Surround headphones for big heads?

Angilion · 2 Feb 2006 at 00:18

I was thinking of buying a set of the Altec Lansing surround sound headphones on offer this week. I'm after a set of surround sound headphones for late-night gaming and these seemed decent kit. Reviews confirmed that...but 2 out of the 3 reviews I looked at mentioned that these headphones aren't a comfortable fit if you have a big head. I do have an unusually large head and I have not yet worn a pair of over-the-head headphones that are comfortable for me. They all press hard against the top of my head.

So...does anyone know of some surround sound headphones under £50 that expand to a larger than normal size?

Stellios · 2 Feb 2006 at 00:23

Ill keep my eye on this as i need a new pair too and was also looking at that Altec headset on special. I dont know how big a big head is though.

benjo plz. · 2 Feb 2006 at 00:32

Stereo phones or speakers tbh. 5.1 headsets don't work, you need to be able to hear all of the speakers for 5.1 to work. with a headset you don't and therefore offers no real advantage to stereo tbh.

Stellios · 2 Feb 2006 at 00:40

The thing attracting me to the Altecs is that its got SRSwow and i know thats really good because its on my Iriver.

Seirrah · 2 Feb 2006 at 14:49

Phnom_Penh said:
Stereo phones or speakers tbh. 5.1 headsets don't work, you need to be able to hear all of the speakers for 5.1 to work. with a headset you don't and therefore offers no real advantage to stereo tbh.

Bit confused. I have Zalman 5.1 headphones, and there are 3 speakers on each side - 0ne at the front, one middle, one back. It reproduces 5.1 sound pretty well, but I've nothing to compare it to.

benjo plz. · 2 Feb 2006 at 17:55

Seirrah said:
Bit confused. I have Zalman 5.1 headphones, and there are 3 speakers on each side - 0ne at the front, one middle, one back. It reproduces 5.1 sound pretty well, but I've nothing to compare it to.

Same with normal 5.1 speakers, you have 6 speakers, but the only difference is that you can hear them all, which allows the ears to determine where the noise is (meant to be) coming from. The fact that you have three speakers on each side, yet each ear can only hear the three on its side make them no better than stereo.

Angilion · 2 Feb 2006 at 22:38

The reviews I've seen rate them as better than stereo, but far short of a proper speaker system. You have three different speakers on each side, but they are too close together to give more than a little spatialisation.

I was thinking of trying them as an interesting gadget. The sound quality would be good for headphones, even if they were very little more than stereo. Better than annoying the neighbours at 2 in the morning with my speakers.

benjo plz. · 2 Feb 2006 at 23:10

But how can they make any difference? the ears cannot triangulate where a noise is coming from unless they can both hear the sound :\.

stomly · 2 Feb 2006 at 23:27

they will be able to make a difference by postioning the audio on each side of your head. You have two ears because your brain assimilates the signals from both sides of your head to determine where the sound is coming from. If you go deaf in one ear you will lose some ability to determine the origin of a sound. You will be able to triangulate, but, in effeect, with headphones, the triangle is much smaller.

benjo plz. · 2 Feb 2006 at 23:41

So how does that make it any different from stereo?

Seirrah · 2 Feb 2006 at 23:56

They work just as 5.1 speakers work, but just consider the speakers to be much nearer to your head, and maybe not at the best angles from your ear.

There is a front, centre and rear 'speaker' for each ear, and this is how the phones represent where a sound is from.

benjo plz. · 3 Feb 2006 at 00:00

Erm I don't agree tbh, with 5.1 speakers, your ears triangulate from each speaker, rather than two. If both your ears can't hear any of the same speakers then they can't triangulate any better than they could with stereo. Just imo tbh.

Seirrah · 3 Feb 2006 at 00:11

I see what you're saying. But it is basically working by allowing the headphones to locate a sound by either left or right of the user, and forward or back, or level with the user.

I just tested my 5.1 phones and they do give a decent surround effect. They won't be as good as 5.1 speakers as you can really put the rear speakers at a good angle behind you, but they do get the feeling across.