5.1 Headphones

[Smithyoffline]

What is a nice 5.1 headphones for the price...

Looking at using them for gaming, video editing, music editing, listening to music and watching dvds on the computer on those late nights

 

[konakona]

AFAIK, there is a handful of brands that make those.. i tried one of them, thought it was a crap.
why dont you buy some quality headphone and an inexpensive DIY amp, dolby headphone is awesome in movies and for music you can never beat headphones with speakers for same $$$. that of course if you are happy with different imaging headphones have, altho there are some HRTF plug-ins that simulate the speaker sound effect on headphones. what is your budget?

 

[Smithyoffline]

so for what i want to do what type of headphones should i be looking for

 

[konakona]

please specify your budget so we can come up with some answers

 

[Smithyoffline]

$50 AUD so i dont know how much that is american

 

[Skiguy411]

Take a look at the Sennhieser HD280 Pro. Might be a bit over your budget, but I have been extremely happy with them after some 50 hours of burn in time.

 

[stultus]

Originally posted by: midori
AFAIK, there is a handful of brands that make those.. i tried one of them, thought it was a crap.

Which brand was "crap"? I'm looking at the Zalmans.

 

[aug1516]

I have not actually tried any of those 5.1 headphones but from what I have read about them they don't seem to be that great. I would take the advice of midori and consider buying a nice pair of normal headphones and use the Dolby Headphone format instead.

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: Skiguy411
Take a look at the Sennhieser HD280 Pro. Might be a bit over your budget, but I have been extremely happy with them after some 50 hours of burn in time.

Seconded

 

[konakona]

this is what i got to try... i know, prolly not the best one around. but havnt heard any good things about any other 5.1channel headphones either. what i can tell you for sure is i really dig my phones (hd580/cd3000) with dolby headphones

 

[Smithyoffline]

ok sounds like dolby sound is better, so whats the best headphones for price in the dolby range

 

[0roo0roo]

those 580's need amps.

5.1 is a gimmic

theres a sony and err some other japanese company version of the 5.1... but those are hundreds of dollars.

 

[oldfart]

How do 5.1 headphones work when you only have 2.0 ears?

 

[dowxp]

not recommended.

http://www.bit-tech.net/review/261/

 

[dowxp]

Originally posted by: oldfart
How do 5.1 headphones work when you only have 2.0 ears?

Well there are multiple speakers to simulate surround sound. The question should be worded better though.

 

[1sikbITCH]

I bought these Kinyo's. I can't tell if the 5.1 actually makes a difference, but they do sound really good (compared to my $20 Compusa specials). The amp is included, along with 6 different patchcords so you can hook up to consoles, pc, dvd player, tv, reciever, etc...

For $50, they're great. I'm not that critical though. I'm sure to some people they aren't good enough.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: oldfart
How do 5.1 headphones work when you only have 2.0 ears?

can't u say that about any 5.1 system?

 

[lazybum131]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
can't u say that about any 5.1 system?

But how useful would a 5.1 system be if you strapped it right up to your ears?

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: lazybum131

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
can't u say that about any 5.1 system?

But how useful would a 5.1 system be if you strapped it right up to your ears?

Maybe not too useful, but you sure would look cool.

 

[0roo0roo]

heh, yea i just use hd497's with windvds dolby headphone setting. works great.

 

[stultus]

In this month's Wired they do a minicomparison of 5.1 headphones. An $800 Sony pair gets 5/5, a $300 Pioneer pair gets a 4/5, the $70 Zalmans get a 4/5, and a $50 Ninyo pair get a 2/5. Knock against the Zalmans: speech in movies is tinny, but for games they're great. I bet I could tweak levels for movies.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: stultus
In this month's Wired they do a minicomparison of 5.1 headphones. An $800 Sony pair gets 5/5, a $300 Pioneer pair gets a 4/5, the $70 Zalmans get a 4/5, and a $50 Ninyo pair get a 2/5. Knock against the Zalmans: speech in movies is tinny, but for games they're great. I bet I could tweak levels for movies.

I have the Zalmans; I concur with their assesment. The sound is *not* great for speech or music, but for gaming, they're very good (too much bass, not enough midrange and high-end -- not a problem if you're blowing stuff up, but not great for music). You can also find them for less than $70 if you shop around.

 

[konakona]

$50 AUD is about $35 it appears... at that price range the only thing i could recommend is Koss porta Pro or Beyerdynamic DT231. the latter is probably a lil over your budget, but trust me it will be worth it

 

[Swylen]

I have the Zahlmans too. Good for games, bad for movies and music. Found them for $45 here:
http://www.directron.com/zmrs6f.html

 

[glen]

Originally posted by: oldfart
How do 5.1 headphones work when you only have 2.0 ears?

Yes.
But, the sound needs to be processed.
In normal headphones, you hear only one channel in each ear, so 3d sound, and stereo sounds are lost.
You hear stereo on speakers, because each ear hears both channels.
To make headphones work, you need special processing rather than special drivers inside the headphone.