New from Boss, Waza-Air "amp in headphones"

Kittyfrisk

Sofa widdling wise, I'm wondering apart from the wireless aspect, how really much more 'wow' this has, than my trusty old Korg Pandora?

Rocker

Surely a better 'solution' to silent playing already exists?  Guitar -> Pedal board -> headphone amp -> wired headphones.  I for one, don't like headphone guitar playing.  An amp, even something as simple as a Pignose, can be used at low volumes and is honest - it will show you what you played correctly or not - has to be a better long term buy. 

TTBZ

Headphones will be more revealing than an amp that has to be turned down quiet enough so that you end up hearing the unamplified string noise over the amp tone. To me a quiet valve amp sounds worse than a modeller. I don’t mind headphone playing, it gets a bit sweaty but I’d rather have the sound right into my ears than hear acoustic strings over a speaker and valves not being worked hard enough. Decent room reverb and it feels alright. The binaural tech in these is really cool and should add a greater sense of space. I’m excited to try them out. Then buy a heavily discounted version in a few years time  

RiftAmps

Not sure why anyone would want Katana tones closer to their ears.

impmann

mrkb said:

Andertons review gives a good feel for its capabilities- I’m definitely going to check them out once they get into the stores.

Andertons tried to tell us that the Mesa Boogie Cab Clone was “great”.

It truly wasn’t.

fields5069

I think I'd be interested, if they weren't purely an accessory. If the sound were recordable, for example.

andyp

That’s a good point too.

I’ve been mulling over what options are out there for both quiet practice and sitting jamming / recording with my laptop or phone. It’s a confusing topic for me but this Boss thing looks great. I think the only thing it doesn’t do that I would want to do, is record my playing / jamming.

ThePrettyDamned

People pay more than that for headphones that don't have Bluetooth even. If the headphones are excellent (ie truly as good as expensive Sony ones that sell for £250 anyway) then it's good value to those who can afford it.

Not me, mind! 

TTBZ

RiftAmps said:

Not sure why anyone would want Katana tones closer to their ears.

Haha you have a point. I just think it’s a great idea but the proof will be in the pudding and if the core tones suck then it’s largely useless.

impmann

ThePrettyDamned said:

People pay more than that for headphones that don't have Bluetooth even. If the headphones are excellent (ie truly as good as expensive Sony ones that sell for £250 anyway) then it's good value to those who can afford it.

Not me, mind! 

Genuinely... they won't be as good as the Sony or Bose ones.

fields5069

impmann said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

People pay more than that for headphones that don't have Bluetooth even. If the headphones are excellent (ie truly as good as expensive Sony ones that sell for £250 anyway) then it's good value to those who can afford it.

Not me, mind! 

Genuinely... they won't be as good as the Sony or Bose ones.

Yeah, I'm thinking these are probably £100 headphones quality. My Philips bluetooth headphones are still pretty good, well liked by What Hifi, but not astounding. 50mm drivers sounds good though.

professorben

Genuine question, why buy this instead of say, an HX Stomp and an average set of headphones for £50??

impmann

professorben said:

Genuine question, why buy this instead of say, an HX Stomp and an average set of headphones for £50??

Because Katana. 

<nods>

;-)

ArchtopDave

RiftAmps said:

Not sure why anyone would want Katana tones closer to their ears.

Possibly, but when will we be able to order the Rift Headphones with a 5E3 in them??

professorben

impmann said:

professorben said:

Genuine question, why buy this instead of say, an HX Stomp and an average set of headphones for £50??

Because Katana. 

<nods>

;-)

Yep nope

because forum rules state Helix>Katana. 

JD50

I'd rather spend the money on a nice set of headphones ( I bought a pair of Beyerdynamics) and run IRIG off my phone/Tablet/Ipod, lots of good free amp sims available.

Bluebeard

professorben said:

Genuine question, why buy this instead of say, an HX Stomp and an average set of headphones for £50??

I think it is because this uses 3d sound to recreate the feeling that an amp is in the room rather than the feeling that you have your head sandwiched between two cabs that you usually get using headphones

Blob

As someone who mainly plays through headphones I’m interested enough to give them a try, at that point I’ll decided whether I can find the money to buy them. I feel that Boss might have more success if they aim tried to get aim their marketing at our wives/husbands/partners/families/neighbours as they might be a tad more interested in not having to hear us play all the time.

EricTheWeary

Bluebeard said:

professorben said:

Genuine question, why buy this instead of say, an HX Stomp and an average set of headphones for £50??

I think it is because this uses 3d sound to recreate the feeling that an amp is in the room rather than the feeling that you have your head sandwiched between two cabs that you usually get using headphones

In as much as I understand it the binaural/ 3D effect is in the software, they are otherwise standard headphones. 
I wonder if anyone has/ is developing a bit of software/ plug in that could make any suitable sound source reasonably binaural which would effectively scupper the need for the Waza system.*

Maybe two/ three years ago there was someone on here who posted binaural sound samples and it is a nice effect. Although I suspect some people may not get on with it and so many guitarists have such ragged hearing that it may hardly work for them anyway. 

* I appreciate that might be a very naive question like can you make an app that makes all TV into 3D TV. 

professorben

Bluebeard said:

professorben said:

Genuine question, why buy this instead of say, an HX Stomp and an average set of headphones for £50??

I think it is because this uses 3d sound to recreate the feeling that an amp is in the room rather than the feeling that you have your head sandwiched between two cabs that you usually get using headphones

I don’t really understand why that is a benefit?