[craig134]

I purchased a Thrustmaster T510 from http://www.etcetera.co.uk/products/HER060.shtml. It arrived yesterday and I've listened to a few dvds through it connected to my xbox's optical out. I listened to Matrix, Toy Story 2, and DeadWood Season One. The sound effects for all of the movies/shows sounded much cleaner and visceral then with my Beyer Dynamic Dt770-80's through a PIMETA amp with the sound input through the av jacks. The surround sound effect is nice and it gives a nice feeling of "being there" with the effects coming from all around you instead of the cramped soundstage you get through stereo headphones. Overall, I think the soundstage and sound quality of these headphones is great for movies/television shows. I havn't tested them out with a dolby digital game yet so I can't comment on their sound quality in regards to those. I would recommend them to all head-fiers located in Europe if a speaker based set up is an impossibility.

EDIT: After listening to a few more dvds I've found the dialogue reproduction of these phones can be problematic for some dvds and make certain parts unintelligible. I'll be getting Audio Technica ATH-A500s shortly to replace them.

 

[craig134]

"I assume the headphone is non detachable.
A pain but nothing a pair of snips won't handle."

The commercial version which I purchased allows the headphone to be detached. In fact in the box it comes in the headphone doesn't even start out attached to the decoder.

 

[craig134]

Oh, and I'm eventually going to replace the headphones that came with the decoder does anyone have some recommendations on what headphones would work well?

 

[Slade]

They are in stock at amazon.com now. I just received mine, I haven't tested it much.. just briefly played around w/ an Xbox game (decoder paired with A900) but the difference was very noticable.

 

[quiktake]

If you are a gamer with an nforce soundstorm board and a decent set of cans, I recommend Dolby headphone. I have A900 with a Pioneer DIR-800C Dolby heaphone.

Games are much better with Dolby headphone (5.1) than with the headphone settings built into games. (In my experience Doom3 and Farcry were much better with dolby headphone than in game headphone settings.) I've never compared my experience with an Audigy 2 card though...

 

[MasterChief1976]

I recently bought the T510 and I have the following problem with the decoder.

When I use the T510 with my X-Box the first time I boot a game the Decoder is switching to Dolby Digital mode an then I don't hear anything. The headphones are dead - also the test button on the decoder dosn't work anymore.
The only thing I can do then is to turn off the decoder and then on again -> and all works well.

I have switched the X-Box to Dolby Digital in the options menu so this cannot be the problem - it seems that the decoder is hanging up when it gets a Dolby Digital signal for the first time.
So when I play a game like Brothers in Arms, which switches from normal mode to Dolby Digital everytime I go from the menu-screen to the game, I always have to turn the decoder off and on again which is very annoying all the time.

Is the decoder defect or maybe my X-Box?

I hope you can help me with my problem.

 

[Slade]

I don't have access to it here but I think it says something about that in the manual, it might be normal when using optical connection. I know I have to do that (can't remember if its everytime but certainly enough) when switching between games and such. Can't remember it being as bad as at the menu screen each time except for in Street Fighter Aniversary where you have to pick your game first and then turn it on.

 

[suade907]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterChief1976 I recently bought the T510 and I have the following problem with the decoder. When I use the T510 with my X-Box the first time I boot a game the Decoder is switching to Dolby Digital mode an then I don't hear anything. The headphones are dead - also the test button on the decoder dosn't work anymore. The only thing I can do then is to turn off the decoder and then on again -> and all works well. I have switched the X-Box to Dolby Digital in the options menu so this cannot be the problem - it seems that the decoder is hanging up when it gets a Dolby Digital signal for the first time. So when I play a game like Brothers in Arms, which switches from normal mode to Dolby Digital everytime I go from the menu-screen to the game, I always have to turn the decoder off and on again which is very annoying all the time. Is the decoder defect or maybe my X-Box? I hope you can help me with my problem.

I too am experiencing this. I thought I had a defective unit but it appears not. I also have volume issues in some games where the lowest volume level the decoder will maintain is almost too loud for my ears. Like in MC3.

 

[suade907]

I talked to Thrustmaster the other day about the audio just plain quit working until the unit is turned off and then back on. They semed to be clueless. While the guy said he'd have to check into it for me and get back to me and assured it would be no less than 24hours he never e-mailed me back. My guess is they are shipping defective products.

 

[Kram Sacul]

So does it have 5.1 or 6 drivers in there or it this still simulated but still fake surround sound?

 

[taymat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kram Sacul So does it have 5.1 or 6 drivers in there or it this still simulated but still fake surround sound?

The headphones are stereo, made by Behringer. The surround is simulated using the Dolby Headphone algorithm, it can be used with any headphone though I'd imagine headphones with a wider soundstage work best. I'm gonna leave this t510 on the shelf till the Creative HQ-2300D comes out, by then thrustmaster should have ironed out any problems and also there should be a few t510 vs 2300D comparisons over time. Stereo is still good for gaming though with my hd-595's I get a great soundstage, it stretches right out to my eyes and ears.

 

[Kram Sacul]

So it's basically just echo effects. Darn it.

 

[sgrossklass]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kram Sacul So it's basically just echo effects. Darn it.

No it's not. Read up on binaural processing. Basically it's all about getting the phases and amplitudes right so they correspond to what the ear would receive from a loudspeaker setup. The part that's a bit problematic is the individual HRTF, along with headphone soundstaging and such. (But that also affects binaural recordings.)