jlaseter
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2011
- Posts
- 101
- Likes
- 186
Introduction
Seeing other headphone comparisons across Head-Fi, especially the likes of this one, or this one, I wanted to contribute in a way I had not seen yet. I started with this question in mind:
How are Grado headphones affected by your choice of pads?
Before getting too deep into the tests, or even determining stable test criteria, I figured I'd throw all my headphones into the comparison. Now the questions became:
-How are Grado headphones affected by your choice of pads?
-How are other headphones affected by differences in pads?
-How would each headphone configuration compare against all the others?
This presented a problem: I own 19 pairs of headphones. Even if I were to choose a single-criterion ranking, or an overall subjective ranking, this would amount to 342 tests. If I were to listen to 2 headphones once each per test, that's 684 listens. Kinda daunting.
OH WAIT
That number is solely the headphones I own, and not their myriad pad configurations. I own 5 types of Grado pads, 2 sets for my ATH-M50s, and the Hifiman Edition S has both and open-backed and closed-back configuration. When all was said and done, including a couple of pairs that I borrowed, the list became 53 configurations. Even for a SIGNLE column of ranking, that's 2,756 tests, or 5,512 listens, not including repeats. I chose 6 columns (33,072 tests, for those keeping score).
I've found that audio memory is very short. I have a background in big-box audio sales. From hundreds of customer interactions I have found that people can recall what is great about a sound or phrase in the moment just after they hear it, and seldom very much longer (usually a second or two at BEST). After a second or two, only a vague impression of "oh that was good" or "oh that sucked" remains.
What all this amounts to, is that I'd have to do very quick comparisons of very short passages of music, and that I'd have to repeat the comparisons several times. This would be especially demanding when considering pad swaps on the same headphone.
The Compromise
I started with tests in each of the 6 criteria on 1 headphone against another. I then brought in another and compared each of the 3 to each other. Then 4, then 5, etc. After some time of doing this, I started introducing varying pads on each of the Grado headphones, and on the 2 Koss, ATH-M50s, et al. Each headphone/pad combo in the mix doubled the amount of comparisons, so at some point I had to change tactics.
I would then hypothesize a headphone's rank for a criteria. I'd test the hypothesis against its neighbors, and against their neighbors. This meant 25 or 30 tests for each headphone introduced, which I could live with a lot easier than doing each of many thousands of comparisons. With this tactic, it has taken me 7 months of off-and-on testing, often 7 days a week, to arrive at these conclusions.
Along the way, I've also performed certain "sanity checks." If I had any eyebrow-raising results that didn't quite make sense, I'd re-evaluate a headphone, often against a range of 10 or 15 others. Also, with the results I saw for pad differences, I could re-evaluate any glaring inconsistencies like "Why did the TTVJ flats make X headphone bright, and Y headphone bassy?"
For these comparisons, it goes without saying that YMMV (your mileage/experience may vary). However, I really can't say I have compared every single headphone on this list to every other in a definitive way.
The Gear
All tests were performed on the equipment chain:
foobar2000 -> ASIO4ALL v2 -> TOSLINK -> Schiit Bifrost 2 Multibit -> Schiit PYST Straight Wire "Symphony II" XLR Interconnects -> Schiit Magnius
I'll also include my basic specs -- this will hopefully help if you're looking for an explanation of why I do/do not have exactly the experience the same as you, whether that be sibilance for a particular configuration, soundstage differences, comfort differences, etc.
Demographics
Middle-aged adult male
Glasses
Yes
Head Width
Measured by clamping straws between earcups and ears, extending them above my head, and measuring width
20.5mm +-.5
Ear Height
Measured by digital caliper – top of helix to bottom of lobe
L = 67.5mm
R = 67mm
Ear Protrusion
Measured by ruler – most protruding part of mastoid process to most protruding part of helix
L = 10mm
R = 12mm
Background
I also play the piano semi-casually, typically picking out tunes by ear.
Genres
Classic Rock, Ensemble Jazz, Video Game Music, R&B, Soundtracks, Classical, Electronic, Western Swing
The Headphones
I've included here a bit of information about each headphone as I could gather it, but primarily I gathered the Grado specs.
The Pads
The Tests
Each of these tests is extremely limited, for the sake of very simple comparison. There are likely many tracks that would work better for each criterion, but these are the ones which I settled on early on in the comparison which would most easily reveal the qualities I was comparing.
Tiebreaker tests were useful in some cases where a single clip wasn't showing significant differences.
Bass: Fugees - Vocab (Refugees Hip Hop Remix)
Starting after the "opening monologue", at about 18 seconds, lasting until about 27 seconds.
This test looks primarily at bass attack and quantity in the introductory low notes punctuating the vocal track. The "leading edge" of each note has a certain level of clarity that would help determine the bass ranking. A headphone playing these notes quieter would detract from the ranking.
Bass Tiebreaker: Haywyre - Memory
Starting about 49 seconds in, to about 58 seconds.
In this selection from Memory, I listened for discernable rippling, or bass texture, in the synth "bass guitar". Each individual resonation being clearly discernable from the others, resulting in more of a "buzz" than a "hum" would contribute to the ranking.
Treble: Harry Connick, Jr. - Joe Slam and the Spaceship
Starting with the main instrumental at 43 seconds, lasting until 50 seconds.
This test relies on clarity and realism in the tambourine shakes and crashes. There is a frequency range to these crashes, and I was listening for representation of this whole range. Additionally, I associate treble clarity with a lack of distortion and with quick decay. Less "ringing" of these tambourines would contribute to a higher ranking.
Transparency: Michael Buble - Feeling Good
Starting with the main instrumental at 47 seconds, until about 59 seconds.
This test asks: How realistic do voices and instruments sound? Is there a sock in the singer's mouth? Is there a wall between the instruments and us? Also, one thing that would detract from this ranking would be when a headphone is "tizzy" or "brassy" in a way that was not true to the original voice or instruments.
Soundstage: Robbie Robb - In Time
Starting at 3:53, with a repeated chorus, until 4:07. Primarily the "Dancin' in the streets all night" choir.
Soundstage Tiebreaker: Michael Jackson - Thriller
The creaky door intro from 0 seconds until 6 seconds. The creaks get wider and wider until they reach an easy to recognize maximum width.
These tests look at how wide sound is presented in real space. Do the sounds I'm hearing sound like they extend beyond my head? Beyond my shoulders? I ignored height, as many headphones will not have any perceivable soundstage height. Soundstage was extremely hard to judge, except for dramatic differences.
Imaging: Michael Buble - Feeling Good
Starting with the main instrumental at 47 seconds, until about 59 seconds.
This test is about localization of instruments in space. How well can each voice or instrument's location be discerned from another? If a voice moves around in a space, how well can the movement be defined?
Comfort:
For this test, I couldn't justify doing comparisons of multiple hours, so I kept them at 15 minute maximums, and often just first impressions alone. How much does the headphone clamp, and does it scrape the top of my head? Do my ears feel crushed?
The rankings will be in Post #2!
Seeing other headphone comparisons across Head-Fi, especially the likes of this one, or this one, I wanted to contribute in a way I had not seen yet. I started with this question in mind:
How are Grado headphones affected by your choice of pads?
Before getting too deep into the tests, or even determining stable test criteria, I figured I'd throw all my headphones into the comparison. Now the questions became:
-How are Grado headphones affected by your choice of pads?
-How are other headphones affected by differences in pads?
-How would each headphone configuration compare against all the others?
This presented a problem: I own 19 pairs of headphones. Even if I were to choose a single-criterion ranking, or an overall subjective ranking, this would amount to 342 tests. If I were to listen to 2 headphones once each per test, that's 684 listens. Kinda daunting.
OH WAIT
That number is solely the headphones I own, and not their myriad pad configurations. I own 5 types of Grado pads, 2 sets for my ATH-M50s, and the Hifiman Edition S has both and open-backed and closed-back configuration. When all was said and done, including a couple of pairs that I borrowed, the list became 53 configurations. Even for a SIGNLE column of ranking, that's 2,756 tests, or 5,512 listens, not including repeats. I chose 6 columns (33,072 tests, for those keeping score).
I've found that audio memory is very short. I have a background in big-box audio sales. From hundreds of customer interactions I have found that people can recall what is great about a sound or phrase in the moment just after they hear it, and seldom very much longer (usually a second or two at BEST). After a second or two, only a vague impression of "oh that was good" or "oh that sucked" remains.
What all this amounts to, is that I'd have to do very quick comparisons of very short passages of music, and that I'd have to repeat the comparisons several times. This would be especially demanding when considering pad swaps on the same headphone.
The Compromise
I started with tests in each of the 6 criteria on 1 headphone against another. I then brought in another and compared each of the 3 to each other. Then 4, then 5, etc. After some time of doing this, I started introducing varying pads on each of the Grado headphones, and on the 2 Koss, ATH-M50s, et al. Each headphone/pad combo in the mix doubled the amount of comparisons, so at some point I had to change tactics.
I would then hypothesize a headphone's rank for a criteria. I'd test the hypothesis against its neighbors, and against their neighbors. This meant 25 or 30 tests for each headphone introduced, which I could live with a lot easier than doing each of many thousands of comparisons. With this tactic, it has taken me 7 months of off-and-on testing, often 7 days a week, to arrive at these conclusions.
Along the way, I've also performed certain "sanity checks." If I had any eyebrow-raising results that didn't quite make sense, I'd re-evaluate a headphone, often against a range of 10 or 15 others. Also, with the results I saw for pad differences, I could re-evaluate any glaring inconsistencies like "Why did the TTVJ flats make X headphone bright, and Y headphone bassy?"
For these comparisons, it goes without saying that YMMV (your mileage/experience may vary). However, I really can't say I have compared every single headphone on this list to every other in a definitive way.
The Gear
All tests were performed on the equipment chain:
foobar2000 -> ASIO4ALL v2 -> TOSLINK -> Schiit Bifrost 2 Multibit -> Schiit PYST Straight Wire "Symphony II" XLR Interconnects -> Schiit Magnius
I'll also include my basic specs -- this will hopefully help if you're looking for an explanation of why I do/do not have exactly the experience the same as you, whether that be sibilance for a particular configuration, soundstage differences, comfort differences, etc.
Demographics
Middle-aged adult male
Glasses
Yes
Head Width
Measured by clamping straws between earcups and ears, extending them above my head, and measuring width
20.5mm +-.5
Ear Height
Measured by digital caliper – top of helix to bottom of lobe
L = 67.5mm
R = 67mm
Ear Protrusion
Measured by ruler – most protruding part of mastoid process to most protruding part of helix
L = 10mm
R = 12mm
Background
I also play the piano semi-casually, typically picking out tunes by ear.
Genres
Classic Rock, Ensemble Jazz, Video Game Music, R&B, Soundtracks, Classical, Electronic, Western Swing
The Headphones
I've included here a bit of information about each headphone as I could gather it, but primarily I gathered the Grado specs.
The Pads
The Tests
Each of these tests is extremely limited, for the sake of very simple comparison. There are likely many tracks that would work better for each criterion, but these are the ones which I settled on early on in the comparison which would most easily reveal the qualities I was comparing.
Tiebreaker tests were useful in some cases where a single clip wasn't showing significant differences.
Bass: Fugees - Vocab (Refugees Hip Hop Remix)
Starting after the "opening monologue", at about 18 seconds, lasting until about 27 seconds.
This test looks primarily at bass attack and quantity in the introductory low notes punctuating the vocal track. The "leading edge" of each note has a certain level of clarity that would help determine the bass ranking. A headphone playing these notes quieter would detract from the ranking.
Bass Tiebreaker: Haywyre - Memory
Starting about 49 seconds in, to about 58 seconds.
In this selection from Memory, I listened for discernable rippling, or bass texture, in the synth "bass guitar". Each individual resonation being clearly discernable from the others, resulting in more of a "buzz" than a "hum" would contribute to the ranking.
Treble: Harry Connick, Jr. - Joe Slam and the Spaceship
Starting with the main instrumental at 43 seconds, lasting until 50 seconds.
This test relies on clarity and realism in the tambourine shakes and crashes. There is a frequency range to these crashes, and I was listening for representation of this whole range. Additionally, I associate treble clarity with a lack of distortion and with quick decay. Less "ringing" of these tambourines would contribute to a higher ranking.
Transparency: Michael Buble - Feeling Good
Starting with the main instrumental at 47 seconds, until about 59 seconds.
This test asks: How realistic do voices and instruments sound? Is there a sock in the singer's mouth? Is there a wall between the instruments and us? Also, one thing that would detract from this ranking would be when a headphone is "tizzy" or "brassy" in a way that was not true to the original voice or instruments.
Soundstage: Robbie Robb - In Time
Starting at 3:53, with a repeated chorus, until 4:07. Primarily the "Dancin' in the streets all night" choir.
Soundstage Tiebreaker: Michael Jackson - Thriller
The creaky door intro from 0 seconds until 6 seconds. The creaks get wider and wider until they reach an easy to recognize maximum width.
These tests look at how wide sound is presented in real space. Do the sounds I'm hearing sound like they extend beyond my head? Beyond my shoulders? I ignored height, as many headphones will not have any perceivable soundstage height. Soundstage was extremely hard to judge, except for dramatic differences.
Imaging: Michael Buble - Feeling Good
Starting with the main instrumental at 47 seconds, until about 59 seconds.
This test is about localization of instruments in space. How well can each voice or instrument's location be discerned from another? If a voice moves around in a space, how well can the movement be defined?
Comfort:
For this test, I couldn't justify doing comparisons of multiple hours, so I kept them at 15 minute maximums, and often just first impressions alone. How much does the headphone clamp, and does it scrape the top of my head? Do my ears feel crushed?
The rankings will be in Post #2!
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