Turtle Beach Ear Force DSS Surround Sound Processor

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Can you actually hook one of these up to an av receiver? I have the sony ...dh820 and am looking to give myself a 5.1 sound (or something similar) through my headphones denon ADH 2000 when watching a movies late at night? Thank you.
 
I don't see why not. Takes Dolby Digital in, so whether that be from a PC, game console or even a AV receiver. Didn't get a particularly favourable review on CNET though, so depends how much you can get one for. If it's anywhere near £100, you may as well get an Astro Mixamp. That will do the same thing, take DD in and apply Dolby Headphone. Mixamp will almost certainly sound better too.

Edit: Must have had brain freeze there for a moment. :p

Sorry, you would need to connect this to the player, not the AV receiver. I don't think the AV receiver has optical output. Only input.
 
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I'm using a pc (if that is what you mean by player?). Back of receiver under digital (assignable) amp says optical sat/catv in no out.
I'll look at a couple of reviews regarding mixamp. Thank you.
 
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Yes, by player I mean whatever you are using to play films. As long DD is present, it will work.

Seeing as you are using your PC, a sound card would be a cheaper way of getting Dolby Headphone, which is what the Mixamp and Turtle Beach devices use.
 
Tbh I think I have got myself in a pickle with all of this. I ended up buying a receiver not knowing very much about them and now find that my work patterns have changed so much I can no longer use it without headphones. Music and audio using headphones on this receiver stinks (Sony strdh820). Seems though the receiver is only about a week old I might ask the shop if I can return it and exchange for a yamaha receiver. Or a pioneer and pay the difference? at least then I will have the option of "Silent Cinema" or headphone surround. I will also let abm know about the hdmi switching issue I have with it and hope they agree and take pity on me for an exchange? It seems the receipt allows for this if a fault occurs within thirty days and this will save me having to pay another hundred quid for a mix amp. Musically my mobile phone sounds a lot better than the Sony.
 
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That's certainly an option, if the shop will let you change it for one with some kind of surround for headphones.

Headphone outputs on a lot of budget AV receivers aren't that great. A decent £200 stereo amp can have a very good headphone output. With AV receivers though, there are many more components that take up a share of the cost, meaning the headphone output quality is going to some way down the list. After all, AV receivers are primarily amplifiers for speakers. Many budget AV receivers are not particularly musical anyway. That's when using speakers, let alone headphones. Marantz are one brand though, known for producing AV receivers that are quite musical in comparison to some other brands, even at the budget end.

Marantz's budget AV receiver looks like is doesn't have surround features for headphones though. So it may be a toss up of getting a AV receiver with musical quality or one with a surround headphone feature.

I'd take your headphones along and try some different brands out if you can. Get a feel for what quality you are going to get from the receivers that do have a surround headphone feature.
 
I've resorted back to my old system at the moment which amazingly blows the present one out of the water. The Sony STRDH820 is going back on Thursday and I'm going to listen to the Pioneer VXS 527 which does LAN/USB: MP3, WAV, AAC, WMA, FLAC
192 kHz/24-Bit Audio playback: WAV, FLAC and supports surround headphone, which hopefully will suite me better? I told the shop about the hdmi sound issue plus the fact that the amp keeps switching off every 30 mins. Something was wrong somewhere as I put my AHD K2's in my phone and got a better sound than a Boston Soundware xs and a Sony STRDH820? thanks for all your help anyway :)

http://www.pioneer.eu/uk/products/42/98/405/VSX-527-K/specs.html
 
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By way of update swopping the Sony receiver for the Pioneer completely solved the hdmi issue. The only thing slightly annoying me is when I did automatic setup for 5.1 with the mic I seem to have a 10% sound imbalance through my right speaker headphone. Don't know if this is a5.1 channel issue as it appears to be OK when using stereo. I have a weird setup as my system is upstairs and my desk is up the right hand corner; so I have three speakers on my desk not central to the back two.
 
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