How To Buy Good Headphones

Why is a good sound necessary? A good sound is indispensable for listening to what the team of musicians has tried to create. One might say, "Oh, do I really care? I listen for my own entertainment. I am not interested in the tiny inflections in sounds and the distortions that are happening." Fair enough for one to say that. But does it really end at one's interests? No, unfortunately it does not. Music is a virtual necessity. Travel, leisure, pleasure and plethora of other activities and desires demand presence of music. It is a common sight to see people in public places, talking to each other? Of course not. It is a common sight to see people with earphones stuffed inside their ears. Are they listening to music? Hell, Of course not! Most often music is just a creator of ambiance. Once the ambiance is created, it doesn't matter if a guitar is sounding like a mandolin.

But, the sad and unknown fact that mostly and surprisingly nobody knows is that the quality of earphones is inversely proportional to the fatigue they create. Better the headphones, lesser is the fatigue. It is shocking to know too that the brands that are normally available in the market for a price of up to 100$ are not worth buying, as a general rule. Sad, but true.

And let me tell you, it requires a study of sound and ear training to make good ones out of the bad ones. But, to make the long process short, I am going to methodically illustrate how to choose a good headphone from a bad one. It is an interesting process.

There are various types of earphones, which can be classified according to their structures and fitting. Broad categorization is as follows:

1) Closed

2) In ear

3) Earbuds

4) Clip on

Depending upon the type of system on which one wants to use the headphones and the utility, the type can be selected. After selecting the type, one can choose the models available in those types with the help of the analysis that I am about to discuss.

Frequency response is one of the primary tests one needs to conduct in order to judge the quality of earphones. I am going to illustrate how to determine the frequency response with the help of graphs.

The above graph shows a Denon AH2000 Headphone. Before analyzing and interpreting the graph, there are certain basics that we need to understand.

1) Axis:

The horizontal axis denotes frequency. As we go from left to right, the frequency increases. The graph is studied in the audible range of human beings, i.e. 20 Hz to 20 KHz.

The Vertical axis denotes the response of headphones for each frequency. This is in db, but the loudness or the response is not the absolute value in db. These are relative values for comparison with different headphones.

Analysis and Interpretation:

The left side of the graph is called the bass region and the right side is called the treble. The graphs which have high values in db on the left side are called "bass heavy" while the ones having high values in treble region are called "bright".

The ideal graph is the one with a straight line passing through 0 db. This means that for all the frequencies, the response is equal, thus the sound is very real. But ideal responses are not possible, thus earphones having response close to the ideal are considered good.

The Denon starts showing an appreciable response at around 40 Hz. As we can see, the graph barely touches 4 db. This is considered good and not high bass since, when we listen to speakers, there is physical impact created by the sound, which is absent in headphones. The slightly high bass up to 3-4 db compensates for that.

The graph dips down as the frequency increases. This is necessary because the earphones are too close to the ears. For a good sound, there is a dip in the graph to about 8-10 db below 0 db from 1 Khz to 20 KHz. You will notice a few jagged peaks in the high frequency region. This is normal owing to the structure of the outer ear(folds and ridges). A few peaks are desirable in the 2-8 KHz region. Although, large size of peaks is undesirable. The peaks should average out to a straight line.

Frequency response graph can majorly decide the quality of headphones. Even then, to choose the better amongst the best ones, several other parameters need to be studied, but Frequency Response and Distortion graphs are enough to choose high quality headphones.

Analysis and Interpretation:

In the graph, there is one big peak, which is the input at a particular frequency. Now, ideally, there should not be any other frequencies in the output, but that is not the case. There are other peaks too, called as the distortion products. These peaks are the harmonic frequencies of the primary peak. Generally, what is desirable for a clean sound is that there be infinitesimally small peaks between the two harmonics and that the size of the peaks of harmonics decrease such that the second harmonic is not as disturbing as the third and so on.

It is interesting how things changed for me when I recently bought Etymotic HF2. I previously had Denon AH-C560R. I used to feel they are fantastic. It was more of a psychological effect because they were more expensive than what I was normally used to.

I am surprised how I managed to like them after listening to the Etymotics I now have. I shall attach both the graphs below. The Denons I used were very bass heavy, as you shall see in the graph. The best way to check how your earphones are is to check the graphs of your model on the following link:

http://www.headphone.com/learning-center/build-a-graph.php.

You can also check your headphones' distortion graph. This way you will know what you are listening to. Once you train the ears, you won't require any graphs, unless to buy new headphones. Many of you would be surprised, just as I was, to know how bad many times what we think great, is. I hope this study will put things in perspective.

Happy Listening!