By WILSON ROTHMAN
As important as headphones have become in the mobile scenario, they no longer get the attention they once did in the home theater. Since the advent of the DVD — and in-home cinematic surround sound — there's certainly less you can do with a pair of stereo headphones. That is, until now. Pioneer is the second in a string of companies launching Dolby-certified headphones that mix six sources of sound — five speakers and a subwoofer — into your two ears while keeping alive a very real sensation of surround sound.
Before getting to the actual audio experience, it's worth pointing out that the Pioneer uses infrared cordless technology to broadcast sound to the headset. While some infrared headphones have connection problems — and other companies such as Philips and Sennheiser have plans to launch Dolby surround headphones that use radio-frequency wireless — the sound coming from the headset was clear the whole time it was in range. Furthermore, the range itself is better than expected.
The control for a test of surround-sound headphones is, of course, a surround sound speaker system, like the ones you can now buy for $100 at Wal-Mart. There's a DVD player, a receiver and five speakers: front left and right, a center channel, and back left and right. Then there's the subwoofer. When I played the first scene of Master and Commander on my system, I could hear sound from all sides. As cannon balls ripped from fore to aft, little splinters of wood ricocheted around me as sailors ran across headboards from back left to back right. When I put on Pioneer's headphones and replayed the scene, I expected the same sensations.
I was pleasantly surprised and indeed at times startled. There is a wide, clearly defined spread from front left to center to front right, and the rear channels seemed to be there as well. I listened for the quieter sounds of wood and footsteps to get a sense of space and direction, and they were there, behind me, albeit a bit closer than with real speakers. The cannon fire itself, big and boomy in the real speakers, lost a little of its in-the-gut basso profundo, but at least it didn't create distortion, as I've heard in other digital headphones.
The technology is complicated, but the idea is this: you have two ears to hear everything coming from all sides. The processors read the six channels of Dolby Digital or DTS movie sound, and then sort of envision those channels coming out of speakers and bouncing around a room. If something is on your left, you hear a little bit of it on your right side, reflected off the wall, so it adds that. If something is behind you, it is slightly muffled, because you hear it through the flaps of skin behind your ears, so the processor deadens the rear channels a bit.
Because the best thing about these headphones is that the listener gets 90% of the action, and those not wearing headphones hear absolutely nothing, you can consider this recommendation last minute Father's Day advice as well as a nice reward for your mother. |
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