Surround Sound Headphones / Dolby Headphones

[Malc]

Cheers for the information Tom, I'll wait to hear how it works for you before I purchase, I also hate importing products due to the so called 'handling fees' and tax that they put on your items. But if it sounds good when you get yours through then I may purchase just the MixAmp and a rechargeable battery for it.

[cavalcade]

I still recommend the Sharkoon XTactic ones... 5.1, no need for amp, even has a subwoofer with vibration/rumble. Lovely jubbly.

I think they're pretty average phones, with terrible build quality for the price. The bass response is shocking, and the "vibration" too irritating to be anything other than a gimmick. I also don't like the control box and the on-lead controls, which are fiddly. The 5.1 can be vaguely convincing, but I'd still take a decent pair of headphones at the same price over these any day. I will accept I don't have the very latest version though - so perhaps they've improved.

[hudson]

I think they're pretty average phones, with terrible build quality for the price. The bass response is shocking, and the "vibration" too irritating to be anything other than a gimmick. I also don't like the control box and the on-lead controls, which are fiddly. The 5.1 can be vaguely convincing, but I'd still take a decent pair of headphones at the same price over these any day. I will accept I don't have the very latest version though - so perhaps they've improved.

Interesting. Can you recommend any alternatives?

[Spatial]

Try a set of top end Sennheiser's.

I've got a pair of HD595's which I used for surround sound with one of those Creative Audio Surround Sound devices. Played through the whole of Mass Effect and Bioshock with them on and it was excellent - they might be a tad bit expensive but they're uber comfortable.

Don't think they do the 595's any more, so have a read around and see what you can find (or someone here should be able to recommend something).

I can't speak for the Sharktoon ones but I know the last set of Surround headphones I used (Medusa) were so powerful I swear they've left me with hearing damage. No matter how much you tweaked them, the bass was so bad it felt like someone ramming a jackhammer through your ear drum.

[ChrisF]

Is the Sharkoon really that bad compared to alternatives then? I have to admit I have only tried the Sharkoon and was pleased with the results (especially for the price). But if there's better to be had then I'd also be interested in knowing alternatives.

[tom-nook]

I think they're pretty average phones, with terrible build quality for the price. The bass response is shocking, and the "vibration" too irritating to be anything other than a gimmick. I also don't like the control box and the on-lead controls, which are fiddly. The 5.1 can be vaguely convincing, but I'd still take a decent pair of headphones at the same price over these any day. I will accept I don't have the very latest version though - so perhaps they've improved.

From what I can gather the Sharkoon headsets are rebadged / restyled Trittons.

The new Sharkoons are supposedly Tritton AX Pro's in disguise. The AX Pro's are meant to be a vast improvement over the AX 360's, which I think the Sharkoon's you are talking about were based on. The AX Pro's reportedly have much better bass (they don't use vibration to simulate bass) and are a far better headset. Also the V2 Sharkoon's have a bad rep for the mics packing in.

That said I have heard of some issues with the V3 Sharkoon's (unacceptable hissing when volume is raised, dodgy wiring, 'ufo' style bleeping noises in the background) so build quality may still be a bit lacking.

The main thing that put me off the Sharkoon V3 / Ax Pro headsets was the fact they require 2 power supplies to run the things

[J0e Musashi]

I recently purchased the Sony MDR-DS7000. They're a Japan-only model, but are desinged to be used with PS3 and are virtual 7.1. I've been most impressed by them.

[tom-nook]

Cheers for the information Tom, I'll wait to hear how it works for you before I purchase, I also hate importing products due to the so called 'handling fees' and tax that they put on your items. But if it sounds good when you get yours through then I may purchase just the MixAmp and a rechargeable battery for it.

Some good news on that score. Lime who are based in the UK (& have many happy customers on AV Forums) as of yesterday started to stock Astro products.

They are selling the A40 system (initial shipment sold out) for £230 which is roughly what it cost me after import charges & airmail shipping for mine.

They also have the mixamp for approx. £120 delivered which is less than Astro sell them for even before you factor in import costs

http://www.limexb360.co.uk/category/Astro_Gaming_Products?sortBy=FeaturedDesc

I don't have a lot of time to add impressions at the moment but I would say that I'm very happy with the mixamp. It does a good job of creating a surround effect and the ability to change the balance between voice comms / game sound is really nice. It can be powered by either batteries (4xAA or rechargeable pack) or a usb lead hooked up to a console.

The headset is also solid and the intergrated mic / voice comms work very well. Audio wise it performs very well for gaming use but is only average for listening to audio cd's (for which decent stereo headphones would be a better bet). If you do a lot of online gaming though and want the convenience of an intergrated mic then they should fit the bill nicely.

I added up some comparisons between the A40 headset and a pair of Audio Technica AD700s on AVF. Link attached for some initial impressions: http://www.avforums.com/forums/xbox-...ml#post9709008


Feel free to pm me if you have any questions etc.

[Malc]

Cheers for the information Tom. Now that Lime are shipping from the UK I'm more tempted to buy the MixAmp alone and use a decent pair of Stereo headphones, if the amp outputs surround sound to any pair of Stereo headphones.

If I am going to power the MixAmp with a USB lead into my 360, does the amp connect from the TV headphone socket, into the console with the USB lead, and then my headphone lead plugs into the Amp?

[tom-nook]

Hey Malc,

To answer your q's:

- One end of the usb lead plugs into the console and the other into the mixamp. It only provides power and does not carry an audio signal.

- the headphone lead plugs directly into the mixamp

- there are 3 ways to get audio from your 360 to the mixamp. They are outlined in the quickstart guide linked to here: http://www.astrogaming.com/support/manuals/

Using an optical connection will provide you with the best results with the tv headphone socket being very much a last resort.

[hudson]

Thinking of getting a Tritton AXPro headset. Any bad things to be said about them? Seem to be nicely priced at 160 quids.

[nonny]

Ive recently received the Turtle Beach X4's and have been very, very pleased with them.

The biggest issue I had was that any headphones I purchased had to be wireless. I play on a projector and sit way too far back to run an optical cable across the floor. I'd tried out a mates Astro A40's a month earlier and was very impressed with those... in comparison I dont think the sound from the X4's is as good but its a close second.

Because they are IR you need line of sight but I've got the IR emitter placed right to the side of my centre speaker underneath my projector screen and I've happily wandered around with them on my head (well they are wireless) and the sound doesnt cut out unless you're a good 20m away... similar to the 360 controller actually.

I've got mine hooked up via optical. The IR emitter/receiver has an optical pass thru... so you can hook it up inline and still have sound output to any AVR you might have, plus you can turn on/off decoding on the unit. I didnt need to run optical inline though. I was delighted to find out the 360 will ouput audio on both HDMI and Optical at the same time and as I had the HDMI dongle that comes with the official HDMI cable I just used that to run a optical cable to the IR receiver and left the HDMI running audio to my AVR.

All I need to do to use the headset is mute my AVR and Im good to go.

As for the headphones themselves. They're very comfortable and there is very little sound leakage. The is a volume control for game audio on the left can and if you want to use the mic for ingame voice you plug in the supplied cable to attach to the 360 controller which has the mute/volume controls for that on the dongle.

It took me a while to mix the two audio sources but once you hit the sweet spot the voice comms on this headset is perfect. I've had no issue with the clarity of it and it relays your own voice back through the headset so you can hear yourself speaking. It also raises/lowers the mixing as ingame audio gets louder and that seems to work really, really well.

The surround sound is exceptionally good on some games. COD in particular is a joy to play with these and Im also loving playing drums on rock band. Not least because I can play late at night but also it of course means I cant hear the actual noise of me hitting the drums.

If there are any negatives... sure they're expensive and I still think the Astro A40s sound better. They are also obviously IR so if you have a plasma TV you can forget it. There is a slight hissing sound if you turn up the voice volume too much. Its only audible in silence so mainly in game lobbies before a game starts. I've noticed though if you replace the supplied optical cable with a better one this hissing is quieter and generally I find you can mix the volume to lessen the effect anyway.

All round if you really need wireless like me these are a great option. Otherwise maybe check out the Astro's instead.

[Yakumo]

I have a pair of Pioneer 5.1 Dolby, Dolby Pro Logic and DTS headphones that sound fantastic with games (even those that aren't in surround) and movies but I have noticed some very odd issues with the Blade Runner box set. You know the one, it comes with 5 DVDs. Anyway, in any of the surround sound modes whether it be 5.1 or DTS setting there's always a lot of hiss when people speak plus everything sounds echoy. I guess the hissing could be due to the age of the movie but what could be the cause of the slight echo? Any ideas? This is the only film that suffers from it that I own.

Yakumo

[Brad]

They are also obviously IR so if you have a plasma TV you can forget it.

Why is that?

Oh, I use Sennheiser HD595s and a Yamaha Amp in Silent Cinema mode. Works pretty well. The headphones are totally awesome, although expensive at £100ish but you can wear them all night and forget they're even on as they're so comfy (full over the ear jobbies with velvet padding, mmmmm nice).

[gunrock]

Why is that?

Oh, I use Sennheiser HD595s and a Yamaha Amp in Silent Cinema mode. Works pretty well. The headphones are totally awesome, although expensive at £100ish but you can wear them all night and forget they're even on as they're so comfy (full over the ear jobbies with velvet padding, mmmmm nice).

Another vote for Yamaha's silent cinema. At the start of the year bought a second hand Yammy home-cinema system (slimline amp and 5.1 speakers) just for my study with use with headphones. Only cost my 80 quid for the whole system and it was boxed and hardly used.