[xnor]

Hey guys,

I hacked a little tool together yesterday: HpDiff. (requires Java to run)

What does it do?
Basically it plays sine waves with a selectable frequency. The volume can be adjusted for each frequency.

What is it good for?
The goal is to adjust the volume of each frequency to the threshold of hearing - with a reference headphone and again with another headphone for comparison.

The differences between the two headphones can be submitted to an online database. This database stores the name of the reference and comparison model and the differences in volume.


The data can be used to created graphs like this (just an example computed from a single data record):

This should show the perceived differences in tonal balance between the headphones.
From the example graph: the PX100 has more / the HD555 has less bass and there is a huge peak/dip somewhere around 6 kHz.


This might work, or not. I don't really know yet.
That's why I'd appreciate help from some of you guys, please try it out.



Instructions:
Setup

1. Download the application from here
2. Start it (if you can't you most likely don't hava Java installed)
3. Make sure you're in a quiet environment where there is no noise in the background
4. Enter the name of your output device (e.g. Mini3 or Realtek onboard ...) and headphone models (please provide the full name, e.g. Sennheiser PX100)

Configuration

1. Power on the signal generator, it should produce 2 kHz sine waves in a random pattern
2. Find the loudest frequency between 2000 and 5000 Hz, select it. This is where you start.
3. Adjust your output device's volume to a low level. However, it should be loud enough so you can still hear the signal clearly.
4. Don't touch the output device's volume anymore from now on

1. As you can hear the signal *beep*, pause, *beep* ... press the [-] volume button until it gets difficult to detect the beep/pause pattern.
2. Select the next higher frequency and repeat the previous step, until you are at 20000 Hz. Don't worry if you cannot hear 20 kHz at all.
   Now go back to the frequency you started with and select the next lower frequency. Again repeat the previous step until you are down to 24 Hz.
3. As a last step, re-check every frequency. It should be as low as possible but loud enough so that you can still detect the beep/pause pattern.

You're done with the reference. If you want, you can save your reference settings in a file. (File -> Save reference...)
 

1. Now switch to the other headphone
2. Don't forget to click the radio button next to the compared headphones' name. This will reset the volume adjustments you did for the reference model.
3. Repeat all the Configuration steps from above for this headphone.
   Depending on the sensitivity of the headphone, it might be necessary to adjust the output device volume slightly. That should be ok, but don't change the volume anymore after you started.

 
Once you're done you can also save the settings for this model. (File -> Save compared model...)

Now the final step:
File -> Submit...

It might show a warning message that you didn't adjust some frequencies - just submit! Thanks.


If I'm able to collect enough useful data I will create a web interface to view the results. (If you're concerned about privacy, everything that is collected is the stuff you enter into the textfields and volume adjustments you make, that's it.)

 

[xnor]

*bump*
And please let me know if something doesn't work.