[manugeorge]

I am not a gamer can I get real 5.1 surround with all rumbling bass in movies with this headphone.

 

[Mr Joboto]

Just get the DT770 Pros

 

[joelpearce]

It really depends how you are using them.  If all you have right now is a player connected to a television, a 5.1 headphone solution will likely be somewhat cheaper than any other virtual surround solution.
 
If you are playing out of a computer or have a home theatre receiver, you might be better off with stereo.  Movies sound great on stereo headphones with my Yamaha receiver with silent surround, and my Creative X-FI does excellent things with surround sound on my PC.  Both of these with a decent pair of regular headphones will sound much better than actual 5.1 headphones.
 
The big caveat is this: If you are used to an actual subwoofer, and I mean a proper 10" or higher sub, you will never get that kind of rumbling bass with headphones.  We feel that kind of bass more than we feel it, and headphones can't do that.

 

[lyokowarirtitan]

Quote:

 The big caveat is this: If you are used to an actual subwoofer, and I mean a proper 10" or higher sub, you will never get that kind of rumbling bass with headphones. We feel that kind of bass more than we feel it, and headphones can't do that.

 
Hi I am new here.
 
     Just an addition to your caveat, a few gamer headphones that I have seen attempt to mimic this kind of bass by having something like "vibration drivers" that supposedly make it feel like that rumbling bass. I cannot speak for their quality but the Roccat Kave's are one of the kinds that have this.
 
     I am looking for a good actual surround sound headset, one that has that has multiple speakers and does not try to mimic surround sound digitally, I want it mostly for games and movies, but I would prefer to only get one headset atm and sound quality is always a major issue, so far, even with lack of many reviews for it from sources I trust, the Kave's look the best. Any suggestions?

 

[joelpearce]

Vibration drivers work great.  I have a Buttkicker in my home theatre system that's responsive down to 5hz, and it creates better bass than just about any possible sound driver.
 
Thing is, it's a four pound metal piston that mounts into the couch, and it has an 1100 Watt RMS amp.  I can't imagine anything that would function as part of headphones would be any more than a gimmick.

 

[Trysaeder]

Someone please educate this guy on 'surround sound' versus soundstage.

 

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

The Surrounder headphone might be something to try out?
 

 
(I haven't been even tempted to try it myself, but I'm not into 5.1 anyway...)

 

[jsears31]

Not sure if this is a live thread, but I'm one of the few people who've owned the Kave headphones. They definitely rumble and thump, but imo, the sound quality is just typical lackluster crap, like most 5.1 sets. I've had a lot of them: Triton, Razer, and the Kave's and all of them eventually disappoint. The Triton's were the best, but still not great.
 
Also, the Kave's are REALLY tight and hurt my head. The padding on the top band is pretty sad. I now own the DT770pro and an AKG702. Both are good in the bass department (yes, even the K702s when amped with my Little Dot MKii), but they don't shake your brains loose like the bloaty, farty Kave.
 
I'd go with a pair of beyerdynamics, either the dt770 or the dt990. Good bass with some nice thump, but with less bloat.

 

[StigtriX]

I have the same problem with Roccat Kave, jsears31
My head really hurts after only 15-30mins while using the headset.
It weighs too much and the sound isolation and quality is horrible.
Don't even consider buying them! My worst spent money, ever!

 

[inciongd]

Hello, Everyone.
 
I finally joined Head-Fi just to comment on the Roccat Kave. I've owned one for more than a year now and have been a Head-Fi browser for months.
 
Months ago, I learned about FLAC. I started moving all my music to the format and also bought a Samsung Galaxy SL to listen to them on the go. I started searching the net for good earphones and stumbled on the world of headphones. I then found out that a lot of reviews about the Kave are bad when it comes to people that have used high quality stereo headphones.
 
So I was really excited to buy new stereo headphones and experience my music with much better quality than what I get with the Kave. I finaly settled with a Sennheiser HD448. I've broken it in, and all, but I was quite disappointed.
 
No, I'm not disappointed that the sound quality sucked for the Sennheiser HD448. Its really good and I am enjoying my music. I was disappointed because a lot of audiophile threads in the net state that 5.1 headphones/the Kave suck so much in comparison with stereo headphones.
 
I thought, "If my Kave sucks, then the sound quality of good stereo headphones will blow me away!".
 
Well It didn't. I've burned-in my Sennheisers in and I can say that compared to the Kave, they ARE better but they wont make you throw away a Kave and use a stereo headset on my PC.
Both sell for about the same price in my country. If I had to buy another pair of headphones for a PC, id buy a Kave again.
 
As I've said, I've owned the Kave for more than a year now. It wont sound good right off the bat when you connect it to your PC. It took me about a week to find the best settings. You need to setup your PC to drive it properly.
 
1. You need to actually set your PC to play 5.1 sound. 
2. You need to enable "speaker fill" on your soundcard driver. This will make music (or any stereo sound) fill all the speakers in the Kave.
3. You need to enable a cutoff frequency on the subwoofer channel. My soundcard driver can boost the subwoofer channel and set a cutoff frequency. I set it to boost 9dB and cutoff at 50Hz. If you don't do this, the sub speakers will act like another center channel and mess up the sound. This is probably responsible for all the negative reviews.
4. You need to set the remote control of the Kave for music listening. I set mine about 10% for the Center slider, 10% for Front, 20% for Rear and Sub at 50%. Bottom switch is set to "Movie". 
5. Then in my music player, I set the equalizer settings to a rock preset, but cut the bass frequencies down a few dBs.
 
Kaves will suck if you listen to it with only the stereo settings. But with these settings, the a Kave will sound great. Just about shy of a Sennheiser HD448 in terms of music quality.
 
For gaming, I just set the bottom switch to "Game" and the sliders 15% Center, 15% Front, 20% Rear and 50% sub. Positional audio will be much better than a Sennheiser HD448 on virtual surround.
 
Hope this helps anyone searching the net for a good gaming headphone.