[xicex]

Like... components, design...
What materials/components used in a $100 earphone warrant the expense?
 
Or is it mostly component design.

 

[eggforko]

reputation.

 

[krmathis]

Design and components/materials used should cover it..

 

[xicex]

...?

 

[krmathis]

Ok, guess we need to be more specific.
 
The quality of the transducers, crossover (if present), cable, connectors, and the interaction between them. Then the design and material of the housing. All those aspects have an impact on the sound quality of the end product.

 

[Uncle Erik]

The specs of the transducers and what they're housed in.  The transducers take a lot of work to develop - the size, magnet, voicecoil, cone, materials used, and so on, all contribute to how the transducer sounds.  Then the size, shape and materials used in the cups contributes to the sound.  You have many factors at work and changing one changes how the others behave.  I think that headphone development is still a bit of a black art, even with all the computer power around today.

 

[xicex]

What are the expensive materials are used in high end earphones that aren't used in low end earphones?

 

[tvrboy]

Quote:

What are the expensive materials are used in high end earphones that aren't used in low end earphones?

 
Wood and ruthenium and palladium. That's what makes Ultrasones the best-sounding headphones in the world.

 

[Omega17TheTrue]

Quote:

So.. what makes one earphone sound better than another?

 
Purely subjectivity and how the listener want his sound for the tracks he is familiar with.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by xicex 

Like... components, design...
What materials/components used in a $100 earphone warrant the expense?
 
Or is it mostly component design.

 
I believe it is unrelated to the thread title.

 

[leeperry]

R&D, pure and simple.
 
Superlux boast about having copied the DT880 FR on one of their cheapies, but what about the diaphragm material, voice coil speed and HRTF responses? the FR is only one part of the story.
 
For dynamic phones, many ppl will agree that nothing sounds better than a biocellulose diaphragm for instance...and the headstage is about R&D to use psychoacoustics tricks in order to fool the human brain(the pinnacle prolly being Ultrasone's SLogic+ as it provides a very natural "out of head" experience w/o ever being cavernous).
 
here's an interesting paper on the NS10: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep08/articles/yamahans10.htm
 
these speakers sound really really ugly, they have the most boring mids in history I think...that's the reason why engineers like it so much, because if your music sounds good on it, it'll sound amazing anywhere else.