TurtleBeach Earforce DSS Preamp Review

Surround Sound from any pair of stereo Headphones?

I have never been all that fussed with surround sound. Don’t get me wrong, first time I heard Apocalypse now through my neighbours surround system, I was blown away (almost literally!). But, for me the hassle of all the speakers and wires just proved to much of a turn off.

Over the years I have tried various software solutions on the PC. Virtual 7.1 surround processors that supposedly gave you the surround experience through your headphones. More often than not, I was left disappointed. All I seemed to be getting was a great deal of reverb and not a lot else.

I don’t want to live without it!

This being the case, I was not getting my hopes up for the Turtle Beach Earforce DSS. This little unit, with it’s promises of digital surround sound for any set of stereo headphones could surely only offer me more disappointment!

The unit itself is small, about the size of a deck of cards. It has a simple set of controls for Bass Boost, volume in, volume out and Dolby Bypass. On top of that you have a Micro USB port to power it, a USB pass through, digital optical in (S/PDIF), standard stereo input and finally a standard headphone output.

Setting it up with an Xbox 360 was fairly stress free. The S/PDIF lead plugged into the video out plug. Then the USB lead was plugged into a spare port on the Xbox for power. Finally the headphones were plugged in. You can optionally run a lead from another source, such as your TV’s Aux audio out to the unit, letting you benefit from the DSS effect from on your TV.

Once it was all set up, it was time to see if this was going to impress or depress. Firing up Call of Duty: Black Ops, I first played with the Dolby Bypass disabled. This actually turns the DSS into a very good digital decoder allowing you to use the optical ouput with a standard set of headphones. Once I was used to the overall sounds in the game, I turned off the bypass. It is difficult to describe the experience. Whilst not blown away initially, I was impressed. At first it is like someone moving the headphones further away from your ears. The sonic canvas is expanded. Next you notice that rather than things just being left and right, you are have given directionality as well as distance to the sound.

To test this, I stood next to a van that made a constant engine noise. With the surround effect turned off, I spun round slowly. As my position moved relative to the van, the sound passed from left ear to right ear and back. But, there was a specific point where you it switched from one to the other, with only a slight quieting of the sound as you turned. With the surround turned on, it was a different story. As I spun, the sound was noticeably different. I could tell where the van was in relation to me, not just left and right, but in front and behind has well. There was no moment where it was left then right, it was left then left and a bit in front, then left and a bit more in front etc. It was a much more natural effect.

In practice that meant that I was able to tell when gunfire was in front or behind me, rather than just on my left or right. Same with footsteps.

So, that was how I tested it. Went into various games and tried to see how directional sounds and background sounds were affected by the DSS effect. It was most notable in FPS games, my personal games of choice. However, it was still nicely evident in other games, such as WWE All Stars, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Lego Pirates of the Caribbean. In all cases it gave a broader audio canvas – rather than feeling closed in by the sound, it had headroom around you.

The thing is, it is quite pricey. If you look around you can pick one up for about �60. Also, other than software based solutions on the PC, I have never tried anything like it. Whilst it is compatible with PC and PS3 as well as Xbox 360, �60 is still �60.

However, here is the interesting thing. I want one. The cost is irrelevant (and yes I will have to buy one, I am not getting to keep this!). You see, as soon as I took it out of my set up – I missed it. I didn’t think I would. In fact I had forgotten it was there, until I realised it was time to send it back. I unplugged it, packed it away and addressed it ready to send back the next morning.

That evening, I played some Black Ops. But, there was something missing. The game sounded flat. I had noise on the left or the right of me, no longer around me. Thinking I was imagining it, I unpacked the DSS and set it up once more, before diving back into the game. And sure enough everything sounded better. I was happy once again!

It is not perfect, hence the 8 out of 10. It is cumbersome, needs a USB port and adds yet more leads to the spaghetti behind my TV. The surround effect is not convincing in all games. It is also pricey for something you don’t know you need. You would have a hard time justifying the cost over a couple of games. But, here is my advice. Try it. Buy one from a company that offers a no quibble refund, set it up and play for a week with it. If you don’t like it, send it back and get a refund. I would like to think that you would not send it back.

Whilst I can live without it, but I don’t want to live without it!

A word about the score. 8/10. That is a superb score for this kind of hardware. If it were an A-Level it would be an A. If it was a degree, it would be a 2.1 or even a 1st.

Some Specs

Stereo headphone output with volume control
Headphone Amplifier: Stereo 35mW/ch, THD <1%
Frequency response: 20Hz – 20kHz
150MIPS Digital Signal Processor for Dolby processing
Optical TOSLINK digital audio input compatible with 48kHz digital audio stream
Maximum analog stereo input with volume control on maximum setting: 2Vpp (700mV rms). Input sensitivity may be adjusted to accept higher level signals by lowering the volume control
Dimensions: Height 3.0 in (7.5 cm), width 2.125 in (5.5 cm), depth 0.75 in (2cm)
Weight: 1.4 Oz (40g)
Power requirements: 5VDC @120mA max

The Scores