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Cyberhome CH-SRD 600R 6-channel Surround Headphones with Game Decoder | List Price: $139.99
Discount Price: $16.95
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Brand: Cyberhome
Binding: Electronics
Features: - Six separate internal speakers for surround sound on the go
- Coaxial and optical digital inputs
- Foam-filled leather earpads
- Frequency response: 20-20,000 Hz
Surprisingly Good [Posted on 2006-12-29]
I'll be honest - I got these headphones because they were so cheap. I like playing PC action games and so the sound effects and their positional information is very important. Using multiple speakers is effective but rather noisy for the rest of the household!
Enter these CH-SRD600R headphones.
They are driven by a digital signal and will not support an analog output - so make sure you have either an optical or electrical digital output. Do not expect to plug these into an MP3 player etc. I believe most DVD and CD players these days have digital outputs. My Creative Audigy 2 sound card has a digital output which works nicely with these phones.
They can be powered either by an AC adapter (supplied) or a rechargable lithium ion battery (also supplied).
The headphones come with their own decoder to drive the 3 speakers in each phone so any PC internal decoding is redundant - it just treats the headphones as the front two speakers. This is where the manual could be more helpful - it effectively says plug the phones in and use them. I found that the best approach was to configure the sound card for simple headphones and then select 5:1 audio from the (game) software. I've tried using the headphones with a PlayStation 2 via the optical digital output, and while they seem to work, there appears to be just two volume settings: 'very loud' or 'off' (and so probably suits most players). I've not yet tried direct connection to a DVD player to see how that decodes.
I won't claim that they are the ultimate in audiophile quality but they are very nicely made and sound absolutely brilliant in games. The electronics are very quiet and there's no background noise or hiss detectable. The transient response is impressive and there's a great ambient presence. These phones will literally make you jump out of your seat. The positional information is difficult to judge as I think it does depend so much on the (game) software being used but I could certainly discriminate between things being in front, behind or to the side.
Listening to music was a bit disappointing. These are 'over the ear' phones but are extremely comfortable to wear. The sealing pads are very effective at eliminating outside sounds. Unfortunately, like a lot of cheaper headphones of the type, they do tend to sound a bit 'boxy'. I think that listening to music for long periods may be rather wearing. This is, of course subjective, but I will continue to use my Sennheisers for listening to music.
The blister box contains the headphones, the decoder, an extension cable for the phones, an AC power supply, a lithium ion battery, an optical cable and an electrical cable. The only extra thing I needed to get was an adapter to connect the RCS coax plug on the electrical signal cable to the 3.5mm digital output jack on my sound card.
For the price I paid for them, these headphones are a fantastic bargain. I suspect however that CyberHome are no longer making them and what is being currently sold is old stock so get a pair while you still can.
OK, but don't get your hopes up [Posted on 2007-01-29]
Pros:
-Takes both optical & coaxial inputs.
-Volume control mounted on unit.
-Look nice.
-Headset completely covers my ears.
Cons:
-The Optical input has some noise, but isn't so bad after turning up the volume. The Coaxial input has alot of noise, very annoying.
-The headset is kinda shallow on the inside & ends up pushing against my ears & they start to hurt after about an hour.
-The sound is poor. It isn't even average. Kinda bass heavy, then the mid-range is all over the place & the treble is non-existant. Sometimes it sounds like you're in a tunnel.
-There are a ton of cords to keep track of. There is the power supply, the line input, the little base that does the decoding. The cord to the headphones. It ends up being a pile.
Would I buy them again, probably not. If they weren't so painful, I'd probably be able to live with them, but that's just too much. I wanted them to do some nice gaming, but they ended up annoying me so much that I rather use stereo headphones. The 5.1 effect isn't all that good on these anyhow.
Great deal for $20 [Posted on 2007-02-22]
I hooked these up to my Xbox 360 and was pleasantly surprised for the money.
The bass response is very impressive, and the left right separation is also surprisingly good. The L/R separation is the best feature, as you can really hear the difference between front right, dead right and rear right. Walking past something in a game and hearing it sweep along you is really well done. When the sound sweeps behind or in front it's not a smooth transition. The simulated rear and center front are workable, but not convincing (not a replacement for physical speakers).
Overall I'd say the sound is comparable to a set of the lower line Sennheiser over the ear phones.
Love them [Posted on 2007-12-13]
This device can be used with an HDTV to listen to the true 5.1 sound. I use a small HDTV for a computer monitor, and sometimes I just want to watch TV. Headphones can't reproduce the sound the same way a home theater does, because as you move your head, the headphones move with you, but they produce as good a listening experience as you can get if you don't want to use speakers and disturb those around you. I would market them as an HDTV device instead of a gamer's device. I work at a TV station, and it is helpful to be able to monitor the work I have done with such an inexpensive and useful item. Don't expect them to replace a whole home theater, but for what they are, they work just fine.
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