[audiomagnate]

I watched "Children of Men" on HD-DVD the other night with a 5.1 DD Plus high end system and tonight (babies sleeping) I had to watch it with my modded 580s and it lost everything except for the fact that you could hear every word of dialog. Bottom line: headphones suck for movies.

 

[Zorander]

This has more to do with the way the original surround source is down-mixed. You should try playing around with the settings, whether on your receiver or software.

OTOH try playing FPS games with any headphones (and guess which direction the charging enemy is coming from). The experience sucks.

Cheers!

 

[ken36]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audiomagnate /img/forum/go_quote.gif I watched "Children of Men" on HD-DVD the other night with a 5.1 DD Plus high end system and tonight (babies sleeping) I had to watch it with my modded 580s and it lost everything except for the fact that you could hear every word of dialog. Bottom line: headphones suck for movies.

I agree!

 

[Mindless]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zorander /img/forum/go_quote.gif OTOH try playing FPS games with any headphones (and guess which direction the charging enemy is coming from). The experience sucks. Cheers!

Don't you mean without headphones? Headphones were invaluable to me when I used to play Counter-Strike about 6 years ago.

Or were you being sarcastic?

 

[Duggeh]

I also found headphones to be orders of magnitude better than surround sound (5.1 or 7.1, properly set up) speakers, no matter how cheap they were, for positional audio in games.

 

[scatterbrain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duggeh /img/forum/go_quote.gif I also found headphones to be orders of magnitude better than surround sound (5.1 or 7.1, properly set up) speakers, no matter how cheap they were, for positional audio in games.

ditto.

 

[Fitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zorander /img/forum/go_quote.gif This has more to do with the way the original surround source is down-mixed.

I watch movies on a 2-channel speaker system, no surround, and I still find it immensely better than using headphones. Although I do use true 2.0 audio tracks whenever possible, because most of the downmixed 5.1 tracks I've used sound rather dull.

 

[Territhemayor]

I like headphones so much more, I feel like with speakers I can't "hear" the music, but with headphones it's right up in my head. I think headphones are much better for both movies and games.

 

[warpdriver]

My 5.1 HT system consists of matched (identical speakers) all around plus a sealed subwoofer flat down to 23Hz (-10dB at 17 Hz), and I vastly prefer the positional, spacial and impact of my speaker system. Even with every Dolby Headphone, crossfeed, or other HTRF circuit, there is no substitution for the depth, width, and transparency of the soundstage of properly set up speakers

Of course, my speaker system costs several thousand not including the amp, and I can't use it at all when the others are asleep

 

[uraflit]

nothing like chest-pounding bass

mhmm!

 

[JensL]

I disagree. Movies can sound VERY nice with headphones.

The Beyerdynamic Headzone is just unbelievable with any 5.1 material. It can't be compared to regular stereo headphones. It's in a completely different league.
A Headzone plus a buttkicker must be amazing.

However, it costs from €1900, so it isn't cheap, but you'll spend way more than that getting a speaker setup close in quality.

 

[runnin17]

Taking in consideration that I have a 7.3 setup (yes I said 7.3) and my Onkyo 805 drives everything really well headphones are a step back when it comes to watching movies at my house.

I won't go so far as to say they suck because for some reason my 805 does a really nice job converting the surround sound input into two channel output through the can jack.

But then again I am not sure my nice HD580's can compare to the setup I have at my house.

Receiver: Onkyo 805
Fronts: Definitive Technology 7006 Bipolar supertowers (built in 8" sub in each)
Center: Definitive Technology ProCenter 1000
Rears: Fluance HTB Towers
Surrounds: Fluance HTB bookshelfs
Rear Sub: Velodyne 15" Power series

 

[Duke309]

Quote:

Originally Posted by runnin17 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Taking in consideration that I have a 7.3 setup (yes I said 7.3) and my Onkyo 805 drives everything really well headphones are a step back when it comes to watching movies at my house. I won't go so far as to say they suck because for some reason my 805 does a really nice job converting the surround sound input into two channel output through the can jack. But then again I am not sure my nice HD580's can compare to the setup I have at my house. Receiver: Onkyo 805 Fronts: Definitive Technology 7006 Bipolar supertowers (built in 8" sub in each) Center: Definitive Technology ProCenter 1000 Rears: Fluance HTB Towers Surrounds: Fluance HTB bookshelfs Rear Sub: Velodyne 15" Power series

Geez, movies like saving private ryan on that system must be mindblowing.

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audiomagnate /img/forum/go_quote.gif I watched "Children of Men" on HD-DVD the other night with a 5.1 DD Plus high end system and tonight (babies sleeping) I had to watch it with my modded 580s and it lost everything except for the fact that you could hear every word of dialog. Bottom line: headphones suck for movies.

No. No. No.. IMO the quality of the movies audio track will make or break the SQ when using headphones.. the 340's, balanced, using my under powered DAC1 is a wonderful experience on DVDs when the films audio is up to the task. & I hear much more with my headphones. Desperado/ Land of the Dead HD DVD/Shooter/300/ are just a IE of how great audio can be through headphones when watching movies.. 5.1 is more involving, physical, & exciting, especially with HD audio, but to say headphones suck for movies as a general statement is pretty ignorant. Maybe you should say.. 580's suck for movies..

 

[GreatDane]

When I watch movies with headphones it's Darth Beyer every time.