Dolby Headphone
- Details
- Category: Articles
- Last Updated on Wednesday, 30 November -0001 00:00
- Published on Friday, 29 April 2011 16:43
I've done writeups on this before, but now I have a more complete understanding of the differences. Dolby Headphone is a technology that processes 5.1 encoded audio and simulates this effect using a single driver per earcup. When you hear a sound in real life, sounds from behind you sound different than those in front of you, because of the way that the sound waves bounces off your ears (the pinna, which are the ridges you see). Dolby Headphone is able to simulate this by running some algorithms (math formulas) on the sound that it receives, making sounds seem to have the characteristics of a directional audio source, thus giving you the perception of surround sound. A big advantage afforded by this method compared to a multiple driver per earcup setup (discrete 5.1) is that the headset can generally use larger drivers, thus resulting in better audio quality. Some audiophiles that place a great emphasis on audio quality prefer this method. However, I'm not so impressed. Although the algorithms applied to the sound are clever, a multiple driver earcup has always enabled me to hear much better where a sound is coming from, which I would say is the most important thing while competitively gaming when it comes to sound. When playing a game, you don't necessarily care how pretty the "clink" of a grenade hitting the floor is. You want to know exactly where that grenade is at. That's why I prefer discrete 5.1 over Dolby Headphone when it comes to gaming.