Ask one of the world's top headphone engineers whatever you want at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time!

[Craigster75]

Quote:

bigger drivers generally have better bass response and lower distortion i guess?

Yes, and certainly a talented engineer can do more with a 40mm driver than a mediocre engineer with a 50mm driver, but all things being equal, the larger driver provides a bigger "canvas" for designers to work their magic.

 

[mrtim6]

I think he did well considering how these things usually turn out.

Management doesn't want him to divulge business/product strategy.

Lawyers don't want him to say anything offensive/incorrect about the competition.

Sales don't want him to steer people towards certain products, it's their job.

I think he spoke as freely as he possibly could being from such a large company, this is sennheiser we're talking about after all.

You have to read between the lines a bit but that's to be expected, very nice interview I think!

Two ears with all of the above restrictions an interview is a bit of a waist of time - I concur the engineer did his best.

However it's so sad these days people are burdened by the corporate machines.

 

[extrabigmehdi]

Quote:

Two ears with all of the above restrictions an interview is a bit of a waist of time - I concur the engineer did his best.
However it's so sad these days people are burdened by the corporate machines.

Meh, I'm suspecting that even some question  that were answered,  came from "sennheiser visitors".
So it's a quite FAKE interview.

 

[esn89]

When will you collaborate with Dr Dre?

 

[TwoEars]

Quote:

Meh, I'm suspecting that even some question  that were answered,  came from "sennheiser visitors".
So it's a quite FAKE interview.

 

 

 

[streetdragon]

lol c'mom do you really trust a highly importaint person working in a big company to speak about the competition and tell what fav non sennheiser headphone he likes? ( i saw a few of those questions there)

 

[obobskivich]

Assuming his experience would be accepted as the final word, Axel Grell settled two debates I have had with fellow Head-fiers that I didn't even think were debatable and supported what I thought:

1.  Driver size does matter
2.  The driver is the most important part of the headphone

Wait there are people who argue about the first one? :blink: (I've never seen someone debate/talk about #2 but I don't doubt it's happened)

I thought that was pretty well understood (***speaker guy here***) that larger drivers have to move less to move the same volume of air, which means less excursion = less distortion for lower freq playback. It's why subwoofers have the biggest drivers out there. But bigger isn't always better, the otherside is why subwoofers can't be the sole driver in a system - they have trouble recovering quick enough to play high frequencies. There are some "full range" woofers in the 4-6" range that can do a reasonable job, but they won't hit either extreme (20k or 20hz) in most cases. The Bose 901 is an odd example of this (it's a whole lot of medium sized drivers). I think there's also some old Tannoy speakers that are set-up like this.

i wonder though why a lot (or almost all) of the dynamic headphones have 40mm drivers, what's so special about this figure? ( i did ask this at the Q/A but got no answers)

It seems like a relatively standardized size, and likely is a good balance of HF to LF reproduction ability. Ultrasone and Grado both make it work very well. Larger drivers generally add weight, and challenge your ability to reproduce HF as well. The HD 800, for example, is a ring radiator - to help address that very issue.

I think it also relates to what can and can't be physically built - in other words if you wanted to put a 70mm driver in an RS-1, it'd make for a very weird headphone.

Finally, I think there's a degree of marketing in there - because there's no single metric for "sound quality" it's yet another spec a manufacturer can throw out as "mine is bigger and therefore better" and it's no longer the exclusive domain of Sony and Audio-Technica to have 50-53mm driver units in their cans (and of course Sony responds by going even bigger :rolleyes.

 

[extrabigmehdi]

Here are more straightforward answers to questions.
 
- Which amp you recommend for the hd800, hd650 or whatever ?
- hey just buy  our new amp hdvd 600, hdvd 800.
 
- which is better, the hd600 or hd650 ?
- the  more expensive hd650 is better, but owning both is better,
and owning the hd800 that is more expensive than having both is even better.
 
- balanced armature drivers, planar magnetic headphones ?
- you don't want that anyways
 
- electrostas ?
- we have the expertise to do electrostats, which is a great way to praise our brand .
Beside that , nothing useful to add.
 
- I have a random question about IEMs.
- hey just buy our IE800.

 

[obobskivich]

Here are more straightforward answers to questions.

- Which amp you recommend for the hd800, hd650 or whatever ?
- hey just buy  our new amp hdvd 600, hdvd 800.

- which is better, the hd600 or hd650 ?
- the  more expensive hd650 is better, but owning both is better,
and owning the hd800 that is more expensive than having both is even better.

- balanced armature drivers, planar magnetic headphones ?
- you don't want that anyways

- electrostas ?
- we have the expertise to do electrostats, which is a great way to praise our band .
Beside that , nothing useful to add.

- I have a random question about IEMs.
- hey just buy our IE800.

lol.

 

[streetdragon]

Quote:

Here are more straightforward answers to questions.
 
- Which amp you recommend for the hd800, hd650 or whatever ?
- hey just buy  our new amp hdvd 600, hdvd 800.
 
- which is better, the hd600 or hd650 ?
- the  more expensive hd650 is better, but owning both is better,
and owning the hd800 that is more expensive than having both is even better.
 
- balanced armature drivers, planar magnetic headphones ?
- you don't want that anyways
 
- electrostas ?
- we have the expertise to do electrostats, which is a great way to praise our brand .
Beside that , nothing useful to add.
 
- I have a random question about IEMs.
- hey just buy our IE800.

a typical answer from a company's representitive

 

[Radio_head]

It's the answer you'd expect from their PR rep - the whole allure here was getting nitty gritty with the engineer.  

 

[antberg]

i wonder who are those gangster he's talking about!
Edit:I may know of who is talking about,Dr. Dre perhaps?

 

[Craigster75]

Quote:

i wonder who are those gangster he's talking about!
Edit:I may know of who is talking about,Dr. Dre perhaps?

Well, I'm assuming it's not Paul Barton.

 

[extrabigmehdi]

Quote:

i wonder who are those gangster he's talking about!
Edit:I may know of who is talking about,Dr. Dre perhaps?

It includes monster cable, but also other brand that tried to imitate the monster beat commercial success (  ludacris, also denon with it's new line, probably more brands ...).
At least it is reassuring , that their rep say that sennheiser won't follow this path.
Sennheiser would remain more about good sound, than hype, or what ?

 

[sphinxvc]

FWIW, I enjoyed reading his views on BA, planar magnetic and electrostats.  Seemed candid and valid.  
--
On the other hand, him liking the HD650 over the HD600, I agree that it's a huge conspiracy.  The HD650 costs $100 more from most retailers.  It's obviously a play to rake in more revenue.  And before you say no, it's obviously possible.  
 
Sennheiser definitely plans to funnel the extra funds toward the special project they outlined in their last annual report, the endeavor to resurrect the original designer of the ring driver, who was murdered on May 2nd, 1519 by the Templars.  His first prototype of the ring driver can be seen here:
 

 
Crude, but remarkably close.
 
He wrote backwards to cover his tracks.  Obviously another attempt to rake in more revenue.
 
The talented engineer also predicted this very conspiracy...evidenced by this cross-section drawing of the conspiracist's mind:
 

 
The emptiness within allows for organic and free development of new conspiracies, aided by 102 synapses total.  An astonishingly low number, allowing for maximum distortion.  The HD800 too has the number 102 written in it somewhere.  Open yours up to find out.