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5.1 headphone amplifiers

O

oqvist

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Dec 24, 2001
Messages
8,936
Is there anymore except the Zalmans amplifier? Now that should be compatible with just about all 5.1 headphones right? Am considering the Kinyos 5.1 headphones.
 
Yes that is gotten in every thread. Either by audiophiles or people who never have had them and say you can´t get 5.1 surround from headphones and that simulated is better.

Been there, heard that, don´t agree.

I already got some Zalmans 5.1 surround headphones are getting some Kinyo 5.1 surround head phones and are looking for amplifiers for it.

So I don´t need any advice not to get 5.1 surround headphones since I find them superior to stereo headphones for gaming and movies. That is when I can´t use my speakers of course.

So I want opinion on those Zalman amplifiers or other choices.
 
They don´t? Usually helps boosting volume a lot which may be even more needed because the smaller drives these are using?
 
Okay that was not a good point for me because I want the better surround I do get with 5.1 headphones while of course still make them sound as good as possible :)
 
Man now you are making me get some real second thoughts :( Those looks very nice indead. But I have already the Kinyo 5.1 on it´s way it has something similar though I have a hard time to tell if it´s a amplifier or only a connector bay so to speak to be able to use it with DVD players and such.

It says amplifier box so that must mean it´s indead an amplifier. Can someone read anything about these specs on it?

Input E level: =<150 mVolt
Output power: = 500 mWx6
S/N Ratio:=>80 dB
Separation>=60 dB
Distortion=<0.5 db
 
output power looks nice, possibly a bit high...most phones dont need anymore than 100mW at most. Keep in mind your average MP3 player puts out between 5mW and 10mW, with a few going as high as 30mW.
SN ratio is noto all that hot, you need around 100s/n to compete with CD.
separation isnt too bad
distortion at .5 is a tad on the high side, but since it sounds like your after surround sound and not SQ, it's fine. The point of complaint for distortion is about .8-1.0


I guess for being one of the few on the market, it's decent. I've heard the zalman phones before and was not impressed....it gave 5.1 alright...but I'm oldschool, and prefer 2-channel.

Don't expect any great amps on the market until 5.1 headphones start showing up outside of the gamer arena, and move into home audio/portable theater appliances such as portable dvd players. Once the shift is there, I bet you'll start seeing better products.
 
mustang_steve said:
Don't expect any great amps on the market until 5.1 headphones start showing up outside of the gamer arena, and move into home audio/portable theater appliances such as portable dvd players. Once the shift is there, I bet you'll start seeing better products.
Click to expand...
That will be interesting, but they'll have to work past the fact they simply don't perform well at providing channel separation. In due time perhaps, but I'd almost expect to see someone implement a stereo headphone with built in surround processing that takes a standard surround signal and does the usual trickery to make you think it's 3D sound.

Could really easily be worked in to a basestation for a set of wireless headphones... of course then they'd have to make the wireless part work well. Would be a cool product though.

now that I think about it, doesn't sony have a product kind of like that? *off to look*

edit: yup I wasn't crazy . Transmits via IR, so that alleviates some of the issues with RF wireless headset soundquality in most consumer products.Sony makes some (I hope this link works)
 
Well this is meant to be compatible with DVD:s consoles and whatever.

Interesting to see what it will do have never had an amplifier before :)
 
channel separation issues can be dealt with through psycho-acoustics, well, at least to some extent.

For 2-channel headphones, to get past the "in your ear" feeling they have, they use a psychoacoustic equalization to trick your mind into thinking the sound is coming from the front.

See, how we percieve direction is based on phase and tonal characteristics. Both of these change by the time the sound gets to our ears, and is altered by the shape of our heads...see our ear canal is 90 degrees to the center channel...so what we get is what sound manages t get by our ears.

If you ever heard of binaural recordings, those were recordings where they used a mannequin head with microphones in it's ears to do the stereo recording. What it did was made the recording have a built in correction for soundstage, while at the same time working pretty well on regular stereo systems. It's a pretty rare recording type, but it's interesting in concept.

my only gripe with a 5.1 headphone is the psycho-acoustic equalizations, or more accurately the ones that are not there, combined with low channel separation values. In a chamber that small, separation is of paramount importance...really there is no reason they cant get 80dB+ of separation with some work.
 
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