Headphone Frequency Range

[minusflo]

If a person with perfect hearing can only hear 20-20,000 Hz then is there a point of getting headphones with frequency range above 20,000 Hz when a normal person barely hears anything above 12,000 Hz?

 

[audiofreak7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by minusflo /img/forum/go_quote.gif If a person with perfect hearing can only hear 20-20,000 Hz then is there a point of getting headphones with frequency range above 20,000 Hz when a normal person barely hears anything above 12,000 Hz?

Well, two things.

1. Hearing up to 20,000 KHz is the "average". I can hear up to about 21,000 KHz, not any higher. But...

2. The 10,000KHz - 20,000 KHz area is flatter because the headphones are good enough to expand their range.

 

[minusflo]

When I bought my Aiwa MD10 micro-component stereo 10 years ago, it came with a test CD that had sound from 100 Hz to 20,000 Hz. I used that CD to test most audio gear I bought from then on, whenever possible. My observation is that I don't hear above 15,000 Hz and I am probably an average person.

My point is if the Hi-Fi headphones go beyond 20,000 Hz in their frequency range, does that benefit me? or Is it just marketing gimmickry? There must be a sensible explanation that I have not understood yet.

 

[PiccoloNamek]

The average person can certainly hear above 12,000hz. I can hear 22,000hz easily.

I would be very peeved if headphones were designed to suddenly stop at 15 or 16kHz just because the average person couldn't hear any higher.

 

[audiofreak7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by minusflo /img/forum/go_quote.gif When I bought my Aiwa MD10 micro-component stereo 10 years ago, it came with a test CD that had sound from 100 Hz to 20,000 Hz. I used that CD to test most audio gear I bought from then on, whenever possible. My observation is that I don't hear above 15,000 Hz and I am probably an average person. My point is if the Hi-Fi headphones go beyond 20,000 Hz in their frequency range, does that benefit me? or Is it just marketing gimmickry? There must be a sensible explanation that I have not understood yet.

Well, the higher the ending range is, the more obvious the 15,000-20,000KHz will be.

 

[Contrastique]

If I am not mistaken the freq which you can't hear have an influence on the freq you do hear in a way it was meant to be. I am not sure about this but I think that's why you will benefit from a hp which can handle these freq's

 

[eruditass]

well with higher frequency responses, harmonics can be created which interact and add to the sound.

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkpowder /img/forum/go_quote.gif According to Sennheiser, the HD650's treble extends to 39.5kHz whereas the ER4P/S extends to 16kHz. The extra kHz that the Senn is able reproduce means that a lot of the harmonics are reproduced. Those harmonics are part of what gives string instruments, percussion and the piano their timbre and sound colour. At the end of the day, classical music sounds more realistic through a pair of HD650 (or even HD600/580) than through a pair of ER4P/S.

does anyone have a treble test track of sorts?

 

[audiofreak7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoomzDayz /img/forum/go_quote.gif well with higher frequency responses, harmonics can be created which interact and add to the sound. does anyone have a treble test track of sorts?

Try this

http://www.rhintek.com/tutorial/Frequency/index.php

 

[Gautama]

Hmm, I can hear from 28hz to 19,400hz

Guess I'm average

 

[minusflo]

That is amazing. Similar to the test tones my CD had but had more samples. I learn new things everytime I visit and read posts here.

Thank you!

 

[Duggeh]

Tone tests for how how you can hear are extremely unreliable at best. Many drivers produce second order harmonic distortion at audible frequencies lower then those high ones which are being tested and perception of lower and lower frequencies requires larger and larger amounts of volume gain.

Perception of high frequency response also declines with age.

The important figure shouldn't really be the frequency response of a driver, it should be taken as read that any decently made (full size) driver will be capable of reproducing at least the 20-20k spectrum. The important figure is the order of harmonic distortion which the driver imparts into this range. Typically the quoted figure seems to be -/+3dB imms. The higher that number, the less able the driver to reproduce those quoted frequencies accurately.

High frequency capability is important, but not nearly as important as very low distortion midrange capability. Remember that most music which you hear occurs within a much smaller frequency range than the physical limitations of the driver or the storage medium.

--
That was a bit of a ramble. Hope it made some sort of sense.

 

[Suzuka]

Apparently I can hear 20khz-20hz this is even with my PC making pretty decent noise bg.

cool

 

[eruditass]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audiofreak7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, the higher the ending range is, the more obvious the 15,000-20,000KHz will be.

false..

its all just marketing unless they include +-db

 

[pablobaluba]

nice thread

btw...how do you konw what freq u can hear?..with the test cds?

 

[Murugesh]

I wonder how you guys say that you are able to hear 21000Hz or 19400Hz. How do you measure?