Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: DREDIOCK on December 28, 2014, 01:24:47 PM
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Lets you use an aviation headset on a PC
http://www.pcaviator.com/store/product.php?productid=17806&cat=0&page=0&featured=Y
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Now I don't know the sound quality of the real aviation headesets but if you are looking at the immersion and somewhat reality, I am using these here http://www.razerzone.com/store/razer-blackshark ...tied in with my sound card .. they sound aswesome. They are all metal construction..the mic can pop out to use with mp3 player or ipod .. The mic is fully ajustable and as I have been told very clear.
unboxing and mic test.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3EZ6y3Inkc
reviews http://www.engadget.com/products/razer/blackshark/
LawnDart
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What makes the device Drediock posted superior (if it really can do what they claim) is the ability to support headphones with an impedance of 100-600 ohms. Most of the headphones gamers use are 29-32 ohms, so you would not need this with typical headsets. So, why use something with a higher impedance? For the same reason you want a 144Hz monitor. Once you hear the effect of a higher damping factor you will not want to go back to typical headphones. Remember though that you cannot use a 32 ohm headset in a 600 ohm amplifier without damaging/destroying the headset.
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OK Chalenge can you say that in common mans english??? lol
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Far superior sound quality for a potential drop in overall volume depending on amplifier output
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The idea is to match the impedance values so you get the best sound.
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I have a sigtronics headset from the late 90s I might get this for.
Question: besides buying this thing and trying it, how can I tell if my headset is stereo?
My fear is they are mono, because I can't really see why you'd need an av. Headset to be stereo.
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What makes the device Drediock posted superior (if it really can do what they claim) is the ability to support headphones with an impedance of 100-600 ohms. Most of the headphones gamers use are 29-32 ohms, so you would not need this with typical headsets. So, why use something with a higher impedance? For the same reason you want a 144Hz monitor. Once you hear the effect of a higher damping factor you will not want to go back to typical headphones. Remember though that you cannot use a 32 ohm headset in a 600 ohm amplifier without damaging/destroying the headset.
If you think impedance is the only determining factor in sound quality you're going to love the STAX with its 145 000 ohm impedance :P https://www.staxusa.com/stax-sr-009.html
And I'm not going to argue, STAX does sound good. But not because of the impedance.
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I have a sigtronics headset from the late 90s I might get this for.
Question: besides buying this thing and trying it, how can I tell if my headset is stereo?
My fear is they are mono, because I can't really see why you'd need an av. Headset to be stereo.
I have a feeling that generally speaking an aviation headset is not going to be optimal for games. It's more like live action role playing costume kind of experience :)
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If you think impedance is the only determining factor in sound quality you're going to love the STAX with its 145 000 ohm impedance :P https://www.staxusa.com/stax-sr-009.html
And I'm not going to argue, STAX does sound good. But not because of the impedance.
Not exactly what I was saying. Look up "damping factor" and then realize that some equipment should be matched for best performance. :rolleyes:
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Not exactly what I was saying. Look up "damping factor" and then realize that some equipment should be matched for best performance. :rolleyes:
The damping factor is just one parameter among many, it does not define overall audio quality in any way. But I agree that a high damping factor is often a preferred quality. However you can have a headset with high damping factor that still sounds like crap.
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The damping factor is just one parameter among many, it does not define overall audio quality in any way. But I agree that a high damping factor is often a preferred quality. However you can have a headset with high damping factor that still sounds like crap.
Now you're arguing. Nevertheless, any audio professional who has critically evaluated amplifiers will tell you that a high damping factor is desirable, in particular, for quality bass reproductions. The problem with typical consumer level headsets is that their pairing with onboard audio chips and USB audio usually means a D/F lower than 1, whereas a higher D/F (closer to 10) is about the best a human may discern as being optimum. The reason I see your argument as fallacious is you can see the D/F will certainly be higher, or at least closer to the optimum for human ears, you know the headsets for aircraft are far better than PC level components, and yet you still try to raise an argument.
But you are right. Most of the audio systems that gamers use are crap.
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Now you're arguing. Nevertheless, any audio professional who has critically evaluated amplifiers will tell you that a high damping factor is desirable, in particular, for quality bass reproductions. The problem with typical consumer level headsets is that their pairing with onboard audio chips and USB audio usually means a D/F lower than 1, whereas a higher D/F (closer to 10) is about the best a human may discern as being optimum. The reason I see your argument as fallacious is you can see the D/F will certainly be higher, or at least closer to the optimum for human ears, you know the headsets for aircraft are far better than PC level components, and yet you still try to raise an argument.
But you are right. Most of the audio systems that gamers use are crap.
I don't think that aircraft headsets are actually built for audiophiles in mind or online gaming. They have a totally different target audience so that raises some doubt how interchangeable they are in reality. Having clear communication while in flight requires completely different properties than great music reproduction or spatial localization that's important for gaming. Flight headsets can be monaural without hindering their use at all, for example.
It's also questionable how much the damping factor is even a factor with headphones. The drivers are extremely small and light weight which makes their natural tendency for ringing minimal to begin with. The damping factor is usually a concern mostly in large bass systems where long thin cables and low impedances can cause bad side effects.
That being said I have never been a headphone enthusiast to begin with so I haven't had that many cans on my head. I've owned or own Beyerdynamics, Koss, Bose qc-series (for active sound canceling), Sennheiser and Logitech headphones and I've tested some of the most expensive headphones in the world, including different model STAXes with a super expensive headphone amp. No headphone to date has made the 'wow' effect. The only thing I haven't tested is head tracking headphones, which is certainly interesting as they create a realistic sound stage - something that no regular headphone can do.
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I have a sigtronics headset from the late 90s I might get this for.
Question: besides buying this thing and trying it, how can I tell if my headset is stereo?
My fear is they are mono, because I can't really see why you'd need an av. Headset to be stereo.
I'm not quite sure what kind of plugs aviation headsets use, but the upper one in the picture below is stereo and the lower one is mono.
(http://www.baron58.com/images/Headse7.gif)
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I'm not quite sure what kind of plugs aviation headsets use, but the upper one in the picture below is stereo and the lower one is mono.
(http://www.baron58.com/images/Headse7.gif)
Thanks Biz!
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I don't think that . . .
It makes a difference. Most a/c headphones are using balanced setups, rather than being fully-balanced stereo gear. They can still be used for stereo audio, because they are designed with crosstalk elimination in mind. This and the damping factor combined help to reduce total harmonic distortion. It's THD that makes you tired of using a headset after awhile, or that's my belief. Cheaper headphones will effect you at an increased rate because their dynamic range is so narrow. When I use aviation headsets I don't get tired of using them as quickly as I do the consumer level PC headsets. You could actually pay to have your headphones reworked as a fully-balanced setup, but with cost and THD in mind you would probably be better off just buying better headphones intended for professional work. That's basically what I did, except what I consider bare minimum headphones are the Sony professional phones that I use to monitor field recordings, or the Beyer premium phones for mixing. If I do anything with music I have to switch over to the high-end AKGs. Price is not a good measure of quality (as proven by the cost of 5.1/7.1 headphones), but you can use DF, THD and time as an estimate.
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It makes a difference. Most a/c headphones are using balanced setups, rather than being fully-balanced stereo gear. They can still be used for stereo audio, because they are designed with crosstalk elimination in mind. This and the damping factor combined help to reduce total harmonic distortion. It's THD that makes you tired of using a headset after awhile, or that's my belief. Cheaper headphones will effect you at an increased rate because their dynamic range is so narrow. When I use aviation headsets I don't get tired of using them as quickly as I do the consumer level PC headsets. You could actually pay to have your headphones reworked as a fully-balanced setup, but with cost and THD in mind you would probably be better off just buying better headphones intended for professional work. That's basically what I did, except what I consider bare minimum headphones are the Sony professional phones that I use to monitor field recordings, or the Beyer premium phones for mixing. If I do anything with music I have to switch over to the high-end AKGs. Price is not a good measure of quality (as proven by the cost of 5.1/7.1 headphones), but you can use DF, THD and time as an estimate.
To me it would seem counter intuitive that flight headsets would have a linear frequency response like hi-fi headsets need to have. In fact a flight headset may serve the best if it's artificially boosted to amplify the frequencies most commonly found in human speech. I've never heard anyone even semi-seriously recommend flight headsets for music listening, which would be the case if they would really be competitive for the job.
Balancing again is just a technique used to reduce interference, a balanced signal uses higher voltage and is actively grounded unlike a regular banana jack. This makes a balanced signal cable much less prone to picking up interference from magnetos etc. sources of noise. To sound quality per se they do nothing. This is the reason why PA speakers and microphones use balanced connectors, they're a must when you have to pull long cable pulls that would otherwise be susceptible to all sorts of induced noise.
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Having a balanced setup doesn't protect them anymore than an unbalanced setup does. The voltages aren't a sure thing, either. I have two mics that can use phantom power, but neither one has to have it over the TOSLINK input. So, I use them cold.
I see your point about the voice range being preferred, but I don't think that enters into the discussion. If someone wants to use their aviation phones it's because they want to and not the audio range. While I myself prefer to hear all the game sounds there may be other people for which the most important aspect is human interactions and the voice range is all they care about. And there are certainly full-range headphones in the aviation world.
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Having a balanced setup doesn't protect them anymore than an unbalanced setup does.
This is where you're wrong. Balancing is used specifically to counter interference from long cable pulls and noisy concert setups where a lot of audio and other stage gear are in close proximity. The dual twisted nature of the balanced line automatically cancels any interference picked up on the way: http://www.portlandmusiccompany.com/balanced_unbalanced.php
Or are we talking about balancing as noun or balancing as a technical term?
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That's the theory, but in practice running cables in parallel will still cause interference. Noise, especially, is reduced, but interference can still develop. It's reduced, but not eliminated. If it were, we wouldn't have rockers like Ted Nugent.
EDIT: Groove on the Country/Western speaker:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uKzkArP3hA
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That's the theory, but in practice running cables in parallel will still cause interference. Noise, especially, is reduced, but interference can still develop. It's reduced, but not eliminated. If it were, we wouldn't have rockers like Ted Nugent.
EDIT: Groove on the Country/Western speaker:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uKzkArP3hA
I think you're confusing the intentional guitar distortion to signal cabling. Even when a musician plays the electric guitar, he doesn't want the interconnect to pick up any extra feedback on the way ;)
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I'm not quite sure what kind of plugs aviation headsets use, but the upper one in the picture below is stereo and the lower one is mono.
(http://www.baron58.com/images/Headse7.gif)
My general aviation Sigtronics headset has a mono plug. That stinks, they are super rugged and comfortable.
This thing would have been perfect.
Is it possible to wire the leads from each speaker to a stereo plug, and separate the speakers into stereo?
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My general aviation Sigtronics headset has a mono plug. That stinks, they are super rugged and comfortable.
This thing would have been perfect.
Is it possible to wire the leads from each speaker to a stereo plug, and separate the speakers into stereo?
Of course it is. You can even grow your own sheep and use their hide to make new ear cushions to the headphones. Just a matter of determination :D
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My general aviation Sigtronics headset has a mono plug. That stinks, they are super rugged and comfortable.
This thing would have been perfect.
Is it possible to wire the leads from each speaker to a stereo plug, and separate the speakers into stereo?
It is, and it should be easier than growing your own sheep.
The procedure might be relatively easy or not so easy but doable.
The easy one: Unscrew the plug. If there's two different colour wires going to the tip and one (ground, and there may be two of them as well) to the sleeve, then simply get a stereo plug, solder the left channel to the tip and the right to the ring, and of course the ground wire to the sleeve.
The not so easy one: Find the point where the left and right earphone's cables get united and continue as above. The joint would probably be inside the earphone the cable runs from.
Simply put, both earphones have one live and one ground output. For a mono reproduction the live wires have to be spliced together and connected to the tip of the plug. Of course the ground wires must also be coupled, but one grounding point, the sleeve, can serve both channels.
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Thanks Bizman. They look like they join up before the plug cord for exits the cup. I'm going to give it a go. I even have a squiggly stereo cord I can use if I find each wire.