Pud's Dolbus gets you 5.1 surround sound from headphones with a side of deadly Saw trap nightmares

The creator of Pud's Small Batch Headphones, wearing Dolbus 5.1 surround-sound headphones — (Image credit: Pud's Small Batch Headphones)

PC Gamer's favourite headphone inventor Philip of Pud's Small Batch Headphones has been at it yet again, this time crafting a veritable Jigsaw trap-looking headphones that pump out full 5.1 surround sound audio.

Move over Ol' Thumpy and make way Scrub Daddy because Philip's now showing off his 5.1 surround-sound headpones on Reddit. Only, I can't tell whether to call these headphones, speakers, or take a lean into sci-fi land and go with The Mind Prison.

headphones from r/headphones/comments/1gju6er/i_made_51_surroundsound_headphones

The actual name for them Dolbus, which, as Philip explains on his website, refers to "surround-sound headpones with 5 speaker drivers plus subwoofer". Even the best gaming headsets can only give you virtual surround-sound, and however impressive that might be it'll never be as good as the real deal.

The real deal means having five actual speakers surrounding you, though, which is exactly what this pair (pentuplet?) of "headphones" does. You seat your cranium in the centre of five tiny speakers.

Needless to say, unless you have some two-feet-out-the-socket curvy eyeballs, you won't be using these for gaming, or for much that requires, well, seeing anything, because there'll be a speaker right in front of your eyes. Practical? Maybe not. But would I want a set anyway? Well... still maybe not... Lest I get trapped in the Mind Prison.

But I'll go to bat for anyone who does, because it's an incredibly cool concept, as with all of Pud's wondrous creations. Ah heck, you've bent my arm, sign me up. It's worth the possible nightmares.

Jacob got his hands on a gaming PC for the first time when he was about 12 years old. He swiftly realised the local PC repair store had ripped him off with his build and vowed never to let another soul build his rig again. With this vow, Jacob the hardware junkie was born. Since then, Jacob's led a double-life as part-hardware geek, part-philosophy nerd, first working as a Hardware Writer for PCGamesN in 2020, then working towards a PhD in Philosophy for a few years while freelancing on the side for sites such as TechRadar, Pocket-lint, and yours truly, PC Gamer. Eventually, he gave up the ruthless mercenary life to join the world's #1 PC Gaming site full-time. It's definitely not an ego thing, he assures us.