Posts Tagged ‘headphones’
Surround Sound Headphones – A Gamer’s Dream!
If you do any gaming on your PC, surround sound headphones are a worthy investment. Most gamers make do with a two speaker rig. Let me tell you what you are missing. If you have a good set of headphones that have surround sound, your enemy is in real trouble. You will be able to hear them coming from a mile away and you’ll know exactly where they are coming from. These headphones are not for everybody as they can be a bit bulky and heavy, especially the ones with all the electronics in the headsets themselves. The effect is so uncanny, don’t be surprised if the other players accuse you of cheating. Is it cheating to be using every available technology advance to our advantage? I certainly don’t think so and neither should you.
I guess that some of you will want at least some technical details of typical surround sound headphones. There are some models out there that actually have discrete drivers for all the components of a full surround system. For those of you who are unfamiliar with surround technology, there is a middle front speaker called the center speaker for dialog. Moving side to side are the front speakers which output the normal stereo sound that we are accustomed to hearing. Then we have two rear speakers for the surround sound and finally a dedicated subwoofer for the lowest bass sounds.
In some newer model headphones, all those speakers are actually present inside those large ear cups. If you take the cover off the headphones, you will see a center driver, a front driver, a surround driver and a sub driver. All these drivers are spaced apart so you get enough of a separation of sound to mimic the sound coming from a home theater loudspeaker system. Do these surround sound headphones work? Yes, according to reviews they are very popular because they actually work very well. They are pretty heavy, though. To round out the package, most headphones come with a multi-channel usb audio adapter. This adapter plugs into your usb port and drives all the channels of the surround headset.
Sound Proof Headphones – Soundproof Headphones?
When someone talks about looking for sound proof headphones, they are probably looking for a set of headphones that block out ambient noise. Ambient noise is just a term for the normal noise in your environment. This noise can include computer fans, noise from your air filter and/or heating and cooling equipment. It can also include noise from your landscapers, kids, etc. Whatever the source of noise, you want it eliminated so that you can enjoy the sound coming from the headphones without anything added to it.
There are two major types of sound proof headphones. There are active noise cancellation units and passive units. The active noise cancellation headphones use noise canceling technology which requires its own power supply, usually one or two AA batteries. They have a microphone on the outside of the headphones which monitors the noise. This noise is fed to a small amplifier and it creates the exact opposite noise to what is going on outside. This “opposite” noise is fed into the headphones and the net effect is silence. The silence comes because the two sources of noise cancel each other out when they reach your ears. These type of headphones have two major disadvantages, the first being price and the second is the requirement for batteries to power the noise canceling circuitry. Some of them also don’t work all that well. You should try the headphones at the store before buying.
The passive type of sound proof headphones uses sound absorbing technology. This comes in the form of various sound dampening materials to isolate your ears from the outside. The ear cups typically fit all around the ear, surrounding it completely. This method can be very effective. The disadvantages of this approach vary. First, the headphones tend to be heavy. Second, the rubber surround on the ear cups has to fit well, so pressure needs to be applied. This can cause ear fatigue. Another potential problem is that you tend to sweat on the rubber surround. Last, but not least, these headphones are anything but inconspicuous, so if you are a commuter, prepare for some odd looks here and there.
