Quote:
Originally Posted by
az2123 
I've been wondering a lot about this recently - in the Grado world, it seems that metal-wood hybrid > wood > metal > plastic, at least in regards to price and perceived luxury. Does this have any real correspondence with SQ?
String instruments are made with wood and brass instruments, metal - so there are clearly important acoustic properties. However, many expensive headphones are made with plastic (top of the line Beyers, Senns, AKG, Ultrasone), and plastic didn't exist when violins/trumpets were first created. I'm not saying that plastic violins/trumpets would be superior, but musical instruments are very different from electronic reproduction, where neutrality is preferred.
In my mind, the most perfect headphone would be two headphone drivers magically suspended in the air, a centimeter from my ears. However, since we can't do that and must accept coloring of some kind, what exact properties of wood/metal/plastic affect the sound?
I'm posting in Sound Science, because I'm hoping someone familiar with material and acoustic engineering can clarify with regards to scientific measurable effects like resonance, rigidity etc. If you're gonna tell me about the time you bought $200 lacquered exotic woodied cups and how that "totally opened up the sound"... I'm not sure what to say.
God, this post remind me one member here whined about HD800 being plastic. It was so sad and embarrassing enough that made my face red.
The purpose of materials used in instruments (which 'produce' sound) and those used in audio playback devices (which 'reproduce' sound) are different.
Please pay attention to bold words. "Produce" and "Reproduce" have rather completely different meanings. You see, wood, brass and some other chosen materials are selected in instruments because they react to various physical forces (from vibration, airflow friction, brute force, etc) and make interesting sound based on their properties.
But for playback devices, the main purpose of materials containing transducers is prevent unwanted sound from the transducers (because they cannot physically perfectly transfer electronic signal into physical sound wave.) So, for speakers and headphones, we have to deal with enclosures/damping materials. For the purpose, materials with good acoustic absorption and highly resonance-resistant are highly desired for the job.
Now, the trick is "good acoustic absorption and highly resonance-resistant" materials do not have to be super expensive and super hard-to-find materials (and of course, super pretty materials like wood.) If what those 'hi-fi' audio makers' claims are true, then we should see those top studio monitor makers using various exotic woods for their products for the best accurate sound. But they still use plain boring black plastic (for a good reason, of course.)
Really, simply put, makers use wood/leather/-insert super expensive material here- because they are quite pretty and attract customers. Regardless of what those folks claim, there are few reasons to use such materials to make proper audio playback devices.
Plus : Not to mention, due to the nature of physics, no materials absorb all sound energy and stop resonance completely. Thus, using fewer materials possible is usually ideal because fewer the materials used, less coloration introduced by the materials. This is why open headphones are usually much better sounding ones compared to closed headphones at same price.
Edited by wnmnkh - 9/23/11 at 12:57am
