5.1 Surround Headphones

Hey everyone,

My wife bought me a pair of 5.1 headphones along with an SBLive! 24-bit USB soundcard with 5.1 for Christmas. Along with WinDVD, which I already had, I can now listen to DVD-Audio in 5.1 at work. How awesome is that?! Unfortunately, the DVD-Audio is downsampled to 16-bit 48 kHz but who cares when you're listening through headphones anyway?

These things are really cool. The spatial orientation of the speakers are far better than I would have imagined you could get out of headphones. The center channel gets very, very close to sounding like it's really in front of you. The rears are good as well. Essentially you have three speakers on each side, placed horizontally along the sides of your head. The frontmost left and right speakers act in mono with each other to form a single center channel. The middle left and right speakers act as your fronts, and the backmost left and right act as your rears. To check them out, go here: http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2003/09/13/Zalman_5.1_ZM-RS6F_Headphones/1.html

Obviously it's no substitute for my home system, but when I'm at work, this will DEFINITELY fit the bill.

There used to be quadraphonic headphones. While they had a forward and a rearward speaker on each side, they were unable to convey anything more than stereo, because they isolated the ears, and two ears are required to hear direction. The brain detects the subtile delay of sounds reaching each ear and the not so subtile difference in levels. If the ears are completely isolated, there is no way to hear front to back information. So, I would expect there to be a duct running from one side to the other on the front or the back in order to convey this information. It might be also be possible to do it in the electronic relm also, so I would be curious to know if there is a box of any kind. The Dolby Headphone project is an attempt to accomplish this while using a simple pair of stereo headphones if I understand it correctly. By the way, what was the cost of the 5.1 headphones?

The Quadfather

That's interesting about the quad headphones. I wasn't aware of that. These 5.1 headphones cost $60, so they're not terribly expensive. The sound quality is very good for headphones.

As far as the duct is concerned, there is definitely no duct or box in the front or the back, but it's possible that there may be a duct in the headband that goes over your head, I'm honestly not sure. The rears sort-of sound like they're behind you, but obviously it's no substitute for sitting in your chair in the middle of your listening room. The center channel though, wow. It really does sound like it's in front of you.

I have the Pioneer DIRC800 wireless headphones which use Dolby Headphone Technology. They're certainly no match for HT speakers but excellent for loud film watching when the kids are asleep. They are also rather good stereo headphones for music listening and crystal clear as long as you stay in line of sight of the base station


Cheers


Martin

I got a set of the Zalman 5.1 headphones for X-mas as well, and I have to say that I'm not really impressed with the sound.

They seem decent for watching movies, but I tried running some music through them and the front to back separation was minimal, if even there. I tried a few aggressive surround titles, such as Dark Side of the Moon (the Parsons Quad mix) or the DVD-A of Emerson Lake and Palmer's "Brain Salad Surgery" and ended up being a bit disappointed.

These headphones do not offer the best sound quality either. There is a roll off in high frequencies, and a tiny boost in the mid frequencies. This is probably a side effect of the drivers in the speakers being so small, but it gives the phones a really weird sound at times.

All that said, they are certainly light years better then the few sets of Quad headphones I've ever tried, and they are much more comfortable as well. The build quality of these phones is excellent. The "Center" channel does have a way of sounding like it's coming from in front of you, rather then just being the same sound across both sides (if that makes any sense.)

Another really nice thing about these phones is that they have a VERY long cord. This gives you a lot of flexibility. Also, they fold up allowing for easier storage and portability.

As I said above, the headphones are quite comfortable. While these aren't the most comfortable headphones I've ever used (my Koss TD/60s are my favorites), they are among the best. It's quite impressive when you consider just how heavy these headphones really are.

I found some really good info on some websites while looking up info on these headphones.

http://www.3dvelocity.com/reviews/zalman_hp/zalmanphones_1.htm
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/zalmanheadphonesreview.php
http://www.ownt.com/hardware/headphones/2004/zalman_headphones/zalman_headphones.shtm

Also worth checking out is the 5.1 USB soundcard that Zalman offers, pretty much made for these headphones:
http://www.3dvelocity.com/reviews/zalman_sc/zmrssc_1.htm


Bottom line is this: Don't expect it to replace your speakers, because it's not nearly as good. These headphones seem more suited for movies then they do for music, or anything else where super discrete front/back separation is needed. Still, for the price (about $50 depending on where you look), you really can't go wrong, and these are probably the best "surround" headphones that have been mass produced to date.

I wear a lot of different headphones for extended periods of time because of what I do for a living. (I’m a radio engineer, and part time air talent/producer.) Compared to other headphones, it's clear that the folks at Zalman really put some serious thought into this design. Unfortunately, if my set is any indication, they still have a ways to go for the sound these are supposed to provide.

Hi,

I haden't really taken much interest in HPs until I got a Denon 5803 which included DolbyHeadphone to it's DSP list. Since I do a fair amount of late nite film watching I found this program quite impressive on it's own but I was really sent for a loop when I chose DTS on a film and saw the face of the Denon show DTS + DolbyH.

I won't for a moment compare the experience to speakers but I was impressed enough with the sound separation to dig through my small collection looking for their specifications as it pertained to bass.

The set that seems to provide the most are the Sony DJ MDR-V700 but these are fairly heavy.
I also have Sennheiser 459s which are nice for 2ch but not film.

Then I experimented with the inear Shure Ec3s but I found were way to pricey for the performance and found them difficult to keep well seated in my ear with the kit that came with them.

After checking around for a pair that goes down into the teens and are also light, I picked up a pair of Sennheiser PXC-250 (come with a small noise cancelling battery pack) noise cancelling HPs for $107.00CDN at TigerDirect.

Peter M.

analogdemon said:

Unfortunately, the DVD-Audio is downsampled to 16-bit 48 kHz but who cares when you're listening through headphones anyway?

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Hey now! I listen primarily through headphones because it is a higher resolution listening experience (with my systems).

In the good ol' days of Quad, I had Koss Quad Headphones. They were really cool for the time period. By today's standards, they were extremely heavy & bulky. Even the cord was very thick & heavy, with dual 1/4" plugs. It even had a compartment for Excedrin for the headaches that accompanied wearing these headphones. Now I really like the Sennheiser RS-130's. They are Surround headphones that use 900 mhz. (much better then line of sight IR Headphones. They are pretty lightweight & comfortable. Other then that, I really like my SkullCandy corded Stereo Headphones with battery powered bass amplified subwoofer. Nice low end, and very light & comfortable.

Real multichannel surround via headphones: http://www.smyth-research.com/products.html

Kal

I have a pair of Koss Quadraphones... I don't really know why I keep them around

Kal Rubinson said:

Real multichannel surround via headphones: http://www.smyth-research.com/products.html

Kal

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Yes, I love my Smyth Surround Sound Headphone set up !

Hey, we aren't talking about SRS or Dynaquad, we are looking for info on genuine 4 to 6 speaker headphones... Just found out that the old Koss 2+2 I am interested on eBay in have vertical drivers - now how's that work in a front-rear soundfield...

Hi Brian and Kal:

If you want to come to my home in Murphy, Texas,
you can get my Apogee 5.0 setup into your Smyth systems.

O.K. I'll admit to an ulterior motive.

I'd love to hear a Smyth realizer before I buy a setup.

Steven

Front: Apogee Mini Grand
Rear: Apogee Centaur Minor
Center: Apogee Persius LCR