How to interpert Headphone specs?

[sk8ingsnowman]

I have read some of the post abouts haedphones but wanted to
learn how to interpert the specs for myself (learning how to fish
rather then receiving a fish).

Does anyone know of a good resource for me to check out
or have anything you would be willing to share with me??

Any info is awesome

thanks in advance
DAN!

 

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Snow:

Just saw a post by Blue Bear regarding cans. The best thing I can think of, rather than interpret specs, is to put the cans on your ears and listen to them at a vendor.

We humans can only hear so many cycles of sound; like dogs can hear the dog whistle that we cannot hear. So, I would guess quality cans have quality parts and fit the noggin without crushing the skull.

I like the Beyer 250 cans. But, there are Sony, AKG, and "others."

I even use a pair of wireless cans for general work in the studio; however, I know from my ears, and others who have used them, they are not as clear as the Beyer.

Look around here and check out cans at your local emporium.

Green Hornet

 

[detuned6]

What about ohms...?

Some headphones are 32 ohms some are 60 ohms?
Does that control the volume output?

 

[jeffree]

Like the Hornet says... and to mention that I recently bought and compared different phones (see my post two weeks ago) and was surprised by how the specs didn't mean much, overall. In other words, two cans with similar specs would sound very different, reminding me that the specs often don't translate well for speakers or phones that have such a subjective character to their sound reproduction. At least that was my experience.

Good luck,

J.

P.S. I decided to buy Sennheiser 280s for $80 on-line. I tried other brands first although not the Beyer 250s that the Hornet recommends. I'm happy with the Senns, though, especially with their snug fit and excellent isolation from external noise.

 

[fishtop_records]

32 ohms versus 60 ohms really has next to
zero impact on volume. It does impact
the load on your amp, especially if you
put headphones on a whole band.

the "loudness" spec is "sensitivity"
the more sensitive, the louder.

but headphone, speaker, and microphone specs
are pretty useless, IMHO. You have
to listen to them, with your kind of music.

Reviews by people you trust are much more
reliable. But then you have to figure out
who to trust, and do you agree with them?
Or do you anti-agree with them -- you may
love what they hate, and hate what they love
-- which is still very useful.

Part of the answer is driven by what you are trying to do.
There are audiophile headphones that cost many hundreds
of dollars. I tend to use $100 to $150 headphones
to monitor the desk (Sennheiser HD280s are my
current favorite). But for musicians tracking stuff,
they want it loud and well isolated. There is not
a lot of reason to give a drummer a pair
of audiophile headphones.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

I hope everyone realizes that "specs" on most lo-to-mid-budget gear (not just cans) are written by the marketing department, NOT the engineers/designers.

If you notice, marketing of the high-end stuff places far less importance on specs.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

There are a lot of variables in headphone measurements that can make some of the specifications pretty meaningless.

When you put on headphones, an acoustic chamber is created, by the space in the headphone cup AND the airchamber that leads to your inner ear. It's a resonant chamber and since ears, like fingerprints, are different from person to person, it's a good bet that headphones will sound different from person to person. That means the frequency response will vary considerably.

You're also putting a small loudspeaker right next to your ear, so you don't need to turn it up very high to cause damage to your ear, but some high impedance phones, like the 600 Ohm AKG 240's require a lot more power to have the same loudness as a 32 Ohm set of phones. If the amplifier is marginal, it can cause clipping and distortion in the headphones, even though the phones aren't being pushed hard.

Most headphones only require a few hundred milliwatts of power (500 milliwatts = 1/2 watt), so they shouldn't tax your amplifier very much, especially if you have a headphone distribution system (like the Furman or the Rane).

Volume controls on headphones can create some serious problems for studios as well. Those volume controls are usually simple pots that go across the output of the amplifier and when they're turned down, you hafta crank the amp to compensate, which can burn out the pot or worse add distortion due to amp clipping.

As others have pointed out, the sound changes depending on the person listening, so you have to listen critically to determine which headphones are right for you. Open ear headphones usually provide the best frequency response, but offer no isolation. Closed headphones provide good isolation, but at the expense of comfort and often smooth response.

Open ear Grado headphones, for example, are wonderful sounding headphones to listen to music on, but they make everything sound good, and it's hard to use them for critical listening. The Sony 7506's are pretty much standards in the industry, but they have a high fatigue factor and hyped top end, which can kill your hearing after a long session.

If I've missed anything, lemme know and I'll try to answer it.