Surround Sound Headphones

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Whay, Jul 25, 2018.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Whay

    Whay Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Yemen
    There are loads of "Gaming" 5.1/7.1 surround headphones that are meant to immerse you in the game. And whilst most games have the option to output 5.1/7.1, I just don't get how it works, or even if it does work.
     
  2. ivan_wemple

    ivan_wemple Senior Member

    These work best for humans with 5 or 7 ears.
     
  3. E-Rock

    E-Rock I Got a Rock

    Location:
    Madison, WI, USA
    Waves Nx works really well and sounds excellent - I use the Head Tracker and Nx playback software regularly to listen to ripped DVD-A and SACD surround mixes from my computer on headphones. Imaging is excellent - on many occasions I've looked at the walls around me and could "see" the virtual 5-channel speaker placement based on the aural cues in my cans. It's not perfect, of course, but I've thoroughly enjoyed many surround mixes I would otherwise never hear (I don't have a 5.1 speaker setup for music). Highly recommended.

    Nx – 3D Audio on Any Headphones | Waves
     
    Joel1963 and Ham Sandwich like this.
  4. Bill Mac

    Bill Mac Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    I've never heard the Smyth Realiser virtual surround headphone system but it looks to be quite an incredible system. Definitely expensive but if one doesn't have the space or noise is a factor (apartment life) then it looks very interesting.

    SVS Technology
    smyth Realiser A16
     
    Ham Sandwich likes this.
  5. frummox

    frummox Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    Very interested in how this works, bit unclear from their site. I have some Quad files that I can open up on my Mac. Haven't done this in quite some time but I believe I used Audacity. I can individually or collectively select any of the the four tracks and play them back but I am still constrained by the stereo out of the Mac. Does the software you mention create an artificial 5.1 simulation? If you can actually play back Quad files wouldn't you need special headphones to accommodate Quad or 5.1?
     
  6. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    The only thing that puzzles me about the notion of multichannel-approximating headphones is...they're not speakers. So...what is expected to happen to your soundstage, when you turn your head...? :confused:
     
  7. The same thing when you turn your head listening to stereo audio on headphones - the imaging stays with your head, not the room.
     
  8. Whay

    Whay Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Yemen
    So, would it be worth it to buy 5.1 headphones for SACD etc. (I don't have space for 5.1 speakers) Problem is though, it would have to be usb connection (I think...) because a normal headphone jack is stereo.
     
  9. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
    The gaming style surround sound headphones with multiple drivers in each ear to simulate and mutilate surround sound are a gimmick for gamers. That style of surround sound headphone does not sound good for music. They're pretty bad actually.

    The right way to do surround sound simulation on headphones is to do digital processing that alters the phase and eq and delay for each virtual speaker and do fancy math and DSP to get those virtual speakers to sound like they're surrounding you while using regular stereo headphones. Waves Nx and Smyth Realiser do it this way. What may be surprising is that with very good headphones this type of surround sound simulation on headphones can even simulate imaging height. It can simulate sounds above you and below you. This is done with regular stereo headphones. The better the headphones the better the effect will be.

    Audeze has also recently released a surround sound headphone called Mobius. The surround processing is done using Waves Nx built into the headphone itself.

    Waves Nx is available as a VST plugin for professional style audio applications, as a PC and Mac application for consumer style audio applications, and as a mobile app for Android and iOS. I have the VST plugin version. It works well. Allows me to listen to surround sound music mixes using headphones and allows me to listen to movies in surround sound.

    Here's a show report intro review of the Smyth Realiser system: CanJam SoCal 2018 - Smyth Research Realiser A16 Headphone Surround System
    The review and info will explain a little more about what it does.
     
    Last edited: Jul 25, 2018
  10. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
    Both Waves Nx and Smyth Realiser support the use of a headphone tracker that is able to track where your head is pointing and adjust the virtual soundscape and imaging accordingly. If you use the headtracker the soundstage and imaging will stay in place while you turn your head, just like if you were listening to speakers.

    The Waves Nx head tracker uses Bluetooth and to track your head position. The Waves Nx VST plugin can also use a web cam that watches your head to track where your head is pointing.

    Here's the Waves Nx version of the head tracker. It straps on to the headband of the headphone. Smyth Realiser has something similar that attaches to the headband of the headphone.
     
    Bill Mac likes this.
  11. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    So no matter how fast I turn when I hear the dogs in the rear speakers...they just stay back there, lurking...growling...:yikes:
     
    Shawn likes this.
  12. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    :eek: ...NOW I need me one o'thems thangs...!
     
  13. frummox

    frummox Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    Audeze headphones haven't been released yet. Is there some way to use Waves Nx with my stereo system? Looks like I'd have to play everything back through my Mac using iTunes.
     
  14. punkmusick

    punkmusick Amateur drummer

    Location:
    Brazil
    Those guys are pretty rare, haven't seen many around.
     
  15. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
    The headphone trackers have a delay inherent to the technology used to track and the processing necessary. It works better when you move your head slowly.

    The head tracking also works with stereo while doing crossfeed processing to get headphones to sound more like stereo speakers.
     
  16. E-Rock

    E-Rock I Got a Rock

    Location:
    Madison, WI, USA
    Not with Nx. As Ham mentions above, the virtual speakers stay in their respective L-C-R and SL-SR positions in the sound field. It’s pretty amazing, actually.
     
  17. frummox

    frummox Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    Sounds interesting but doesn't look like I could use this to play back my Quad album files, which typically consist of four wav files. There are quite a few converted Quad albums out there but I'm yet to figure out a way to play them back without an actual Quad system.
     
  18. E-Rock

    E-Rock I Got a Rock

    Location:
    Madison, WI, USA
    Using Nx, I’ve had no issues listening to properly ripped quad mixes from Blu-ray. I typically rip to an MKV file and play back the quad audio track via VLC player. The Nx software takes the output of VLC player and sends it to headphones.

    If you have four individual files, you’ll need to use a software utility to combine them into a single multichannel WAV file. Or, using a professional DAW with surround mixing capabilities, you could import all four files to separate tracks and pan them properly to a quad mix bus, and then use the Nx plugin to monitor them in quad on headphones.
     
  19. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
    You'll need a computer or a mobile phone acting as the source in order to run Waves Nx. And unfortunately, any quality audio setup that involves a computer and complex software gets complicated.

    If you want something that you just plug into your stereo system like a regular AV surround sound capable audio component then that's where the Smyth Realiser comes in. The Smyth Realiser accepts USB inputs (up to 16 channels), HDMI (up to 8 channels), and analog inputs (up to 16 channels).
     
    Bill Mac likes this.
  20. frummox

    frummox Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    Downloaded Waves NX (its only $9.99) and it definitely works. I'm using a pair of B&W headphones and the app allows you to view your head movements with the aid of my Mac's built in camera. I'm jus not sure how well it works as I have nothing to compare it to. Trying to weigh if the soon to be released Audeze headphones would provide an even better experience. My primary interest is playing back music not gaming.
     
  21. E-Rock

    E-Rock I Got a Rock

    Location:
    Madison, WI, USA
    The Nx Head Tracker works MUCH better than the camera option for head tracking. It tracks very smoothly and accurately. Occasionally, I'll have Bluetooth connection issues - but usually a computer restart solves the problem.

    Nx Head Tracker for Headphones | Hardware | Waves

    Before purchasing, make sure your computer has Bluetooth 4.0 BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). It absolutely will not work without this. Fortunately, most (if not all) Macs built in the past 5 years or so have BT 4.0 built-in.
     
  22. frummox

    frummox Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    I noticed that Low Energy Bluetooth spec too and it is not supported on my mid 2010 Mac Pro tower. Been calling around this morning and one of the authorized Mac retailers said there is a USB dongle out there somewhere (he said search on Amazon) that could give me Low Energy bluetooth.
     
  23. back2vinyl

    back2vinyl Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, UK
    Sorry not to have joined in earlier but this is very interesting to me because I would like to have a portable system of listening to surround music when travelling, using Audeze headphones (maybe LCD2C) and a laptop.

    However, I have downloaded the free trial version of WavesNX and I can't make it work with JRiver Media Center 24, which is my chosen media player. Looking at a couple of threads on the JRiver forum, it appears that this is problem others have had.

    Ham Sandwich, can you suggest anything? I don't see a VST plugin that JRiver can load and I just get the "Something went wrong with playback" in any case where I try to play back with WavesNX using the Waves recommended setup.

    If there's no simple solution to this then I probably won't bother - I wouldn't want anything that's complicated to use.
     
  24. frummox

    frummox Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    I was able to get the Nx App to work with my headphones. On the basis of that I ordered their Head Tracker and a low energy blue tooth dongle for my mif-2010 Mac Pro tower. Despite going back and forth with their tech support for a week simply couldn't get the dongle to work with the Head Tracker and had to return it. Taking a chance on the Audeze headphones, which are expensive but have the technology built in. They can be connected via USB instead of bluetooth which circumvents the problem with the dongle (I have a USB 3 card in my Mac). Some early ones went out but their was a noise problem so they pulled them all back and are making some changes. Maybe they'll ship out in a month or so.
     
  25. Synthfreek

    Synthfreek I’m a ray of sunshine & bastion of positivity

    I was willing to bet that this thread was bumped because of Techmoan’s brand new amazing video about the truly ridiculous Sennheiser headphones.

     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine