Virtual reality is at the bleeding edge of consumer technology, but there's one major component that's stuck in the past.
Headphones as we know them are OK if you want to experience VR, but they're not up to the task to reproduce the surround sound you need for the full experience.
Why do you need good surround sound?
For one, it's key for the immersive experience you get with VR. Virtual reality developers are using sound as an important tool to lead you through a VR experience.
For example, there could be something creeping up behind you making noise, but you won't know to turn around if you can't hear where it's coming from.
For the full effect, VR calls for a new kind of headphone, and a headphone startup called Ossic is stepping up to the plate.
What VR needs
Ossic is making headphones that are primarily designed with VR in mind, and they take three key aspects into consideration to reproduce good surround sound for VR.
Those aspects are the size of your head, the shape of your ears, as well as the your position in the space you're in.
The Ossic X headphones measure the size of your head with built-in sensors, and Ossic's software algorithms use that measurement to adjust the sound.
The Ossic X also tracks your head's position, which helps keep the source of the sound in one place. For example, if someone is talking in front of you and you turn your head to the right, you'll head the person's voice with your left ear. That's something VR headsets can do, but Ossic claims their's is better.
The result?
I tried a couple prototypes of the Ossic X headphones during a demo with the HTC Vive VR headset, and they were much better than any surround sound headphones I tried in the past.
For VR, it's by far the closest thing to "real-life" sound I've experienced. It sounded rich, full, and natural, and I could tell with better precision where sounds were coming from. To compare, other surround sound headphones I've tried sound hollow, and the direction of where a sound is coming from isn't quite as obvious.
I also tried listening to some Pink Floyd songs, "Money" and "Time" that were originally recorded in 5.1 surround sound. The Ossic X sounded phenomenal. It was incredibly crisp and rich, and it truly sounded like the band was playing right in front of me.
The head tracking also worked with music. It sounded like I was in the recording studio with Pink Floyd when they were playing the songs. When I turned my head to the right, the music stayed in front of me where my body was facing instead of turning around with my head. It's like virtual reality for audio.
There are a bunch of other applications for this "audio VR," like gaming and movies.
Ossic launched its Kickstarter campaign in late February with a $100,000 goal. As of this writing, Ossic has garnered $1.65 million. That roughly translates to "there's something worthwhile here." The Ossic X are priced at $250 for the early Kickstarter adopters (the cheaper packages are all gone), and the full retail price will be $399 when Ossic launches the X headphones early next year.
