HoichiTheEarless
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2006
- Posts
- 21
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- 0
Hello,
I just registered here after getting a recommendation to check out this forum for information about headphones. I’ve done some research on my own but I’m hardly an expert, so I’ll throw out the standard noob warning. I recently decided to purchase on a limited budget a home theater set up, with an LCD HDTV and a Sony HT-DDW670 home theater system with Dolby Digital and DTS processing. The system is great for the price, but I've found there are too many distracting noises in my current apartment to fully enjoy it. The main culprit is the air conditioning unit which is awfully noisy, which right now forces me to choose at times between not wearing a shirt (and still being uncomfortable) or watching with headphones. The air conditioning unit is still loud enough that I can hear it through a regular pair of headphones during quiet moments. This is going to become a bigger concern as summer approaches.
Here are my main needs:
Based on my limited research, it seems my options are limited either to selling my current home theater system and upgrading to a system with Dolby Headphone technology, making an expensive purchase for a unit with a separate Dolby Digital or DTS processor like the Pioneer SE-DIR800C, or settling for having to listen to two channel stereo over headphones. Can anyone tell me what other options I have or offer some other recommendations? Thanks!
I just registered here after getting a recommendation to check out this forum for information about headphones. I’ve done some research on my own but I’m hardly an expert, so I’ll throw out the standard noob warning. I recently decided to purchase on a limited budget a home theater set up, with an LCD HDTV and a Sony HT-DDW670 home theater system with Dolby Digital and DTS processing. The system is great for the price, but I've found there are too many distracting noises in my current apartment to fully enjoy it. The main culprit is the air conditioning unit which is awfully noisy, which right now forces me to choose at times between not wearing a shirt (and still being uncomfortable) or watching with headphones. The air conditioning unit is still loud enough that I can hear it through a regular pair of headphones during quiet moments. This is going to become a bigger concern as summer approaches.
Here are my main needs:
- Comfort - I purchased a cheap pair of AIWA noise canceling headphones some time ago. They are now tucked away in a box somewhere, and will probably never be used again. When the noise canceling feature was turned on, there was an audible hiss, but even more importantly, they were very uncomfortable. I need a set of headphones that would be comfortable to wear for two or three hours while watching a movie.
- Noise canceling - The headphones should reduce ambient noises of the air conditioning and other noises I hear in my apartment. I don't hear it much when the audio is loud but during quiet scenes it becomes apparent. I didn't try to listen with any noise canceling headphones, but I'd like something that does a good job of removing ambient sound during quiet scenes, preferably without any kind of audio hiss…
- Surround Sound - While I'm happy with the quality of the sound of the Sony HT-DDW670 for the price, it doesn't appear to have Dolby Headphone technology which would simulate 5.1 surround sound over a pair of stereo headphones. As I understand it, phone jacks with this technology would have the Dolby Headphones logo:
So even though I didn't spend a whole lot, it's disappointing to consider that I may not be able to enjoy surround sound while watching movies in my apartment because of distracting noises or because I have to use headphones. Doing some research there doesn’t appear to be many surround sound headphones that are well reviewed. The only one I can find that seem to get good reviews in terms of producing Dolby Digital or DTS surround sound through headphones are the Pioneer SE-DIR800C, a very expensive wireless set with a separate Dolby Digital and DTS processor. I also don’t feel a need to get wireless headphones, so if there was a similar, wired model, that did a good job with surround sound, I’d like some recommendations. I would assume a wired set would be cheaper. Which brings us to… - Cost – I’d really rather not spend much more than $100 for a set of headphones. But, I’m getting my tax return and a bonus from work soon, so I may be willing to go over for something that does an exceptional job of reproducing surround sound and meets all my other needs. The Pioneer SE-DIR800C ranges anywhere from $300 to $400. I guess it’s something I would consider, but only if there wasn’t any significantly cheaper options that could meet my needs.
Based on my limited research, it seems my options are limited either to selling my current home theater system and upgrading to a system with Dolby Headphone technology, making an expensive purchase for a unit with a separate Dolby Digital or DTS processor like the Pioneer SE-DIR800C, or settling for having to listen to two channel stereo over headphones. Can anyone tell me what other options I have or offer some other recommendations? Thanks!