A week or two ago I got a Turtle Beach Ear Force DSS Dolby Headphone Processor to try out. For those of you not familiar with Dolby Headphone. It is a type of processing that uses stereo headphones to replicate surround sound. It uses audio cues that trick your brain into hearing directional sound.
Since this is aimed at the gaming market, I figured I would keep it simple and use my PS2 Slim as the disc player. The inputs on the device are USB (which also powers the device), 1/8th stereo line in and toslink. I used the toslink first directly to the PS2. The box also has a headphone port, volume knob, power switch, "subwoofer" volume control and stereo passthrough button.
The device decodes Dolby Surround "7.1" and Dolby PLII. It does not do DTS. It has little lights indicating what mode it is in. It defaults to PLII when no Dolby Digital signal is present. You can also hit the stereo passthrough button to hear it clean. It also comes with a really cheap toslink cable and a USB cord.
As other people have stated, it takes some getting used to and getting oriented with. I tried a variety of headphones, old and new, but settled with my workhorse SkullCandy phones.
The first thing I tried through the device was ZZ Top Live From Texas DVD. I was not too impressed. Firstly, the mix on that disc is not too exciting. Also at first the center seems to dominate the front and almost overpower the mix. Not a very good first test. Then came Saturday Night Fever, another movie with more sparing use of surrounds, but I started to realize what this box had the capability to do. Definitely started to hear a real surround mix with depth at this point, but still, nothing too awe inspiring.
For my next tests I jumped around a little. I played a few SQ records through the analog in, and through the PLII setting. I defiantly see what everyone means when they say the right rear becomes the center. It did separate beautifully, so it does prove that it actually decodes PLII right, and the fake surround through headphones sounded right. Due to the fact that I was playing SQ records, the mix was lopsided. It had a hole in the right rear and made left front sound heavy. Kinda like a triangle of sound. I also tested various stereo material through PLII. Negligible effect. Sometimes something cool happens. Sounds more spacious. Nothing too breathtaking though.
Now back to Dolby Digital sources. I tried the surround speaker test tones on the Tron Special two disc edition DVD. I was blown away. Virtual speaker placement was spot on. I could identify what direction the tones were coming from without cheating. The “subwoofer” effect actually made subsonic vibrations hit my ears (which kinda hurt). But it all sounded like perfect 7.1 speaker placement. At this point I had to watch the whole Tron movie. And wow. What an immersive surround sound experience! It was almost as good as hearing it through a real surround setup. Also I have to note that with the bass sound effects, this thing provides the lowest, most realistic ultra low bass I have ever heard from headphones. I must note again, that sometimes it can be painful if you overdo it. Like putting your ear on a subwoofer sometimes if you aren’t careful with the level and your source material has a powerful sub effect.
So then I finally tried some quad to DD 4.0 material. I started with one of my personal favorites, Black Sabbath Paranoid. Once again, everything was immersive and properly placed. The guitar swirling effects and Ozzy popping around between the speakers is almost as powerful as it is with an actual quad setup. I also listened to some of Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here. That spacious and sometimes mysterious sounding mix also translates well through the DSS.
The great thing is, since the box’s output is a normal 1/8 stereo headphone jack, you can record the output to CD/MP3/Whatever. You probably could even make a cassette/8-Track/Reel if you wanted to. I plan on trying some recording onto CD and I’ll let you know how it turns out.
I am not affiliated with this product.
Since this is aimed at the gaming market, I figured I would keep it simple and use my PS2 Slim as the disc player. The inputs on the device are USB (which also powers the device), 1/8th stereo line in and toslink. I used the toslink first directly to the PS2. The box also has a headphone port, volume knob, power switch, "subwoofer" volume control and stereo passthrough button.
The device decodes Dolby Surround "7.1" and Dolby PLII. It does not do DTS. It has little lights indicating what mode it is in. It defaults to PLII when no Dolby Digital signal is present. You can also hit the stereo passthrough button to hear it clean. It also comes with a really cheap toslink cable and a USB cord.
As other people have stated, it takes some getting used to and getting oriented with. I tried a variety of headphones, old and new, but settled with my workhorse SkullCandy phones.
The first thing I tried through the device was ZZ Top Live From Texas DVD. I was not too impressed. Firstly, the mix on that disc is not too exciting. Also at first the center seems to dominate the front and almost overpower the mix. Not a very good first test. Then came Saturday Night Fever, another movie with more sparing use of surrounds, but I started to realize what this box had the capability to do. Definitely started to hear a real surround mix with depth at this point, but still, nothing too awe inspiring.
For my next tests I jumped around a little. I played a few SQ records through the analog in, and through the PLII setting. I defiantly see what everyone means when they say the right rear becomes the center. It did separate beautifully, so it does prove that it actually decodes PLII right, and the fake surround through headphones sounded right. Due to the fact that I was playing SQ records, the mix was lopsided. It had a hole in the right rear and made left front sound heavy. Kinda like a triangle of sound. I also tested various stereo material through PLII. Negligible effect. Sometimes something cool happens. Sounds more spacious. Nothing too breathtaking though.
Now back to Dolby Digital sources. I tried the surround speaker test tones on the Tron Special two disc edition DVD. I was blown away. Virtual speaker placement was spot on. I could identify what direction the tones were coming from without cheating. The “subwoofer” effect actually made subsonic vibrations hit my ears (which kinda hurt). But it all sounded like perfect 7.1 speaker placement. At this point I had to watch the whole Tron movie. And wow. What an immersive surround sound experience! It was almost as good as hearing it through a real surround setup. Also I have to note that with the bass sound effects, this thing provides the lowest, most realistic ultra low bass I have ever heard from headphones. I must note again, that sometimes it can be painful if you overdo it. Like putting your ear on a subwoofer sometimes if you aren’t careful with the level and your source material has a powerful sub effect.
So then I finally tried some quad to DD 4.0 material. I started with one of my personal favorites, Black Sabbath Paranoid. Once again, everything was immersive and properly placed. The guitar swirling effects and Ozzy popping around between the speakers is almost as powerful as it is with an actual quad setup. I also listened to some of Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here. That spacious and sometimes mysterious sounding mix also translates well through the DSS.
The great thing is, since the box’s output is a normal 1/8 stereo headphone jack, you can record the output to CD/MP3/Whatever. You probably could even make a cassette/8-Track/Reel if you wanted to. I plan on trying some recording onto CD and I’ll let you know how it turns out.
I am not affiliated with this product.