I'm not sure you would be able to determine much from listening to 5.1 and 7.1 renders on stereo headphones. You certainly wouldn't be able to obtain a decent 5.1 or 7.1 mix using stereo headphones.

I had a grand quadraphonic (4 channel) recording and listening system that was capable of handling discrete 4 channel, CD-4, SQ Matrix and the other 4 channel matrix system. I even had 4 channel headphones. While I listened some to the individual channels to learn, the songs didn't sound right unless all four channels were playing. I've also listened to isolated tracks of songs available on the internet and it's pretty much the same.

To me your explanation is similar to listening to isolated tracks from a song. Isolated tracks are wonderful as a learning tool to break down the individual instruments and vocals in a song. But you'll be starting your song with isolated tracks so I don't understand what would be gained.

I'd love to better understand your vision.

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