[Solar1971]

Hey guys.
This might be a silly question but... Here goes.

I have Sennheiser Momentum 2 on ear headphones.
They sound great. I love them. BUT!!!
Sometimes when I listen to my IEM's, the iem's actually sound better in many instances (not all)
From what i'm hearing, the fact that my tiny iems have 3 or 4 or 5 drivers in each ear seems to
make a big difference. There is so much more separation in the frequencies.
From the lows to the mids to the highs to the super highs. Each section of sound has its own driver.
My Sennheiser has (as far as i know) 1... 1 really nice driver, thats well tuned and probably superior in every way
to the Dynamic inside my 50$ iems. BUT its only 1 driver. It's always at a disadvantage VS multi driver in my
opinion. So...
Why dont most or all large headphones have multiple driver setups?
like 1 x 40mm dynamic + 3-5 BA's?

Is this too difficult? cost prohibitive? or something else?
Because my Sennheiser were around 215-220$ if i recall correctly...
They shouldn't be in competition with my 49.99$ cheapo Chinese iem's in sound quality...
BUT THEY ARE !!! why???

 

[PaganDL]

@Solar1971,

Regarding why headphones generally don't have more than one driver :

The simple answer it comes down to Cost, Labour & Time which includes the labour & time taken for the R&D involved.

The not so simple answer includes the above along with the human element, not to mention physical & physcological differences between people which also includes gender as well as how everyone preceives & hears sound, head shape, ear shape & size, ear canal shape & size, etc.
Not to mention comfort plays a significant factor in how humans perceive the overall audio experience, eg, some people don't like headphones over a certain weight or how IEMs feel in their ears, etc...
That list goes on & on.

In any case, it takes a lot of time, skill & effort to tune a driver, be it for headphone or IEM though in some cases, a multi driver IEM can be simpler though this doesn't mean easier, especially if it only conforms to a certain area in the frequency range, eg High Frequency VS Ultra High Frequency, etc
A Single Driver, especially in a headphone, take a lot to get right & as this hobby proves, isn't going to please anyone...
This is among many reasons why useful, critical feedback is important.

Since you're in the US, you are lucky due to being in proximity to CanJam as well as numerous audio shows, especially those which deal in portable audio, so it just becomes a matter of demoing as much gear as possible to understand how different technologies & implementations work in both headphones & IEMs along with what sound they are capable of.
This also extends to the different gear involved in the audio chain, source gear, eg DAC, computer, etc, along with head amps, etc which is why gear synergy is a thing more than most people admit...
Sometimes, controversial subjects like using different cables in the audio chain, power filtration, etc may also alter what you experience too...

As you hopefully gain more experience in this past time, by hearing more & more gear, you will find price has very little to do with sound quality & vice versa, for this reason, as with the previous statement, the more you can demo on your own with a good quality, well recorded source will make all the difference & separate good sounding head gear which may be pricey but worth it over ridiculously expensive for potentially no reason or due to hawking a certain experience &/or brand...

Some interesting headphone driver designs :

Mysphere 3
Raal Requisite SR1 A
Crosszone CZ 1/C 10


As a side note, aside from the above being flat out expensive, the Crosszone CZ series is the only headphone I know with multi driver design.
The Mysphere 3 is the only one I have demo so far.

Hope this gives you some answers you are looking for.

Hope you have a great day !