RetroTech: Sennheiser Surrounder - 1999’s bizarre personal surround sound system
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- čas přidán 17. 06. 2024
- The Sennheiser Surrounder Pro is a Dolby Pro-logic surround sound system from 1999 which is worn around the neck, but would you wear one?
Things this looks like include a backward public toilet seat, a Braffin from a Gurning competition and a neck brace.
Things that might be difficult while wearing one include eating & drinking.
Apologies for any slightly out of focus sections in this video - this was only spotted in editing by which time it was too late.
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ThatSFXGuy - • Six Million Dollar man... - Věda a technologie
"It's not entirely agonizing to wear".
Talk about a great marketing slogan.
Very few comments make me guffaw. Yours did!
Give me 700 bucks and I'll give you a leisure product that, while rather uncomfortable, will definitely NOT kill you.....
It's a cone of shame for audiophiles.
at least you can now easily spot and avoid them.
audiophile is subjective feelings
audio for dogs
What were they thinking?!
😂!!!!
You should wear it when inviting some friend over, but get a wireless connection for it first. Then just walk around with it , and never once address it, nor explain what it is.
Santor Even if you get a wireless connection for the sound signals, there is still the power supply issue. But you can still have it by the couch and casually wear it when the movie starts.
It shouldn't be too hard feeding the 12V with a battery for a while.
Even better, have it attached to a long load of tangled cables and every time they get caught start screaming
I laughed way too hard at this scenario.
😂🤣😂
Δημήτρης Κυρκου he can make a battery back pack for it
"This is Sennheiser, they know what they're doing" ......Meanwhile he's sitting there with a toilet seat around his neck.
o_o'
Well, they probably know what they're doing regarding acoustics, but obviously not when it comes to the optics of this product...
This comment made me genuinely laugh, thanks for posting it :D
Sennheiser do make fantastic headphones. Best I've ever used. And I've used several Sennheiser models. Even the entry level ones are better than Beats by Dre. But that's not hard. $20 Liquid Ears are better than Beats.
They know WHAT they're doing, just not WHY they're doing it.
You just know that somewhere there is a guy still using one of these religiously because he paid 2 weeks wages on it way back and by god he's going to get his money's worth out of it. His family have long since stopped taking the piss out of him for it. It never worked, he just ignored them.
No he didn't hear them over his glorious surround sound!
Is it you? Are you that person? Im pretty sure you're that person....
Mostly cause it blocked out all the sounds they made and prevented him turning in their direction to see what they were giggling about
I want a Dolby Atmos version of this. A sound cage for your head.
AirPods Pro.
Spatial Audio is pretty cool. To bad that Apple TV 4K does not support it yet.
If you’re ready to back it up on Kickstarter, I might actually do this one for you😄
Kind of pointless since Dolby atmos is made for headphones
@@Akotski-ys9rr you’re not being serious, right?
Man, I love late 90s/early 00's tech..It was that time when gadgets were really booming before the smartphone era made them all decline.
Smartphones made everything so boring.
@@greysky1252 Reminds me of the comedy bit, I cannot remember who...but they said if you were to go back in time and show someone from the 90s a smartphone and explain them the internet (as it is today). How you are have the entirety of the human history information in your pocket, and use it for watching funny cat videos.
When I become an evil genius with my own private army of henchmen, I'm having a wireless one of these made. Throw this gadget on with a black cape plus a sinister looking hat and I've got the perfect outfit for my villainous public appearances or to wear while lounging around my throne room. I can drop a sick beat, do a sweet dance number, and then order someone to their death in style.
This is exactly why I clicked on this video, because it looks like headgear for some kind of comic villain. It actually reminds me a bit of a character named Present Mic from a super hero anime, look him up & you''ll make the connection with his kinda similar headgear
That would make you a smooth criminal.
I‘m amazed that this thing came from a renowned company like Sennheiser and not some noname Chinese manufacturer. This looks like something they would have advertised on a tele shopping program.
Honestly I can think of scenarios where this might actually be useful. I often want to watch movies at night but can't without turning the sub-woofer off, in which case I lose too much bass. I never get the surround effect over headphones, plus I find them uncomfortable quite quickly and need to be able to hear my mum (as I'm her carer). So overall, this is quite the curiosity.
It is actually quite opposite of my beloved HD 414s Then, again the fruit colored iMacs are not exactly like the MacBook Air. Although in Sennheiser's case - They clearly went in the wrong direction.
Attila TheHUN i kinda want to try mounting this thing to my headboard.
I think I've seen this torture device in SAW II
South Africans are way ahead - they fix a car tire around poor bugger's neck and set it on fire.
Firestone Neckless ?
Untandra for today.
Nope, it was SAW 17 1/2. Haha!
or Brisco County Jr.
BLOODBATH9998 It was The Venus Fly-Trap.
Having worked in product development, I can imagine what the engineers who were given the project were saying while they designed, iterated and were testing this thing. Somewhere in a closet at Sennheiser R&D I'm sure there's a pile of prototypes of this thing, each weirder than the last, some probably made of plywood.
If it wasn’t August, I would have thought this was an April fools joke.
Any month except August.
@@oscarkorlowsky4938 quiet you, no one cares
When a surround sound system makes you look like the lady from the movie Total Recall meets The Fifth Element.
SUPER GREEN
Two weeks, twoooo weeeeeeks.
Plus, it's compatible with the device from Brainstorm.
Emerald.
And if you wear it in a pool, you can float around all day long in it.
With 12 volts coursing between your ears.
Good thing the power brick is socket side instead.
...... I thought it needed a steering wheel for that F1 look ?
You forgot to mention that if you attempt to walk outside of the boundaries of your living room while using it Sennhauser remotely activates the explosives.
Was that the best subtle reference to "Wedlock" I have ever seen? :-)
Unfortunately I had Running Man in mind instead
I had Fallout 3 in my mind
This. Looks. Ridiculous.
AND I WANT IT!!!
I want to go jogging with it and a long extension chord.
You should make a mini replica of this for one of your puppets to wear in an upcoming sketch.
Looks like it would be good for catching all the popcorn crumbs as you watch TV 😂
"The fact it came frrom Sennheiser…tickles me to no end” - my thoughts exactly!
You gotta wear that thing with a 80s shoulder boombox while rollerblading through the city
Plus it doubles as safety device.
you still need to haul a power generator with you.
12 volts, just a couple of car batteries will do to keep you going the full afternoon
or a 12 li-ion battery pack from alibaba
Now I'd PAY to see that!
The helicopter is flying from my right shoulder to my left shoulder. Great!
RIP MovingThePicture's head.
Don't know what you're ranting about, I find it goes great with my *POWER GLOVE.*
fsmoura Just strap on the power glove and fasten a virtual boy to your face and your good to go.
I love the Power Glove...
...it's so bad.
If you're working on a cyborg costume you're in good shape.
Combine this with the Sony Glasstron, & you're instantly the coolest on the block.
@Harri Kirvesniemi The closest thing to VR in the 90s was 90s VR.
I didn't even check the comments but i just posted comment about it :D 90's trance video material when you combine both.
To convert from Deutsche Mark to Euros just before the switch with included inflation adjustment, you have to solve a very complicated formula:
1DM = €1
Star Trek had a Romulan Torture device that looked like that.
Paul Putter Obviously they used the devices to play those awful awareness songs done by celebrity for several causes.
Ray Vankman or old campaign songs
I can totally see me wearing this on the train to work. That will show those speaker-hipsters!
Yeah, 21st century ghettoblaster!
K1LG0RE technically 20th century
it would look like your missing the majority of your power armor
hypnotic happiness Ha! Yes! LMFBO.
You're right, but I couldn't pair 20st century and ghettoblaster together without loosing the idea of hi-tech novelty.
I like how he keeps pausing like he still can't believe that this exists.
It's really funny how he even don't know where to put it down. lol
I love these videos. Always seeing something new, and learning more about what I already have seen! You've become a familiar face and dare I say the way you present yourself makes it feel as though you're a friend taking us on these adventures. I really appreciate how much detail and care you put into these videos. Please keep up the great work.
"I've got a Virtual Boy and I've got the neck problems to prove it"
Too much information Mat.
SteadyMTB this is hilarious
What I love the most about this is the fact that someone thought it was utterly necessary to take this thing all the way through R&D. Incredible.
This is absolutely hysterical! And the way you presented it with such aplomb just shows how good you are at this! Good job mate!
I can almost see what they were trying to do with this. The slight flaw in the idea is the bit involving actual human beings...
Actual human beings are the worst!
That smells of marketing forcing engineering to make a product
Ya think - yeah. I've seen live instances where marketing tried to force engineering to do something. I jumped right and quashed it.
Still a better invention than no audio jack or those screen cutouts in current phones...
Emalf Tallefer Agreed 100%.
Or engineering pitching a design on April 1st, but taken seriously by marketing
1999 was a different time. If they tried to release a $1500 mass market set of headphones then, they'd have been laughed off the stage. Gadgets were in - high priced luxury wasn't. Not like today.
What a hilarious offering from a well-respected company! Thanks for bringing this to us.
Oh, and I like the top-corner extra comments during the Patreon credits. Nice addition.
The extra comments are really nice indeed. :)
Similar products to this are sold today by Bose LG and JBL. Though in their case it's wireless and only two channels
FrostyP
As always I love your videos Matt! Keep up the great work
I love that the main styling feature of that DSP Pro thing is the myriad holes with LEDs in, and yet whoever drilled the holes for the mould was either there on work experience or pissed.
It makes you look like the Vorlon ambassador Kosh.
I think back in the day some magazine commented that looking exactly like the collar of Vorlon encounter suit.
I was thinking he looked liked the Time Lord High Council in Doctor Who! Rassilon anyone?
I can just imagine the designers of that thing sniggering away as they looked at management types trying it out saying "Oh yeah, you totally don't look ridiculous with that on!!" and management believing them... :P
Big fan of your work!! Much love from Canada keep up the videos i enjoy them immensely
When I saw the thumbnail, I was so happy that you’d finally joined Slade.
Add a VR Headset and it's all Vaporwave Style.
Virtual Boy would fit even better :D
Let me google it for you.
Sursurk, vaporwave music often goes with cyberpunkish kind of imagery, which often includes VR headsets and other technological gimmicks that just look neat.
I've just been stuck on a train for 2 hours due to a blown electrical fuse. We just got going again after they got an electrician to drive out to fix us up - have another hour to go now, "amazing" start to my Friday night. Checked CZcams to find a new Techmoan video on a ridiculous obsolete audio device... BEST DAY EVER!!!
Oh trains - I've been on a fair number that just broke down for no reason.
You sound British.
America's train infrastructure may suck, but we never have failures where people get stuck for hours like you brits seem to have on a monthly basis.
SlocketSeven close, Australian. Our trains are running on signal technology that is circa 1900s. The actual train I was on with the electrical fault was built in the early 90s though, so all I can think is poor maintenance or just bad luck. Most of our delay/faults are due to the old signalling system though...
Ah, a British exile! ;)
I've seen a couple of documentaries on AU trains too. Reality TV to be sure, but good lord, the state of some of their equipment was atrocious!
I have seen this device back then in gaming magazines and used one a few times for gaming. I did not own it myself, but a friend had one. For a bony chap like me it was quite OK and the sound was surprisingly good. With Aureal or A3D back then, it helped the immersiveness of games a little if you had the processing power for virtual surround sound in games.
It is nice to see this features... also: Props for the pun at the end. :D Much appreciated. Thanks for having this make an appearance.
Your thumbnail video at the end mentioning the future reviews is so British Television like. Like the lady who speaks at the end of shows mentioning next or future programs. Haven't seen such outros in any other country. I enjoyed that as well! A nice addition.
I laughed the moment I saw thumbnail!
It's quite absurd how that device made it outside of the R & D department without a questioning chuckle.
Riverhill They also made some ordinary wireless headphones, that were all analog and picked up way too much noise from other 2.4GHz equipment.
The Running man exploding collar springs to mind.
I had this in the music shop were i used to work, never sold it, my coworker and I used to make fun of it , that brings up so many memories (: great work as always Techmoan !
LOL!
(And your Batman transition sample at the beginning really made me laugh! Thanks.)
Bonkers. Has "executive pet project" written all over it
Adam Richardson IKR?
With modern rechargeable batteries and Bluetooth connectivity I could almost see this being sold...
"almost" ;)
www.bose.co.uk/en_gb/products/speakers/portable_speakers/soundwear-companion.html
Big Time Murph Media and this is why you're not in charge of marketing
Tim Clarke Those are not surround though
The Bose ones are surround. Quote from Bose website, 'Drivers push air through two flexible 28 centimetre waveguides in the neckband to ports on opposite ends. For deep sound all around you.' Unless you are referring to speaker configurations like 7:1.
well tbh pro logic isnt real surround either. its upmixed stereo.
Thank you for adding additional content during the Patreon credits. I always feel guilty skipping them to see if there are any puppets at the end. 😂
Love these weird gadgets. Now I got to dig up all your earlier videos that featured similar things :)
I think the Sennheiser execs were Surrounded by cocaine when they greenlit this
It looks like something from SAW.
HELLO LISTENER, I WANT TO PLAY A GAME
Jovan Mitrić I was gona make that joke
That is absolutely ridiculous, so thank you for sharing. Love your vids.
Love your channel so much :)
It looks like some x-ray device that dentists use.
it dosn't have a cup holder ?
Wrong channel. You need to be at the Doug Demuro channel.
nope don't think so
Just hit the eject button on your DVD player.
lol but then i would have to remove the film that i was enjoying with my silly looking surround sound system but yes i do get your line of thinking this device is so shite that you would have to be a moron to own one and imagine that you have some friends over and you told them shut ya gob im trying to watch this film with my silly crap round my neck this device is anti social is it not
I flipping love your videos!
It's nice being able to sit back and watch this with my very comfortable set of surround-sound headphones.
Good luck sneezing wearing that thing without breaking your nose
...or flinging it off at high velocity, assaulting a loved one.
1:30 DSP pro - "I, myself, am a former pro fighting game player."
This thing would be an amazing prop for a sci-fi emperor.
I'm so tired of watching tech videos and all they talk about is smart phones... I absolutely love this channel for it's tech variety, and also because it's retro tech... From one tech nerd to another, keep up the good work.
That would really be interesting to try with a competitive FPS game, considering "simulated surround" through stereo headphones typically doesn't do much.
However you'd certainly need to make sure your room is quiet if you want to hear distant footsteps.
Well, Dolby Pro logic is simulated too, and it pretty much copies a lot of the front channels to the rear. Not a really realistic sound experience
But a game has sound rendered in 3D, so you can skip Pro logic altogether.
Dolby Pro Logic uses phase shift encoding to create a mono rear channel, it is not just simulated but requires are proper Dolby Pro Logic signal, that is why some decoders could actually detect DPL and even show you when they where decoding it.
DPL is completely analogue and could be decoded without digital hardware.
You can however not have a discrete rear channel, that's why the therm sound steering is often used for it, it works like a "front back fader" that is automatically controlled. Only the center channel has discrete phase channel encoding.
Of you want to hear mic spamming, In Surrond Sound! Go ahead.
I had 5.1 headphones back in the day. Medusa Speed Link. Not really necessary for competitive FPS. All you need to know is front, back, left and right. Simulated surround on stereo headphones works well enough for that.
It's funny I thought about Bose SoundWear Companion.
Masashi Skvader basically the modern day equivalent. Makes much more sense with todays technology.
Quite a few released
JBL Soundgear now @$179.95
BOSE Soundware @$300
Sony SRS-WS1 @$222
Just looked up the soundware, that's actually what this thing should have been.... This was released too soon (due to all the cables).
Interesting I do not know the version of Sony (more aesthetic for my taste) even I'm not particularly the target of the product is always interesting to see that fashion is an eternal restart.
I want to see Mr. Mobile do an review on this.
i started crying laughing from the rotating shots of you wearing it! Beautiful!
I was actually just about to comment on the Bose Soundwear Companion as a modern-day "portable" version of this, but then stuck around to the very end when you mentioned it
Epic ! Please locate and test the Koss surround headphones from the 1970s 😎😎😎
Looks indispensable for cosplaying ambassador Kosh.
zooblestyx Yessss
B5 starts with a "available in dolby surround" message each episode so maybe this is exactly what they had in mind.
@@SirFritz LOL Perfect! Hadn't even occurred to me XD
I'm such a Sennheiser fanboy. But I've never heard of this. Wow. Just wow. Great video.
Haven't laughed quite so much from a video of yours for a while.
We made headphones for a reason.
I had seen pics of this before on av forums. Was always curious haha
Great. Another youtube channel im addicted to.
When you said "settee" at 7:43 - I had a flash back to the mid 80's, probably the last time I heard that descriptive word. 😁
I want to see someone wearing one of these while driving a Sinclair C5
I will not be happy until _someone_ wears the Surrounder and the Virtual Boy at the same time.
I only had the surrounder, used it to play games on my pc. I had a blast with return to castle wolfenstein. I still remember it today. I loved that thing so much!
Thanks for sharing this interesting object.. ;-)
Every time I see you wearing that, it makes me laugh.
Oh my, what on Earth is that thing? It looks like it's out of a 90s sci-fi parody movie.
And paying that much for something made of polystyrene?.....oh boy. I understand why they used it but I don't think I could justify it for a premium device.
Sam T They should have upholstered it in faux leather.
Awesome, would love to try some of those 3-D sound videos.
I so love that this sort of weird shitty device exists and you manage to find them!
"If it was a sensible product, I wouldn't have been drawn to it..."
This looks like something you'd see in a Skymall catalog.
thedungeondelver wouldn't surprise me if it was actually sold in one at some point.
Looking good mate!
You got my like as soon as I heard that Batman transition.
A surround sound system for your spacesuit. Buzz lightyear/Starcraft esque.
Is this an airplane pillow?
I was just typing "Bose have released something similar" - then you mentioned it at the end.
Interested to see what they're like. Ha!
Love the new ending! (where you talk picture in a picture). I can't imagine using neck speakers for very long. I have found sorround sound does not have to be load to be good.
looks like something of Babylon 5 or something
Yeah, first thing I thought of was Kosh from B5
Nice B5 reference. I feel like it would cheapen up the set. Yes, tongue firmly placed in cheek.
THANK YOU. Ambassador Kosh. First thing that came to mind.
Still looks cool.
Awesome review 👌
How come I'm just seeing this for the first time?
I need to try one
Great video, Thanks
Such a pain in the neck.
A classic example of a solution looking for a problem 😂
cammyboy011 Cart before the horse.
Now watch the "Techmoan effect" in action 🤣
Ahaha...with all the weird looking tech you can build a nice suit fot comic-con :)))
Awesome video, as always!
For things like this is that I'm subscribed to your channel. lol