[rabinzero]

For anyone that doesn't plan on doing a lot of mobile gaming and has the space, I highly recommend a receiver.  I bought an HK335 for a sweet price and have never looked back.  The endless tweaks that can be done and end of tons of optical switchers and cords all over the place.  It's freakin awesome!  Which reminds me, I need to take a pic of my setup.  Again, receivers with DH is the way to go.

 

[Fa11ou7]

Quote:

 
Others say it's a slight V or U shaped FR. To my ears, it sounds reasonably balanced in that I don't find any area of the spectrum really overtaking the rest with the kind of music I listen to.
 
 
I tried gaming with it some more, and the positional cues with DH are there if I listen for them. But they seem to get lost in the mix during a heated firefight unless you're paying attention, exactly the moment where you DON'T want to have issues with knowing where everything is coming from. The soundstage seems a bit oval-shaped, with front and rear being the short sides. Clearly, soundstage that's acceptable for general stereo music listening just doesn't cut it for gaming with any sort of binaural HRTF surround mix.

 
Ooh man did I dodge a bullet, I almost picked these up the other day when they were on sale for $50 but ended up getting the Koss Tony Bennett instead. I would not have liked the V/U FR at all and the Koss are supposed to be just the opposite. Dock said that the Koss had a really good soundstage (not in reference to gaming tho) with the M50 pads so hopefully it will play nice with DH but I'll let you know when they get here. 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

V/U shape is where it's at!

 

[washu9]

Is there any way we can compile a list of AV receivers that have dolby headphone feature?
The feature used to be on every receiver, but in recent year, more and more manufacturer ditch it for some reason.
I suppose to save some cost on licensing it.
 
Having a receiver as dolby headphone mixer should be a better value option than getting the Beyer Headzone.  
For some models, it should be cheaper, have far more input and format support (DTS anyone?), and you can still use it for a small home theater setup.

 

[NinjaSushi2]

I have a dumb question. Why is daisy chaining mixamps useful?

 

[Mjonir]

Quote:

I have a dumb question. Why is daisy chaining mixamps useful?

 
I assume it's for "pro gaming" teams on a LAN. They can set up the Mixamps and have a dedicated wired channel for chat instead of using the network based one. So better quality (no compression) and no lags in chat.
 
... but unless you're really in that particular situation, it's useless.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Is there any way we can compile a list of AV receivers that have dolby headphone feature?
The feature used to be on every receiver, but in recent year, more and more manufacturer ditch it for some reason.
I suppose to save some cost on licensing it.
 
Having a receiver as dolby headphone mixer should be a better value option than getting the Beyer Headzone.  
For some models, it should be cheaper, have far more input and format support (DTS anyone?), and you can still use it for a small home theater setup.

About 99% of all Yamaha receivers come with their own "Silent Cinema" headphone surround sound.

 

[calpis]

Harman Kardon and Denon had DH in their receivers up until 2009, everything from their low to high end. Currently, Marantz seems to be the last manufacture to still use DH but I think it only from their mid to high end receivers has it.
 
Just about every receiver manufacture has their own version of a virtual headphone dsp now, but it unclear whether some of those are better than DH or not.

 

[Burns11]

Quote:

 
Others say it's a slight V or U shaped FR. To my ears, it sounds reasonably balanced in that I don't find any area of the spectrum really overtaking the rest with the kind of music I listen to.
 
Bass is there, but it's not really pronounced like the HTF600, especially in the sub-bass region. It certainly doesn't detract from the mids.
 
As for smooth vs. sparkly treble, I haven't honed my audiophile sense enough to pick out one or the other yet, but one thing's for sure: no dynamic I've heard has sparkling, revealing clarity like a Stax Lambda (any of them), and the Uptown hasn't changed that. Has your experience with the HE-400 similarly spoiled you when it comes to traditional dynamic/moving-coil drivers?
 
I tried gaming with it some more, and the positional cues with DH are there if I listen for them. But they seem to get lost in the mix during a heated firefight unless you're paying attention, exactly the moment where you DON'T want to have issues with knowing where everything is coming from. The soundstage seems a bit oval-shaped, with front and rear being the short sides. Clearly, soundstage that's acceptable for general stereo music listening just doesn't cut it for gaming with any sort of binaural HRTF surround mix.
 
I've never heard an ES7 or M50, so I can't comment on those.

Yeah, same here, the Uptowns are good for music and movies, really bad for positional gaming (great for games where you don't need positioning). 
 
BTW Aurvana Live are back down under $80 on Amazon after being $100 for a long time.  I'm still trying to find a trustworthy review of the Sony Pulse, specifically in terms of positional audio, and I'd really like to see someone use them with Dolby Headphone instead of the PS3 (presumably, since it only works with the PS3) created virtual surround. 

 

[washu9]

Quote:

Harman Kardon and Denon had DH in their receivers up until 2009, everything from their low to high end. Currently, Marantz seems to be the last manufacture to still use DH but I think it only from their mid to high end receivers has it.
 
Just about every receiver manufacture has their own version of a virtual headphone dsp now, but it unclear whether some of those are better than DH or not.

Are you sure about this?  I don't see anything on surround sound emulation in the documentation of my Denon 3312 (last year model).
Haven't tried it though.
 
Edit:  Never mind, just rechecked some websites on it. You're right.  It should have some sort of virtual surround for 2 speaker/headphone setup.
I need to take another look at the manual for it.

 

[burritoboy9984]

Quote:

Are you sure about this?  I don't see anything on surround sound emulation in the documentation of my Denon 3312 (last year model).
Haven't tried it though.

Think it's been a bit longer than 2009, cause I have a 2008 and 2010 model Denon, and they don't support DH. Also, I thought my HK 3600 supported DH from a couple of reviews around the net, but it has "Harman Headphone" and not DH.
 
-Erik

 

[calpis]

I really don't remember the exact year Denon stopped, could've been in '07. I was looking denons before but they were already out of production and the few that were on ebay were over priced. I settled on a yamaha and later upgraded to an hk avr-247.
 
I don't believe denon ever explicitly stated that any of their receivers had DH in any of their print. Instead, I had to find actual pictures of the front of the receiver to look for the DH logo next to the headphone jack. Also, I think that I was wrong earlier and that denon only had DH starting on their mid tier line.
 
It's kinda hard to remember exact details from 4 years ago.

 

[Evshrug]

Yamaha's Silent Cinema definitely works, and it works without making rear positional cues significantly quieter, but I can perceive the left-right channel delays especially in rear cues (like an echo), the soundstage feels a little large no matter what DSP I choose, and overall I felt the Recon3D's THX TruStudio Pro was more nuanced and refined. Silent Cinema was working pretty well (probably better in movies), but it may just be that the Recon3D is better suited to my (somewhat big) ears. YMMV

Also, I took my AD700s out of their box out of curiosity, and I was impressed. I honestly felt they fulfilled everything I want while gaming, and either its easier amping requirements or general soundstage character seemed to have a slight edge over the AKG Q701's soundstage, straight off the Recon3D. If I didn't listen to much music (which I do, more and more, especially now that I'm working at our local radio station), I would sell the Q701 just because my gaming experience doesn't scale up with the cost increase. But the Q701 is everything I want for music, and does excel in gaming. Still excited to see what feeding it $$$ in a nice amp will do.

 

[Paradux]

Can anyone recommend me an amp for the DT770 Pro 80ohm + Mixamp combo? I was thinking E9 (so I don't have to get a new sound card!) or E11, both in my price range, but I'd really like one with an EQ to reduce bass rather than boost it! What are people using for their Mixamp combos?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Can anyone recommend me an amp for the DT770 Pro 80ohm + Mixamp combo? I was thinking E9 (so I don't have to get a new sound card!) or E11, both in my price range, but I'd really like one with an EQ to reduce bass rather than boost it! What are people using for their Mixamp combos?

I would guess you would not need an extra amplifier for using 80-ohm headphones with the Miz-Amp.