[AdamCalifornia]

It seems that listening to Rock/Hard Rock or Heavy Metal music thru speakers
which are located far away, say 5 ft, from your ears is not harmful to our ears.
However, listening to this kind of music thru headphones is another story.
I think, that those harmful effects are due to electric guitar and guitar amplification distortion.

Quote:

In the world of electric guitar music and guitar amplification, distortion is actively sought, evaluated, and appreciatively discussed in its endless flavours. In many types of music, distortion is applied to guitar and other instruments, particularly within rock music. Guitar distortion can provide a sustaining tone for playing solos or leads, or a rough, crunchy tone suitable for rhythm guitar.

Taken from Distortion (guitar)

When I am listening, for instance, to Black Sabbath, say 'Iron Man' and so on,
I've got to make more frequent and longer breaks than when I listening,
to some music without an artificially introduced distortion!

Which are the safest headphones for listening to Hard Rock and Heavy Metal music?
The veiled ones?
Of course we're not talking about extremely loud playing of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal music.

P.S.
Paranoid

 

[Roam]

It's only safe if you keep the volume below 32.446dB.

 

[nikongod]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roam /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's only safe if you keep the volume below 32.446dB.

rong! the lack of a w to emphasize that it would be difficult to be further from correct without deliberately trying.

32.445dB is far safer.

 

[el_matt0]

agreed

 

[pfloding]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdamCalifornia /img/forum/go_quote.gif It seems that listening to Rock/Hard Rock or Heavy Metal music thru speakers which are located far away, say 5 ft, from your ears is not harmful to our ears. However, listening to this kind of music thru headphones is another story. I think, that those harmful effects are due to electric guitar and guitar amplification distortion. Taken from Distortion (guitar) When I am listening, for instance, to Black Sabbath, say 'Iron Man' and so on, I've got to make more frequent and longer breaks than when I listening, to some music without an artificially introduced distortion! Which are the safest headphones for listening to Hard Rock and Heavy Metal music? The veiled ones? Of course we're not talking about extremely loud playing of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal music.

It's obviously going to be related to the overall sound pressure (volume level).

But you are right that distortion creates a lot of treble components, which may well cause tinnitus.

Today, when CDs are processed "hot" (i.e. dynamically compessed so all life has been squeezed out of the music) this is probably a bigger problem than ever.

Using headphones with a rolled off treble ("bassy") may help.

 

[ph0rk]

it's only safe if it is natural tube amp distortion, none of that new modeled stuff.

 

[Al Paccioli]

Water is the most pure of analog formats.

 

[Lazarus Short]

The tinnitus threads have already answered your question, especially when hard rock and heavy metal were made to be heard LOUD!

Use the speakers for rock/metal, and use the cans for chamber music.

Laz

 

[Svperstar]

I'd hardly call Black Sabbath hard rock given what is out now but, yes.

 

[deathklok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Al Paccioli /img/forum/go_quote.gif Water is the most pure of analog formats.

PLEASE TELL ME THAT SOMEONE OTHER THAN ME GOT THIS.

 

[EFN]

Black Sabbath is nothing. Try listening to those extreme Metal, the likes of Italian Bulldozer or early Napalm Death - try listening to them through a headphone like the Beyers DT990 or Grado SR325i. You will understand the meaning of loud

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

I think the question should be, is reading threads from the moon safe?

 

[kramer5150]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EFN /img/forum/go_quote.gif Black Sabbath is nothing. Try listening to those extreme Metal, the likes of Italian Bulldozer or early Napalm Death - try listening to them through a headphone like the Beyers DT990 or Grado SR325i. You will understand the meaning of loud

Ditto Napalm Death.... thats some intense $h1t !!

 

[MaloS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by deathklok /img/forum/go_quote.gif PLEASE TELL ME THAT SOMEONE OTHER THAN ME GOT THIS.

Actually only distilled water qualifies.


In all honesty - it is a matter of SPL, but the problem with alot of metal records is that unless you turn em up they kinda suck. From my experience getting a satisfactory experience with metal without having to turn it up loud is much easier with speakers, but in both cases the desire to turn things up just a little bit (incremental sequence) still takes over.

 

[Seidhepriest]

There're several parts of the problem...

1. Companding ("compression" is used more often, but the real term is companding - compression/expanding) of CD masters, with volume pushed into oblivion. This is pretty much digital square distortion applied to a CD master, and that is what makes a record most irritating, by destroying dynamics.

2. The "superstereo" effect that is created when a speaker-stereo record is played through headphones, with unnatural separation of both channels. This inevitably makes speaker-stereo (not binaural) records fatiguing when played through headphones.

Special crossfeed (a la Blumlein shuffle) is required for "speaker-stereo" played through headphones.

There's BS2B, with plugins for Foobar2000/Winamp. It was made specifically to prevent listening fatigue with headphones.

3. The proximity of headphones to tympanic membranes and the principle of sound pressure changes happening in the ears or next to the ears, make them much more fatiguing than speakers, sound from which is dampened by air and by human head. Sound waves generated next to the ear instead of out "in the open". It's way easier to get deafened by mixing in headphones than with speakers. It's also way more fatiguing to mix in headphones.

It's mostly parts 1 and 2 which make headphones hurt. Part 3 is directly linked to 1 & 2 (listeners turn the volume up when not hearing something clearly).

As for high-frequency distortion products, most headphones are already equalised to simulate high-frequency dampening by the ear pinnae and to prevent skull bone resonation. By the Headroom measurements, Grado headphones aren't though. But they're also the most rock-friendly by sounding...

Unnatural sounding is also fatiguing. So "dark" headphones wouldn't be the solution, rather ones with a gentle sounding (like the old K-240 Monitor) and clear imaging. Anything that doesn't reproduce the music close to how it sounds naturally is fatiguing (one has to "listen through" instead of "listening to"), anything un-truthful. The most un-tiring, pleasant sounding is natural sounding.