Comments on Category #3
Review of Driver Definition
The third heading or category is 'Driver Type / Size'. In an earlier post we discussed what a driver is, so to review a driver is a component of a speaker or, in our case headset system. The word 'driver' is often used interchangeably with the word 'speaker' and most of us think of the conical moving portion of the headset as a speaker. If a headset is binaural, it typically has only one driver per side and in this case the driver is the speaker portion of the headset system.
In the case of the multiple driver per side like 5.1 surround sound system headsets the moving cones are more accurately referred to as drivers. If we refer to the speakers in these systems, we could be referring to the group of drivers and components that make up each side.
Therefore, in both cases we will refer to the individual moving cones as drivers and will not use the term speakers unless referring to the components as a whole that make up one side of the headphone portion of the headset.
Type
Binaural
There are two basic types of headsets binaural and multi-driver. The 'type' portion of the category refers to the number of drivers per in the headset.
The binaural type is a stereo headset or one driver per side. To recreate surround sound these type of headsets use a surround sound processor. It can be in the form of sound card which the headset plugs into and the sound card connects to the gaming console or it can be a more elaborate, and expensive, component again connecting between the headset and the gaming console. The card or component decodes the surround sound information from the gaming console then synthesises 7.1 surround sound information to be sent to their binaural headsets to give the sonic edge we are looking for, that is being able to tell where the in-game sound is coming from, front, back, left, right, up, or down or a combination of these.
Multi-Driver
The multi-driver type of headset contains, we know it seems obvious, but there's a twist, multiple drivers. Notice that we did not include the two words 'per side' at the end of the last sentence. Well that's because there are two configurations of the multi-driver setup. The first configuration is what we expect, each earphone contains either three or four drivers. These headsets come with a sound card that decodes the surround sound information and sends the proper signal to proper driver, making it possible to locate the in-game source of the sound directionally.
The second type of multi-driver setup is a concept that was highly anticipated by the gaming community. The design features five drivers mounted in the top of the headband and ports or tubes that carry the sound to the earphones. The drivers are left rear, left front, center, right and left.
Size
The 'size' portion of this category is, well, the size of the drivers. With most of the manufacturers their data does not contain the size of the drivers. Size is incorporated with the driver type category and reported if the information is readily available from the headset's producer.
Comments
This category is the first category that raises debate. The two types represent two schools of thought or design approaches to giving us the sonic edge. This will be the subject of much speculation, and opinion in future posts, but for now at least in building the list, keep in mind that this is the objective part of the search and for the list we will talk physical configuration rather than how well they work.
With that said, here are the initial comments. The binaural headsets recreate surround sound with the use of a sound processor that synthesises surround sound, usually 7.1, through two drivers, one per side. The advantage these headsets have is the use of larger and, their manufacturers claim, better quality drivers for higher quality sound.
The multi-driver headsets use their surround sound processors to direct sound to individual drivers to, as is the claim of their manufacturers, reproduce more directional surround sound.
These two approaches are so different we suspect that we will find two camps of gamers each with their own bias sets firmly entrenched. This is the general tone of most of the reviews we have read. For example one reviewer stated that the headset he uses and prefers is much better than anything he has heard. He doesen't state what he has heard or used, he doesen't talk about his experience other than to say that he has had to replace the headset multiple times and each time the manufacturer stands by the product and sends him a replacement at no charge.
Back in the dark ages of video three formats of video playing devices were developed by three different companies and released within a short period of time. This presented the consumer market with a choice. Two of the formats, VHS and Beta could record, the third, the video disk could not record, it could only play disk, which were the size of a long play record (LP). This put the video disk at a disadvantage. Most people envisioned themselves time shifting TV shows and being able to play tapes that they purchased. This put the video disk out of the picture, so to speak, and with Beta players priced at one and a half time the price of VHS, VHS took the market, well the North American market anyway. There were other major factors that caused us to go for the least desirable of the three formats, and this discussion will be continued in the next post.
Next
In the next post we will discuss the VHS, Beta, Video Disk marketing, why did we choose what turned out to be the least desirable format and how can we apply this history to our choice of a gaming headset.
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