[cdiaz]

Hi. I'm interested in buying the Pioneer SE-DIR800C surround sound headphones for bluray and hd tv viewing mostly. My question is, what will happen if I play a bluray that has DTS HD only? I know the phones support DD 5.1 and DTS, but what about the newer HD versions of these formats? Will it convert the audio to regular DTS or will I get no audio out of it? (connected via optical cable)  If I sent it PCM would it read it as just 2 channel audio and would the quality of surround effect suffer much because of this?

Thanks

 

[zotjen]

I have the 800Cs and use them with a Blu-Ray player. As a rule, if your receiver can't accept the new Blu-Ray audio formats it will down convert it to regular DTS or 5.1. If I had know this sooner, I would have bought a Blu-Ray player sooner.

 

[cdiaz]

Thanks for the reply.  When you say receiver do you mean my av receiver or the 800C receiver?  My Sony receiver does detect these formats.  But it doesn't have an optical out, so I'd have to go straight from my PS3 to the 800C base.  I'm just worried that if I buy the 800C, connect it from my PS3 optical to the 800C base and try to play DTS HD audio from a bluray, that I wont hear anything.  Are you saying I have nothing to worry about and it will just transcode to regular DTS?

 

[zotjen]

You have nothing to worry about. I have my player plugged directly into the 800C receiver. Someone (maybe at Sony) was smart enough to realize that not everyone would have a receiver capable of playing the new audio formats. When using an optical or coax cable, the output will be in regular 5.1 or DTS. Below is a link to an explanation of the different codes available with blu ray.
 
 
http://whatsonhdtv.blogspot.com/2008/03/blu-ray-audio-codecs-revisited.html

 

[cdiaz]

Great!  Thank you so much

 

[cdiaz]

By the way, what's your experience with the 800C?  From all the research I've done it seems like it's the best to emulate a surround experience in headphones.

 

[zotjen]

Actually, the best way to emulate surround sound using headphones is probably with the Smyth SVS Realiser, although that's considerably more expensive than the 800C. If you want an idea of what the 800C is like, I suggest you try using a PC based program that uses Dolby Headphone.
 
Note that Dolby Headphone will never take the place of a true speaker surround system. From my own experience, I've found that the effectiveness of Dolby Headphone varies from person to person, meaning some people will hear more of a surround effect than others. It is also somewhat dependent on the movie you are watching.
 
Are you planning on using the included wireless headphones that come with the 800C? While they are okay, you'll probably get better results plugging in a pair of headphones instead, preferably ones with a wide soundstage (e.g. Senns vs. Grado). Also note that one tiny drawback with the 800C is that it only has one optical input so I'm constantly switching cables between my blu-ray player and cable box.
 
 

 

[cdiaz]

I downloaded Power DVD which has dolby headphones.  I put in The Count Of Monte Cristo dvd and really liked what I heard.  The only other headphones I have and am using are some 10 year old Sony MDR-7509's.  How would you say those compare to the Pioneer wireless cans?
 
I really appreciate all your insight.  Thanks