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.

 

[Marplot]

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:

View attachment 110782



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

Clever, but I would put out an eye listening to Empath and banging my head to it..

 

[par4ken]

Jon Fixler would be proud! A design like that would function just like speakers. Not really practical though, do you want that speaker sitting in front of your face.

A more practical design would place the drivers inside elongated left and right ear cups. I have a set of Zalman phones that does that! I know then the effect is diminished somewhat if the speakers are not in open air.

Jon Fixler placed two drivers inside each elongated ear cup at about 90° to the ear facing each other, to better differentiate front from back. I have yet to find a set of those phones. I do wonder what effect that odd placement would have on perceived sound quality. To enhance the effect (and it works with regular quad phones) is to add out of phase/in phase blending to increase the spaciousness. The Fixler effect. That also led to the development of the Electro-Voice Stereo 4, matrix quad system.