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Q&A with Psyko Audio Labs @ HWC. Your Questions Answered

SKYMTL

SKYMTL

HardwareCanuck Review Editor
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Q&A with Psyko Audio Labs @ HWC

​


At CES, some fortunate journalists had the opportunity to check out the Psyko PC 5.1 Gaming Headphones from a Candian company called Psyko Audio Labs. Plenty of people were impressed enough with the technology and design that these headphones received one of CES's coveted "Innovative Product Awards".

This industry excitement has quickly turned into consumer curiosity, as evidenced by our forum thread concerning these headphones.

Psyko has generously offered to do an interview with Hardware Canucks but while this would be great, I have chosen to go a different route. We will be using this thread for questions you -the potential consumers- have about these headphones. The best of the questions along with some of our own will be submitted to James Hildebrandt, the head of Psyko Audio Labs.

The responses will then be posted on the front page of HWC as a lead-up to our full review.

So, feel free to ask away in this thread.
 
A few questions and some comments...

Thank you for not including a seperate sound card as most surroundsound headsets have come to include, I wish more would do this and the detachable mic is very welcoming feature since not all of use mics and lastly I especially like the open airflow feature of the earcups, as many of us know sweaty ear syndrome after a lengthy gaming session is most uncomfortable.

Questions:

1. In the future will Psyko Audio Labs consider offering their headphones in a variety of different colours?

2. At louder volumes does the sound leak from the speakers?

3. What will be the length of the warranty on the headphones?

4. Is it a possibility that the hardwarecanucks store can/will carry your product?

Thank you and I look forward to your repsonse.

Regards,

EE
 
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What, if any, affect does the waveguides have on sonic quality? Is there an exact correlation between the waveguide length, and speaker distance in full HT setups?

How powerful is each speaker?

Given the website media, each channel is powered independantly...how does audio processing effects translate with this, like dolby headphone, DTS/DD content?

How does the directional position of each audio "tube" affect the sonic sinature of the other channels?

I think the design has fantastic potential...but I'm immediately reminded of Bose...how do you feel about that?
 
On a less technical level, I'd be interested in hearing what their experience has been getting this to market in the Canadian business environment. We've had a few Canadian high tech success stories, but they seem few and far between.
 
xentr_thread_starter
Actually, it is funny you mention that considering CoolIT Systems is pretty close to Psyko.
 
Maybe I just overlooked something, but there would obviously have to be some processing involved in order to make these headphones function right. Where does this occur? Is there a controller circuit within the headphones? Or are the speakers just powered by a cluster of cables attached to the standard 5.1 outputs? I'm assuming these headphones would coexist with existing sound cards?

The whole idea of sound tubes sounds pretty interesting, personally. If it can be done without degrading audio quality, I'd be quite impressed. And it would obviously free up the phones to house some heavy-duty speakers, instead of trying to cram in a bunch of smaller speakers like current 5.1 headphones do.
 
It looks like all the drivers are in the top band, and the "subs" are the only drivers in the "headphone" parts.

The Psyko 5.1 headphones are a radical departure from any other headphone on the market. For starters, the speakers are not placed in the ear cups. The speakers are placed above your head in the bridge of your headphone. The placement of the speakers in the bridge enables three things to occur.
  1. Each speaker is placed in a precise position to create the correct timing and volume difference to each ear.
  2. WaveGuides (air tubes) connect each speaker to BOTH ears to deliver the correct timing and volume difference.
  3. The WaveGuides direct the front sound across the front of the ear, and the rear sounds across the rear of the ear.
Click to expand...
So now I have the question of:

Why is each channel connected to both ears? Is this to simulate the wave interaction from seperate speakers in a full 5.1 set-up? Is the length of the tube what would "simulate" a DSP effect?


I am very curious about these cans...they really could offer what no other "5.1" headphone does...I gotta try a set out!(In April?)
 
Can they provide free samples for HWC members so we can hear for ourselves and spread the word :P
 
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