Yeah, I agree the Dolby headphone tech isn't quite right. But the Creative one has really impressed me over the years. I've even panic muted my speakers before when I was wearing my headphones because I thought I forgot to switch outputs.
Unfortunately, I don't have a Mac, so I can't compare it your implementation.
Worth noting that this kind of processing has been present on some PC soundcards for a while.
Creative has its 'surround' processing for the Z series and a similar feature whose name I forget for the x-fi series. Processing done in hardware.
Dolby also has its own virtual surround processors that come with some of Asus' Xonar offerings. I'm not sure what degree of processing is done in hardware/software.
A lot of home theater receivers also support pro-logic.
I've bought a few x-fi's and a SBZ just for their surround abilities alone.
https://imgur.com/a/XcEMxcZ
Camera array of a thinkpad T480 with windows hello (ir camera) and a hazard light/strobe (sourced... locally)
[1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lvonasek.t...