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Article: Redscape 3D Audio for Headphones Review


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Nice review Mitch!  This is tempting software for me, as I'm finally having my music room built as I type this, but it will still be quite awhile before my multichannel system is dialed in.  This might be a nice way to enjoy our NativeDSD/Channel Classic recordings (DSD 5.0 but I assume I downsample somewhere in the chain to get 96khz to Redscape) and my rock/jazz stuff too.  I haven't heard my Donald Fagen stuff in multichannel for soooo long.  :(

 

Do you find the NAD cans to be good at supporting the virtualized surround locations or is it much better when doing Redscape's stereo?  Have you ever heard the Symth Realiser stuff (way different price point, of course)?

Thx

Ted

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4 hours ago, jrobbins50 said:

Mitch, will this work in Roon with DSF multichannel files?  I’m wondering if you ever had the opportunity to compare this Redscape product against the Darin Fong Audio Out Of Your Head software. The latter allows multichannel headphone listening with different room and system presets (really high end stuff), but, as I recall, is limited to 24/48, is ASIO only and works with JRiver but not Roon.

 

On the strength of your review, I ordered the Redscape with head tracker. :) JCR 

 

Hi Jeffrey, yes it does work. See attached. As far as I have been able to test, any number of channels up to 7.1 in Roon are mapped exactly up to 7.1 in Redscape.  I tried Out Of Your Head and spent literally 30 minutes trying to get it to work to no avail and gave up. Output errors, crashes, lockups, wrong sample rate play speed (chipmunks 🙂 Maybe I am not giving it a fair shake, but I usually can get things to work pretty quickly... Besides, it is missing the head tracker which I think really completes the illusion IMO.

 

 

multichannel Roon.jpg

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I had a lot of problems with OOYH as well. Darin gave me some pointers and I can get it to work — it is complicated and the web instructions weren’t enough for me to get it to work. 
 

Does RS work across the network?  That is, can I install RS on my Roon core / MC26 server in my main system and select an endpoint at my nightstand in our bedroom where I have a rpi3 Roon endpoint, DAC, headphone amp and HD650 headphones?  (I suppose I’d have to remote into the server to change the Windows sound properties and MC26 settings, if using JRiver instead of Roon, just for this use and then revert back.) Or, like OOYH, must I kluge things off of my laptop so that the DAC is directly connected to the PC running RS?  JCR 

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3 hours ago, ted_b said:

Nice review Mitch!  This is tempting software for me, as I'm finally having my music room built as I type this, but it will still be quite awhile before my multichannel system is dialed in.  This might be a nice way to enjoy our NativeDSD/Channel Classic recordings (DSD 5.0 but I assume I downsample somewhere in the chain to get 96khz to Redscape) and my rock/jazz stuff too.  I haven't heard my Donald Fagen stuff in multichannel for soooo long.  :(

 

Do you find the NAD cans to be good at supporting the virtualized surround locations or is it much better when doing Redscape's stereo?  Have you ever heard the Symth Realiser stuff (way different price point, of course)?

Thx

Ted

 

Thanks Ted! Both sound quite good on the NAD's if I understand your question correctly. If I use the Windows 7.1 config and play each channel individually or listen to Redscapes 7.1 demo, the virtualized locations are exactly to be as expected. Redscapes 2 channel virtualization sounds great too, like being in front of ideal speakers in an ideal room. I enjoy the tone of the NAD's as well as I like the Harman target curve for headphones.

 

Yes, I heard the Smyth Realiser older version some time ago. Does work really well. But as you say, quite the price point difference 🙂 If one can handle a bit of diy, there is the Impulcifer that does what Smyth Realiser does and maybe worth some investigation.

 

Very cool about your music room! I hope you show us when it is done.

 

Kind regards,

Mitch

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Ok, I installed this evening on my laptop and even without the head tracker (which has t arrived yet), it’s much easier to set up, use and adjust than OOYH. Listening to MCH files on both Roon and JRiver through an Audioquest Cobalt and Shure 535 in-ear headphones. Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Sing A Song” makes a compelling case for the product. Looking forward to the impact of the head tracker on this. JCR 

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9 hours ago, jrobbins50 said:

Ok, I installed this evening on my laptop and even without the head tracker (which has t arrived yet), it’s much easier to set up, use and adjust than OOYH. Listening to MCH files on both Roon and JRiver through an Audioquest Cobalt and Shure 535 in-ear headphones. Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Sing A Song” makes a compelling case for the product. Looking forward to the impact of the head tracker on this. JCR 

You've got to hash it out a bit more~

 

I also have OOYH and as annoying as it is to get working correctly, once you know what to do you can manage it pretty straightforward. And the sound is great. It's a not the right answers all the time, but it's a great card to have in your hand and I enjoy it most of the time. 

 

So, how is Redscape comparing sound wise? There's a lot of variation with OOYH and the different speakers/rooms you can buy for it.

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I tried the demos with a pair of Shure SRH840 phones but only got hard pan left or right sound.  No sensation of front or surround directions.  I toggled the demo off and on and could easily hear the difference from in head to out but it was just outside the left ear or right ear without going toward the front or back as expected.  Did I miss something?

2 channel : full Innuos suite / Black Cat USB cables / Kii Three BXT

Desktop : Innuos PulseMINI / Roon ROCK / SaBaj A20d amp-DAC / DCA E3 headphones

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I say you are missing something. On tracks such as the Doors “Hello, I Love You”, Pink Floyd’s “Us And Them” or Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells” 2009 Edition, each one in the multichannel format, I definitely perceive the movement around from in front of to behind my head — and this is before I’ve yet received and installed the head tracker, which Mitch says improves the effect. JCR 

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