'Surround' headphones for late night home theatre movies... What are my options?

peanutismint · 19 Jul 2015 at 20:35

I'd love to be able to watch more movies on my home-theatre projector screen late-night after everybody's gone to bed, and as such I'd love to be able to re-create the typical loud boomy bassy cinema sound in headphones. I'm not too bothered about wireless, in fact I'd probably prefer a wired solution if possible (better quality, no interference and one less thing to remember to charge!) but I'd like some headphones that are comfortable for 3+ hours of wear, have a decent low-end bass with high-end clarity for vocals, and won't break the bank (I'm probably looking to spend around £100-150 and certainly no more than £250!).

I've also thought about getting some 'surround' headphones but not sure whether any of the 'fake' surround emulations are actually any good... I'd want to be able to tweak the room size/dampening/etc if so, not just 'surround' on/off...Not sure if something like that exists? Or failing that, a set of true surround headphones with separate drivers, again if anything like that exists....

Any ideas??

nightrider1470 · 19 Jul 2015 at 21:58

The best headphones you can afford and use avpc card with Dolby digital.. Or buy a astro mixamp

peanutismint · 19 Jul 2015 at 22:39

nightrider1470 said:
The best headphones you can afford and use avpc card with Dolby digital.. Or buy a astro mixamp

Should've been more specific - I don't use a PC in my home theatre; mostly play Blu Rays from my PS4 or videos from Kodi running from a Raspberry Pi 2 or my Boxee Box, so will need to be a headphone that supports something like a multichannel optical input...

Putty · 20 Jul 2015 at 11:51

I used to have a pair of Sony "Surround Sound" headphones (had a SPDIF/TOSLINK input) and replaced them with a pair of regular Grados which are a lot better. Sony do have some new-ish ones out however so it may be worth checking reviews and comparisons if available:

http://store.sony.com/9.1ch-wireles...DRHW700DS/cat-27-catid-EOL-Headphones-Earbuds

peanutismint · 20 Jul 2015 at 11:55

Cool, thanks. Most of the answers I'm getting from other people are just saying 'buy the best pair you can afford and don't worry too much about the surround sound aspect (because it's not real surround sound...)'

Lowe · 21 Jul 2015 at 07:24

peanutismint said:
Cool, thanks. Most of the answers I'm getting from other people are just saying 'buy the best pair you can afford and don't worry too much about the surround sound aspect (because it's not real surround sound...)'

And they're right. You can't really create a soundfield in the same way with headphones. Spend your money on a good pair of two channel and enjoy.

stuman · 21 Jul 2015 at 14:59

You can also later invest in a "buttkicker" which will then fill in some of the missing physical aspect of cinema loud bass.

Psycho Sonny · 21 Jul 2015 at 21:11

you need to buy an astro mixamp + fidelio x2's if your looking for bass

thats going to cost you about £350 though.

you could always buy both second hand and you could get fidelio x1's plus a mixamp for about £200.

fidelio x1/x2 excel at being the best all round headphones if you want something with a wider soundstage then your looking at akg q701's or k702's and then doing the bass port mod on them (removing a sticker).

FYI I have HUGE experience with PS4's, mixamps (i own 2 myself), headphones (i own about 10 different pairs ranging from HD558's to HD700's).

i own the Q701's and have owned 2 pairs of the fidelio x1's so i can attest to how good they are and suit your needs.

surround sound headphones are all crap forget them. what you want is emulated surround (this is what the mixamp does it's made by astro) and a decent pair of stereo headphones.

if you want booming bass then go for fidelios. if you want a wide soundstage (think emulated surround sound) then go for the AKG's.

if you want to use the AKG's for gaming plus voice chat on the ps4 then your going to need to double amp them (power hungry) i recommend the schiit vali (i own one) as well as an aune t1 mk2. but if you don't use voice chat whilst gaming then no need to double amp the mixamp has enough power to run them so long as you put the dial 100% to game sounds and 0% on voice chat.

i probably have about £3000 in headphones and audio equipment currently. so i know what i'm talking about as i thoroughly researched before slowly building my collection up.

deuse · 23 Jul 2015 at 15:51

I'm very happy using the TRITTON Pro+ True 5.1 with 4 speakers in each cup. It comes with a Decoder.
And if you use the optical input, it can connect to xbox\ps4\pc\TV.
But you only get true 5.1 if the sound track is Dolby Digital 5.1. It does have other options to play with like surround sound.