Panasonic intros 5.1-channel RP-WF5500 wireless headphones
By Darren Murph 
posted Oct 15th 2007 5:47PM
posted Oct 15th 2007 5:47PM
[Via I4U News]
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DJs could care less about 5.1 or wireless. I think this is aimed at the home theater market only. Without any idea on price they are not somothing I would wait for.
Kay, no one is mentioning DJs but you, idiot.
@Billy Fool: He's obviously making a general statement. Pretty fucking hard to be confused there but obviously you are.
I think you missed a med.
equalizer,
I wouldn't jump on the man like that. After "JK" mentioned DJs, I went back and scanned the article again for mention of DJing. So, obviously we assumed his comment was pertinent to the article.
UGLY!!!
They are headphones, function will always come before form. All that matters is how they sound.
Congratulations! Satish, you were the impetus for me to low-rank every post I see that calls something ugly. It doesn't matter!
Amen Justin!
When buying headphones, here is the priority of attributes to look for in a pair-
1) Sound Quality
2) Comfort, can you wear these with out your skull or outer ear hurting? (I often forget that mine are even attached to my head)
3) Price, can you afford it? If no, search again and go back to step one.
4) Appearance- Grado Labs look ugly buy sound like heaven. This ain't a glamor contest; nothing says nerd a pair of AKG K 1000 connected to an big 10w tube amplifier and car battery strapped to your back. So if you are worried about looks, then headphones probably are not for you anyways. Stick to your shiny white .99¢ Apple iBuds.
http://www.headphone.com/guide/by-manufacturer/akg/akg-k-1000.php
I have the Pioneer version. While they sound good, they are IR based which means line of site only. Half of the time, I plug in my blue tooth headset and dongle so I can have greater range.
These look cool, but make sure they don't have built in batteries as you will be stuck recharging them if they go dead. At least the Pioneer uses two AA in the headphone so I can change them out.
- Roger
How the hell are you going to pack 5.1 in IR? I don't buy that. which is good since the page clearly says 2.5GHz.
Well, no headphone is 5.1 by definition as they can only simulate surround sound. However, they are rated Dolby Digital and DTS cabpatible and they are currently the highest rated wireless headphones on CNET.
http://reviews.cnet.com/headphones-headsets/pioneer-se-dir800c/4505-6468_7-31225550.html?tag=pdtl-list
- Roger
roger, sorry, you're actually wrong. headphones can produce 360.1 actually - let me explain.
1) the average human with ok hearing can tell the location of a sound source to the precision of 1 degree azimuth thus meanin that the best surround sound we'll ever get is 360.1 - i realise that 5.1 can produce more than 5 sound locations by panning between speakers but the advent of 7.1 shows this can be improved with more speakers - with the ultimate in excess / accuracy being 360 speakers.
2) how many ear drums do you have? most people have two and as such it IS possible to percieve sound source location as being at one of 360 locations by use of only two sound sources, providing that they are coupled well enough with the ear drum - closed / isolating headphones are perfect for this. Yes, with current algorithms, it's pretty difficult to accurately get even 5.1 out of headphones but it IS possible in theory.
regards,
leo
That thing in the middle is a special add-on that will listen to your music for you and beam the pleasure directly to your brain.
-or remember it for you...wholesale!
Panasonic,
Just slightly ahead of our time.
I would love to try these.
But will they convert 2.0 channel audio to 5.1? 'cause otherwise they're pretty useless. And I have yet to see a pair of 5.1 headphones that has that feature...though I have yet to see a set of 5.1 speakers that doesn't.
uhm, since they are on your ears it doesn't matter if not all speakers work with 2.0 sources does it, it will sound like a stereo headphone then.
Well it will matter, because on 5.1 headphones the speakers are in a different layout. On standard headphones the speakers just blast straight into your ears, so it basically comes from all directions. On 5.1 headphones, the speakers are laid out so some are in front and some behind, so if it doesn't change 2.0 to 5.1 it will actually sound like the sound is all coming from in front of you. And I can't stand that sound.
I have the external Sennheiser LUCAS Surround Sound Processor device for headphones - almost 11 years old - it has a lot more features than this thing (reading the article) and can be hooked up to the headphone of your choice... The LUCAS was $499, new.
lol they may be a ugly but eff it man, u know in a couple of years u'll be looking @ the hottest headphones on the market. lol
So, anybody have ever tried 5.1 headphones (in general)? How they're sound?
I have a pair of 5.1 headphones, but I'll never share my experiences with them!
I would love a set of cans this nice with the ability to add a mic for 360 or ps3 games so I can rock out loudly at night and sort of hear the environment, as well as chat etc. The turtle beach headphones/360 mic look like crap.
Where did my comments go?
I deleted them. Bwahahaha....
Good to see someone else uses a Sennheiser unit, I like mine too. But it's not dolby digital/DTS compatible. I'd like a new unit that was and had Dolby Headphone.
Gotta love how every spec is given in metrics except the weight. What's up with that?
Anway, 0.56-pounds = 255g, and that's not bad for home use.
Does anyone know if these use IR, regular RF or BT?
People confuse so-called 5.1 headphones with Dolby Headphone technology. DH is a Dolby technology to use over any pair of regular headphones, and it's the simplest and most effective of them all, especially for its compatibility with Dolby Pro-logic II, which works great for games.
Headphones that have the dubious multispeaker array won't be as effective, or effective at all, no matter how many speakers they cram in there, because distance to speakers also needs to be simulated.
I still don't understand why Dolby Headphone is not a more mainstream product. It is absolutely outstanding, for both its effectiveness and its simplicity.
You guys should try this out, instead of buying expensive headphones. You can use this with any headphone, in fact I use it with my Shures and Grado headphones to watch movies late at night. It's brilliant.
http://www.amazon.com/JVC-SUDH1-Surround-Headphone-Adaptor/dp/B000ETBZ5G
Thank a lot for the info!
I never knew of such a product.