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5.1 headphones :( ???

Medusa is actually cheaper now in Europe than the Kinyos was to buy in the US ;)
 
Mister X said:
Baby O's or Daddy O's? :p
Click to expand...
The Daddy I guess.
61371063_7fbe5cb3e1.jpg


The 5.1 idea is still interesting. I think I might get a pair of the Medusas.
 
Ronco said:
The 5.1 idea is still interesting. I think I might get a pair of the Medusas.
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you have some Daddy O's and your interested in some Medusa's? lol. I feel like I am in the twilight zone right about now. :p I guess for the price difference between the two.. the Medusas could be considered disposable. heh
 
It's great isn't it, everyone has a totally different opinion and are equally reasonably convincing in their own way I have to say my curiousity's piqued. I use the Sennheiser Orpheus for my gaming needs (pulling double duty as regular listening phones of course) and I find that unless I hear the transition from left or right, sometimes I find it difficult to tell front from back. It could just be wrong settings but I've pondered if there is a more fool-proof solution to this problem.
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Dang I wish I had a HE-90/HEV-70 combo... And yes those are the REAL (Daddy O's) HE90 Orpheus.

I assume you do NOT own these $20,000 headphones...
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They are by now means $20k... They're ONLY $5000.
 
But 5.1 headphones surely is more then a gimmick. Hi Fi people will not like it but then these people doesn´t seem to enjoy gaming very much.
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I sure hope you were being sarcastic...

As for music you don´t need more than stereo for music and thus you can for sure get headphones for the same price that sounds better. My Kinyo was about 100$ or something don´t recall and it did come with an amp which I am sure helped it some. The similar priced 890 and the cheaper Porta PRO both didn´t have any amp. Now the amp is hardly high end. The headphones hiss a lot when no audio is produced but I guess it helped them keeping up with those supposedly better sounding headphones.
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I'd expect a $100ish headphone to AT LEAST be as good as a $40 PortaPro...

Once again my original "good basis" comes into play. "What GOOD headphones have you listened to, o compare your 5.1's?" PP's are good for mobility... they aren't however GREAT in audio quality. If you say they are good in audio we want to know you've listened to something good like a Grado SR80, Senn HD580, Beyer DT770, AKG K240S, Sony SA1000, ect.
 
holy smoke dude you have the daddy forget the snakes! Medusas are noooo comparison even to my lowly akg 501s.
 
Ronco said:
The Daddy I guess.
Click to expand...
:eek:
Post pics of your rig in the "Post your headphones" thread right now. NOW!!! :D

I agree that anyone looking for sound quality to stay away from the Zalmans. I own a pair, and they sound worse than Dollar Tree earbuds. Seriously. Their soundstage is decent, but please consider spending a bit more to get some real headphones. Like an Audio Technica A500, cheap and great with games IMO.
 
I think it's been said or implied by more than one person on this thread that absolute sound quality is not the issue for some gamers. I would agree with that to an extent. Many of the reviews and denegrations of these phones seem to be from a listening point of view, and whats more I distinctly get the impression reading through many of the 5.1 headphone threads that many who're commenting on them haven't tried them. As I said myself, whether they sound good is not an issue for me. Whether they do 3D well is far more of interest. I've been asking for comparisons, yet there's not been much in the way of answers to that. It's always focused around how terrible they sound. If they do positioning well, in games it may not be necessary to feel every boom. At least that's the way I think about it. Anyone willing to give more specific comparisons of how the positioning ability differs in 5.1 phones versus regular ones?
 
Ronco said:
I think it's been said or implied by more than one person on this thread that absolute sound quality is not the issue for some gamers. I would agree with that to an extent. Many of the reviews and denegrations of these phones seem to be from a listening point of view, and whats more I distinctly get the impression reading through many of the 5.1 headphone threads that many who're commenting on them haven't tried them. As I said myself, whether they sound good is not an issue for me. Whether they do 3D well is far more of interest. I've been asking for comparisons, yet there's not been much in the way of answers to that. It's always focused around how terrible they sound. If they do positioning well, in games it may not be necessary to feel every boom. At least that's the way I think about it. Anyone willing to give more specific comparisons of how the positioning ability differs in 5.1 phones versus regular ones?
Click to expand...

Actually, the OP said that the headphones will be used for EVERYTHING. (Including music.) And there is no inexpensive "5.1" headphone that's any good for music.
 
Yes, but I was subtly threadjacking. It's all about me, me, me :p I just want to know if these do position better.
 
ok final question what are the best headphones i can get for 50 bux or less that can be used for eeeeeeeeeeeevvvvvvvvvverrrrrrrrrything??
 
Medusa's are $125.00 for the retail package and $105.00 for the OEM brown box. That's shipped. No extra charges.
They are shipped from the UK. The US distributor is actually a website for the UK distributor and they are also an ebay seller - AfterHoursComputers.

http://www.medusa-usa.com

And the purchase page
http://www.medusa-usa.com/purchase.htm

If you look for reviews for 5.1 headsets - these guys are concidered the best.
Audiophiles - go somewhere else - I personally don't think that I'll be worrying about the tonality and response of the AK47's "distingtive sound" that's being fired AT me in CS:S and BF2. And I'm not going to stop to debate the "crispness" of the footsteps on gravel or stone floor on de_dust. I just want to know where they are and who is making them - so I can kill them before they kill me.

I need an OK sounding headset with a boom mic. I've got a choice between the $25.00 logitech's ment for people using Skype and Ventrillo or AIM voice chat and something better.

If these sound better that the $25.00 headsets but don't give me a positional edge then I'm ok.

If they do give me better positional awareness then I'm gold.

To repeat - I'm buying these to game with - My wife will KILL me if I played CS:S and BF2 with my computer's 2.1 speakers instead of a headset. It cuts into her reruns of "Friends" and "Charmed".

If I'm listening to music or watching a movie - I've got a $2500.00 stereo in the living room with all the goodies. And a recliner!! ;)

My Medusa's should be in before the end of the week.

If you want to test your headsets....try this
http://www.passmark.com/products/soundcheck.htm

It's got a positional test included in it and it's free to demo.



 
standard141 said:
ok final question what are the best headphones i can get for 50 bux or less that can be used for eeeeeeeeeeeevvvvvvvvvverrrrrrrrrything??
Click to expand...

Get the HD201s and call it a day.
 
My Kinyo 5.1 surely works for everything including music. I do feel a bit crazy about going really HI FI however that is fun once for a while :D.
 
ray4389 said:
By earbuds I mean the ones that are the canal ones..
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Which ones? If you're going to tell us the Sony MDREX71SL, I'm going to have to say that is totally CRAP after hearing a set of Alessandro MS-1s.
 
I have no problems with positional audio using my Grado SR325s for games. Unfortunately with the sound effects in a lot of games those will make your ears bleed. Channel separation with them is great, and they place you in the center quite well, even listening to music with sounds that sweep from channel to channel can be somewhat eery.

I want to get a pair of 290 pros for gaming amongst other things. I have a pair of Plantronics that I'm actually quite happy with for gaming, they have a microphone which is handy and with positional effects telling if someones coming from behind or in front is not hard at all.

Every time I've used the "surround" headphones it sounds more muddied and the overall sound quality and clarity has been bad enough to override any attempted gains by having all those drivers. I'll take decent 2 channel headphones (which can be had quite cheaply) and decent positional audio any day
 
I love the X-fi CMSS with my a900s. The 3d mode adds depth positioning I've noticed and extends part of the left and right channels to the back of the head. I don't see how a 5.1 headset could compare..
 
serbiaNem said:
I love the X-fi CMSS with my a900s. The 3d mode adds depth positioning I've noticed and extends part of the left and right channels to the back of the head. I don't see how a 5.1 headset could compare..
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By actually physically move let and right channels back and forth from the head :D.
 
oqvist said:
By actually physically move let and right channels back and forth from the head :D.
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Yeah, but we've been through this. It's all in your head, literally. Good 3d positional audio on decent cans will pretty much always win against the surround headphones out right now, and with the constant advances in that kind of positional audio it's hard to see them really dropping behind. That's mature technology, the way we perceive position is fairly well understood. A properly manipulated sound doesn't need physical direction to have perceived direction, our ear is just a canal so all the different directions aren't taking very different paths once they've entered our heads.
 
But that doesn´t explain why 5.1 speakers give superior surround to even X FI CMSS 3D with headphones? There is still the problem where sounds appear to be above you rather then in front of you for example. Now 5.1 headphones of course share the same problem but still.

Testing both it´s obvious that 5.1 headphones has some advantages still.

I don´t really understand why some people seem to think its a fact that virtual surround is superior to real surround. True the displacement isn´t very great but then it´s closer to the ear so they appear to be more set apart then they are generally :). Try some it works really good.

Now virtual surround can give a better idea about distance to objects but as for actually hearing in what direction sounds are coming from I think 5.1 is better.
 
i answered this back on the first page.. its all about sound stage you only have 2 ears... the only advantage you would get out of haveing more speakers would be the fact that the different drivers thump on your skull in different places, and you cant call these earphone's 5.1 any way... its not possible to have 5.1 sound out of 6 speakers in this config, as there are only 6 drivers, what this would mean is that you have front left rear left frot right and rear right... this means that the bass drive is all in one ear and the middel channel is all on the other... and that would compleat the 6 drivers needed, you would have to have 8 drivers to simulate 5.1 or 4 to simulate surround sound other wise its fudgeing the center and lows and totaly fucking with the setrio image. if they use an electronics network to make a center left and center right ect, then it would have to be getting the info from the front and rears to compleat the image, and i doubt they are doing this as such a curcuit i would imagen to be quit costly and would cause some lag in the sound output for processing the image, not to mention you would need a power supply for it .. and i dont see one.. and , if it is useing the front and rears to compleat the image , then all 6 speakers would be basicly produceing a .... sterio image...... positional audio will NEVER beat sound stage sterio, as far as true position is concerned... if it dose help in games it is only for the resonate factor (different drivers beating on your head) allow you to feel the sound on your skin, and you interpret it as coming from that direction .

its kind like e-machines.. just because they make them dosent mean its right

thore
 
thore said:
i answered this back on the first page.. its all about sound stage you only have 2 ears... the only advantage you would get out of haveing more speakers would be the fact that the different drivers thump on your skull in different places, and you cant call these earphone's 5.1 any way... its not possible to have 5.1 sound out of 6 speakers in this config, as there are only 6 drivers, what this would mean is that you have front left rear left frot right and rear right... this means that the bass drive is all in one ear and the middel channel is all on the other... and that would compleat the 6 drivers needed, you would have to have 8 drivers to simulate 5.1 or 4 to simulate surround sound other wise its fudgeing the center and lows and totaly fucking with the setrio image. if they use an electronics network to make a center left and center right ect, then it would have to be getting the info from the front and rears to compleat the image, and i doubt they are doing this as such a curcuit i would imagen to be quit costly and would cause some lag in the sound output for processing the image, not to mention you would need a power supply for it .. and i dont see one.. and , if it is useing the front and rears to compleat the image , then all 6 speakers would be basicly produceing a .... sterio image...... positional audio will NEVER beat sound stage sterio, as far as true position is concerned... if it dose help in games it is only for the resonate factor (different drivers beating on your head) allow you to feel the sound on your skin, and you interpret it as coming from that direction .

its kind like e-machines.. just because they make them dosent mean its right

thore
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Do u heff axtual expariants of diss?
 
If so why does 5.1 speakers work :confused:

This has always confused me. I mean in real life I can tell if sound is coming from my back or from the front even despite I only have two ears ;)

Just common sense...
 
oqvist said:
If so why does 5.1 speakers work :confused:

This has always confused me. I mean in real life I can tell if sound is coming from my back or from the front even despite I only have two ears ;)

Just common sense...
Click to expand...


I've got a set of Medusa 5.1's and I love them.
You can't beat them for positionality.
Reguardless of what the audiophiles say about only having 2 ears.
The apparent sound stage is developed by timing cues and delay algorithims to MAKE a 2 speaker set of headphones give position. It's called CMMS for Creative Labs sound cards. And they don't work that well for me, it might be great for other people, but not for me.
Just as a 2.1 speaker setup can't give complete positional cues - I get the same effect from reqular 2 speaker headphones.
With these - I can aim at a noise source with my eyes closed - and get pretty close to actual position.
I know what's behind me because the rear speakers have a higher and softer pitch, because of the angle and distance I used for my speaker placement in the soundblaster speaker setup.
Remember they are not intended to be audiophile headphones - the amp's s/n ratio is only 60dB.

They have 4 speakers in each can - front, rear, center and sub.
5.1 doesn't mean that there only 6 speakers - it means that there are 5 sound positions and 1 sub position - low frequency sound is omni-directional.

All of the circuits that thore mentioned are already contained in your sound card - or else you couldn't just hook up a set of speakers to them.

Go here for more details.
http://www.medusa-usa.com/headphones-medusa-51-c-191_193.html

And for all the people that think 5.1 headphones are crap.....Try them with a proper setup against regular headphones using the RightMark sound positition test software.

You'll be amazed.

 
I am probably re-saying what others have already said, but here goes my answer.

The reason why 5.1 speakers are used instead of just 2 is because with speakers you can NOT say that the 2 ears listening to them will be is just one exact spot. If you could make that assumption with speakers you would only need 2 speakers to do GREAT surround effects. In fact a few have been made that work surprising well if you are sitting in the sweet spot.

Now with headphones, you can make the assumption of EXACTLY where the ears are in relation to the speakers. So needing more than 2 speakers is pointless, just do it in software. You precieve where a sound is coming from by timing differences between your ears. This is why it is hard to tell the difference if a sound is coming from directly in-front of you or directly behind you. You brain usually can make it out if the sound is panning (which is usually the case) because you brain EXPECTS the sound to be in front.
 
I have been reading this for some time now. I own a pair of Zalman 5.1 cans and I can tell you that it is a gimmick to a point.

At first I was amazed at what I thought was true surround sound but then noticed that all I was really hearing was very good stereo separation but no surround. Like many have already said, one ear can not, let me say that again, CAN NOT discern direction. It is imposable. You need to have sound coming into BOTH ears to be able to tell direction due to timing and a little thing called a brain.

If you do not believe me, get some good earplugs and plug one ear then close your eyes. Have some one hold a boom-box or radio and have it play softly and walk from the front to the back of you. As long as there is no other source for your other senses(seeing, vibration) you will not be able to tell if its in front or back. Then repeat it again but this time with both ears open and your eyes closed and you should be able to tell the direction.

Now, when I said the zalman's were a gimmick to a point, I meant it. Once I got my X-Fi, I was able to test out the CMSS and what I found is that if you set your sound card for 4.1 and turn on cmss, you get a lot better surround effect then even standard stereo cans since it is playing sound in both ears 95% of the time(exception is when the sound is directly at a 45 degree angle front or back) and since like other have said, you skull then plays into the equation by feeling the vibration from the individual drivers to help with the sound stage.

But, I still prefer my HD201's for most things as the small advantage that the Zalmans produce does not make up for the lack of tonal quality.

Basically, it all comes down to personal preference. If you have the money, go ahead and pick up a 5.1 set and a good stereo cans and compare for yourself.
 
I own the Zalman 5.1's I've never owned a really expensive set of headphones, the most i've spent was 60 dollars for some dj headphones that flip around.. my cats ate those. I am just trying to maximize deskspace, my pc is mainly for gaming only I dont sit here and listen to betoven on my shit.

I play battlefield2, and I play cs and I play games.

The zalmans give you a feel of direction due to vibration, the first time I put them on over a set of 2.1s was the sound seemed a lot more dull bass sucks and it took a long long long time to get used to them.

I dont know why I would want an amp for my headphones, I can barely stand having them at 80 percent volume. I dont even have a nice set of pc speakers because I cant play my games using my pc speakers at 5 in the morning w/o hearing it from my wife.

So the zalmans with the boom mic were a great choice and because they fold up and are portable is another big win for me.

But during my heavy use of these things I blew one of the drivers in my left ear so I need a new set of headphones and since im used to "5.1" headphones I wanted a set that was superior to the zalmans that have seperate drivers and are considered 5.1 headphones because they have made the biggest biggest biggest difference in gaming that you can possibly imagine and im not making that up.

The sound is nothing to tell everyone at home about but they get the job done.

I also use 2.1 wireless logitec headphones (bluetooth) and I have a set of 2.1 sony headphones with a built in boom mic which can double as behind the head grab onto your ears walkman headphnes.
 
amps don't just make headphones louder; because of the way they power the headphones they improve the quality of the sound. You need to amp some high-end headphones just for volume, but even ones which produce even volume without an amp will sound better with one.
 
They supply the drivers with the appropriate levels of power to generate the audio at the appropriate levels.
 
I've appreciated this thread since I'm looking for headphones for gaming when I can't use my 5.1. I will probably get an X-Fi so a stereo set-up is where I'm leaning. I was looking at www.headphone.com as recommended earlier. I don't mind the big cushiness of some of the "top 10" full size phones, but I noticed some cool in-ear monitors which apparently block out more sound. I have a PSP too and thought if IEM's are just as good, then I should just get a pair and use them for both applications. So... anyone have any experience or advice between full-size phones and IEM's?

For example these: http://www.headphone.com/products/headphones/in-ear-monitor/ultimate-ears-superfi-3-studio-black.php vs. these: http://www.headphone.com/guide/by-headphone-type/ear-pad-type/grado-sr-60.php <--- which I would love to pimp in public just to look like an audiophile :D or the 280 pros?
 
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