I’ve been thinking about using the spatial audio feature on headphones as an alternative to trying to integrate AV into my stereo setup. Currently if using headphones I use my HD800’s through a ND555/552 to my Heed Cannot, so that’s very good and the HD800’s are quite holographic.
But would spatial audio headphones be better for atmos on movies? We have Apple TVs so I guess the AirPod Max would be the best option? Though I’d only get Atmos when streaming from the ATV, not my blurays?
Has anyone played around with these options? Maybe I should open a thread?
Not a direct answer, but I had Sennheiser’s early attempt at surround processing which was their surround headphone amp, the Lucas. Like a proper AV amp, it took some calibration for the headphones and your brain/ears. I used it with HD-600s. It managed left, right and rear effects quite well but the centre was a problem. More at the top of you head than in front of you.
Since then I’ve kind of moved away from surround headphone processing. While the AV system is full ATMOS 7.2.4, I just shove the headphones direct into the AV processor and let it automatically downmix and try and do it’s approximation of out-of-the-box downmixing for headphones with somewhat limited ability to translate ATMOS to 2 channel headphones. And I’m okay with that. The processor knows how to render ATMOS into any number of speakers including headphones and apply phase and to provide “phantom” locations but whichever way you cut it, it’s two channels of playback.
After going down the surround on headphones route, I’ve come to the conclusion that it sounds very different to plain stereo but is still just as far from surround presented over multiple speakers as no processing at all is albeit in a different way.
Thanks for that. There seems to be a thing called a “ JVC EXOFIELD Theater XP-EXT1: 7.1.4 Multi-Channel Surround Sound System” that does what I want. You plug a HDMI output into it and it transmits to its wireless headphone. As I play my ATV 4K through my bluray, I could run an HDMI audio output (need to check that) to it and away I’d go. Streaming sources are limited to Dolby Surround only for some reason though. Reviews are also a bit mixed….
The AirPod Max is certainly the most user friendly, but will on,y work with streamed content from what I can tell.
I see that there is another option here, the Sonos Ace when used with a Sonos sound bar, using the TV audio swap feature. You then get Atmos sound to the headphones that way. As I pass my ATV through my 4K UHD bluray, I could output 7.1 audio from the ATV and bluray discs to the sound bar and the headphones using that feature, and still keep another audio output from the bluray to ND555 etc for music, indeed sound also to the TV as well, which also has an optical output to the ND555 for the TV apps.
The only downside with that is the Sonos Ace would only give Atmos through the one system, whereas we have two ATV systems. So the AirPods max is better in that regard, but limited to ATV only then and not blurays. Apparently ATV can pass through HDMI audio, but it’s only enabled for HomePods and not the AirPods.
I usually use this setup with a 10’ Grado extension cord to sit in my favourite spot. Maybe one of these days I’ll spring for a one piece headphone cable.
Thanks, my idea is that if I downsize to a flat or maisonette , I will put my speakers with a new amp to make an AV system for the day and casual listening and my turntable , CD player and streamer will form the basis of a headphones system for more serious night time listening.
That’s the plan, with the Nait 50 acting as headphone amp
How serious do you want to go? Luxman just released their 100 year anniversary edition pure analogue only headphone amp for about $10k. Which can be bridged to drive a single channel with paired unit… For $20k.
My dealer just tried to tease me with this. Notice it’s driving a pair of Focals.
I’ve recently purchased the Focal Celestee headphone after auditioning it at my dealer. I’m very much satisfied with the sound. I’ve bought a new cable at CustomCans and in December or January I will buy the Uniti Atom Headphone Edition to compliment the Celestee. For now I’m using the AQ DragonFly Cobalt on my Mac.
It just doesn’t look like a Focal cable. They usually compliment the headphone being a similar colour. Also it looks braided, whereas, Focal has a PVC sheath and, it has two XLR plugs.
There are some very good after-market cables available, I’ve used CustomCans and Cxxnected on my Focals, but much preferred the latter.
Who knows. It looks a bit like a CableCraft cable (Hiroshima based cottage industry cable maker) but I’m certain if you wanted the Focal balanced lead or in fact any official balanced lead, reterminating it from 4 pole to 2 pole is trivial.
I have a pair of Focal Clear Mg headphones and unfortunately the standard cable is only 1.2m long which means you have to sit v close to your headphone amp ( in my case a 222). The xlr cable supplied is 2m. If I were a cynical person I might think that this is a ploy to make me buy a Focal headphone amp with xlr connections