Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions 5.1 sound through stereo headphones

Anybody know what happens when you are watching a movie in say 5.1 surround (selected on the DVD and the receiver) and you plug in headphones. My receiver instantly goes to stereo instead of Dolby Digital, but what is actually happening? The DVD player is still on Dolby 5.1. Am I getting all the 6 channels into my headphones or just the mains? I am sure it is all of them but just curious. I suppose I could test this out pretty quickly but just thought it kind of interesting.

I ran a couple of DVDs the other morning, and all I got was stereo also; just the front two channels only, with my Onkyo 602.

It was more than just a little obvious in the THX intro.

OOPS! I don't know! All the DVDs I tried were THX!(Star wars I and III and Toy Story 2)

Ok, at least in THX on an Onkyo 602; fronts only!

Guys, I think in order for anyone to experience surround sound with a pair of headphones your receiver must have Dolby Headphone.

When you listen in headphones, the receiver switches to stereo. It's still getting a 5.1 signal, so it "flattens" the channels down into Left and Right. Center channel material gets sent to both equally.

This Dolby headphone technology is interesting indeed!

We just purchased a new set of headphones with the idea of checking out "movies with headphones"(haven't really done so yet, just a quick, not so happy, look)

With four school age children in the house, it ain't really a good idea to be runnin' full 5.1 when the kids are sent to bed!

(I'm sure others have noticed!)

So if another way comes along to enjoy our flicks after about 9PM, all the better!!

Sennheiser, for one, has multiple headsets for one transmitter that looks like an easy way to go. But finding headphones that sound close enough to our listeningroom set-up may be a trick!

Hey!....Axiom.....

This is what I was refering to as pmbuko says,

"It's still getting a 5.1 signal, so it "flattens" the channels down into Left and Right. Center channel material gets sent to both equally."

So is it laying the surround tracks on top as well? Why do some discs bother making a stereo or stereo surround track in addition to say a 5.1, and a dts? If the receiver can just lay tracks on top of each other to make a 5.1 signal into just a left and right signal why bother with taking up space and time making these seperate audio tracks?

I guess I'm lucky. So far my 3 kids sleep so heavily for the first 4 hours or so after going to bed I'm good playing movies, even ones with pretty big LFE's, till midnight or 1:00 am. Of course it helps the HT is in the basement.

Paul

OK,Paul; Rub it in why don't you!!!

We ain't so lucky: Due to the way our living room set-up "Has to Be," the right surround(Direct Fire)shoots right(about 70 degrees off-axis)into the boys room! And they insist on sleeping with the door open!!

No problem now while the kids are out of school for the summer, but come fall.....Anyway....

Basements in this part of Florida attract gators, and they are a protected species; we are not! So they, not us, would get to pick the movies.

Rich.

In reply to:

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Why do some discs bother making a stereo or stereo surround track in addition to say a 5.1, and a dts?

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That's a good question. When your receiver mixes down the channels for stereo mode, it uses simple addition to get all the sounds into two channels:

front right + rear right + half center + half LFE = LEFT
front left + rear left + half center + half LFE = RIGHT

Creating a dedicated stereo soundtrack gives the recording engineer finer control over just how these separate tracks are mixed.

Darn, just typed a large post and lost it!!! ARRGGG.

Anyway here is the summary.

I tested out the tracks on a Band of Brothers DVD where there was a great variance in the sound, lots of subtle sounds, lots of loud sounds, lots of surround effects and bass. The 5.1 and DTS audio tracks sounded pretty similar through the headphones with the DTS having a bit more clarity, but not so noticable (especially compared to the difference in DD to DTS listening with a 5.1 or more system). But when I put the 2.1 dolby track on I couldn't believe it. There was soooo much more detail to the sound and the effects that it was the clear and obvious winner without question when listening with headphones. So as a general tip, if you are listening to a disc in stereo or with a pair of cans. . .make sure you select the 2.1 audio mix on the disc for best results. (ok not a definitive test only using one scene from one disc but the difference was so dramatic that it is worth checking out)