Headpones good?
Reply #3 – 2008-06-13 04:58:21
So what I don't understand is, why can headphones, with such small size, produce so much detail? I'm surprised to hear details in the music that my 5.1 speaker system didn't produce as clearly! It is not sending the sound-waves into a large space where the setup becomes extremely important. It is just sending the sound-waves right into the ear. As for PC Speakers, some are good and some aren't, as with all speakers it depends on build quality. Bose makes great speakers that are really tiny and have good sound by using all of that little speaker to reproduce the sound. Other makers do it in various ways. Some have a more bass sound, others treble and others natural but that is all dependent upon the listener's preferences. Hear with your ears to make the judgement. Surround speakers are relatively new as most still stick with the tried and true stereo format as almost all music is designed for the stereo format. For headphone selection it comes down to these criteria: 1) In ear, on ear or over the ear? 2) Closed can or open diaphragm? 3) Price point? 4) Use? (Environment) 5) If going high grade for use with mp3 player, does the player have a suitable amp for the headphones or will it need a headphone amplifier? You can check out http://www.head-fi.org/ for headphone suggestions as that is all they really deal with. I use Alessandro Music Series One $99 (open diaphragm, on the ear) from their site. They are re-branded, re-tuned Grado SR-125s. Open diaphragm is good for sound reproduction but it suffers in noisy environments. I could probably supplement them with that headphone trick in that video. They have a natural sound. One good closed over the ear headphone maker is Sennheiser, the HD-595, 555 and 280 are pretty good. Another one is AKG. Inner ear monitors...not sure...the only pair I bought was the Etymotic ER-6i (or something like that) and I don't use them anymore. Gave them to my sister in favor of having the Alessandro's. DJ Headphones can also be an option, this are the on the ear swivel cup headphones. Sony and Technics make a good pair and they are usually pretty heavy duty. I can't really suggest what headphone is good for you as I don't have your ears. Just try some out at a local audio store, call around to find a suitable store for that purpose before just going out. Also, read through Head-fi and take what they say with a grain of salt.