[Yethal]

   
I already hit up a few companies about making a competitor, but it doesn't seem like there's much interest.  I do know a guy who works at Cavalli now tho... hmmmmm...

There was once a petition for Fiio to make such a device. A shame it didn't work out, would've been awesome.

   
I use this kind of setup when I do single player gaming or movie/TV watching, but as Stillhart said, yeah virtual surround is only typically output via the headphone jack.
 
So, my setup goes HDMI from consoles > Marantz > Headphone Jack > Schitt Magni 2U.  I'm sure some higher ohm cans would work well enough straight off the Marantz, but all the ones I have are lower ohm and I feel the bass is better controlled via the double amping.
 
I have a Mixamp which I use whenever I want to chat, but for everything else, I didn't care for the hiss of the mixamp, nor the bass being cut off below 35Hz (really sucked having distortion in movies with rumbling bass), so the AVR with Dolby Headphone processing made the most sense for me.
 
I told a friend of mine I'm almost afraid to try the G5, though, cuz if I end up liking SBX more than DH, I will have negated a large reason for purchasing the AVR! 

 

How's the surround effect on the Marantz? Is the positioning better when compared with the Mixamp? I was wondering whether higher quality signal would make a difference.
 
There is one idea I've got cooking for an awesome and not that expensive (when compared to either Marantz or the Realiser) option.
Tritton Katana uses 7.1 LPCM via HDMi for surround. What if we replaced the transmitter chip inside the base station with a I2S to S/PDIF converter like this one? Or removed the receiver from the headset and soldered a 3.5mm 4-pole jack to it so we could plug any headphones into it Mixamp 5.8 style? It's kind of a long shot but it might work.

 

[canthearyou]

There was once a petition for Fiio to make such a device. A shame it didn't work out, would've been awesome.
How's the surround effect on the Marantz? Is the positioning better when compared with the Mixamp? I was wondering whether higher quality signal would make a difference.

There is one idea I've got cooking for an awesome and not that expensive (when compared to either Marantz or the Realiser) option.
Tritton Katana uses 7.1 LPCM via HDMi for surround. What if we replaced the transmitter chip inside the base station with a I2S to S/PDIF converter like this one? Or removed the receiver from the headset and soldered a 3.5mm 4-pole jack to it so we could plug any headphones into it Mixamp 5.8 style? It's kind of a long shot but it might work.

I highly doubt one could get that Katana to work by way of tampering with the base. But possibly as you said, disassemble the headset and find the receiver and.....

 

[Vader2k]

  How's the surround effect on the Marantz? Is the positioning better when compared with the Mixamp? I was wondering whether higher quality signal would make a difference.

 
I haven't really done any critical listening comparisons, but I'd say they're quite similar, if not exactly the same.  I don't think I've noticed the soundstage expanding or imaging improving or anything like that.  Sounds can be clearer, of course, due to not having the background hiss, which I suppose might get in the way of quieter sounds at times, but really they're about the same otherwise.
 
Semi-related, but regarding just the Marantz, I've tried comparing DH processing between LPCM 7.1, LPCM 5.1, and DD bitstream all over HDMI, and I'm hard pressed to find any differences between any of those.

 

[Yethal]

I highly doubt one could get that Katana to work by way of tampering with the base. But possibly as you said, disassemble the headset and find the receiver and.....

The drivers and mic are still analog so they must be soldered to the transmitter board. This can't be that hard to mod.

 

[canthearyou]

The drivers and mic are still analog so they must be soldered to the transmitter board. This can't be that hard to mod.

That's what I'm saying. One could pull the wires and put a plug on it.
I truly wonder what the unit sounds like.

 

[Evshrug]

So @evshrug and @yethal: I just had an idea. Is it possible to grab a mid-end avr with really good virtual surround processing (Marantz or Yamaha, perhaps), and output that processed signal to a high-end headphone amp via optical?

Effectively, we'd just be using the DAC and DSP from the avr, but circumventing avr's lousy headphone amp/jacks.

Could this work in theory?

I know you typed this awhile ago, and you already decided against it for other reasons, but...
A: Yamaha's DSP is only "OK," the Marantz which had Dolby Headphone are specific, older models so you'd have to research and hunt.
B: Double-amping isn't so bad, at least on my Yamaha there is no hiss and no frequency cutoff I can recall (so basically what I'm saying is all the info gets through without much in the way of added artifacts), so I wouldn't discount such a setup on that reason alone.
 
C,D,E,F, and etcetera: Optical is a digital output, so you can't connect it to an amp. So using optical, you'd be bypassing the AVR's DAC too. And you'd need a DAC in addition to an amp on the other end. You must convert from digital to analog at some point in the audio chain, unless you started with analog in the first place (vinyl, tape, Reel-to-Reel) which most people don't use anymore.
 
 
Can't connect an amp via optical.
 
Digital -> Amp no go, you're missing a step. Could not work in theory.

 

[Evshrug]

 
There is one idea I've got cooking for an awesome and not that expensive (when compared to either Marantz or the Realiser) option.
Tritton Katana uses 7.1 LPCM via HDMi for surround. What if we replaced the transmitter chip inside the base station with a I2S to S/PDIF converter like this one? Or removed the receiver from the headset and soldered a 3.5mm 4-pole jack to it so we could plug any headphones into it Mixamp 5.8 style? It's kind of a long shot but it might work.

Pop the Beyerdynamic Headzone in the middle of those two price brackets, but yeah. As far as modding the Katana, I like the way you think. It's at times like this when I wish I had more physical electronics skills... I know one user on MLE's thread modded his Turtle Beach DSS2 to bypass the internal amp and line-out to an external amp, and he was a fan of the result. @i95North, I believe? Anyway, just wanted to encourage you
 
 

Semi-related, but regarding just the Marantz, I've tried comparing DH processing between LPCM 7.1, LPCM 5.1, and DD bitstream all over HDMI, and I'm hard pressed to find any differences between any of those.

Totally related to what Yethal was saying, from what I gathered. Since they both can use DH room 2, and disregarding DAC/Amp for a moment, the "higher signal quality" would be 7.1 channels LPCM over HDMI versus Dolby Digital Live, which technically has to compress the signal down to fit through Optical which only has bandwidth for two PCM channels. But yeah, I would expect the processing to make a greater difference than the signal quality between LPCM & DDL... that's like the difference between CD and 320 kbps MP4: when you're listening for more than a minute without A/B-ing and in the mood of the game/song/movie, you're going to be hard-pressed to detect the difference.

 

[canthearyou]

Still waiting on the DD update! Lol

 

[kellte2]

Still waiting on the DD update! Lol

Holding one's breath is not advisable.

 

[canthearyou]

Holding one's breath is not advisable.

 

[paulguru]

sound signature compared G5 to ZXR ?
the sound is analytic and unforgiven like ZXR or it is more musical ?
 
bass enphasizing is very noticeable or slight ? 

 

[grit45]

No virtual sound is a killer. I think I'm just going to save up for the x7.

 

[canthearyou]

No virtual sound is a killer. I think I'm just going to save up for the x7.

I have to say the G5 & SBX does a pretty freakin good job at surround and positional audio. I am playing Rainbow Six: Siege and I can pinpoint enemies location. On PS4.

SBX takes a stereo audio stream and creates a virtual surround environment. It's not as precise as 5.1 or 7.1 virtual surround sound, but pretty good nonetheless.

 

[rudyae86]

No virtual sound is a killer. I think I'm just going to save up for the x7.

For PC, yes....for Console, not right now. There is a firmware coming soon that will enable Virtual Surround Sound for consoles. Just be patient

 

[paulguru]

  sound signature compared G5 to ZXR ?
the sound is analytic and unforgiven like ZXR or it is more musical ?
 
bass enphasizing is very noticeable or slight ?