The World’s First Smart 3D Heaphones

Finally, spatially-aware surround sound on-the-go.

Scott Tharler

Sep 25, 2015

Smart? 3D? How the hell are these words possibly describing headphones? Because these ain’t your average surround sound-delivering cans, that’s why. Although they’re fine for your everyday music listening needs, where the 3D Sound One headphones excel is as your personally immersive audio speakers when watching movies, playing games and experiencing virtual reality.

They use both wired and wireless connections to your media device, making them hybrid. The wired part’s for the sound itself. And the wireless part is so they can transmit spatial awareness information back to the device (and then to your ears). The results are an unnervingly “natural” surround sound experience that takes a little getting used to. (We listened to a prototype at the Consumer Electronics Show back in January.)

It’s much easier to understand from listening first-hand than describe in words. But think about this: when you turn your head in the real world, it changes the characteristics (especially volume) of the sound you hear in each ear. That’s essentially what these do. Or in what will likely become an overused analogy, it’s kind of like virtual reality for your ears.

This video from their successful Kickstarter campaign doesn’t explain it much better, but at least it’s fairly entertaining:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FRhwu5S_0w

Photos by 3D Sound Labs

Mentioned in this article: audio gadgets gear headphones home theater Tech

The World’s First Smart 3D Heaphones

Read This Next