What are the best TRUE 7.1 noise canceling headsets? Best portable music players?

lavameatballs

Prominent
May 26, 2017
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I'm looking for the best "true" 7.1 surround sound noise canceling headset to connect to a portable music player. Yep I need 7.1. What should I be looking at? This is not for PC use so don't worry about the sound card. Also, it sounds like plain old music sounds crappy on my Android phone so what are the best portable music players on the market now?
 
Solution
there is no such thing as TRUE 7.1 or 5.1 headphones. well, there were few models with multiple speakers per ear, but that's a gimmick.
The reason for that is simple:
we need both ears to position the source of the sound. that means it's not important how many speakers/channels we have on one side.
the gaming headsets are using algorithms to simulate the positioning and converting multi channel audio to 2 channels in a way that you still have surround feeling in headset. it works quite well.
But gaming headsets don't even come close to the sound quality of good (200$ and up) headphones.
If you want music, get your self a nice pair of bose, B&O, Sennheiser etc.
1. most music is 2.0. there are surround sound music formats but this music is not common.
2. phones and mp3 players are 2.0. i've never seen a 7.1 model
3. i have never seen an active noise cancelling 7.1 headset
4. headphones are generally 2.0. there are surround sound models but generally nothing in a decent brand. most 7.1 are gaming headsets.
 

lavameatballs

Prominent
May 26, 2017
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510


By noise canceling headset I just meant "over the ear" headsets. I was thinking of the old headphones with the material ear pads that pressed against your ears (remember those?) and I wanted to minus those out of the equation. So plain old over the ear 7.1 headsets are fine if you have some to list.

Any great true 7.1 headset is fine even if it is marketed or labeled as a gaming headset. As long as it has a jack to connect to a music player instead of a USB cable where it's only compatible with a computer I'll be happy.

Are there any portable music players that don't take away from true surround sound? And the music sounds to the listener however it was recorded instead of sounding lower quality?
 
what you are looking for would be passive noise cancellation. basically "over ear" and "closed" headphones. "on ear" would work to some degree as well but not as much.

analog 5.1/7.1 headsets do exist but require 3 or 4 3.5mm connections. this will not work for portable devices as every single one i've seen is 2.0 only.

music is generally recorded in 2.0 stereo NOT 5.1 or 7.1. yes, there are certainly some music files available which were recorded in multi channel but those are rare and generally only a select few listen to them. 99% of music would be stereo. this is whyi i can not see your point on why you want 5.1 or 7.1 when you would be better off just getting a nice pair of stereo headphones

want to hear the music most like it was recorded? flat or neutral signature cans would be the most true to original
 

n0ns3ns3

Commendable
May 25, 2016
136
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1,710
there is no such thing as TRUE 7.1 or 5.1 headphones. well, there were few models with multiple speakers per ear, but that's a gimmick.
The reason for that is simple:
we need both ears to position the source of the sound. that means it's not important how many speakers/channels we have on one side.
the gaming headsets are using algorithms to simulate the positioning and converting multi channel audio to 2 channels in a way that you still have surround feeling in headset. it works quite well.
But gaming headsets don't even come close to the sound quality of good (200$ and up) headphones.
If you want music, get your self a nice pair of bose, B&O, Sennheiser etc.
 
Solution