[thomase]

I recently got a pair of ATH-A500s that I have been using for PC gaming. So far I like what I hear! I would like to find some way to use the headphones to get virtual surround in my living room with my Gamecube (Prologic and Prologic II), DVD player, and TV if possible. I don't have a receiver.

Here are some solutions and I wonder if people can comment:

1) Dolby Headphone: I have heard this on my computer via PowerDVD and I like it. I think it works as well as, if not better than CMSS on my Audigy 2. I have heard that the magic of this implementation depends not on HRTFs, but an accurate simulation of room acoustic effects - I'm not how this is possible though. Assuming it works, this explains how it is able to work independent of a user's particular HRTFs. . The "room acoustics" thing concerns me a little regarding games as it might produce an undesirable effect, but I'm willing to try it. Here are some solutions:
a) HCT (and soon Thrustmaster) sells a decoder/encoder box that decodes Prologic II or
Dolby Digital 5.1 and downmixes to headphones using Dolby Headphone algorithm. It
sells for about $180 but this unfortunately includes a set of headphones as well, and
there does not seem to be a way to buy the decoder/encoder separate from the
headphones.
b) Buy an entry level receiver with Dolby Headphone. Kenwood VRS-7100 ($290) and
HarmonKardon AVR-235 ($350) are candidates that also include Dolby Virtual
Speaker. Virtual Speaker is bascially the same as Dolby Headphone but includes
crosstalk cancelation so that you can use it with speakers. I can buy the receiver and
plan to upgrade with nice speakers in the future. If I want to use Dolby Virtual
Speaker, I can connect the Preouts on the receiver directly to my TV and use the TV
speakers.

2) Yamaha Silent Cinema: Has anyone compared this to Dolby Headphone? There are
some relatively cheap Yamaha receivers that have this feature. Several models also
include Virtual Cinema DSP which should be comparable to Dolby Virtual Speaker
(unclear whether or not the lowest model HTR-5730 has this though).

3) Sennheiser DSP Pro: This only decodes Prologic (no Prologic II or Dolby Digital) and
there is obviously no speaker mode (only headphones). The upside is that its cheap,
assuming I can find one. Can't find it on ebay, but I've heard that you can get one for
$30 to $50. I have no idea how the HRTF implementation compares to Dolby
Headphone and/or Silent Cinema.

Am I missing anything? Are there any other solutions

 

[de Sade]

Hi, I won't help you much with the equipment. I just saw you mentioning the Dolby Headphone system. I too had a chance to try it. I've got a couple of concerts recorded on DVDs. A strange thing happened though when I switched the sound to surround. It shifted in volume every time the camera lenses zoomed or moved around the stage. It was quite disturbing so I swithced it back to stereo. I imagine you won't notice this in movies and maybe not at all. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. The software I played it with was WinDVD 5 Platinum.

 

[funnytimes]

Sennheiser DSP Pro is an excellent choice. The surround is unexpectedly realistic and better compared to the dolby headphone in PowerDVD.

I think a reciever is an overkill just to get surround for headphones. Also, the recievers focus is on speakers, not on the headphone jack and the surround mode for headphones.

 

[thomase]

Ok.

But where can I find a Sennheiser DSP Pro?