[rav86]

Hi,
 
I've recently bought Sen RS220, looking for dolby decoder (i think thats what they're called) for them, for watching blurays..
 
I think i need something like a TurtleBeach Earforce DDS, but that doesnt have a digital out..
 
So what are the alternatives?
 
PS: i'm a noob, so may be getting things wrong here..

 

[rav86]

anyone? i think what i need is known as a "processor", right?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

What you're looking for is for Dolby Headphone devices.

Digital out, like a bypass so you can feed the digital signal to another source like a receiver? The one I know about is the Mixamp 5.8, but they no longer sell them alone. You have to buy it as a bundle with the A30 or A40 headset.

Dolby Decoders for headphones (Dolby Headphone) are very slim pickings.

Nowadays the most widely available are:

Astro Mixamp Pro
Turtle Beach DSS (old model, if you can find it as the new DSS2 doesn't do Dolby Headphone but Turtle Beach's own virtual surround tech)
Tritton Ax 720 (comes with a headset)

Certain receivers have Dolby Headphone, but they are pricey.

 

[rav86]

Thanks for the reply!
 
Those that you've listed convert the signal to analog, I need to keep the signal digital.
 
Reason being, the RS220's base station uses a digital signal, then the cans convert to analogue.
(some tech the RS220's use)
 
I could use analogue into the base station, but then that mean it converts it signal back  to digi in order to send to the cans.
 
Like so:
PS3 digi out > Dolby Decoder analogue out > (RS220 base station then converts analogue to digi) > RS220 base station digi singal > RS220 cans
 
But I want it to be like this:
PS3 digi out > Dolby Decoder digi out > RS220 base station digi singal > RS220 cans
 
If that makes sense?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

None of these devices keep the dolby headphone processing digitally (including the Mixamp 5.8 which has a digital bypass).

The first method is the logical solution as once Dolby Headphone is processed, it stays in the analog signal. You'll have to max out the volume on the dolby device.

I recommend the Mixamp Pro, as it has the lowest amount of background noise.

 

[Riku540]

To add to what MLE said, keeping the signal digital post-processing isn't currently possible because all known virtual surround devices whether its a sound card or mixamp of sorts applies the virtual surround processing at the digital to analog conversion stage. So your only option right now is to resort to using a mixamp. The difference, especially in the interest of gaming, is more or less negligible anyway.
 
If all else fails, there's always wired headphones, in which many of them will greatly out-perform your wireless headphones.

 

[rav86]

Are there no recievers/amps, I mean proper amps, not MixAmp, or Earforce DSS, that can meet my requirements?
 
If not, looks like MixAmp Pro it is..

 

[NamelessPFG]

Quote:

To add to what MLE said, keeping the signal digital post-processing isn't currently possible because all known virtual surround devices whether its a sound card or mixamp of sorts applies the virtual surround processing at the digital to analog conversion stage.

 
Not necessarily true.
 
Any sound card worth its salt should be able to output a virtual surround-processed PCM S/PDIF stream (I know X-Fi cards can do this), and the Smyth Realiser actually has an S/PDIF output specifically for use with audiophile DACs, just in case anyone deems the Realiser's own DAC to not be good enough.
 
However, computers with sound cards are impractical as virtual surround processors for consoles (countless people have tried before), and the Realiser is prohibitely expensive at around $3,000 + whatever it takes to get a recording at a good theater system.

 

[rav86]

Quote:

 
Not necessarily true.
 
Any sound card worth its salt should be able to output a virtual surround-processed PCM S/PDIF stream (I know X-Fi cards can do this), and the Smyth Realiser actually has an S/PDIF output specifically for use with audiophile DACs, just in case anyone deems the Realiser's own DAC to not be good enough.
 
However, computers with sound cards are impractical as virtual surround processors for consoles (countless people have tried before), and the Realiser is prohibitely expensive at around $3,000 + whatever it takes to get a recording at a good theater system.

Would it be possible to build a your own processor/amp your something like Raspberry Pi and the sound card you've mentioned?

 

[Dyaems]

theres a foobar plugin (and guide) that lets you put "dolby" in your mp3s and the bookmark is missing in my browser. not sure how it works exactly though as i never gotten a chance to do it but the config/setting is in my foobar.

 

[NamelessPFG]

Quote:

Would it be possible to build a your own processor/amp your something like Raspberry Pi and the sound card you've mentioned?

 
Given the Raspberry Pi's lack of PCI-Express slots, that isn't happening with the cards I mentioned.
 
In theory, you could have an S/PDIF interface, one input, one output, that connects via USB, while software running on the Raspberry Pi itself does the decoding, mixing, and output.
 
In practice, if it's anything like what I've heard about AC3Filter even on modern computers with fast quad-cores, the process would likely introduce far too much latency to be acceptable for video gaming. As it stands, some people have noticed that with DH on, the usual devices like the Mixamp introduce just enough latency to throw you off on rhythm games with their ridiculously tight input windows, although not enough to make most other genres unplayable, even FPSs.

 

[Riku540]

Something I always have to remind people is consider the quality of the sound in the game you're playing as well. Not all developers take the time to make sure the sound is as stand-out as the graphics are. Directional ques are the point of virtual surround, and with that DSP the overall quality of sound has already been degraded. Black Ops for instance, has terrible sound. Going through the trouble of getting a true digital line-out with DSP for the sake of most games (but not by any means all) honestly isn't going to make a difference in your performance in game. There is such a thing as "too much" when it comes to a headphone/headset rig for gaming. Music enjoyment is a different story.

 

[rav86]

Agree with the above with regards to gaming, but this set up will also be used for watching bluray/dvd..
Regardless, attempting to build a processor is overkill, not to mention way out of my depth.. I was just curious..
 
I will try the MixAmp Pro, and see how it goes..
 
Are the following settings correct?
Dial turned all the way to "game".
Volume on MixAmp set to Max.
 
The Sen RS220 has 2 volume controls for Analogue, its got a wheel dial at the back of the base, and then buttons on the headphones themselves..
 
What am I doing with these?
 
Cheers,
Rav.

 

[koolas]

There is this nice chip:
http://www.conexant.com/supportdocs/techdocs/Technical%20Documents/PBR-CX20873-001.pdf

Conexant provides optimized implementation of Dolby Digital Plus Decoder, Dolby Headphone, and Dolby Prologic II algorithms (royalties applicable).

CX20873 allows users to combines Dolby Headphone technology with either Pro Logic IIx or Pro Logic IIz processing while simultaneously decoding multi-channel encoded streams received from an external source over SPDIF or a USB 2.0 interface.

Would be nice to know if there are any devices with that chip...