[Primare Knob]

Hi from Sydney

Shamefully I have to admit that my current headphone setup is an iphone s4 and the Sennheiser ie80. At some stage I have auditioned a couple of headphones like the Sennheiser HD 700 and 800, Grado and Stax. I preferred the Stax the most, of the whole bunch, but I still cannot get used to the small display of the music which seems to sit inside my head. I like a large dimensional display of music and my head simply isn't big enough.

I am a big Movie Thearte fan but with a newly introduced family member this will create some issues along the line. I am very active with computer audio and I hope to find a way to create that headphone stereo image like I prefer it, by using software. Also something that I have never taken very seriously, but perhapps should take another look at, is surround headphones. Never really understood the value of those.

My current setup is a mix of HT and stereo and is lacking a good quality stereo DAC.

 

[TsukiNick]

You don't have to spend that much on headphones for a good soundstage Q701s are $190 in the US and have one of the best soundstages especially for gaming.  You can try using software to either emulate surround/speaker setups or just add crossfeed so it just feels a bit more like speakers.  I personally like using my Asus Xonar DGX's Dolby Headphone implementation, it has a built in headphone amplifier albeit not the best, so later on I connected an optical cable from my DGX to a FiiO D3 DAC (so I could get Line-Out, don't want to double amp) and connected it to my Schiit Magni Amp.  This cost a lot less than going with even just a pair of one of your listed headphones
 
Going up to the HD700, HD800 or Stax might be a bit overkill.  So you can go relatively silent so you don't disturb others and still get great surround sound.  One thing to try for free is using Razer Surround with your current headphones, it's not as good as Dolby Headphone IMO but it's just free software that let's you get simulated 7.1.  Don't get headphones with built in surround, they tend to be overpriced, have bad built and/or sound quality. So personally I think the AKG Q701s have the best soundstage for surround, they don't have a lot of bass, for that I might recommend something like the Beyerdynamic DT990 250ohm Pro.

 

[Music Alchemist]

The Out Of Your Head software should do the trick.
 
The Smyth Research Realiser A8 is even more advanced, but much more expensive.
 
However, first, you should get headphones with at least decent soundstage. Your best bet is circumaural headphones with ear cups that surround your ears. Avoid "surround sound" headphones. (They sound awful in comparison to audiophile headphones.)

 

[Primare Knob]

Thanks for the heads up. I'll give Razer Surround a try and I also found this interesting Out Of Your Head thread here on the forum.
I am using the crossfeed function inside the Neutron music app on the iphone. I have to say that I am impressed with this app.

 

[Primare Knob]

I am definitely going for a software version since I have decided to only use a PC for all digital content, and use hardware for all analog content. I like to keep the setup relatively simple and use the PC where ever I can to be able to use the same simple hardware for all my listening.

(I haven't found out how to quote yet on a mobile version)