krisjan
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2008
- Posts
- 138
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- 11
Thought I'd start a thread helping people to discover music that's actually composed for headphones, or simply sound better headphones, when compared to speakers. I hope to discover some myself through your suggestions...
First off, what type of music would one expect to be better suited to headphones? I still enjoy the bit of writing by headroom in their section 'the headphone as reference': The Headphone as Reference - HeadRoom - Right Between Your Ears
Detail resolution - i am well aware of this when i edit/compose music on my daw - you would work on speakers - do some cross-fades and cuts and then at some point when you don your headphones you become aware of all these sloppy clicks where zero-crossings are not properly hit, etc. So music with exceptionally quiet detail, etc. would be, i think, better to listen to on headphones.
Secondly - that special type of spatialisation involving binaural or hrtf-transformed compositions - we have two ears, and from these two alone we get our entire spatialisation of sound - we hear in 3d through time delay and sound absorption, etc. by our physiology causing a slightly different soundstream to reach one hearing mechanism from the other. So, the logic then is, that if we could record, or simulate recording a source with the microphones at the position of the ears - if this recording is played back with HEADPHONES - we will get a very realistic '3d' rendition of the source. Unfortunately everybodies physiology is different so in practice it is not always so effective - but i think, from the recordings i've heard, still pretty darn good...this type of recording is ideal on headphones - on speakers these recordings are often problematic due to phase cancellation effects etc.
so to get to the point - i base my suggestions on what i heard on my senn hd595 vs some magna planars and acoustats - my suggestions would be:
1. Richard Chartier (Richard Chartier) - in terms of minimal detail, i think the resolution of headphones trump speakers on this one...specially try the album entitled 'of surfaces'
2. gordon hempton (Sound Tracker) - great binaural recordings of some exotic locations where few human beings have ventured. On headphones this sounds absolutely superb - haven't heard a speaker set that can beat it. hempton uses the very best equipment in his recordings...
3. roger reynolds' album process and passion (Process and Passion:: Roger Reynolds:: POGUS CD 21031-2) - very interesting comparison where the same material is presented on two discs - one with standard stereo rendition and one with binaural (i presume hrtf function used because the instruments sometimes slide from one position to another - couldn't have been part of the performance lol)
k - pls let me have your suggestions
First off, what type of music would one expect to be better suited to headphones? I still enjoy the bit of writing by headroom in their section 'the headphone as reference': The Headphone as Reference - HeadRoom - Right Between Your Ears
Detail resolution - i am well aware of this when i edit/compose music on my daw - you would work on speakers - do some cross-fades and cuts and then at some point when you don your headphones you become aware of all these sloppy clicks where zero-crossings are not properly hit, etc. So music with exceptionally quiet detail, etc. would be, i think, better to listen to on headphones.
Secondly - that special type of spatialisation involving binaural or hrtf-transformed compositions - we have two ears, and from these two alone we get our entire spatialisation of sound - we hear in 3d through time delay and sound absorption, etc. by our physiology causing a slightly different soundstream to reach one hearing mechanism from the other. So, the logic then is, that if we could record, or simulate recording a source with the microphones at the position of the ears - if this recording is played back with HEADPHONES - we will get a very realistic '3d' rendition of the source. Unfortunately everybodies physiology is different so in practice it is not always so effective - but i think, from the recordings i've heard, still pretty darn good...this type of recording is ideal on headphones - on speakers these recordings are often problematic due to phase cancellation effects etc.
so to get to the point - i base my suggestions on what i heard on my senn hd595 vs some magna planars and acoustats - my suggestions would be:
1. Richard Chartier (Richard Chartier) - in terms of minimal detail, i think the resolution of headphones trump speakers on this one...specially try the album entitled 'of surfaces'
2. gordon hempton (Sound Tracker) - great binaural recordings of some exotic locations where few human beings have ventured. On headphones this sounds absolutely superb - haven't heard a speaker set that can beat it. hempton uses the very best equipment in his recordings...
3. roger reynolds' album process and passion (Process and Passion:: Roger Reynolds:: POGUS CD 21031-2) - very interesting comparison where the same material is presented on two discs - one with standard stereo rendition and one with binaural (i presume hrtf function used because the instruments sometimes slide from one position to another - couldn't have been part of the performance lol)
k - pls let me have your suggestions
