How to choose headphones

    This article is mostly a technical approach, imho. It's missing the listening component ... maybe a reason to post a second one (follow-up). :)

    To give you some example topics:

    Most people recognize if the headphones feel comfortable on their heads and ears ... and if they like the sound while listening to their favourite type of music. That's fine and important, of course. And in this regard it's very easy and pretty quick to choose between a given number of headphones.

    But there's more you can try to listen to. For example the definition and the stereo image. These 2 aren't so obvious in a quick test in a shop. You need to take your time and focus on this while listening. Can you distinguish instruments and notes played? Can you tell exactly where the instrument is positioned in the stereo field? It's very easy to get the impression of a wide stereo sound. Lots of music is produced with stereo widener effects. But it's much more difficult to hear the exact position of an instrument that is not widened to the max.

    In my opinion it's very important to give these things some attention. And once you start hearing the difference, it will become an important component of your decision making.

    Cheers
    Martin

    It's nice to read tests, but in the end you have to test by yourself. ;)
    I tried nearly every headphone in the world and now I'm using:

    - Beyer DT880 Pro for studio-work (very honest sound, still with "fun-factor", high resolution, very comfortable to wear)

    - Beats Mixr for listening music and traveling (no "bass-boom" like the bigger Beats, very good and solid headphone, high resoultion, foldable)

    - Ultimate Ears UE-11 Pro in-ears for touring, studio-work, traveling ect.

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    first name: Guenter / family name: Haas / http://guenterhaas.weebly.com/

    Thanks guys :)

    Everyone hears differently, and furthermore how HPs sound depends on the user head's shape. So others' experience is even less meaningful than for other devices.

    When I started researching for collecting info for this article I just looked for things which were generally true (hence useful to most) and at the same time hard to find: I've read tens of "how to choose headphones" in 30 years or more, but never come across this kind of notions, which are the most critical IMO. That's why I started the whole thing. As someone said, "when I want to read a book I like, I write one" :D
    Sure the article is missing some things and it's not at all complete. But what's missing IMO is easily found elsewhere, or belongs to the realm of "how to listen and evaluate audio devices".

    There's just one thing I'd like to know now: the Profiler's HPs out voltage. I've asked this once but it seems no-one from Mothership was listening :)
    We already know the impedance is 33 ohm, and this suggests that HPs with an impedance of at least 350 ohm would ensure a higher linearity.
    OTOH it seems there's a lot of current coming out of that socket, I did not experience any lack in volume with different HPs, so using high impedance HPs should not be an issue.

    Thanks Viabcroce, like my amp search before KPA I have a lot of hits and miss with headphones as well. The neighbors are forcing me to use more of the headphones than my FRFR speaker, they don't want to be disturbed heheheh. It is really hard to emulate the amp in a room sound using headphones and for me this is a compromise that I need to accept. Maybe one day headphone manufacturers will understand our need and create one for us guitarist.
    On the other hand there are many topics concerning headphones that can be found in the net. But like any other subject finding one or contributing one are two very different things, the latter takes more dedication for the betterment of the community, thanks again :)

    Edited once, last by Pentatonic (September 20, 2014 at 3:29 AM).