What's this new trend in lazy channel matching?

[Reticuli2]

Are headphones becoming such big business that manufacturers just don't think it matters anymore? Numark, Ultrasone, and Etymotic have all switched to this relaxed 2dB threshold for channel balancing...and that's the models they actually ATTEMPT to choose match pairs. What? A decade ago it was common to match drivers within a half dB. I've had 4 headphones in the past year from various companies all arrive AT the 2dB threshold, including my repaired ER4S just fresh from Etymotic. This is really pissing me off. I wish it was just my hearing, but I flip flop the earcups/inserts and the imbalance moves with the phones, not my ears. My hearing is slightly, slightly to the right. Some of these cans are to the right 2dB, some are to the left. Do I have to start buying Sony pro and Koss exclusively, now?

 

[tintin47]

I think that a 2dB tolerance is the exception rather than the rule. Grado matches theirs to .05 dB on the higher end and .1 on the low, and many other manufacturers have very low tolerances as well. I would just refuse to buy anything from any of those companies, because 2dB is a very audible swing, IMO.

 

[IPodPJ]

Agreed. 2dB is a major difference. I know the HD800 are matched very closesly but I can't find the specs anywhere. (Does anyone know?)

 

[Reticuli2]

The fact that Ultrasone does match their drivers closely on their top price products annoys me further.

And my original ER4S was perfectly, flawlessly matched. Now they say their less expensive and OEM other brand stuff isn't matched at all, and now on their top stuff they match only overall volume at 2dB based on what, like a single 1khz tone or pink noise? Unbelievable!

I thought the original designer used to do frequency sweeps, computer catelog them, and draw matches from the database. Haven't they been around for over 20 years? 10 years ago when I originally got them, they're fine. Now with the mass market iPod cash opportunity, it's all rush them out the door.

I guess I shouldn't bitch too much, considering they replaced them for only the price of the cord. But I adore the sound of the ER4S. Now I'm afraid to call and complain or even just try to buy another pair to double check this issue. How many do I have to go through to get one that's not noticeably towards one side or the other? After reading the Etymotic Research service slip and seeing how much care they put into varifying everything, initialing at each stage, and rechecking with me on how to proceed, I was very hopeful.

What about Shure? AKG? Denon? Do Grado and Sennheiser carefully match all their products still?

You know, if it was just my hearing, strangely enough I'd be more content with this. I feel like these head/earphones could actually SCREW my hearing up over time. If it was already like that and the products were fine, then at least I could take some comfort in my cans not doing anything weird further to my ears.

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reticuli2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif What about Shure? AKG? Denon? Do Grado and Sennheiser carefully match all their products still?

Your best bet is to contact them. I find that I'm very sensitive to tiny volume differences and both the K702 and D5000 that I own are pretty well matched. The K702 may be off just slightly, but hardly noticeable. The HD800 should be perfectly matched based on what they say, but even that I'm not sure of because my right ear has a few tiny scars on the eardrum so I just naturally hear a tiny bit more from my left ear.

Just call the manufacturer and see what they say.

 

[tenzip]

Grado does match their drivers, .1dB for the lower tier, .05dB for the upper. No clue about other manufacturers

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reticuli2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've had 4 headphones in the past year from various companies all arrive AT the 2dB threshold, including my repaired ER4S just fresh from Etymotic. This is really pissing me off. I wish it was just my hearing, but I flip flop the earcups/inserts and the imbalance moves with the phones, not my ears. My hearing is slightly, slightly to the right. Some of these cans are to the right 2dB, some are to the left. Do I have to start buying Sony pro and Koss exclusively, now?

Wait a minute, how do you know it's 2db?

 

[tintin47]

^I can't speak for him, but I have measured those differences by opening up the channel balance on my computer and playing with it until the channels sound balanced. My computer gives a readout in dB of the difference between the two channels. Unscientific but effective for noticeable channel imbalance.

 

[paaj]

Have you tested your ears before? If not this may just be a hearing problem then...

 

[Oliver :)]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wait a minute, how do you know it's 2db?

I would like to know too. I am very sensitive to channel imbalance and it has no place in a higher-end product.

 

[RedSky0]

I also feel my ER4Ps sound slightly imbalanced. Although there's a good chance that particular since I'm not using customs for them, that my left and right ear canals are shaped differently and thus perceive audio at a different volume.

 

[krmathis]

Interesting!
2db is very noticeable, so going that route is really bad. Lets hope they change their mind...

 

[b0dhi]

Although it annoys me to no end, I gave up with manufacturers matching their headphones properly long ago. Even Grado's 0.1dB matching is meaningless - it's only matched at 1khz. Comparing the L/R channels of the HD800 on HeadRoom's site doesn't fill me with much joy either. I'd be curious to see how well the top tier phones from Ultrasone, Sony, AT etc match up but judging from other top tier phones, it will be disappointing.

 

[Reticuli2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wait a minute, how do you know it's 2db?

Etymotic told me over the phone their matching tolerance is 2dB. How do I know what I'm hearing is exactly 2dB off? If it's less, then a full 2dB deviation is utterly insane.

 

[Reticuli2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by paaj /img/forum/go_quote.gif Have you tested your ears before? If not this may just be a hearing problem then...

But if it was a hearing problem, wouldn't the channel imbalance stay with the ear and not change to the other side when I swap earcup/earpieces? 2 have been lefties, and two righties. I flip them back and forth and use a balance control until the centered test signal stays in the same spot. And I use multiple jacks & sources to test it. I know I've got about a half dB or full dB to the right normally. The Ortofons & PHX are to the left, well past the recenter point. When I swap them, they plus my normal slight hearing imbalance make them even more to the right than on the left. The first PHX was actually like double the imbalance of that, but to the right, too, when on correctly. Flipped, the imbalance to the left was about the same as the new one's imbalance when that one's flipped, get it? So it was a lot worse. The ER4S that just arrived direct is imbalanced to the left when they're flipped, so it's not just enough to cancel out my natural imbalance. So it's at least like 1-1.5dB off. Maybe I scaled everything up by double or triple? Perhaps I'm just really sensitive and need to get a balance control.