I used to play through surround sound but since February, I invested in a pair of Turtle Beach Recon (60?) headphones and the game is so much more immersive to me now.
I agree that Elite's sound design is one of the best aspects of the game. Sound is important to me, I get immersed in it easily perhaps in some part due to having absolute/perfect pitch and tonal synesthesia. Some part of me wishes I would've gone into sound design and engineering for a career, I took studio classes and have composed music on many platforms, I also have a home studio that I record on.