Wireless Virtual Dolby USB Headphones with Broadcast Support
Digital Pro Sound’s review of the Hauppauge XFones focuses on the sound production quality of the wireless 5.1 surround headphones from a pro audio standpoint - not surprising, given their site’s focus - but we’re more curious about another aspect of these 2.4 GHz wireless cans and their plug and play USB transponder: do the headphones support OpenAL? As we observed in our reviews of the Tritton 5.1 USB Headset and the ASUS Xonar U1, incorporating this open source audio standard into a sound generating device can mean the difference between a quality gaming experience and one where you’ll be struggling to figure out where sound cues are coming from.
From what we can see on the XFone’s product page, gamers might be disappointed: Hauppauge included Dolby Headphone technology for surround sound emulation that should please the movie lover, but didn’t include anything that sounded like OpenAL. On the bright side, the ‘broadcast mode’ allows for multiple headphones support, which is good for tune sharing and even better for Hauppague for selling more of these. So, we guess there are equal number of good & bad.Permanent Link