Gamertell Interview: Head Psyko, James Hildebrandt, on the Psyko 5.1 PC Gaming Headset

The Psyko 5.1 PC Gaming Headset, which won the “red dot” international product design award June 2010, is what you might call a premium audio device.

Priced at $300, this mechanically designed surround sound headset does not rely on any digital manipulations to create stereo effects. Instead, it relies on the physical delivery of sound, playing into the way we physically hear sounds including the sub-millisecond differences in time it takes sound to reach each ear.

I recently spoke with James Hildebrandt, the Head Psyko (yes, that is his title) and inventor of the Psykowave technology used in the Psyko 5.1 PC Gaming Headset (watch Gamertell for a review, coming very soon).

One of the main differences between the Psycko and other headphones is, as Hildebrandt explains, placement of the speakers.

“Some headphone by other companies… stuff a bunch of speakers right by your ears. You might have four or five speakers in each ear but those will still not give you that true surround sound effect. They need to adjust the volume in one ear or the other to simulate closeness. It’s just not the same.

“You miss a lot of the subtleties with that method. With the Psyko, you don’t need to have the volume turned up as loud and you can hear many more subtle sounds.”

The speakers in the Psyko are placed around your head instead of in the ear pieces, using tubes to transfer each channel of sounds to your ears. It creates the minute differences in the time you hear sounds coming from various angles to each ear. It’s those minute differences in time that creates what Hildebrandt describes as a natural surround sound effect.

Most companies use some sort of digital manipulation to simulate sound location by varying the volumes of the sounds reaching each ear. Make it louder in one ear and it’s perceived as being closer to that side. Hildebrandt wanted to avoid this form of digital trickery, instead using a more realistic, physical approach with the Psyko.

“There’s no software manipulation at all… There are no interpolation differences. Each sounds is sent to each ear exactly as if you were in the room… We condensed the room into your head. It’s all the same physics… [The Psycko] is engineered to do exactly the same thing.”

That “room” concept continues throughout the Psyyko’s development, replicating the surround sound speakers in a room – even the minute effect of sounds bouncing off your own ears – with the person wearing the Psyko sitting right in the “sweet spot.”

“There’s only one really one sweet spot in a movie theater or a room with a complete surround sound setup. And movie companies know that and they have to make some sacrifices to account for that.”

It also means the Psycko doesn’t need to crank up the volume, like other headphones. By boosting volumes, we essentially lose the subtleties we would otherwise naturally detect. “It never quite sounds right. The subtle sounds get lost.”

That means Psyko can keep the volume nice and low and still pick up audio nuances that would otherwise go unnoticed.

The headset has been “optimized for games” so, while it may still be used to listen to your favorite MP3 or even a high-def movie, Hildebrandt swears these are best for gaming.

“Of course, there are a lot of personal preferences out there. We optimized the Psyko for gaming but some people certainly enjoy it with movies or even music.. Gaming lends itself very well to the technology,” he said, noting that there are many levels of sound and audio effect in games that are often lost to simulated surround effects.

With very the potential for so many surround elements to be manipulated by a game’s sound designer(s), it makes sense that a mechanical surround device would be the best delivery method. So, he suggests, turn those off and simply plug in the Psyko.

“We wanted to make it easy to set up. There’s no software to install. Instead you just plug in the color-coded cables and you are ready to go. And turn off any surround simulation programs. Those just distort the audio.”

I did note that my sound card had a different color scheme for the ports, which added a little time to my setup.

“There was some standard set in 1999 but, of course, not everyone follows it. We tried to stick to the standard at least for that.”

Otherwise, the device is essentially plug-and-play with no software necessary. Even so, if you have any problems, give Psyko Audio, Inc., a call.

“We have real tech support. We have the phone number right on our web site. And there isn’t some phone tree that sends you to the next person and then another. You’ll get a real person.”

Just don’t call them and ask why the Psyko costs $300.

“It”s new tech and we believe you can save big compared to a good sound card. We’ve engineered this so that it sounds amazing even with even a common sound card. You can easily spend $150 on a sound card and $150 on headphones. And then the setup is very complicated.”

As any engineer might be, Hildebrandt was pretty interested in my experience with his creation. You’ll get the full details in my review (coming on the next couple days) but the one part we did discuss at length was the fit of the headset. It’s not very heavy but it tend to slip down the back of my head whenever I lean backwards.

“That’s interesting because we tried a lot of materials. We sampled a lot of cloths trying to decide what to use. We had decided on a different fabric [than what is used now], put it on the headset and decided it was too slippery. It was like using Teflon. We actually put it into the specs that the next cloth ‘had to be grippy on hair.’ We used the the best material that gripped hair we could find.”

Psyko 5.1 PC Gaming Headset is currently available in the US and Canada for $299.99 online and at some retail locations.

Site [Psyko 5.1 PC Gaming Headset]

Image Source: Above images and charts are from the Psyko White Paper provided by Psyko Audio.