[lamikeith]

Headphones ideally produce equal sound levels to both ears such that a mono tone sounds perfectly centered at all volume levels. In reality, that may not be the case. If perfectly centered is zero degrees, fully left is -90 degrees, and fully right is +90 degrees, how far from 0 degrees is acceptable? +/-1? 2? 5? 10 degrees? This assumes all other gear, and the listeners ears, are operating correctly.

I have several headphones that are within a degree or two of zero, except for one that sounds out of balance by 5 degrees. Is this acceptable, or are my 'phones not working correctly?

 

[tintin47]

Most headphones are matched to within less than .2 dB max, and many are matched much much closer (high end grados are matched to .05dB). If they are matched correctly, there should be no deviation whatsoever, because your ears can barely hear that difference if at all. I would think that any deviation would be your ears and not the phones. If there is a lot of deviation and it isn't your ears, the phones are probably broken.

 

[kmhaynes]

How often do you listen in complete mono? Is the 5 deg difference noticable enough to make you not want to listen to those phones?

I wouldn't be able to judge whether that separation difference is "bad" or not.

 

[lamikeith]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kmhaynes /img/forum/go_quote.gif How often do you listen in complete mono? Is the 5 deg difference noticable enough to make you not want to listen to those phones? I wouldn't be able to judge whether that separation difference is "bad" or not.

I don't listen in mono; that was only to remove a variable from the problem description. The real world example is a solo performer that should be center in the soundstage, but is obviously not. With full soundstage recordings, the overall sound is simply louder on one side. To center the sound, and because my amp has no balance control, I have to move the louder driver partially off my ear. Yes, the imbalance, which may be only a few dB, bothers me that much.

 

[b0dhi]

The mismatch is frequency dependent. Grados are only matched at 1khz. I don't know of any headphone at any price range that doesn't sway unacceptably from centre in some frequency range.