Surround Sound Headphones / Dolby Headphones

[hudson]

Anyone used a JVC SU-DH1 with a pair a decent headphones?

Morph, did you manage to get hold of one?

[Thurrabred]

I've had the JVC SU-DH1 for about a year and I've just received the Astro A40's today. At first when playing Gears of War 2 I was blown away by the difference on the A40 setup, however I realised, surprisingly that it was actually the A40 Headphones making most of the difference over my Beyer Dynamic DT 770's.

I can't distinguish any major difference between the SU-DH1 when set to "Dolby Headphone 2" and the A40 Amp when I'm using the A40 headphones on each decoder.

What I will say however is that the ability to power the A40's through USB is a godsend, the SU-DH1's run off either 2 AA batteries or you can power it through an unsupplied mains adapter. The problem with this is that I've tried 2 different adapter's and both provide a quite loud constant buzzing sound through the decoder, rendering it pretty useless for me.

I'm very happy with my A40's, however I now just need to buy some HD 595's to achieve Nirvana

[hudson]

Anyone experienced Tritton AX Pro headphones?

Really thinking of getting these.

[Daragon]

I would go with the Turtle Beach X41s - I use them myself and the horror stories about excessively loud crackles and pops are greatly exaggerated. Yes you do get slight ones occasionally but they're certainly not common enough to be a problem.

Sound quality is awesome, as is voice chat. They're also usable on a PS3 now but you'd need a cable attachment for it.

[hudson]

Well, I've bitten a bullet and gone for an Astro bundle consisting of the A40 Mixamp and A30 headset. I've read great things about both products and I'm really looking forward to its arrival!

[Kubrick]

I got the Mixamp & A40's a couple of months ago and they're pretty damn awesome.

[hudson]

What's the virtual 5.1 surround actually like? I read/viewed a lot of review, but they never really go into much detail other than saying "great".

I'm hoping that it will give me a great boost in my Socom Confrontation gaming as hearing footsteps are a massive factor in it.

[Dirty Sanchez]

I've just got the Pioneer SE-DIR800CII's.

Absolutely magic. Got them connnected up to my 360 via Optical, Sky HD and DVD via Coaxial from amp, TV, Wii and PS2 via line output from TV.

Totally beleivable surround, no hiss, very little leakage.

Well happy, from ebay ?149 plus ?28 for import tax and parcelforce handling. Bit disappointing with the charge but at least it was tracked/insured from Japan.

COD4 with these is sweet.

Still rocking with these - thought they were buggered a few days ago but it was just the power supply had be knocked to 7.5v instead of the required 9v. All back up and running. Comfortable too.

[hudson]

They look a beast, Dirty Sanchez.

With the Astros, it was the mic and usb power (from PS3 to Mixamp - no PSU) on top of the good reviews, that sealed the deal.

[Kubrick]

What's the virtual 5.1 surround actually like? I read/viewed a lot of review, but they never really go into much detail other than saying "great".

I'm hoping that it will give me a great boost in my Socom Confrontation gaming as hearing footsteps are a massive factor in it.

This was my first foray into this kind of thing and I don't have anything else to compare them with, so "sounds great" is all you'll get from me too.

The surround is indeed pretty effective though. I've played quite a few shooters with them and you can definitely pick out stuff like people walking and sprinting more clearly, and where their footsteps are coming from. In fact, pretty much all sound effects are more clearly audible to you - Claymores being planted, characters shouting etc. You'll definitely get a little advantage. Plus, when there's tons of **** kicking off like Helicopters hovering above & Airstrikes coming down, it sounds amazing.

Another good thing is that the microphone is also very receptive and will pick up your voice when it's quite far away from your mouth.

[hudson]

So you do get a really good sense of where sounds are coming from. Possible to get a sense of footsteps from behind?

[Kubrick]

Oh yes.

[hudson]

I'm a bit excited

[jimtendo]

I've been using the A40's since last Dec, and haven't regretted the purchase. They may be quite pricey, but damn they are worth it due to the sound experience you get.

I used Surround Sound setups for videogaming but now using Astros, I don't want to use the conventional speakers anymore due to what kubrick has already mentioned. The fact that the sounds are meaty and when playing FPS' you do get a nice (albeit small) advantage in hearing the direction of footsteps and where the action is. And on the few ocassions hearing running footsteps in the next room, for example on Afghan, when you're in the caves or on Skidrow etc.
A few times on Modern Warfare 2 I've had the jump on some smart-alecs thinking they were going for backstabbings, then only for me to turn around and shoot them in the face. It's also nice having the Live chat going through both ears as well.

[hudson]

Well, when it comes to Socom Confrontation (not everybody's cup of tea, I know), games can be intense when it's down to yourself against the remaining enemies. With ambience sound settings turned down, all that's left to listen to is gunfire and footsteps. The latter is a massive factor as you can also hear what type of terrain they're on. "Oh he's on that metal catwalk above". Now with the added sense of multi-directional sound, it should make my experience an amazing one

Of course, I'll be looking forward to trying out all my other games with the headset and amp.