Active Noise Canceling *AND* Surround Sound Headset

[NexTerren]

So for a present for my father I am looking to purchase a nice quality over-ear headset for him at work, and was considering the Bose QuietComfort 25, since I enjoy my pair of QuietComfort 15s so well.

However he also has a fascination with the Oculus Rift, and I thought it would be awesome to get him a headset he could take home and enjoy with the Rift.

Unfortunately while work would benefit from active-noise cancellation, the Rift would benefit from surround sound, like you find with gaming headsets.

Googling around I found a single pair of sub-optimal Turtle Beach headsets (poor reviews) that boasts both surround sound and active cancellation, but nothing else. These seem to be exclusive feature sets. I don't care about a microphone one way or the other.

Any advice for some headsets to look into? I'd like to stay south of the $350 mark.

 

[sizzling]

Emulated surround sound in headsets just doesn't work in my opinion, its nothing like real surround sound, it has no direction. Ive tried both virtual and multi driver headsets and while multi drivers give some sort of directional sound the sound quality suffers and the directional sound is still not great. I'd much rather a nice stereo set like the QC25 or now the new 35's, if the sound quality is there then the other gimmicks dont matter. Just my opinion.

 

[ssddx]

active noise cancellation distorts the audio stream. while this can cancel out some background noise it can also be heard and can sound strange to some people.

virtual surround sound also distorts the audio stream. while some people like this for gaming and movies it can also be heard and some people may find it strange.

you want to introduce two forms of distortion?

honestly i'd suggest some passive noise reduction (using closed cans) and if you like virtual have it as an option using a soundcard or razer surround and let him figure out what he likes.

as for "true" surround sound headsets... its no better than virtual. while the sound is not distorted the same, they sound a bit off as you can hear the different drivers firing.

bose headphones are also overrated. i used a pair for a few years thinking they were good until i tried out other brands and realized just how bad they were in comparision considering the price. they do active noise cancellation decently but thats a flawed technology to begin with since it works better on constant droning noises over anything else. YMMV, but i cant stand the distortion from that.

TLDR: go with some closed headphones and passive noise cancellation. if you want virtual use razer's or get a soundcard that supports it.