I don't see the benefit of Dolby headphones

[Craig234]

I've had a couple headphones that come with a device you can click on 'Dolby mode'.

But doing that only seems to make the sounds sound distant. It seems like it's just a bad thing, making positioning harder, things don't sound as good etc.

Maybe there is something it's for, but for gaming I haven't seen any reason to use it.

 

[sweenish]

One would hear the benefit.

And are these headphones with a USB, where the processing is done by the cans? Or does it have a traditional jack, and you're not feeding it the right signal because you likely don't have the capabilities with onboard sound?

 

[lupi]

Have the logi 930s and it is noticeable when gaming or watching tv.

 

[Craig234]

And I don't hear the benefit, as I said.

These are USB, the processing done by the device that came with them.

Lupi mentions it's 'noticeable'.

I didn't say it's not noticeable, it's very noticeable. The issue is it sound much worse.

 

[Fire&Blood]

No virtual barbershop link yet?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUDTlvagjJA

 

[cmdrdredd]

It depends on how the developer encoded the game. Sometimes it works well and other times not so much. Going direct from a soundcard that is handling the positional audio is much better because you have more options.

 

[Sabrewings]

I like the DTS HeadphoneX on my G933s. Great positional audio.

 

[TechBoyJK]

You don't see the benefit because you should be listening for it!

 

[Fanatical Meat]

In a weird way I'm glad I don't really notice positional sound its not that I don't sense it but I barely can tell the difference. Definitely saves money on home theater and head phones.

 

[Sabrewings]

In a weird way I'm glad I don't really notice positional sound its not that I don't sense it but I barely can tell the difference. Definitely saves money on home theater and head phones.

Some games I have found it crucial. Most recently Alien: Isolation and Betrayer made excellent use of positional audio. Hearing the direction the xenomorph was rustling in the vents was invaluable. With DTS HeadphoneX and my G933s, I can't tell the difference directionally between my 7.1 system and the headphones.

 

[Matthiasa]

Having used both I would much rather have the proper positional sound than a maybe its on the left either in front of or behind me.

 

[BSim500]

I've had mixed experiences. Just to clear things up, there's a difference between the Virtualization stuff like Dolby Headphone vs a Binaural stereo recording:-

Dolby Headphone : It attempts to replicate multi-channels by taking in a surround sound track (from Dolby Pro Logic up to to 7.1) then outputs a 2-channel sound-stage to try and fake it via "Head-Related Transfer Function" with headphones.

Binaural recordings directly record a live sound-scape using 2x omni-directional microphones often placed as fake ears on a "dummy head" to replicate a human's (as best as possible) by capturing the natural timing / occlusion / "head shadow" characteristics as if you were there, then plays them back as a "normal" stereo channel without any virtualization algorithms.

They sound similar, but aren't quite the same thing. The former is all about binaural simulation during playback of a pre-existing recording, whilst the latter captures the effect live during the recording stage (and effectively stores it as a stereo "headphone only" track).

 

[Midwayman]

Yes, but considering we're in the gaming forum its safe to assume its the HRTF version.

I think the real question here is "Are the headphones with multiple drivers in them worth it over ones that solely use HRFT to simulate positional audio?"

 

[moonbogg]

I enable surround sound on my sound card and headphones during gaming. I do this because I paid so much for it that ish better work and I'll convince myself its awesome.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Yes, but considering we're in the gaming forum its safe to assume its the HRTF version.

I think the real question here is "Are the headphones with multiple drivers in them worth it over ones that solely use HRFT to simulate positional audio?"

They are not. The drivers are far too small and positioned too closely together for the effect to work properly IMO.

 

[Sabrewings]

They are not. The drivers are far too small and positioned too closely together for the effect to work properly IMO.

I haven't used a set with multiple drivers like that, but the single drivers in my G933s do a great job relaying positional audio. Software side must be the key.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I haven't used a set with multiple drivers like that, but the single drivers in my G933s do a great job relaying positional audio. Software side must be the key.

I use an Astro mixamp pro and a sennheiser pc360 headset. The mixamp accepts a Dolby digital signal and handles the processing. It works fine for me.