[LarryB]

Hi everyone. This is post numero uno for me. Since I'm looking for a headphone amp to fill in for the lack of headphone jack stupidly omitted by the manufacturer of my new home theater preamp (catches breath) I was wondering if anyone knew about an upcoming HP amp that would have the Dolby Headphone option?

And in case anyone happens to know, does Dolby Headphone actually take a digital 5.1 feed in (DD or DTS)? Or does it just take a 2 channel source and interpret it (like pro-logic 1 or 2)?

In any case its supposed to work pretty well, and for watching movies while the family sleeps, or laptop DVD's, etc, it seems like something you wouldn't want to omit if having to buy a headphone amp anyway.

I'm sure this has been talked about, but since I'm new an all... Anyone with the inside scoop?

 

[dparrish]

Dolby Headphone does indeed work QUITE well, in my opinion. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, it is not yet available in a stand-alone headphone amp.

I am currently able to use it through WinDVD, a software program for PC. I take the analog out of my soundcard into my Cosmic amp and to my headphones (I have the video hooked up to my bigscreen HDTV).

I am DYING for someone to make a HIGH QUALITY stand-alone amp. From my understanding, this has to be done in the digital realm, meaning there has to be Dolby Digital conversion within such an amp.

Yamaha does make a stand-alone unit that uses their own Silent Cinema, which is similar to Dolby Headphone. I've thought seriously about trying it. And I think Sony has a combination wireless headphone/amp which does some form of Dolby Headphone.

Hopefully, more of these products will be available soon. I will certainly buy when the right product is available!

 

[evilcthul]

You could try the SR-Head... It has a "surround" DSP of some sort. I don't know the specifics as it hasn't quite been released.

It might do the trick for you and it's pretty cheap at $199...

 

[LarryB]

There's a Sennheiser 360 headphone amp that you can get for $30 that does a prologic type conversion. But its not supposed to be useful for music, so its pretty much a gimmicky one trick pony. Not that the one trick is anything to sneer at for the price.

dparrish - I agree that getting the Dolby headphone in a quality HP amp is worth waiting for. It shouldn't be expensive to license for the manufacturers, and I would think once one's on the market, it will be hard to sell the garden variety 2 channel ones. Much like what has happened in the high end audio world with preamps.

 

[Joe Lau]

Quote:

Originally posted by evilcthul You could try the SR-Head... It has a "surround" DSP of some sort. I don't know the specifics as it hasn't quite been released. It might do the trick for you and it's pretty cheap at $199...

We will send a Sample to head-fi for review. It is plan to send out 3 weeks ago but wait for Audio grade power filter cap from "Nichicon" . It is arrived HK office and will send it to HongKong. So We will send a sample to Head-fi next week.

It is a 2 Channel Headphone but have a DSP Processor to made you feel like a Surround.

 

[LarryB]

I just spoke to the guys at Headroom, and they said they have no immediate plans for a Dolby Headphone Amp. Sorry, but I think that's weird. Given how Home Theater is taking over 2 channel audio, and how limited function headphone amps are in the first place, that if you're making headphone amps you wouldn't want to have your bases covered.

Given the large number of HT components without headphone jacks including the Rotel 1066 and Outlaw 950 that I know of (which will sell thousands of units between them), this seems like a major missed opportunity.

 

[Possum]

The Dolby licensing process alone looks pretty long and time consuming:

http://www.dolby.com/trademark/lic-flow.pdf

Lots of back and forth communications. The Dolby side might take a while if they're busy with other work. I think the actual license is pretty expensive per product unit sold too. Larger companies like Sharp can probably afford the license for small products like thier minidisc player, and they maybe even get a discount since they use Dolby in other products.

 

[LarryB]

I would doubt that Dolby Headphone is expensive to license. Dolby's (very smart) business strategy has been to give licenses on the cheap to make their technology ubiquitous. I remember they literally charged pennies for their original Dolby Noise Reduction.

Are you listening Sony? Give the SACD away!