To be honest: quite a long time ago, from the moment I read the article on Lurka and a quick look at thematic forums, I became convinced that 99% of audiophiles are mentally impotent.
However, there are thematic exceptions. However, I must warn you in advance that the further “treatise” still describes the exclusively subjective and bitter experience of tormenting sellers, trying on and buying headphones. In addition, in order not to be confused, we believe that the player used is a good audio equipment, that is, something from the SONY series, Apple iCrap, Samsung YP-xxxx/Galaxy and others like them, with price tags starting from 3.5-4k rubles. Anything cheaper is crap. This will be an axiomatic condition. The explanation is quite simple: as a rule, cheap players like Rhythmixes, ExPlays and other Chinese crap for 1000-3000 rubles, convinces that the stingy pays twice, the stupid – three times, and due to suckers these players still have not disappeared from sale. Of course, there are still 5-10% of usable players for 1-3k, but it takes a long time and hard work to dig through reviews on the Yandex market, lists of dealers/resellers and other points where they still happen to remain. As an example, we can cite a flash drive SONY for 2500 rubles, in which, instead of a three-inch screen and a processor that supports unnecessary 800 * 600 in lag mode, there is a normal output amplifier and a battery for 30-40 hours of operation without recharging.
As for the ears..
Once upon a time, I bought cheap Senhi-droplets (Sehnheizer) in the Murmansk “radio club”. I gave only 300 rubles. And, this is truly incredible – they worked for 2 years and produced quite decent sound under the bass settings of the Samsung YP-T10. Now, I’m crying tears of blood, because I’ve already bought in-ear headphones twice for ~500 rubles (from Philips and then from L-PRO), and I’m surprised by the ass farting from the speakers under the SoundAlive Galaxy S Wi-Fi 4 tuned to low frequencies.0. Now I need to painfully save up for Senhi for 1700 rubles, and wait for that distant and bright future, when I will go to the store again, put on these wonderful inserts and drown in space..
In short, in general, I have formed several interesting criteria for meticulously trying on new earplugs;)
False pseudo-criteria/myths and parroted prejudices.
Price. The price tag can be a kind of guideline, that is, when the bitter experience of buying cheap products has already convinced us of the inappropriateness of wasting time. The difference between a guideline and a criterion is that 5-10% of a suitable product, as an exception, still exists (examples above). In general, it’s like f2p. Either you spend decent money, or a lot of time searching.
Subjective criteria based on personal feelings.
I don’t know what “sandy https://safaribingo-casino.co.uk/login/ bass” is and what it means: “dropped frequencies”. BUT…
It’s really easy to determine the frequency response (Amplitude-Frequency Characteristic) “by eye”: if when listening you get the feeling that you’re in an aquarium or under water – it’s 100% shit and in most L-PRO models this cannot be eliminated by any tricks with the equalizer and SoundAlive, although, bastards, they write a wide frequency range of 10-23000 Hz. And, on the contrary: if, when listening to the composition from the soundtrack to SKURIM: “Jeremy Soule – Secunda” without add-ons, the drums are well and clearly audible (I even had the feeling that these were barrel-shaped drums on which the rhythm was beaten with the palm of the hand, although I could be wrong and I don’t even know what they are called) – then this is an indicator that everything is just super. I praised Senhi for 1.7k, and I regret that I could not buy them, because only in them, for the first time, I incredibly clearly heard some new instruments, and not just piano, strings, chorale and arrangement. In general, I must say, orchestral and classical compositions greatly help to weed out crappy headphones in beautiful packaging.
By the way, about the frequency range. The average person typically hears somewhere between 20 and 16,000 Hz. You can even very approximately, using the same “eye”, check yourself. Enter in any, for example, Pascal studio:
As a rule, there is no speaker in the system unit, but I heard both 16Hz farting and 18300Hz squeaking.
So, I saw the question quite often, but why then stretch the frequency range from 4-6 Hz to 25-30 kHz, since no one hears it?? – Purely from the sensations, the sound seems to become deeper and richer. If we take matan, then there are no ideal headphones, and to a first approximation, the frequency response is similar to a rocker arm. I have a suspicion that the wider the rocker (wider the range), the more strongly the audible frequencies are emphasized. T.e. like a technological trick to squeeze the maximum out of the speaker. But of course I could be wrong. For an accurate answer, you just need to dig through the scientific literature on acoustics.
An equalizer helps smooth out the unpleasant sensations from cheap headphones, where by selecting custom settings you can toggle the filter sliders of different frequencies. SoundAlive is a wonderful thing that allows you to emphasize bass, treble, adjust the “stereo effect”/sound volume and other things pleasing to the ear.
The second important criterion is design.
“Earplugs” for the most part strongly dampen extraneous or street noise, and also due to “deep penetration” into the ear canal, they automatically give a positive kick in the ass to the perception of frequency response/frequency range/“depth”, etc.n. But those who immediately get ear pain from them are lucky. Because others’ hearing will start to deteriorate later. Buying for 500 rubles now, save 3500 rubles for later, for a hike through the earworms. In addition, many models, for the same noise reduction, “vacuum the ears,” that is, block the air flow. Without even leafing through the encyclopedia, I’m sure it won’t bring anything good.
“Droplets” placed into the auricle are a safer option. But British scientists warn that they can also deform the ear and cause a lot of problems later.
The best and most expensive option is, of course, “ears with headband/monitors”. Expensive, because if you listen to music often, a bad/hard fabric covering can also lead to unpleasant sensations or itching of the ear, and the softest products from Creative cost under 2600 rubles. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Objective criteria.
1) Frequency range. It’s clear here. The wider the better. The only loophole is between headphones for 200r and 2000r, the difference in sound will still be huge. In cheap models (10-500rub.) there’s no point in chasing him.
2) Frequency response. Usually no one draws this curve on the box. If this parameter worries you, the most logical thing is to go to the manufacturer’s website or a good reviewer (not an audiophile), where, as a rule, it is listed. The flatter the rocker, the better it listens. Usually. There are exceptions. And everyone’s ears are different..
3) Impedance. Quite often this concept is confused with sound pressure, and even more often with resistance. It’s also worth explaining here. The simplest speaker consists of a permanent magnet into which a coil is inserted. The frame for it is a tube connected to a membrane. The signal goes naturally to the coil, and its resistance, according to the TOE canons, depends on the frequency and is presented in the form of a complex mathematical quantity (jwL). j – imaginary unit. w – cyclic frequency. L-inductance (determined by the shape and number of turns of the coil). So, impedance is usually called the total resistance of a circuit, presented, as a rule, in complex form. For ease of calculation.
From the same canons of TOE, the law of anticommutativity always applies, which states: the current in the coil cannot change abruptly (easily verified by the corresponding diffuser). This means that the coil cannot instantly change its position relative to the magnet (although here, of course, we must not forget mechanical reasons), but the sounds of space are inaccessible to you;) The second important consequence is that if, while playing around as an experiment, you accidentally connect headphones to a battery, it will be bad. Believe me. But if you purely hypothetically poke an ohmmeter into the plug, it will show exactly the resistance that is written on the packaging (plus or minus % of the tolerance, ess). It’s just a constant. It implements a rather simple fact: 16-ohm headphones, with the same settings, sound louder than 32-ohm ones. It’s just that some amplifiers like exactly 32 ohms, and some 16 (on good, suitable players this fact is also indicated). To explain, again, you will need math and circuit design of operational amplifiers – I’m too lazy, in short. It’s much easier to read what’s written on the player and buy the same one. Although everything is compatible, and you can use at least 40-ohm “ears”.
4) Plug design. In theory, gold-plated and silver-plated plugs should be much better. But, tormenting the store clerks with trying on different models, I didn’t feel the difference. The only thing that is critical is if the plug is completely metal. Shielding properties will protect against squeaking and scratching interference from wifi, mobile phones or microwaves. But for this, the cable must be in a metallized braid and the headphones themselves. I even had a case with 20 ruble headphones plugged into a sound card, when I heard the radio when the computer was turned off. For the first 5 seconds it was a silent shock, I thought that I had fallen into the astral or something like that..
5) Neodymium magnets. To be honest, I have no idea what kind of shit cheap headphones are made from, but products proudly labeled “neodymium magnets” almost always sound better. And besides, the paper clips stick well to them (after disassembling the broken headphones, I stuck as many as 3 paper clips in a row).
Most likely there are some other parameters, but for me personally they are somehow insignificant (or I forgot about them;)). I leave it up to you to convince me otherwise.
Separately, it is worth mentioning Bluetooth systems. Of course, their supporters point out to all those who disagree that they meet all standards, and their power does not exceed 10 mW. Personally, the words of the teachers from Baumanka (and this is the leading technical university in the country, filled to capacity with “old school”) are enough for me that this is bad and the grill is on your head.
And it is logical that the brain emits signals at high frequencies, with a power of the order of millionths of a watt (recorded by encephalography). And you put a microwave device with a foreign frequency and 10,000 times more power on the skull… My head started to hurt in the fifth week, so, despite all the standards, they influence. Not on everyone, not fatal, but they do affect. Be bhlasting.
In general, headphones should be treated with caution (as with smoking, booze and sex;)). Did you know that if during a medical examination a subway driver is caught wearing headphones, he will be reprimanded immediately. Probably for a reason… It’s generally good to live to the fullest and as you want, but you need to know when to stop everything.