My MEDUSA 5.1’s have 4 speakers per ear cup. Each driver separates BASS, front, rear and center.
It is literally like taking a 5 speaker home theater (well i guess it would be 6 bing this has 2 “subwoofers” but you get the idea) and shrinking them down small enough to fit in ear cups yet positioning them in such a way to still point at your ear in their respective directions.
If you look at the actual speaker arraignment in the headphones they are positioned to hit your hear much like sitting on a sofa and having the home speakers 10 feet away in different positions in the room.
The cheaper ones have only 2 drivers and is simulated like you said. but these multi speaker ones actually carry the respective L/R/FC/RC and Lowpass signals from the audio card.