[dre1234]

I'm looking to buy some headphones because my old ones broke. They were 20Hz-23kHz and played bass very well. The new ones I'm looking at are 20Hz-20kHz and 16Hz-20kHz. Which ones would be better for playing bass?
 
Thank you.

 

[namaiki]

What models of headphones are you looking at? Regardless of the frequency response that they tell you, different headphones have different sound signatures that can't be identified by frequency response alone.
 
 
(In theory, the one that goes down to 16Hz might possibly have better bass response but you still don't know how prominent the bass will be compared to the rest of the sound. Most headphones probably won't go lower than 40Hz anyway...)

 

[streetdragon]

the frequency response range says nothing about the bass response. it varies from model to model

 

[dre1234]

Ok, so my old headphones were the Polk Ultrafit 2000 (20Hz-23kHz), which sadly broke and the warranty expired. I would gladly buy these again, but they were too small on me anyway.
 
The ones I'm looking to buy are the Skullcandy Lowriders (20Hz-20Khz) and I was also looking at these Sony ones (the 16Hz-20khz). 
 
I as looking only at the Hz because I thought that's the only way to tell what the headphones can do. 
 
Thanks. 

 

[namaiki]

What basically is your budget? What kind of music do you listen to? Does it have to be headphones that go behind your head?

 

[streetdragon]

well personally they is no way to tell a headphone's performance by reading the frequency range, especially for bass (except for some expensive ones like the HD598 which can go to 31khz and the HD800 that goes to 50+khz) so in almost all cases it is useless.
now what kind of bass do you like? very strong thumping bass i assume?

 

[dre1234]

I'd prefer the behind-the-neck ones but I'm not limited to it. I don't want the over-the-ear headphones because they are too big. Behind the heck or those on-ear headphones would do great. My budget is around $60.
 
Not an insane amount of bass, but a decent amount. I mostly listen to rap and dubstep.

 

[TimPrice]

On that pricepoint most headphones are pure trash.

I would say Koss UR40/PortaPro or some Sony's:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYzwthTRYRs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c45C-AKAHEA

 

[TMRaven]

Ok given that there's Skullcandy in the picture, and you're only referring to bass, I'm just gonna assume you're looking for as much bass as you can get.  Try to get the XB500.  XB500 really aren't that big and aren't truly circumaural.

 

[chewy4]

20-20 is all that matters. That's the human range of hearing. Younger people can generally hear above 20Khz, but those frequencies aren't important in music anyways. Frequencies below 20hz(give or take a couple Hz) aren't really able to be heard, more felt. Which isn't really something a headphone is capable of without damaging your ears.

What is much more important is the frequency response graph, that actually says how loud the headphone is at each frequency. But even that doesn't tell the whole story.
 
I haven't heard them myself, but perhaps look into Sony XB500's. They're made for bass. Although they might fall into the "insane" level of bass.

 

[Mad Max]

G45 is nothing to write home about.

 

[cel4145]

Quote:

I'm looking to buy some headphones because my old ones broke. They were 20Hz-23kHz and played bass very well. The new ones I'm looking at are 20Hz-20kHz and 16Hz-20kHz. 

 
These stats are fairly useless in decision making because
 
(a) going off what streetdragon said, even frequency response graphs often are not accurate at telling us much about the perceived bass impact in comparison to other frequencies; I only find them useful for comparing phones in the same line with similar drivers and enclosures.
 
(b) these stats don't tell you anything about the quality of the lower bass response (could be a lot of compression at high volumes or distortion at any volume).
 
(c) without knowing the amount of roll off at the bass end, the stats are completed meaningless. A pair of phones with 20Hz to 20kHz response may have less usable bass response below 40hz than ones with a 25Hz to 30kHz response because the 20 to 20 phones could be peaky in the mid-bass and have more emphasis on the mids and highs, such that the low bass response could be -15 db down from average, where as the 25hz to 30kHz may have more bass emphasis overall and a flatter response down to 25Hz. 

 

[punks15]

Quote:

 
These stats are fairly useless in decision making because
 
(a) going off what streetdragon said, even frequency response graphs often are not accurate at telling us much about the perceived bass impact in comparison to other frequencies; I only find them useful for comparing phones in the same line with similar drivers and enclosures.
 
(b) these stats don't tell you anything about the quality of the lower bass response (could be a lot of compression at high volumes or distortion at any volume).
 
(c) without knowing the amount of roll off at the bass end, the stats are completed meaningless. A pair of phones with 20Hz to 20kHz response may have less usable bass response below 40hz than ones with a 25Hz to 30kHz response because the 20 to 20 phones could be peaky in the mid-bass and have more emphasis on the mids and highs, such that the low bass response could be -15 db down from average, where as the 25hz to 30kHz may have more bass emphasis overall and a flatter response down to 25Hz. 

Agree!