P3D Re: Binaural Sound - Part II

[Michael Kersenbrock <michaelk@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Maybe in stereo sound things are different, but what is wrong with
> headphones if they are inexpensive and the quality of (binaural recorded)
> sound is superb?


	1. Personally I much prefer not to have headphones than to have
           them.

	2. "Sound", depending what one listens to, isn't all in the
           ear.  At significant sound levels (esp. in the bass region)
           it's a whole-body experience, and I'm not sure I even want
           to think what a whole-body equivalent of "headphone" would
           be like.

	3. I'd be a P.I.T.B. for a group to all have headphones.

	4. Using headphones is NOT life-like compared to using speakers,
           in at least one respect. Using speakers (esp 5.1 surround sound,
           etc) is superior.  When one turns one's head (for whatever reason),
           sound in "real life" changes (directionality, sound intensity, etc).
           With speakers this change is emulated (however well or not).  With
           headphones, it doesn't work at all.  Headphones are like the static 3D
           stereo images we all produce, while speakers are "equivalent" to
           holography in that it tries to reproduce the 3D environment, not just
           trying to fool the human sensors that the environment exists.

IMHO anyway. :-)

Mike K.