Preparations are being made to release more detailed information and video content over the course of the next month as we lead into first shipment of the beta units. 

Regarding the reusable box – you got us there. We probably mentioned it a few more times than necessary, and you won't hear about it again until we ship  

As one of your development backers (meaning 999 US Dollars) I am really miffed regarding your communication style.
As I received no answer via the Kickstarter message channel I post it here:

Spoiler: Warning: Private message sent to Ossic

"Please read my message from 11. Feb 2017 again.
Just to quote from my message:
"Here comes an important aspect:

"Your feedback will play a role in the development of the final product ..."

As I never received my hand-built development kit I was not able to give you any feedback and hence you are tooling and building your product without my feedback.

Once more I ask you to make a proposal how to rectify this situation. Just sending me your headphones three months in advance to all other backers is clearly not appropriate.

I sincerly hope that we will find a fair solution."

You answered: "You concerns have been heard, and we believe we have a solution that benefits both parties. Will you give us until the 13th so that we can message it out to all developers simultaneously ?"

I can not see how you update, which actualy was coming March 24th, has answered this aspect at all.

Still hoping for a fair solution.

Best, Reiner"

 

[Sordel]

As one of your development backers (meaning 999 US Dollars) I am really miffed regarding your communication style.

I don't like to criticise Kickstarter creators and I don't think that Ossic are worse than average, but I think that your pledge is a good example of where these things go badly wrong. Especially in the Technology sector, creators trying to raise funding for the later stages of design offer the idea that those who pledge will get some insight into the design process and may even be able to contribute in some way. When it comes to it, though, the creator wants to keep as much of its design under wraps as possible, forgetting that Kickstarter backers can actually be their first line of marketing.

It's notable that - completely irrespective of whether the final product will be good or bad - all the backers here at Head-Fi are voicing fairly discouraging opinions on what should be an exciting purchase. Even Jude (in that long CanJam video where he basically gives advertising to every exhibitor) couldn't bring himself to say anything more than 'I look forward to receiving my pledge' or something like that. And in my view Head-Fi reaches a significant proportion of the world market for any exotic headphone technology.

I feel especially bad for the people who pledged for prototypes, because that's a neat collector's item even if it sounds bad, and now what can they expect? At most, something that looks exactly the same as a production model. It's a long way from the Oculus Rift Kickstarter which was almost absurdly generous in hooking its pledges up with development units and was widely praised for that, even outside the Kickstarter community itself.

For an example: the April 7 update has an 'exclusive prototype teaser'. Fifteen seconds, an exterior product shop carefully angled so you can't see any i/o ports at the bottom, no other objects to show scale. To all intents & purposes it may as well have been a shot from the original pitch. There is literally no point in marketing to us like that: we already bought it, we didn't buy for the Ossic X's stunning good looks and (just for the record) the X is a pretty clunky looking headphone so I doubt that anyone will EVER buy it for its looks. Show us fifteen seconds of destruction flexing the headband and you'd get a lot more positive coverage.

Creators in general need to realise that Kickstarter backers want to be along for the ride: K$ itself is always saying that a pledge is not a pre-order, yet many creators treat it as exactly that. And if backers go months with only bad news about shipping dates (and nothing else) what's the best that Ossic can hope for from its social media? Silence? Good luck with that ...

My sentiment on this headphone hasn't turned negative, but it saddens me to see Ossic making the sort of marketing mistakes that should have been eradicated years ago. Yes, I 'get' that your driver arrays are proprietary, but someone's going to tear this thing down day one after shipping and there's a risk/reward to getting the product details out that is currently offering Ossic zero risk for negative reward.

 

[PR4XXIS]

I agree with Sordel, for a group of professionals from the audio industry OSSIC is keeping mum about too many details of the project and the lack of updates on the kickstarter page is rather disconcerting.

 

[buke9]

Well after my second time listening to them I'm glad i didn't join. I think they just sound ok nothing special. I think Out of Your Head software does a better job at surround sound but it doesn't change when you move your head. I'm still not sure what they are trying to do with this. The VR demo was cool as crap though and the guys at the booth could not have been nicer.

 

[petralian]

Wait let me re-post this fantastic opinion one more time so the Ossic guys don't miss it...
 
Quote:

I don't like to criticise Kickstarter creators and I don't think that Ossic are worse than average, but I think that your pledge is a good example of where these things go badly wrong. Especially in the Technology sector, creators trying to raise funding for the later stages of design offer the idea that those who pledge will get some insight into the design process and may even be able to contribute in some way. When it comes to it, though, the creator wants to keep as much of its design under wraps as possible, forgetting that Kickstarter backers can actually be their first line of marketing.

It's notable that - completely irrespective of whether the final product will be good or bad - all the backers here at Head-Fi are voicing fairly discouraging opinions on what should be an exciting purchase. Even Jude (in that long CanJam video where he basically gives advertising to every exhibitor) couldn't bring himself to say anything more than 'I look forward to receiving my pledge' or something like that. And in my view Head-Fi reaches a significant proportion of the world market for any exotic headphone technology.

I feel especially bad for the people who pledged for prototypes, because that's a neat collector's item even if it sounds bad, and now what can they expect? At most, something that looks exactly the same as a production model. It's a long way from the Oculus Rift Kickstarter which was almost absurdly generous in hooking its pledges up with development units and was widely praised for that, even outside the Kickstarter community itself.

For an example: the April 7 update has an 'exclusive prototype teaser'. Fifteen seconds, an exterior product shop carefully angled so you can't see any i/o ports at the bottom, no other objects to show scale. To all intents & purposes it may as well have been a shot from the original pitch. There is literally no point in marketing to us like that: we already bought it, we didn't buy for the Ossic X's stunning good looks and (just for the record) the X is a pretty clunky looking headphone so I doubt that anyone will EVER buy it for its looks. Show us fifteen seconds of destruction flexing the headband and you'd get a lot more positive coverage.

Creators in general need to realise that Kickstarter backers want to be along for the ride: K$ itself is always saying that a pledge is not a pre-order, yet many creators treat it as exactly that. And if backers go months with only bad news about shipping dates (and nothing else) what's the best that Ossic can hope for from its social media? Silence? Good luck with that ...

My sentiment on this headphone hasn't turned negative, but it saddens me to see Ossic making the sort of marketing mistakes that should have been eradicated years ago. Yes, I 'get' that your driver arrays are proprietary, but someone's going to tear this thing down day one after shipping and there's a risk/reward to getting the product details out that is currently offering Ossic zero risk for negative reward.

 

[petralian]

It appears the secrecy goes far beyond just the drivers.
 
https://www.ossic.com/blog/2017/4/3/nobodyepic-drops-by-ossic-hq
 

Ossic X on head with wire running out... from the front left side, not right side?? Why not add a clip to bundle cables on the back with Vive cables if this is a VR centric headphones?
 

Not Ossic X on his head, however notice the Ossic X laying on that small table in the back without cables attached...
 

Not Ossic X... but what headphones is this? Can someone help me figure that out?
 

Ossic X on a little table in the background but no cables in sight.
 
And then finally this post..... https://www.ossic.com/blog/2017/4/13/announcing-ossic-creators-program which FINALLY contains a view of the connector. Well... a good render at least.
 
What's going on here ughhh...

 

[Sordel]

And then finally this post..... https://www.ossic.com/blog/2017/4/13/announcing-ossic-creators-program which FINALLY contains a view of the connector. Well... a good render at least.

I kind of hope that the render is of concept art because having what must be well over an inch of stiff plastic connector projecting vertically downwards before tthe flexible cable starts is not very ... flexible. Still, I wouldn't want to read too much into too little.

 

[petralian]

I kind of hope that the render is of concept art because having what must be well over an inch of stiff plastic connector projecting vertically downwards before tthe flexible cable starts is not very ... flexible. Still, I wouldn't want to read too much into too little.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/799484/lightbox/post/13433395/id/1865194 shows that same inch of cable connector protruding but from the left ear piece and not the right one hmmm

 

[PR4XXIS]

Here are some impressions from the guy at tested
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/ces-2017-ossic-virtual-reality-headphone#CUG9GVWGdwWbFuLb.97
 
Petralian these are the headphones you are looking for (Logitech-UE-9000)
https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-UE-9000-Wireless-Headphones/dp/B0094S37GS/ref=sr_1_108?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1492638342&sr=1-108&keywords=headphones&refinements=p_36%3A1253507011

 

[Richter Di]

Here are some impressions from the guy at tested

http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/ces-2017-ossic-virtual-reality-headphone#CUG9GVWGdwWbFuLb.97

Hi, this is really old news. January 2017.