5.1 "Headphones:" A Novel Approach

[JediJoker]

I know that this community is likely less inclined toward headphones than the audiophile/music-loving community-at-large, but for those of you who are into headphones, you may have heard of Pud. He has made a name for himself in the headphone community as a hobbyist creating one-off headphones that, while they may look bizarre and outlandish, each explore different aspects of sound reproduction. Pud's latest creation isn't so much a "headphone" as it is a set of ear speakers:

Hello,

I call this headphone the "Dolbus" and have added it to my website, here:
https://pud.com

I make unconventional headphones and a lot of people have asked me to make a surround sound headphone.

I've wanted to do it, but wasn't sure how to get 5 speakers (plus a subwoofer) on the head.

Also, if the main (L and R) speaker drivers had regular earcups (essentially sealed with earpads), I wasn't sure how you'd be able to hear the additional drivers.

Then I came up with this idea that's a custom helmet, with chin-cup for stability, and off-ear speakers--with knobs that let you adjust the speaker height.

The speaker drivers are Tectonic BMR headphone drivers, which are specifically designed to be full-range off ear headphone speakers.

There's still not enough bass so I need to add a subwoofer - I'm thinking either a small subwoofer speaker mounted on top -- or a tactile speaker inside the helmet (or possibly on the chin cup).

As for powering it, any regular headphone amp can power it. But I recommend a cheap USB surround-breakout box, which has USB on one end and 5 channels (plus sub) line-level outputs.

For example search Amazon for the $29 "Cubilux 7.1 USB Surround Sound Card." Then you just need a few headphone amps (or a multi-channel headphone amp used for bands) to plug into all 5 (or 6 with sub) inputs.

Will try to evolve this over time.

Thanks for checking it out!

Is it silly? Yes. Is it interesting? Also yes.

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

By the way, this is the guy that made DistroKid, one of the leading streaming service distributors. Ol' Thumpy is my favorite.