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[deepsky4565]

Currently, when using downmixing to stereo of multichannel files, the mixing apparently takes the front channels as is and adds the surround channels to the mix. It would be much preferred to mix the front channels such that they are narrowed, then add the surround channels so that the stereo image more faithfully simulates the multichannel mixing. It should be the reverse of upmixing, so that front left and front right become 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock in the stereo image respectively, and left rear and right rear become 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock respectively. This would make downmixed music much more pleasing. I have some music only in multichannel, and when listening to them in headphones they sound wonky. Thanks.

[kstuart]

That is a reasonable request as a special feature for headphones, but the way that you describe that it is currently done ("takes the front channels as is and adds the surround channels to the mix.") is correct procedure, especially for speakers.

The perfect way to do it would be for the surround to be matrixed into the stereo, the same way that Dolby Pro Logic or MTS does.  Then the surround can be extracted by a downstream surround decoder.

[6233638]

I'm not sure why it would be useful to create a DPL mix.
I've requested Dolby Headphone support (via dolbyhph.dll) a number of times, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen.
The next best thing would be to let VST Plugins inside Media Center handle the downmixing when outputting a stereo signal.
 
I ended up buying a SoundBlaster Z to use their SBX Studio Pro tech. (which used to be branded "THX TruStudio") You send the card a 5.1 signal and it creates a 3D headphone mix.
You could buy a different card like the Xonar DGX for Dolby Headphone instead, but the ASUS drivers caused a number of problems on my system.