I have experienced Dolby Atmos Headphones on the Xbox One, both with Dolby Atmos encoded and DTS 7.1 encoded movies. (Yes the Xbox One has both Dolby-> DTS and DTS-> Dolby translators, just set it up for the type of input audio it can receive.) I orignally wondered if DTS being translated into Dolby is as good as Dobly native? They both sounded the same, bt sounded underwheming using the Dolby Atmos Headphone app for the Xbox one. I did it so it piped into my Turtel Beach X41, wihc can either be set on mode a whihc is Dolby Por logic, or mode B, convert Dolby 5.1 ntoDolby Headphones if Dolby 5.1 is detected through the headphones, or simply pass through it it’s just Stereo, or pre-encoded for headphone 2 channel setp, like the Dolby Atmos Heapdhone app does, translate Dolby Atmos into 2-track headphone by using the Xbox One processor and the Dolby App.
Then I remembered that I used to let my ears lead my eyes, and know where sound is coming from, even if I don’t see it. So I tried it the old way, using the Xbox to translate DTS-> Dolby if necessary, and then output 5.1 thorught the Tolsink, where my Turtle BEach X41 takes a native Dolby 5.1 and translate it into Dolby Headphone.
The Dolby 5.1 headphone encoding had 2 obvious features. One the explosions felt bigger, and the wind was more noticeable with the X41 processor, so trebles and basses were turned up. The other thing that happened is that it was more obvious where in 3D space a lot of the sounds were. And Dolby Atmos was a traditionally 2D system. But it had better effects, both in terms of the front-back and left-right, and all postions in between, but also High-low was well conveyed.
In both those respects, either the old Turtle Beach Processors specifiically are optimized, or if TB uses just a Standard 5.1->HP converter, just like Triton, their biggest competitor at the time, and all the other 5.1 Headphone processor makers, then Dolby Atmos Headphones is WORSE than Dolby 5.1 Headphones. You think with more chanels and obects of sound, the 3D effects would be more accurate than Dolby 5.1 Headphones.
It’s actually less accurate. Everything seems centered in both treble-bass as well as 3D location. I’m not saying it’s inaccurate, it’s just WAY MORE SUBTLE.
I remember Turtle Beach in their promotional videos for the X41 saying they add reverb and echo and uses those cues to more accurately convey direction. First is that unique to Turtle Beach, or did all gaming headset makers for the 360 and PS3 use echo and reverb to increase the sense of direction?
If everyone did, then if Triton 360s are also as direcitonally and treble/bass heightened as TBs when why did everyone move to in-hardware headphone decoding of either Windows Sonic or Dolby Atmos Headhone, both of which are too "centered" to accruately pick out the directions. Was it cheaper? (yes) Is there really any difference between headphones? (not much)
If Turtle Beach did have a proprietary system for "audio MSG", then why did they abandon it, especially when no one else had it? Even though I love the X41 effect for movies on Blu Ray and (I assume once we upgrade the TV) 4K, do some movie watcher want less artificial sounding sounds? But even if Movies watcher want the more "natural" low bass, low treble, centered directionally sound, gamers don’t love it. They want to get any advantage they legally can get. When I was considering headphones for my movies upstairs and games downstairs, I asked my good friend, Jamal "Zophar3221" Nickens, if headphones are a good substitute for communal headphones in rooms that are hard to balance right (Our TV installer said it would cost $10k in labor to balance the room right for surround in 2008. I figured if Headphones are always centered around you and enclosed, then it shouldn’t matter what the room shape or size is.) My main question was, were there convincing 3D positioning in sound effect in a Triton, the OFFICIAL headphone sponsor of a show he was on WCG Ultimate Gamer Season 1. And he told me it’s better direcitonally and in picking up small sound cues than a traditional, "communal" sound system. Just make sure it says surround.
I would have went with Triton, but a Turtle Beach was less expensive than a Triton which used 7 actual mini-speakers, compared to TB’s 2 track surround. TB argues you have 2 ears, and 2 speakers are all you need to get convincing surround sound. I read reviews, and they said 2-speaker virtual surround works just as well as 7.1 actual speakers, just cheaper and less likely to break. Another neat side effect is that you can harness the 5.1 surround remixed for 2 speakers, and take those 2 tracks and send the to another headphone, or send them to a DVD recorder, or an MP3 recorder, and the surround processing is preserved in the 2 tracks, even recorded on a 2-track DVD, MPS, or Video Game streamer. If a game is in surround sound, I can stream it out by rerouting that 3.5 mm cable into the L/R audio ports and make the game sound surround.
I’ve got a demonstration of a 5 minute scene from "Ready Player One" 2D pack-in within a 3D/2D multipack. I chose the movie becuase it has both a Dolby Atmos track and a DTS 7.1 track. I was originally testing if there is a difference between keeping native Dolby or translating DTS to Dolby. The scene I chose was the first car race scene. I played it twice, and recorded the Dobly and DTS playthrough as selected on the Blu Ray.
Both sounded underwhelming. That’s wehen I noticed I was using Dolby Atmos Headphone app, so I tried both again using the downmixed Dolby 5.1 from both an Atmos and DTS 7.1 source through the X41’s processor, and Both the Native Dolby AND the DTS translated into Dobly both sound better.
I’d like you to take the test yourself. If someone can tell me an audio sharing site, (I Would do YouTube, but they require motion pictures. You could cheat by making a still, but putting up a single picture throughout the audio is a pain in video editing, even on iMovie.) I’ll post the 4 audio clips label them as "Surround headphone test. Listen in over-the-ear headphones for the best effect. Do not process sound." Make them private to only people who see this post, and I’ll "shuffle them" and see what other people think.
I have enough bandwidth trouble trying to send audio outbound, sending a video compounds it, so if someone knows a good audio sharing website that doesn’t propagate on search engines, please tell me. I only get 400 kb/s second. How long would it take to send 4 HQ MP3 Stereo files of 5 minutes apiece?
I did notice you can upload attachments, but apparently not .MP3’s. If someone knows how to upload an MP3 here, let me know. Also why wouldn’t an audio enthusiast’s website like head-fi.org allow MP3 uploads? You think MP3s are the perfect material to share audio comparisons. But apparently, I can’t post MP3s!
