roma101
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2010
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This is such an enlightening, refreshing thread. Good questions OP and good answers kodhifi and tsu!
before bed, my 'dumb' question came to mind also.
If closed headphones cannot create the true sound the artist wanted.
If open headphones can (I am sure the source of the sound has something to do in this)
Why headphones? Why not speakers? To me, privacy is key for headphones, but if that doesn't matter, then why not some polk audio size speakers?
I am guessing the forums are sponsored by headphone sellers and with all the money they have, they can make posts (edit typo) that sound legit that come up in google and then people will buy the product.
Don't get me wrong in any way, if there were 600$ headphones that created the artist's music perfectly, I would be all over it, but I'm starting to think that there is something I am missing.
Billson, thank you. I do have questions but because I have a habit of a wall of text I will be short.
if not everyone likes a flat sound, and the flat sound is what the artist created, are not the headphones creating a sound that the artist did not create. Maybe it is making the sound 'better' but it is not artificial?
Regarding spikes and resonances, it's a little discussed fact but many microphones also have bumps in their response curves. Microphones tend to be much flatter than headphones but many will include a bump at 7 to 10khz in order to make a vocal 'pop' or cut through a mix better. If your headphone also has a bump in that same range......welcome to sibilance ville. Population: your ears.
I am guessing the forums are sponsored by headphone sellers and with all the money they have, they can make posts (edit typo) that sound legit that come up in google and then people will buy the product.
What do audiophiles look for in headphones?
1. There are a couple headphones created that do reproduce exact sounds (Stax i think were mentioned) but the price is not for the casual buyer.
Would an audiophile listen to music through $5 headphones?
Try to imagine drinking a fine whiskey through a straw?
You still get the 'whiskey', but the way you receive it is just simply disgusting.
Whiskey drinkers will chose the shape and size of the glass to produce different 'noses' for different drinks. It has everything to do with variety and preference.
Headphones are similar.
Just for your information, our rules require that anyone working for an audio company (or anyone making or selling audio gear for profit) notifies us and is tagged. Unless they are sponsors, they can't promote their products or services here. If they are, then they are very clearly tagged. Shill posting is absolutely and utterly unacceptable here.
More than anything though, even if a company has deep pockets and can pay for significant sponsorship, they still have to make a good product. Even a sponsor can cop a lot of flak if their product doesn't live up to peoples' expectations.
Back to your original question about headphones, just like speakers will sound different in different rooms due to the way the sound reflects of surfaces, everyone's ears reflect sounds differently. That makes it impossible to make a pair of headphones that are genuinely "flat" for everyone's ears. While there have been models in the past that hung the drivers in a manner to simulate speakers (eg: The AKG K1000 and Stax Sigma) and worked quite well, they suffered from a number of other issues such as a lack of bass response. The other problem is that in the case of the Sigma, they didn't sell well enough and now both pairs of headphones are only available second-hand for a lot of money.
One forum member I know of is a musician and had a big go at me (and Head-Fi) saying that all popular headphones were rubbish and we were ruining music as none that he'd tried could reproduce instruments realistically. He ended up experimenting with making his own headphones using readily available parts and a lathe to turn wood cups. Of course most inexpensive headphones aren't designed to be as accurate as possible, nor most modern music mastered with the intent that it be played back on equipment designed to be accurate. Of course there are very expensive headphones ($1000+) that are supposed to do a much better job and are supposed to be more realistic. However, they all sound different!
But here, at least, if you let people know what you listen to, you'll find someone who likes the same music who can tell you what has worked for them. Though people tend to get caught up in the gear, the music is key.