Surround Sound Headphones?
Feb 27, 2005 at 10:03 PM Post #77 of 160
Quote:

and there's not many places around here for good headphones. So, I'm only left with a few more choices, surround sound headphones or a good pair of 2 channel.


Then I think the best advice anyone can give you is don't buy anything at all. Get you 4aa's fixed, they're better than your other options. If you need something in the mean time go find some Koss KTX-Pros, KSC 75 or Radio Shack Pro35s. They should be about $20 and are highly recommended here. In fact, they all use the same drivers as your 4aa's but in a better configuration, open is better than closed for these drivers.

Did you need a soundcard? Put the money you save towards that, Audigy if you can. EAX will give you more improvement in games than what you'll get from SS headphones.
 
Feb 27, 2005 at 10:26 PM Post #78 of 160
Quote:

Originally Posted by Hamsterball_Z
If you look back through this thread you'll see that there are gamers posting here and recommending against SS headphones.


Just cause somebody says they play CS or who knows what doesn't mean they're a gamer.
 
Feb 27, 2005 at 10:27 PM Post #79 of 160
I haven't read this whole thread but it reminds me of something I'm going to be doing for my own personal use. I doubt a decent pair of surround sound or even the old quad headphones (drivers sucked) exist, so I thought I'd make some of my own. My plan is to hook up multi channel SACD to two T-Amps and have them teminate to a pair of 4 pin XLR's, to keep them balanced. I'll then build a pair of headphones with at least 4 drivers, either Grado 325 or possibly CD3K, since I have enough extra of either and also terminate to two 4 pin XLR's. They'll be woody of course
tongue.gif
I may even put in two skull crusher adjustable sub woofers to shake things up a bit. Should be interesting if nothing else...
 
Feb 27, 2005 at 11:13 PM Post #80 of 160
Quote:

Originally Posted by Falqon
Just cause somebody says they play CS or who knows what doesn't mean they're a gamer.


rolleyes.gif
A gamer is someone who plays games kid. It's a hobby, not a paying profession for all but a rare few of us. There was someone, maybe not in this thread though, who did say he played semi-professionally. I would assume that means tournament play for money. Is that good enough for you? He had recommendations and it wasn't for SS headphones.
 
Feb 28, 2005 at 12:27 AM Post #82 of 160
Quote:

Originally Posted by Falqon
Just cause somebody says they play CS or who knows what doesn't mean they're a gamer.


I play CS at the OGL/TWL level and I can say that stereo sound + EAX is more then enough to pinpoint exactly where sounds are coming from, including above and below. The grados, even though they dont have a large soundstage, work well enough, and the etymotics are perfect, with their isolation.
 
Feb 28, 2005 at 2:40 AM Post #84 of 160
I went to the thread, and all I saw was some complaining about illusion 5.1 and 5.1 headphones. So, I'm still at a stand still, heh. My integrated sound card has an option called Cinesurround, which is virtual 5.1, or "illusioning" surround. I used it with my headphones, and quite frankly, it sucked. It just made everything sound deeper is all, I really couldn't pinpoint anything behind me. I tested Doom 3 with this. It kinda sounded a little behind me, but was extremely weak, and basically sound like he was talking from my body. So I was disappointed with that concept. If that's virtual 5.1 then that really REALLY sucks, I'm sorry.

So, if people think virtual 5.1 is good, I don't agree. It was really nasty, I went back to normal right away.
 
Feb 28, 2005 at 4:13 AM Post #85 of 160
Again, we're not using "virtual 5.1" or virtual anything. Good headphones have a soundstage with depth and dimension on their own without effects. You can clearly hear instruments at differing distances and positions. Same for games, depth and positioning with no "virtual" required.
 
Feb 28, 2005 at 5:02 AM Post #87 of 160
Jesus H. Christ, let him buy this thing if this is what he desires. Ularewolf, you have my personal blessing to find out with your own money what I found out a long time ago. That each ear hears mono sound and is unable to distinguish the direction the sound is coming from, especially when the sources are like 1cm from each other.
 
Feb 28, 2005 at 5:23 AM Post #89 of 160
Mono is monaural, like what you'd get out of a cheap TV with one speaker.

Look Ularewolf, humans have two ears. That means there probably isn't a huge difference between stereo and multiple drivers. Theory is that the drivers are so close together that making out separations in sound would be difficult, if possible at all. I sure wouldn't like to be playing a game and devoting all my attention to picking out the .0001 cm difference of a sound wave.

You seriously are on the wrong forum, as the Koss Pro4AA's truly aren't high end. Lots of gamer websites will rave about this headphone or that... not many have heard true high end sets. I've been in your boat before, checking out the 5.1 headphones, but I didn't buy into it. I thought a lot of the people here were insane, spending so much money on headphones. The A500s I own were about $100 from audiocubes and that I thought was the absolute limit for me. But... I was wrong.

Now I have loads of stuff. Remember that I haven't auditioned a single piece of equipment in my sig, so I guess I come off as a bit impulsive. But it really was worth it. Now when I listen to cheap headphones like the Koss ones or Sony streetstyles, the difference is instantly evident. Not to say that the Koss line is bad, they're excellent for the price. But they're just not as good as a lot of other headphones.

I'll tell you now that not all 3D audio systems are created equal! Your integrated sound will sound like trash, it's a given. No integrated sound is good (including soundstorm). Stereo will have inherent imaging, thus 3D audio is not always required. If you must (like me) then Yamaha Silent Cinema and Dolby Headphone are really your only choices.

I honestly think you should be more open minded. Although you say that you value all of our opinions, all of your replies have been shooting them down. Not all things are created equal! I cannot stress this enough. There isn't some sort of generic 3D audio algorithm or some generic headphone design that applies for everything.

Theres a whole world of higher quality audio out there and if you don't want to get involved... thats fine. You could never return to head-fi and enjoy your 5.1 headphones, but I think most of us would want to let you know that theres BETTER for the money. With your apparently frugal nature, I think that you'd like to get the best bang for the buck.

Your so called skepticism seems to be rooted in defense of your headphones... perhaps a regrettable purchase? At any rate, technology is also not everything. Perhaps I can put it in different terms... A Geforce FX5200 has the technology to play the game. Does it do it well? Nope. While looking for an upgrade, are you going to get the bottom of the bucket video card from the new line that can do pixel shader version 509093?

Finally, I'd like to wrap up my rant by saying that there is simply better for the money and a lot of people here would be happy to help you. All you have to do is let them.
 
Feb 28, 2005 at 5:35 AM Post #90 of 160
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