By Evan Ackerman
Lots of headphones claim virtual surround sound through some clever audio manipulation, but wouldn’t it be much simpler to just shove all of the speaker components of a physical surround sound system into the headphones themselves? This is what Turtle Beach has tried to do with their Ear Force AK-R8 headphones. Each earpiece has a dedicated sub driver, plus individual center, front, and surround sound drivers, reproducing 5.1 channels of audio. They plug into your computer via a USB interface with a built in sound card, but also include an S/PDIF adapter to plug into your stereo. As to whether this effectively reproduces a good surround sound system, we’ll have to wait for a review… But regardless, eight drivers must make for some awesomely loud music, and for reasonably cheap at a nickel under $150.
[ Ear Force AK-R8 ] VIA [ Engadget ]
Surround with two r’s? I make it Suround.
Anyway, they look pretty cool. I need to get me some good speakers so that I can listen to my movies without disturbing people next door.