[Superma]

Again, I'm a noob at this whole headphone thing. And being unsatisfied with beats after seeing the wide range of better/ the actual possibilities of headphones, I'm wondering how do people test a pair of headphones to see if they are "good"? 
 
I don't really know how, and all I do is use some songs to test the clarity and strength of the headphones such as Madness by Muse, Black Skinhead by Kanye West, and What are Going to Do when You aren't Saving the World by Hans Zimmer (new list) to see if the headphone testee creates a hypnotic bass sound like my Beats in the song Madness. 
 
So are there other ways or possibilities? 

 

[chunkfnk]

Listen to them and if you like them then they are good headphones.
 
People hear differently and thus the definition of a "good" headphone varies. There will be people who tell you measurements matter and all that jazz but in my opinion it does not matter if a headphone has the best measurements in the world and I do not like how it sounds.

 

[arteom]

Just listen to a recording you've heard like a hundred times. My personal point of reference is pink floyd - the wall - hey you.
 
Ideally all parts of the music will sound good. But yeah just listen to the music man. Something you know very well. I think most audiophiles have a couple of favorite albums they will listen to when first sitting down with some new gear.

 

[Jpfe8851]

Hey You.... What a great track to use as a tester. I just played it through my HD600s out of my DX100 using Flac. Wonderful! The mix of acoustic guitar, vocals, bass line, drums... Absolutely a good choice to test headphones.

I will still use Dire Straits' You and Your Friend and Holly Cole's Temptation. The former for the same reasons Hey You is so good... Variety of sounds. Temptation has such a strong bass that it will easily show up distortion and bass boom if it exists.

In the end, I agree with the other advice here. If you can, audition your cans before purchase. Only listening yourself can answer "are they any good"! Remember the adage, "One man's meat is another man's poison" is valid for headphones above almost any other factor in music listening. Next is source files, then the player/amp.

Good luck, but for goodness sakes, don't hang out here unless you've got deep pockets! I'm still seeking Nirvana!

 

[KCxSmacker]

I think the best way to to have a wide range of music that you like. IMO, preferable something with a lot of range to really test the suckers out. I also find having a very balanced headphone helps to test others, as it provides a reference of which you can compare to with the headphones being tested. 

 

[BillsonChang007]

Hello!

When "test driving" headphones, I will make sure that I brought my best DAP, my favorite song for different genre, if not, the song that I listen to most. I always start off by listening how's the mids > Highs > Lows > Soundstage > Instrument Separation > Clarity > Transparency > Details > Imaging > Accuracy > Comfort > Build Quality. For imaging, I usually listen to live stream. Also, using the mixture of MP3 and ALAC/FLAC files will really help.

Billson

 

[AmbientK]

All the above for testing with your favorite tracks. If you want to test for extension and other technical points, try searching for audiocheck on Google.

 

[fabio-fi]

I throw any track, any genre for testing purposes. Optionally, audiocheck have an interesting benchmark check for headphones:
http://www.audiocheck.net/soundtests_headphones.php

 

[Sir Tmotts III]

Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and The Beatle's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, that's how.