Surround Headphones – Should I Get Them?

As anyone who has ever worn a set of headphones can tell you, the effect of listening to sound seemingly coming from the center of your head is not nearly as good as listening to music coming from two high quality loudspeakers. The fact that the left and right ears are so effectively separated from each other makes for a very artificial sound stage. The sense of depth you get from a good pair of speakers is completely absent. Enter surround headphones to the rescue.

Built into the headphones are amplifiers and sound processors. These sound processors recreate the missing cues that give the ears a sense of space. If they do their job properly, you are surrounded by sound. Also if you like watching movies but don't want to disturb your neighbors at 3:00AM or your significant other, then surround headphones are for you. Movies sound pretty awesome as you can hear things coming at you from all directions. I have actually ducked when watching an action movie with these headphones on. With the right movie, you'll be hopping all about the place, in a good way.

You might wonder how much these things cost? There are inexpensive units that work pretty well. You can also go crazy and spend hundreds of dollars. You really need to get out there with your favorite movie and go sample them live at your nearest retail store. The more expensive units come with outboard Dolby decoder boxes and coaxial/digital inputs. These decoders will do an admirable job of decoding the Dolby surround and mixing it into two channels for the headset that comes with the decoder.

The cheaper units have everything built into the headphones. Unfortunately, these units tend to be quite heavy. Some of you may not like the extra weight that these headphones carry due to the electronics on board. Extended sessions can become quite uncomfortable if you are sensitive to that kind of thing. Again, as I stated before, try them out at a retail store before committing to a purchase. At any rate, whichever surround headphones you get, you will be astounded at the difference between them and ordinary headphones.