- Are you looking for the best binaural microphones
for 3D sound without the professional price tag?
Well in this video we're gonna take a look at
two awesome new consumer friendly options:
the Sennheiser Smart Headset and the Scenes Lifelike Headset
(upbeat music)
Hey, it's Justin Brown from Primal Video.
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So let's jump into it.
3D audio is nothing new, but it is incredibly powerful
and a really awesome tool, and fortunately now,
it's become much more accessible.
For those of you who aren't sure,
or you haven't heard of this before,
then make sure you put your headphones on right now,
cause here's a quick example.
Alright, so this is Frank and he's helping
us out with this example.
Frank is wearing a binaural headset.
So he's recording binaural sound right now.
So you can see the closer I get to the left
microphone here the louder it gets
as I walk around, you'll hear the audio shift,
as if you're hearing me walk around the room that you're in.
And the closer I get to the right one,
you can hear the audio change.
So the idea with these headsets,
or the theory behind them, is that they're
mimicking our human ears, so essentially
we've got two microphones connected to our brain,
they created two microphones and connect it to
our phone to record and replicate the similar
sort of audio to what we're hearing in real life.
So the surround sound elements,
(snaps fingers)
are absolutely amazing, but keep in mind,
throughout this example that these are prototype headsets.
These may change slightly or there might be some tweaks,
or improvements before these actually hit the shelves.
So something to keep in mind, but these should be
a very good representation of what you will be getting
with both headsets.
And just for a comparison, the audio that you're hearing
right now is just recorded from my iPhone,
whereas back to the headset,
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, 9, 10.
You can hear the different sound.
(snaps fingers)
So it's pretty amazing.
Most people who know about 3D sound are already familiar
with the Virtual Barber Shop video that's been
circulating around for quite a while.
Which is really the perfect demonstration
of how cool binaural audio can be.
If you haven't seen it, I will put a link up
the card so it's definitely worth checking out.
But up until recently your options for
creating your own 360 audio like this
have really been to build your own custom rig,
or to try and get your hands on some really professional
gear but they've got the price tag that comes along with it.
Enter Scenes Sound and Sennheiser.
Both professional audio companies
who have recently produced consumer friendly
priced headsets which are capable of generating
some awesome 3D audio recordings.
Scenes recently reached out to let us know
about their new lifelike headset,
and offered to send us a free prototype to test out.
So knowing that Sennheiser is also about to release
their own binaural headset, we reached out to them too,
and managed to get our hands on
a free prototype from both manufacturers.
So after putting both of them through their paces,
we're ready to run through our thoughts
and recommendations on which is best in this video.
And before we jump into the good stuff,
if you're wondering what practical applications
audio like this can have, VR audio is one big one,
but there's also a heap of other scenarios,
things like guided meditation videos,
which one of my clients is actually producing,
where 3D audio adds a whole new depth
of engagement and immersion to those videos.
But this technology is still fairly new
in the consumer space, so I'm sure we're gonna see
some really cool applications coming out very soon.
So let us know in the comments what type of videos
do you think 3D audio will be great for,
or that you've seen it done well in before.
Now the first thing I noticed when I opened up
the boxes for both units was that they had
this strange little plug that I couldn't
get to fit into my Samsung Galaxy S8+
And that's because both of these headsets
are designed to work on iPhone only.
So there's currently no Android version for either.
So that ruled out testing with my Samsung Galaxy S8+,
meant that I had to try and find my iPhone.
Alright so straight out there are a heap of similarities
between these two headsets, obviously they're both designed
now to work with iPhones only,
but both of them apparently will have an
Android version coming somewhere in the near future.
So the overall design and idea behind these
3D audio microphones and headsets,
is to try and capture and mimic
exactly the audio that we hear as humans.
So what we're hearing in our left ear
is different to what we're hearing in our right ear.
So that's why these headsets have both got
microphones built into the ear pieces.
So that when you're wearing them,
you're able to capture exactly what you'll be
hearing in your left ear and right ear in real time.
So when you play it back through a normal headset,
you don't need fancy headset for playback,
you're able to hear that full, immersive, 3D sound.
So both of these headsets will work as a standard
headset would and allow you to listen
to music as well as record 3D audio.
Now both come with various size ear fittings,
so that you can pick the size that is right for you,
in order to get the best experience.
Both of them also have in-line controls,
for things like volume and playback control,
as you'd find on traditional headsets.
So when we start to look at the differences between the two,
the first and most obvious one, is the overall design.
The Sennheiser is an over ear design,
which is something that you'd normally find
on a more athletic or active headset.
Whereas the Scenes headset is an in-ear style.
The Scenes headset is actually comprised
of two parts, so you've got the headset itself,
which is obviously the microphones as well,
which has a micro USB port on it.
And then in order to use it, to be able to record with it,
you need to plug it into what they call a digital box,
which in this case, the digital box
converts it into lightning for use on iPhone.
Now they do have other digital boxes available,
and coming soon as well for things like
recording on your PC with other cameras and other
devices being supported soon too.
So while the headset itself does actually come with
a micro USB port, it does clearly say in the instructions
not to plug it into any Android device,
as you'll do damage to the microphones and the headset.
So you will need to plug it into a digital box,
and hopefully that's something
they'll have out soon for Android as well.
Now the Sennheiser Ambeo Smart Headset is one complete unit.
So there's nothing that's detachable,
and you can't swap out the lightning connector
for any other connector, but the biggest thing
to notice here is that the actual
in-line controls are much, much larger.
So while both headsets have built in controls,
as I said, for things like volume,
and play and pause that you'd find
on traditional headsets, the Sennheiser Ambeo Headset
has a few other controls as well.
You have a button that lets you switch between
the 3D microphones in the earpieces themselves,
and between a in-line microphone,
so if you're gonna be on a phone call,
you're probably gonna get better audio through
for a phone conversation with the in-line microphone
instead of the 3D ones, so it's pretty cool
to have that feature in there, and you've also got
control over audio passthrough.
So there's three different levels of
audio passthrough here and that's where
you can adjust how much, if any,
audio is passed through the microphone
directy into your headset so that you can hear
what's going on outside, and hear the audio
that you're recording through these 3D microphones.
So that's really cool.
Now the build quality of both headsets
is really high quality, they both feel
like really decent, well made headsets.
Comparing the two side by side,
the Sennheiser does have slightly thicker cables,
but since when is it ever about thickness?
So lets get to the important stuff,
how well do these things actually work,
what do I like about them, what don't I like about them,
and which one is right for you.
Usability wise, both of these are exactly the same.
They're both Apple certified which means that
there's no additional app that you need
to be able to use them.
So all you have to do is plug the lightning cable
into your phone, obviously plug the headsets
into your ears, and you are good to go.
Meaning you can record on either the built-in
camera app or any additional camera app,
or also any audio recording app.
These things will work straight out of the box
with nothing else needed.
So what I'm gonna do now is play back
some of the recordings from these headsets,
so that you can hear for yourself
how amazing they actually sound.
(cascading waterfall)
(crowd murmuring)
- So the examples that were just shown
were the ones that we thought had
the biggest difference between them.
In most of the tests, the two were almost identical,
besides the Sennheiser being slightly lower volume,
but in these couple of examples where there was
a noticeable difference between the two headsets,
the Scenes Lifelike headset seemed to capture
more on the low end as well, so it had a bit more bass,
and a bit more warmth to the recording,
and it actually sounded a little bit more natural.
But as I said in most scenarios throughout our testing,
we were hard pressed to find much
of a difference between the two.
Now I've got to admit that I'm not some
mad audiophile here but listening to these
recordings back with decent headphones,
I'm hard pressed to find a difference between them.
So what are the things then with both headsets
that I like, and the things that I don't like so much?
So with the Scenes Lifelike headset,
I'm a massive fan of how comfortable it is.
It is one of the most comfortable in-ear headsets
that I've worn, I'm a big fan of in-ear headsets,
and I would always try to pick
an in-ear headset over an over-ear headset.
Obviously that's personal preference,
if you're a big fan of the more active type headset
then the Sennheiser, you might think
is more comfortable for you.
I also really like how light the Scenes Lifelike headset is,
there's really not a lot of weight pulling down
on your earpieces once they're in your ears.
And I think its also really cool design,
how you can use the one headset and just swap out
the last piece, the digital box,
to be able to use this headset on different devices.
The biggest downside I found when using
the Scenes Lifelike headset was the connection between
the headset and the digital box.
So the micro USB cable that joins the two,
it really isn't a solid connection between them,
and it is easy to separate the two.
In one case when I was walking around recording audio,
I had the phone in my pocket and I was just
walking around recording audio that way,
I would pull the phone out of my pocket,
and the cable would get stuck in my pocket,
or something like that and the two would separate.
So its really not a fantastic connection
between the two, but its obviously not a deal breaker,
there's really not a lot wrong with this headset,
but that's the only thing that stood out to me.
So then the Sennheiser Ambeo headset,
I really liked its noise cancellation with the ear pieces.
So when you actually had the headset on,
whether it was actually plugged in and running or not,
the amount of background noise that actually cut out,
was really awesome, which then also having that ability
to have the audio passthrough so that
you can bring some of that noise
back in if you want to, is an amazing feature.
So audio passthrough, I really loved that as well.
The biggest downside with the Sennheiser Ambeo headset is
the size of the control interface in-line on the headset.
Now because of the size it's easy to catch it on things,
it's not heavy by any means but it definitely
adds some bulk when you're wearing the headset.
And this may be why they opted for an over-ear design,
instead of an in-ear design to help anchor and support,
and stop any pulling or movement of the cable
if it gets knocked or moved around.
So really the downsides on both of those are fairly minor,
and they're both solid solutions for binaural
or 3D audio headsets.
And its really important to remember once again,
that both of the units that we tested,
and that we're talking about here, are the prototype units.
So now you're probably wondering
how much do these headsets cost.
We'd be able to pick up the Scenes Lifelike headset
for under the $150 price point,
the ball park figure is around 129 to 149.
And the Sennheiser Ambeo headset you can pick up
for just under $300, so there is a quite a difference
in price between around $150 and $300,
but the biggest differences between the two,
wasn't in the actual 3D audio recording.
In our tests, as you just saw,
there wasn't a huge difference between the two,
besides the volume levels.
The biggest feature or the biggest difference
between the two is that the Sennheiser unit
blocks out a heap more noise when you've got the headset in,
and you've got the ability to have the audio passthrough,
which as I said, is an amazing feature that you can
control the volume of how much audio is coming through,
which also means you can hear in real time
the audio that you're actually recording
through the headsets so it's a pretty cool feature.
So to quickly summarize all that up,
if you're after really decent 3D audio recording,
or binaural recording, then either one of those
headsets is gonna be perfect for you.
If you're looking for one headset
that you can use across multiple devices,
by simply changing the adapter or the digital box
on the end, then obliviously the Scenes Lifelike headset
is going to be for you, or if you prefer
the over ear headset design, or you really wanna
be able to monitor and listen to everything
that you're recording live while you're recording,
then the Sennheiser unit is for you.
Now whether you're recording binaural audio
3D audio, or just regular audio,
there are some simple steps that you can take
to increase the audio quality and remove
echo in your videos with DIY soundproofing.
Check out the video linked on screen
now to see how to do it, I'll see you soon.
So this where Scenes Sound and Sennheiser enter the scene.
Ha, scene.