Yamaha Silent Cinema and Audio Technica ATH-AD700 Headphones: A Laymen's Review

Before you read too far into this, I need to clarify something: I am an audio neophyte.  A quick tale of my audio-related technical prowess is as follows: I owned a surround sound receiver for three years before I knew I had to hook it up via optical cables (or some other digital audio input) in order to actually get surround sound.

I started looking into surround sound headsets to use with my Xbox 360.  Most of these headsets were standalone and had mixed reviews. They all had their own mixer/amp that needed it's own power supply, and they were all around $150 or more. In the process of researching these true surround headsets I somehow stumbled across what "Silent Cinema" meant on my Yamaha receiver. Silent Cinema is a technology developed by Yamaha that allows for surround sound through experience regular headphones.

I initially had my doubts, because I never noticed any surround sound effect when I was listening through ear buds, so I decided to finally order a set of high-end (well high-end for me) headphones and give them a try, I figured at the very worst the sound clarity would be improved. I picked up Audio Technica ATH-AD700 Open-air Dynamic Audiophile Headphones off of Amazon, and plugged it into my Silent Cinema jack. My experience was nothing short of jaw-dropping. I felt like a rube for not having these headphones earlier.  While I was playing Call of Duty: Black Ops
, on several occasions I could hear people running behind me. I watched Spiderman 2 (it was on HBO) and the surround effects in most of the scenes were very good. I'd almost prefer to listen to my entertainment through Silent Cinema now, because the sound is so crisp and perfect through the AD700's.

The AD700 was very comfortable to me, but my wife said it was a little big for her head.  They aren't the most fashionable headphones, but they make up for it in comfort and quality. One nice feature about these is they are "Open Air" meaning the cups have a grated back rather than a solid back. That prevents sound from bouncing around inside the cup and messing up what you're hearing. The added benefit for me as a dad is I can hear everything going on outside the headphones. The faint whimper of a fussy newborn is as audible as if I had no headphones on at all. I suppose these wouldn't be good for a listening in a loud space, but for me and what I use them for they're fantastic.