The fact that when I tried highly rated headphones nothing was gained from the experience - I didn't hear 'more' of the performance, I wasn't able to 'analyse' more of what was going on - rather, it was all losses or zero change - means that I have zero interest in such devices, for any purpose. The speakers should be able to do headphone "dynamics" - if they don't then the system has weaknesses, and sorting out is required ...
Its a good point - dvv hinted at it already. However the counterbalance to it is that with speakers the sounds are directional - I can localize the bass drum (just for an example) in space. On headphones this doesn't seem to happen though perhaps there are 'crossfeed' circuits which can fix this up?
So the 'subjective noise floor' argument only works for me if the thing I'm attending to (the drum for this example) is masked by some noise coming from the same place. Room noise isn't localized - in my room its diffuse - hence I'm not sure how much it matters.
So the 'subjective noise floor' argument only works for me if the thing I'm attending to (the drum for this example) is masked by some noise coming from the same place. Room noise isn't localized - in my room its diffuse - hence I'm not sure how much it matters.
This is very interesting; did they ever measure the cables from headphones?
Most of them are generally from a smaller gauge, and attached to the ear cups.
How many headphones can you buy and that you can switch the interconnects?
...Those ones (Stax) that cost $10,000 and what else? ...With separate Left and Right Stereo channels (wires) all the way to the headphone amp?
...Totally interchangeable.
Headphones: Sound Quality Vs. Measurements - Please, educate me.
Most of them are generally from a smaller gauge, and attached to the ear cups.
How many headphones can you buy and that you can switch the interconnects?
...Those ones (Stax) that cost $10,000 and what else? ...With separate Left and Right Stereo channels (wires) all the way to the headphone amp?
...Totally interchangeable.
Headphones: Sound Quality Vs. Measurements - Please, educate me.
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Dr Dre cables are interchangeable.....you can keep the cable and throw away the headphones.
Dan.
Thx Dan. ...And I guess the opposite works too for some other headphones; keep the headphones and throw away the cable?
About wireless?
Same type of measurements used for any other type of cables; impedance, resistance, inductance, capacitance, frequency response, ...
...Skin effects, mechanical resonances, modulations, grain purity (metallic), ... you know.
These are the Stax phones I have.
Stax SR-X Mark 3 Review (1975-1979)
That's why I like 'em.
The cables are not changeable, but they are nice, heavy, and braided cloth covered.
If you guys have never heard these, or later models, do yourself a favor and hunt down a pair and have a listen.
L/R imaging in spades, and depth information in spades also.
Dan.
Nothing more than just simple curiosity; you know, to stay on topic with the subject of this thread.
Besides, knowing the actual measurements will give me a very good indication about their sound performance.
I have my own set of standards. I can correlate their measurements from the ones in my audio bible. ...On cables, and all that jazz.
----
* Nice pair of cans Dan.
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You're well ahead of me in this regard - I don't have clue as to how to relate the two. Got any links I could research to get me going? I'm just about to re-cable my very aged Sony CDR3000s for balanced operation - what should I be looking for?
I got some very intelligent articles by intelligent professional 'wired' people here at home.
Eg.; Making The Connection by James H. Hayward - Retired from Bell Canada Special Services Engineering and Operations Groups, and a Ryerson Electronics Technology graduate whose professional speciality has been data communication and radio systems. He is also a pianist and longtime audiophile, and has taught at Radio College of Canada in Toronto.
- His articles on cables (interconnects, speaker wires, ...) appear in Audio Ideas Guide, a Canadian audio publication (magazine). ...From the mid 90s.
I'm not sure that they are available online though; I'll check and you bet that I will share them with you if they are. ...Links and all.
Meanwhile try to google some key words from above.
* If you're looking for fully balanced cables, make sure of the maker.
Very rare the people who can build them properly, even audio components.
Cheers,
Bob
OK thanks, its a start, I put him into Yahoo - it turned up this very useful page of links by Jon Risch : Annotated Cable Bibliography - Jon Risch - Cable Asylum
However he's (JR that is) far from glowing in his comment on the article in 'Audio Ideas Guide' saying (in effect) that the approach of looking only at LCR parameters is way too narrow.
However he's (JR that is) far from glowing in his comment on the article in 'Audio Ideas Guide' saying (in effect) that the approach of looking only at LCR parameters is way too narrow.
Guess what? That's the content in the recording, and what you should be hearing over your speakers. The "mushing up", "wall-of-mixed-up- ..." is what the majority of systems do ... and it's wrong, big time wrong. It's typically only through extensive optimisation that this level of detail emerges, in all its glory, through the speakers - and why it's worth going through the 'pain',
, to get to that level of quality ...Nothing more than just simple curiosity; you know, to stay on topic with the subject of this thread.
Besides, knowing the actual measurements will give me a very good indication about their sound performance.
I have my own set of standards. I can correlate their measurements from the ones in my audio bible. ...On cables, and all that jazz.
----
* Nice pair of cans Dan.
(Bold by DVV)
I beg to differ. I will not get into a discussion on cables with you, as I see you are a "cable believer", I will just say that at best, in my view, you can hear a difference of materials, e.g. pure silver vs OFC copper, and while I like pure silver, it doesn't always win.
However, I will agree that cable properties can se brought to light by whatever is driving those cans, and as everywhere else in audio, the possible range is from junk drive as in 99% of devices to excellent, as in dedicated, seriously designed and made headphone amplifiers.
The usual method is to throw in a series 220-270 Ohms resistor from an amp output to the headphones jack - if there's a worse method, I will be surprised. Consider that most headphones have a nominal impedance of 30 to 100 Ohms, some higher than that, and consider the damping factor of say 100 Ohm cans fed from a 220 Ohm source. Beside which a 220 Ohm resistor probably can interact with can cable properties, especially if it's long enough.
However, a dedicated cans amp will probably have an output impedance of say 0.5 Ohms or less all the way up to 20 kHz, and that is low enough to prevent any serious interface problems with headphone cables. My point is that cans and amps are no different from amps and loudspeakers, the only truly significant difference being that the power levels are incomparably smaller with cans, as just 1 mW usually produces 95 dB SPL or more, meaning we are dealing with transducers where anything above say 0.8V of output is enormous power.
This hypothesis can be, and in my case was, confirmed by using your own favorite set of dynamic phones first from your usual source, and then by using a pure class A dedicated headphones driver amp. The things you will hear with will surprise you, I guarantee it. Assuming you have a good set of cans in the say USD 200-400, you'll be surprised at the low level detail you will have missed otherwise, If you have cheaper cans, like say cheaper Grados, you will be sometimes literally shocked at what they can do when driven properly. And the bass quality and quantity you can have from a cheaper (app. USD 150) Koss cans will have you shaking your head in disbelief.
My point is - you do not hear the difference in cables half as much as you hear the differences between can drive, and the differences between cables is in fact amplified by poor drive source.
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