[kstuart]

  Alright thanks, although I'm still interested in finding the cheapest possible surround sound processor/software/external sound card, or whatever for when I watch movies and/or play FPS games.
 
Any recommendations of anything that is cheap + works really well? 

PC, Mac or something else ?

 

[Kdavis71]

Windows 7 laptop

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Xonar U3

/question

 

[Kdavis71]

Thanks!

 

[kstuart]

Generally what MLE recommends is best for gaming.
 
FYI - in the area of free software for Windows, if you install "foobar2000" free music player, then there are a lot of free plugins (they call "components") that do surround sound processing...

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I just like the U3 because it's cheap, does Dolby headphone, and when he has a good dac with an spdif input and his own amp, he can bypass the U3's dac and amp, and use his own, essentially only using the U3 for Dolby headphone processing, and nothing else. I can't speak for the other brands with their own virtual surround techs, as I don't know if they do the processing through the spdif out like the U3 does.

 

[Kdavis71]

Ya, thanks MLE and Kstuart. I have Jriver. Will just be using it for movies and gaming, got the E17 which works perfect for me for music but doesn't really offer any type of surround sound.

 

[rikstaker]

Just got these and here is sort of a review:
 
got it from amazon.ca at listed price of $187 (was on for a limited time). When I got these I almost wanted to return them. these are my first open headphones and I didnt quite enjoy the open feeling as my current headphones is a bassy closed sony can. However I decided to try them for a few days.
 
Started listening to music and gaming...Ohhhh my gosh are these good. Sony must brand them as gaming headphones. Played last of us and the soundstage and atmosphere these babies create without sacrificing the bass is mindblowing. In The last of Us, where you first encounter a bunch of clickers in a dark room every clicker in the room had its defined position in the soundstage and the music while sneaking through the room especially the bassy thumps  (mid bass) was delivered with such convincing authority it reminded me of my old z5500 digital subwoofer that had a simillar kind of mid bass slam that you would feel in your guts.The explosions, gun shots, rain droplets everything was distinctly clear. (please see note below about my preference for regular stereo over dolby headphone). Nothing is muffled, everything has a beautiful balance. Dialogue isnt muffled bass is just right and the sound atmosphere is immense. Bass has a almost distinct hometheatre style separation feel, it doesnt overpower the other frequencies. Battlefield is just nirvana on these headphones. Seriously why would anyone buy any other headphones for gaming?
 
 
I wear my closed sony cans when i workout and when i put them on, I know what I miss. The soundstage and audio positioning..wow, should have got these earlier. 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

While I completely and overwhelmingly disagree with you as far as Dolby headphone goes, I'm glad the MA900 pleases you for stereo applications.

 

[sk7line]

Hi guys, I'm so close to pulling the trigger on some of these!
 
Just wanted to clarify one thing, I don't own any amp/dac combos, just a gaming rig. Will I get the best out of these using my X-fi elite pro?
 
Oh and also, I'm in the UK and Amazon currently sell these for £190, does that seem a fair price or should I hold out?
 
Thanks in advance.

 

[rikstaker]

While I
completely and overwhelmingly disagree with you as far as Dolby headphone goes, I'm glad the MA900 pleases you for stereo applications.

I

Actually it was your review and posts and a_recordings videos that made me pull the trigger. Thanks lol. Re dolby headphone I read in another thread that it doesnt work well with angled drivers so maybe thats why I just cant seem to appreciate it.

Also, do you think e17 would be better suited for my needs since i dont appreciate dolby headphone? does it work well with games/movies and ps3?

 

[kstuart]

  Ya, thanks MLE and Kstuart. I have Jriver. Will just be using it for movies and gaming, got the E17 which works perfect for me for music but doesn't really offer any type of surround sound.

In Jriver, go to Tools->Options->Audio and click on DSP and in Effects there are various surround effects (and there are plugins that can be used with Jriver).

 

[rikstaker]

  Hi guys, I'm so close to pulling the trigger on some of these!
 
Just wanted to clarify one thing, I don't own any amp/dac combos, just a gaming rig. Will I get the best out of these using my X-fi elite pro?
 
Oh and also, I'm in the UK and Amazon currently sell these for £190, does that seem a fair price or should I hold out?
 
Thanks in advance.

DO IT  

  I love them for gaming...

 

[Guymelef]

Hello, my first time here.
I just buy this headphones. (for European people, Conrad.com has them cheap at 140€ + shipping) 
My idea was to buy a Recon3D or an Astro Mixamp for console gaming but now i'm reading here and other places that the angled drivers aren't good for DH etc... and it's better in stereo.
The main reason for the choose of this headphones is the sound stage, i'll use them for gaming, do you really think that stereo sound with this headphones does better than DH?

 

[rikstaker]

Hello, my first time here.
I just buy this headphones. (for European people, Conrad.com has them cheap at 140€ + shipping) 
My idea was to buy a Recon3D or an Astro Mixamp for console gaming but now i'm reading here and other places that the angled drivers aren't good for DH etc... and it's better in stereo.
The main reason for the choose of this headphones is the sound stage, i'll use them for gaming, do you really think that stereo sound with this headphones does better than DH?

Yes . Although mle knows more about this stuff but from my own experience I find directional audio just as good with stereo with ma900 and dh just distorts the soundstage of these headphones and this is worse when there r lots of sounds at the same time. You can try for yourself. Switching between stereo and dh reveals many flaws in how wrong the dh soundstage is with ma900, especially the front and back audio queues are confusing. i wouldnt waste my money on a mixamp unless I need chat,buying it just for dh is just a waste. Better get a fiio e17. i bought a used earforce dss and I have it on bypass and use it just as a dac. I just stick to linear pcm now, sound is much more fuller, louder, and soundstage is natural and accurate and i can still locate footsteps in cod.

Here is a post by ear8dmg in another thread:

Dolby Headphone effectively tries to simulate speakers over headphones. It is designed to simulate both speaker placement and the listening environment. This can be summarised as space, direction and acoustic properties of the room. DH1 simulates a well damped room with nearfield speakers. DH2 simulates a normal listening room with acoustic reflections. DH3 simulates a larger room with acoustic reflections. Some equipment with Dolby Headphone only has one type, usually DH2.

I've found Dolby Headphone works best on headphones with good resolution and good, fast, tight control throughout the frequency range. Ideally the headphones' headstage should be as central as possible. If your headphones meet this criteria I think they can be successful in giving a near-field monitor like experience (either as stereo or 5.1) with DH1.

A wide (but central) headstage can work well with Dolby Headphone. It effectively makes the soundstage larger, without otherwise affecting it. However, headphones with a frontal (i.e. sounds in front of you) headstage should be regarded as incompatible with Dolby Headphone as this is part of the Dolby Headphone effect. Generally that means anything with angled drivers (which is a technique headphone manufacturers use to give more speaker like presentation) should be avoided.

In practice, angled drivers aren't completely disasterous with Dolby Headphonebut they're not ideal. In well mastered audio with an existing 3d soundstage intended for stereo speakers, the 'geometry' is altered and the soundstage affected.

For live music recordings, especially acoustic music, I'm not a fan of DH2 or DH3. They both add reverbarations that interfere with the acoustics captured in the recording. Similarly they can be quite unpleasant when paired with video games with reverb and echo already in the game audio. For drier, close miked, studio recordings they can be acceptable but I don't find them as convinding as being in an acutal room with speakers. Likewise, some headphones include internal reflectors or similar, which give a slight reverb or echo type effect (I'm looking at you HD555...), interfereing with note decay. Add this to DH2 or DH3 and it gets messy.

For music listening, Dolby Headphone works well on mid-fi headphones with a central headstage. IMO, DH1 can be regarded as approching Hi-Fi but the DH2 and DH3 reverberations are a rather lo-fi effect. IIRC there's a resolution limit to Dolby Headphone. It operates natively at up to 24/96 so if you're using anything higher it will degrade the signal. For truly great hi-fi headphones that already give a speaker-like presentation like the HD800s paired with a great source, Dolby Headphone would be pointless and only degrade the already excellent audio experience.

For movie watching on something like HD800 (which I should point out I've not heard), might I suggest that a virtual speaker technology combined with a little crossfeed would do the job better?

Edit: I did find HD600 and HD580 pretty good with Dolby Headphone but they were only on par with my Goldring NS1000s, which are clearly not as good a headphone overall. "