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> I've always wondered, which is better: a 7.1 system or stereo headphones with "3d audio"? Stereo headphones all the way. You only have two ears; they can onl

> I've always wondered, which is better: a 7.1 system or stereo headphones with "3d audio"? Stereo headphones all the way. You only have two ears; they can only ascertain direction based on a) the amplitude and phase differences between the sound reaching each ear and b) the frequency and time-domain filtering effects of your outer ear. These effects can be very accurately emulated using a physical head model or digital signal processing. Properly recorded and mixed binaural audio will provide the most convincing spatial effect, because your eardrums can't tell the difference between a binaural recording and actually being in an acoustic environment. >And if 3d audio is so great, why doesn't everyone just use stereo speakers (maybe with a subwoofer)? Your living room isn't an anechoic chamber, so you're hearing both the sound of your speakers and the reverberation of your room. You can tell that you're listening to two sound sources positioned in front of you, because that room reverberation provides substantial spatial information about your actual acoustic environment and degrades the spatial information of the recording. You can mount speakers really close to your ears, so you only hear the sound of each speaker with one ear without the colouring effect of your listening environment; we call such an arrangement "headphones".

justinclift 8y ago
> Stereo headphones all the way. I've done both, and (for me) it's the opposite. You're probably right for "accuracy of sound", but when gaming having a bunch of powerful speakers making sound effects gives a better "experience". :) eg You can feel decent sized speakers with your whole body, which you're missing when using just headphones
- jdietrich 8y ago
  >I've done both, and (for me) it's the opposite. Headphones provide a worse spatial experience than stereo speakers where the source material has been mixed for speakers; the equation becomes significantly different with flexible spatial formats like Dolby Atmos. >You can feel decent sized speakers with your whole body Using headphones with a subwoofer is a workable (albeit highly antisocial) option. You can't feel frequencies above about 150Hz, which is comfortably within the bandwidth of most headphones. You can also fit a low-frequency transducer to your chair, which will provide a similar feel to a powerful subwoofer without annoying the neighbours. https://soundshaker.com/ https://soundshaker.com/ Speakers are undoubtedly more convenient and more practical for shared listening, but headphones provide a simply unmatched price-to-performance ratio; to get the best out of a pair of speakers, you need to spend at least as much on acoustic treatment to control the resonance of your listening environment.
  - justinclift 8y ago
    > ... unmatched price-to-performance ratio. Agreed. I'm back to using headphones myself at the moment (moved location recently, not yet set up properly), but I'm really missing my proper sound system setup. ;)
- pwthornton 8y ago
  Having a subwoofer that shakes the literally structure of your house and makes low frequency effects thud into your chest is something that headphones can't replicate. For a movie or really cinemenatic game, I can't imagine headphones being anywhere near the experience.
  - bobwaycott 8y ago
    Product idea: headphones with an external subwoofer vest so those low-frequency effects literally thud into your chest. :)
falcolas 8y ago
> your eardrums can't tell the difference between a binaural recording and actually being in an acoustic environment. They can, primarily because ear shape varies, and you're going to hear the sounds from different positions based on the differences between the modeled and actual ear shapes. The infamous barber shop recording fails (for me) because it isn't clear what's in front of the user, and what is behind the user. A great example of why ear shape matters is that ears can tell the location of objects in a vertical space based on the shape of the ear. That said, I mostly agree with you in terms of the sound quality, especially in terms of price.

justinclift 8y ago

> Stereo headphones all the way. I've done both, and (for me) it's the opposite. You're probably right for "accuracy of sound", but when gaming having a bunch of powerful speakers making sound effects gives a better "experience". :) eg You can feel decent sized speakers with your whole body, which you're missing when using just headphones

jdietrich 8y ago
>I've done both, and (for me) it's the opposite. Headphones provide a worse spatial experience than stereo speakers where the source material has been mixed for speakers; the equation becomes significantly different with flexible spatial formats like Dolby Atmos. >You can feel decent sized speakers with your whole body Using headphones with a subwoofer is a workable (albeit highly antisocial) option. You can't feel frequencies above about 150Hz, which is comfortably within the bandwidth of most headphones. You can also fit a low-frequency transducer to your chair, which will provide a similar feel to a powerful subwoofer without annoying the neighbours. https://soundshaker.com/ https://soundshaker.com/ Speakers are undoubtedly more convenient and more practical for shared listening, but headphones provide a simply unmatched price-to-performance ratio; to get the best out of a pair of speakers, you need to spend at least as much on acoustic treatment to control the resonance of your listening environment.
- justinclift 8y ago
  > ... unmatched price-to-performance ratio. Agreed. I'm back to using headphones myself at the moment (moved location recently, not yet set up properly), but I'm really missing my proper sound system setup. ;)
pwthornton 8y ago
Having a subwoofer that shakes the literally structure of your house and makes low frequency effects thud into your chest is something that headphones can't replicate. For a movie or really cinemenatic game, I can't imagine headphones being anywhere near the experience.
- bobwaycott 8y ago
  Product idea: headphones with an external subwoofer vest so those low-frequency effects literally thud into your chest. :)

falcolas 8y ago

> your eardrums can't tell the difference between a binaural recording and actually being in an acoustic environment. They can, primarily because ear shape varies, and you're going to hear the sounds from different positions based on the differences between the modeled and actual ear shapes. The infamous barber shop recording fails (for me) because it isn't clear what's in front of the user, and what is behind the user. A great example of why ear shape matters is that ears can tell the location of objects in a vertical space based on the shape of the ear. That said, I mostly agree with you in terms of the sound quality, especially in terms of price.