[Uncle Erik]

You clearly need to buy more headphones. That's the only way to know.

 

[mape00]

A good earphone should give a flat response at the eardrum and minimize distortion.

With that said, music is altered in artificial ways in recording and mastering so it's not that simle. It's simply a matter of taste, although a phone deviating too much from a flat response is unlikely to sound natural.

 

[Kane-DK]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif You clearly need to buy more headphones. That's the only way to know.

hehe, very evil endeed

 

[JadeEast]

One way is to ask what headphone shows the greatest difference between recordings.

 

[flordenuve]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JadeEast /img/forum/go_quote.gif One way is to ask what headphone shows the greatest difference between recordings.

Yeah, but how do you know which sound is "right"? Recordings are colored in themselves, by the microphones used, the tape they're recorded to, the vinyl they're pressed on...and, as I said earlier, I do notice a difference, but I can't say which is the best.

 

[Chri5peed]

Not being called 'Skullcandy' or 'BOSE' is your first port of call.

 

[Fitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cinders /img/forum/go_quote.gif 5) Have sex with headphones 6) ???? 7) PROFIT!

Did nikongod invite you to the forums? ¬_¬

 

[JadeEast]

Quote:

Originally Posted by flordenuve /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah, but how do you know which sound is "right"? Recordings are colored in themselves, by the microphones used, the tape they're recorded to, the vinyl they're pressed on...and, as I said earlier, I do notice a difference, but I can't say which is the best.

A nice explanation of one POV.

Are You On The Road To... Audio Hell? by Leonard Norwitz and Peter Qvortrup

 

[hew]

My belief is that the best headphone is one that makes me want to listen to music while helping me to forget the fact that I have two speakers sitting next to my ears. I have always felt that if a piece of equipment draws my attention away from the music, it must be judged inferior to the one that does not. In my system each component must serve the purpose of the music.

The more an audio system acts to focus my attention on the music as an organic whole or on the playing or on the artistry of the musicians, rather than on some hi-fi artifact such as bass slam or pin-point imaging or a forward midrange, then the better it is for me. In other words, the equipment should simply disappear and only music should remain. I sincerely believe that this is not achieved through any single component of the reproduction chain but through synergy between all the links forming the reproduction chain. In this endeavor I will not overlook any aspect including power conditioning, vibration control, tweaking and the quality of music media. Synergy is always my bottom line in assembling a musically satisfying system.

Even though I have found that the lower the price of a piece, the more egregious its flaws, I try not to be too influenced by price or to give much credence to qualitative differences between individual components outside the context of a total system. I have seen where a headphone will be reported to sound like crap in many systems but then others will swear it is the best headphone there is, with the missing proviso in all these claims being “in my system”. I believe that lack of synergy is the reason an expensive system will sometimes be less musical than a much less expensive system, even when the expensive system displays superior bass, details and an impressive sound stage. Such hi-fi artifacts may be impressive initially but annoying in the long run because they aren’t accompanied by sheer musicality.

Consequently, I have found it far more rewarding sonically to focus my energy and dollars on seeking synergy between components rather than isolated flaws in each aspect of the chain. My aim is to balance flaws in relatively inexpensive individual components to achieve that synergy without going bankrupt at the same time.

 

[catscratch]

It's simple.

Experience.

You're not going to become an expert on wine overnight, and you're not going to become an expert on headphones after only hearing a few. You need to be in the hobby for a long time and listen to a lot of different gear. Over time, you'll start to see where each headphone goes wrong, and you'll start to see what's possible in the headphone realm. Having heard things on every level from stock earbuds to high-end electrostatics, you'll have a much easier time figuring out what's what. The same will apply for source, amps, etc.

There are things that some headphones objectively do better than others - i.e. frequency extension, speed, detail, dynamic range - which can be used to objectively judge the superiority of a headphone. Then there is a host of other things - frequency response, tone, laid-back/forward presentation, and so on - that is more open to listener interpretation and isn't quite as objective, but can still be argued about with people that have similar hearing, and preferences, to you. The problem here is that when it comes to these things, people really do hear differently from one another, and the same HD650 that sounds right to one person will sound dark and dull to the next, even if these two people agree on the objective criteria.

Listen to lots of gear. There isn't a "headphone appreciation" course like you could do for wine, but there are meets, dealer showrooms, and stores with a demo/return policy that can all get you experience with lots of different gear.

Hearing also matters. Human hearing is a bell curve, and on one end of it you have people that can't tell earbuds from high-end electrostats for the life of them, and on the other hand you have people that will quicky tell you how far away the wall was from the mic when the vocals were recorded on any semi-decent headphone (you'd be absolutely amazed at what blind people can hear when they use high-end cans!). The vast majority of people, though, fall somewhere in between, and wherever you are on this bell curve, chances are you can move up (or down) depending on training and listening habits. Blind people aren't more sensitive genetically, they are simply trained to perceive the same information differently, and experience with lots and lots of high-end gear will give you something similar.

 

[krmathis]

* Gather a handful of your potential favorite headphones.
* Handle them to feel their build quality.
* Audition them to hear their sound quality.
* Go home with the one you feel have the build and sound quality that suit your preferences.

 

[Cinders]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fitz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Did nikongod invite you to the forums? ¬_¬

nope, I found my own way here

 

[Ear Damage]

The best way to know if your cans are good is if your ears tell your brain that they are pleased.




Next.

 

[Zorander]

A good-sounding headphone will always sound good to you. Until you find a better one.

 

[coolcat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ear Damage /img/forum/go_quote.gif The best way to know if your cans are good is if your ears tell your brain that they are pleased. Next.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zorander /img/forum/go_quote.gif A good-sounding headphone will always sound good to you. Until you find a better one.

100% agree with the above.
and their príce must be OK for U too(buy secondhand).