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Is it all in your headphones? – Part two

CROSSFEED

Since the release of the Walkman in 1979, modern headphones have been particularly widely sold and used for listening to stereo recordings, there is subjective debate regarding the nature of their reproduction of stereo sound.

Stereo recordings represent the position of horizontal depth cues via volume and phase differences of the sound in question between the two channels (known as stereo separation). When the sounds from two speakers mix, they create the phase difference the brain uses to locate direction. (See illustrations)

Through most headphones, because the right and left channels do not combine in this manner, the illusion of the phantom center is lost.

In normal listening through loudspeakers, right ear receives signal from right loudspeaker and then, a fraction of a millisecond after, it also receives signal coming from the left speaker. While listening with headphones, you only get right signal to your right ear and left signal to your left ear. The crossfeed function (software) is to send to the opposite ear the other signal delayed and filtered (same as loudspeakers signals would do). When using crossfeed, the sound is really turned around you externally, not going through your head.

Most songs are recorded only for loudspeakers listening so they should benefit from crossfeed. Some Audio enthusiasts do make crossfeed music tapes in order to enjoy its benfits on a personal stereo.

BURN IN

Few years back in time before the age of digital, every piece of equipment in the analog world had to be warmed up; it is a very well known process. Any piece of hardware needs to be stressed or 'benched' to get the best results out of it. Fresh out of the box, a new pair of shoes may not be as comfortable and good as a well used pair. A new car will not reach its peak point unless you drive it for some time. A similar situation is for a pair of headphones; they may not sound as good as a well used pair, as the designers have intended.

Burn-in is the process for exercising new headphones. The main purpose of the burn-in process is to loosen the diaphragm of a newly crafted headphone and to stress the headphone driver. Most audiophiles agree that the sound quality will be noticeably improved after burn-in. The benefit of burn in has always been controversial. Some people say that there is evidence that proves it while others say that there is evidence to disprove it.

Often, people want their headphones to sound the way that they are intended fresh out of the box. Most people choose to listen to their headphones as they change over the burn in period. Others don't want to wait for days or weeks of regular use, so the choice is to expedite burn in by getting the process over with in the first week of ownership.  The physical process is that the diaphragms loosen up through use and eventually reach a point that could be considered final.  Most headphones require at least 56 to 150 hours of burn-in time to reach their optimal performing state. Many will recommend approximately 200 hours for most headphones. Some recommend as many as 336 hours or more. Different headphones may take longer than others for a so-called "complete" burn in, and there is no exact or set length of time for burn in. It is best to use your ears to listen for changes to decide when you should stop the burn in process.

There are different ways to burn-in your headphones (or earbuds). The most common ways include running a variety of music, white noise, pink noise, frequency sweeps, etc. through the headphones at a medium volume. (Please note: too high of a volume can cause damage to, or even burned them out!).

Music is an obvious burn-in candidate and works quite well if you have a broad range of musical genres in your playlist. Playing only one type of music however will not exercise and stress the entire audio spectrum. The best thing to do may be to plug your headphones into a player, set the volume to medium, and let your music play for up to 5-9 hours everyday (perhaps, while you are at work or sleeping). After that, your headphones will most likely sound their best and you can hear the difference. Note that you don't have to listen the whole time.

HEADPHONES AMPLIFIERS

Headphone amplifiers or cMoy are commercially available separate devices, sold to an enthusiastic audiophile market. These devices allow for higher possible volumes and greater audio clarity than the smaller, cheaper amplifiers that are used in most portable players. Most headphone amplifiers provide power between 8 mW and 3W depending on the specific headphone being used and the design of the amplifier. Certain high power designs can provide up to 6W of power into low impedance loads.

How do they work?

Effectively, a headphone amplifier is a small power amplifier that can be connected to a standard headphone jack or (usually) the line output of an audio source. The headphone amplifier improves the sound quality by increasing the amount of power available to move the transducer, increasing the control that the source has over just where the transducer is in space. A great headphone amplifier is one that makes headphones sound better than you thought they were.

Types of Headphone amps

There are two main types of Headphone amps: plain amp and Hybrid amp.

The plain amps are simple with just a volume control and input/output jacks for plain audio players and then there is the Headphone Amps w/ USB DAC which is the same amp with a Digital Analog Converter built into it for use with laptops or netbooks. It basically allows you to bypass the sound card in your laptop. Not only is the quality of most USB DAC's a lot better than the sound cards found in most laptops, but it actually takes the sound card out of the system, gets it away from all that electronic interference altogether.

DIGITAL Vs. ANALOG

We are living in a digital age. We are surrounded with bits and bytes, Zero's and One's, CDs, blue rays and Pixels all advenced and minimized. but there is one dinasuar in all this advanced technology - the loudspeakers and his little brother the headphones. This is the only lonely analog part in our whole hi-fi world. The man and the loudspeakers are very much the same - analog machines in a digital world. Without us there will be no one to play with those gadgets or enjoy them, the same with the loudspeakers, without them we won't be able to hear music. Therefore, speakers or headphones cannot be digital or digital ready as manufactures call them to increase sales, because they are fundamentally an analog mechanical piece of hardware.

There is an old debate amongst audiophiles which is actually the one that signatures the sound quality? Is it the source, or is it the drivers themselves?

Assuming of course, that the source is a Hi-Fi source and is capable of reproducing a wide range and a great Frequency response; will the loudspeakers or headphones have the ability to provide the same sound quality or overpass it? 

In other words is it all in your headphones?

Basically, if your portable player actually provides a pretty good sound, some extra power from a good headphone amp can help you get a better sound by allowing you to connect to higher quality headphones that otherwise would be underpowered by the player.

Because of the charecteristics of analog, good sounding headphones can produce an excellent sound quality only if they use an analog amp to drive them. Unfortunately, as far as the technology goes (considering maximum bitrates) high quality sound from a digital hardware is very noticeably inferior to the good old analog.

I Own 2 kinds of headphone amps, One is an analog type which made by BioScienceGeek (BSG) and the other is digital the NuForce Icon Mobile. When you compare them both you can hear the great difference of digital vs. Analog. The BSG have far great warmer and detailed sound compere to the dull and cold harsh sound of the much smaller nuforce.

In conclusion is it all in your headphones?

The answer in my opinion is definitely YES; it is all in your headphones!

What do you think?

I Hope you enjoyed this article, as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks for your time.

All the best

TheLion

Nice piece here. I agree with many of the points, especially burn in. After I auditioned some Hi-Fi equipment at my local dealer some years ago he gave me the display CD and amp to play with while new stock was being ordered. It was great! After I got the brand new sealed stock home and set it up I was in for a shock – it sounded awful. I seriously thought I’d made a huge mistake. Just needed burning in which took ages but was worth it.  Re it’s all in the headphones. Yes they make a huge difference (I’ve used Grado SR 60’s with various tape and MP3 Walkmen all with fantastic results). But…. rubbish in, rubbish out. Great headphones can and will show up limitations as well make the music shine.

Thanks Nak D.

I Certainly agree, there are no miracles here... what comes in, comes out. maybe a little bit colored but not better.
if the music sounds great and mastered correctly the sound will be amazingly detailed and very enjoyable. otherwise it will reveal all the limitations of the sound.

I have a pair of grado rs1 and yes alot of it is in the headphones....it's in both realy...you can't expect a set of rs1 to shine on an mp3 player....but they do improve one....i also have better cans...just using the rs1 for refrance here

@radio raheem

What do you mean better cans? Grado cans are excellent headphones! 

Grado’s are a matter of taste, for me I don’t like the closed in, narrow image which is the Grado house sound. Some do like that.

I see, The details and clarity of the Grado cans are excellent, but IMHO I guess the narrow image can be fixed with the right crossfeed. it opens up the image. 

If ever there was a thread to *not* reply with:

"I've got an iPod"

then this is it 

Anyway, another excellent post, thanks TheLion  

My path in finding good sound from headphones has been a long one. But I do agree with you. Good headphones will show their nature only with appropriate amplification. Same thing applies to amplifiers. The first headphones (good ones I got) were a pair of AKG K240 Monitor headphones that sounded good to me. They were 600 Ohm and not sensitive at all at 88dB/mW. Then it all changed because there were two electrical engineers that build an amp for us. It was an output transformer-less tube design, a completely dual mono design with two 250VA transformers, separate point-to-point soldering on each side and substantial power filtering with 6H30 driver for each channel and one ECC88 at the output. It was class A and with zero feedback. In short, an incredible amplifier. Soon after  got Sennheiser HD650 which are fantastic headphones that sound better in every respect than the old AKG. The amplifier is currently being upgraded to version 1.2 with Mundorf caps in the driver stage. Headphones are now Beyerdynamic T1 that are simply incredible. Besides, the 600 Ohm coils are perfect for tube amps so there was no reason to look any further, though that didn't stop me from trying the others as well. 

Good headphones can make a real difference but it's not really a rule since it depends on quite a lot of things. More resolving headphones can make things worse on poor recording material. Experience tells me amplifier is actually more important since it can extract more from lesser headphones. Headphones reproduce sound so the end result depends on them but frankly, ran straight out of a CD player even the T1 sounds poor. No depth or focus. So a good thing is always to match the system which has nothing to do with component's sound signature or whatever people call it. A good amplifier is a good amplifier if the specifications are good for the headphones you intend to use. For example, if I was going to use low impedance headphones with a tube amplifier, even though this amp was designed specifically for 32 Ohm load (hence two driver sections), the result would not be optimal. 

The only cassette player I have that can drive the Ultimate Ears triple-driver earphones is Sony DC2. It is the only player that sounds good with them even though they are low impedance and highly sensitive. Obviously, proper amplification doesn't mean power but how clean the power is because it's usually the first mW that counts the most. This doesn't mean DC2 is the best out there but it is the best one I have.

An interesting thread as usual, thanks!

On the matter of Grado headphones... They are wonderfully lush sounding. The problem with them is that change their character at different volume levels. Perhaps John intended them for low level listening, which is what I do most of the time, but they sound different at louder levels. It's got nothing to do with amplifier either as the measured specs are linear throughout the volume range and frequency range goes well into the MHz range. So for me, this is the biggest issue with them. I find them detailed and coloured in the mid-range which is not necessarily a bad thing consider most recordings sound pretty bland. Still, headphones like T1 and HD800 from Sennheiser sound more detailed and spatial presentation is spot on. Imaging on the T1 in particular is the best I have heard. 

Another headphones I find inviting are Denon's top range of headphones. They sound full bodied and with a sense of real kick though they don't posses the liquidity, speed or control of the T1. Their sound stage is remarkably wide and on par with T1 but it is flatter and sometimes doesn't quite sound natural.

What always interested me were the Sony MDR-R10 headphones which are probably the most expensive pair ever manufactured. They used bio-cellulose membranes,saem as on their top speaker systems at the time. It's made from a lab-grown bacteria and drawing press cast material which made it incredibly thin and stiff. This resulted in superior transient speed which probably means thy are very well detailed. Denon actually uses a micro-fiber diaphragm made by Fostex (which they don't really mention) but that have similar characteristics as the Sony's design. Beyerdynamic in contrast used a different approach and instead on the membranes, they concentrated on the coils themselves so these can produce quite a bit more of magneic flux which also translates to faster membrane movement and better control. Controlled they really do sound, sometimes delicate, sometimes brutal but always when the recording requires it. But they are not forgiving in a sense that if the recording is badly mastered, they will have no problems showing precisely that. 

Sorry for the long post, I got carried away! I like headphones...

I like headphones too...if i had the money or something to trade i would love a pair of sony mdr10 headphones...they are my dream cans

the grado's are great but they can't handle the bass or volume i sometimes use with other cans

Very interesting. Thanks for the time and effort.

I have headphones that can handle higher volume with deeper richer bass etc,,but yes i like the rs1....a bit pricey for what they are though..

Hi Tuna I have to say I do like the T1 very much, it’s a very good headphone. The HD800 is amazing too. If I put the 2 side by side I prefer the HD800 as it’s a better headphone.

But I have to say on a day-to-day use I would rather have the T1, the T1 I feel is a more forgiving headphone and plays better with most music. If everything is not good up the line the HD800 and the T1 will let you know about it. But unlike the T1 the HD800 will render it un-listenable, the T1 will still let you listen to it.

If you have everything that is perfect and you want to know everything that is going on up the line get the HD800. If everything is perfect most of the time but sometimes not so go then the T1, the T1 is the better all-rounder.

Would I get any of them, the answer is no the reason being I only use headphones on the move and they are both open or semi-open back. We all know open back and out and about don’t mix, well it can work if you want to annoy everyone around you.

If they make those 2 in closed back I would get one and would need an amp that can drive the 600 ohm T1.

Hi mate!

Well, better is a relative term. While HD800 are fantastic in that their spatial presentation is as good as I have heard on a headphone system, they do have one critical failure for me. Actually two. First of all, their tonal balance is not flat which is contrary to what most people think. The sound is generally flat but not at all times and sometimes they lose control in the upper low range. The other thing is transient response. While they sound perfectly timed, this doesn't apply to lower register and they do tend to lose some integrity. None of this happens with the T1. Their ability to control the music regardless of the volume is something that I've never heard, be it a speaker system or a headphone system. One other thing, HD800 have a wonderful soundstage with realistic placement of each instrument. However, they do exhibit some imaging problems with panning instruments. The characteristics of the T1 is that the sound is panned from left to right (or from right to left) without any change in the volume. What is more important, it's easy to focus on the sound when it is in the dead center. With HD800, ther is some change in the volume and once the sound reaches the middle, you are unsure where to "look" for it so to speak.

I'd say the HD800 are probably more suited for acoustic music and orchestral music. T1 are equally suited for that as well, or perhaps a bit less, but are much better suited for more aggressive musical styles with rapid changes in dynamics (rock, metal and electronica for instance). With badly mastered material, I'd say both are equally (and brutally) unforgiving. Also, both have similar high demands towards amplification and if you use them without it, you've spent your money for nothing.

Hiya Tuna

                I agree with most of what you say. Yes they are both very brutal of bad recordings / amplification / source but for me the T1 is more forgiving.

In contrast comparing a lesser headphone T70 to the T1, not in the same league. The T70 even though half the price of the T1, is not very forgiving headphone at all. If the recording is bad well just stay away for the T70, it takes no prisoners.

I have had to modify the T70 to fix some of it’s inherited problems.

Toocool4, what did you do re modifications? Are T70's from Beyerdynamic?

Yes Nak D they are the Beyerdynamic T70. Well the modification is still on going. If you are familiar with the T70 you will know they are very good / detailed headphones that requires source material and equipment to shine. If you know them you will also that the major faults are the bass quantity, not lack of bass but quantity.

You get good clean fast textured bass, but the lack of quantity put a lot of people off.

The problems are lack of good seal from the custom pads, the only way to get the good quantity of bass is to turn the volume up. If you turn them up you get better quantity of bass but as you know this headphones are a bit on the brighter side of neutral, at this point the treble does became to sharp.

So what I have done is to get the Beyerdynamic Gel pads, clear not the black ones. The clear gel pads creates a better seal, but this still does not fix the whole issue as you still need to turn the volume up a bit. You also get the foam filter pads when you get the main pads. Buy using 2 set’s of foam filters I am able to tame the treble, this also means I have to turn the volume up a bit more. This is good as you get more bass quantity at higher volumes.

At the moment I am using 3 set’s on foam filters which gives me the correct amount of bass but is taming the top end just a bit too much.

I think 2.5 foam filters would be just perfect. Even with 3 set’s of filters they are still not as dark as say Sennheisers, but they are just missing that little bit of Beyerdymanic house sound. I may have to goto 2 filters.

Hey mate!

What amplifier are you using? The mod you're suggesting seems too radical to me. Of course, nowhere near as some that I have seen on other headphones. I never heard the T70p though so I can't really comment on their sound. 

If they are anything like the T1, the bass should be extremely fast, controlled and with excellent dynamics and definition. If I had to compare them to a set of speakers, they'd be an open baffle design with a 50cm low-frequency driver. Therefore, not too voluminous but very clear and extremely dynamic. 

Also, may I ask to which Sennheiser headphones are you referring to? 

Hi Tuna

I have not heard the T70p either, I only have the T70.

I am using Ray Samuels P-51 Mustang as I only ever use headphones while out and about.

I use a Creative Sound Blaster X-FI HD at work, the Creative has a warmer sound.

Don’t forget out and about you need that little bit more bass to compensate for all the other low level information around. At home they are fine, out you have to contend with low-level sound from trains, bus engines etc.

They are like the T1 but the T1 is more refined and can retrieve more information / creates a better image. Also the T1 gives you a lot more quantity of bass but not over the top bass.

You will need to listen to the T70 to know what I mean.

All Sennheiser’s have a darker sound, but the last Sennheiser I owned are the 480 Classic II. The last Sennheiser i listened to are the PX100-II.

Hi!

Yeah, I suppose you do need a lot more bass when you're out and about. But have you tried noise cancelling headphones? I hear they are very good at eliminating noise but I also hear that it does seem to interfere with music sometimes.

As fr the Sennheisers, I cannot say anything general because I've had only a few of their models. The best ones were the HD650 which I sold after I got the T1. They are excellent headphones in every way, just not to the point of being a competition to the HD800 and T1. The higher end range of these was a bit recessed but not overly so and one could never say they sounded dull. Everything was there but to a lesser degree like say on a Beyerdynamic DT880. They had a really lush nature to the tone, somewhat coloured in the mid-range with a great presence and always engaging and enjoyable. To me they were a far better choice than the AKG K701 with which I was disappointed with though I never owned a pair. HD800 and apparently HD700 (released a few days ago) have nothing to do with the HD650 and they are a different kettle of fish altogether. HD650 was very forgiving and actually, I'd be hard pressed to find a better pair of headphones that works well without amplification even though they are far from low impedance. They will, of course, sound much better when properly amplified. 

Hi I have the Etymotic ER-4S which are the best isolation you can get, at 42db nothing else comes close. I always have it in my bag and I switch all the time. When I am travelling on planes it’s the one I use all the time.

At the moment since the weather is cold the T70 doubles as earmuffs, cool.

The Sennheiser's are very good and I love them, but the house sound is dark and I am not saying it’s a bad thing far from it.

I would love a closed back T1, that would be my ideal on the move. They do make the T5p which is meant to be a portable T1, I have not heard it but people who has say it nothing like the T1.

Hi toocool4!

Well, you could say that Sennheiser has an in-house sound yes. Their approach is somewhat different to other manufacturers in that their top models all share a very similar sound presentation though one could say the same thing about Beyerdynamic. Sennheiser has an array of headphones that covers every imaginable application but generally, their HD5xx and HD6xx series share a very similar approach. The more expensive models are more refined and offer more of everything. As for their high end response, I'd say the HD650 are not as extended as some of the competitors at the same price level. They don't really miss a thing but you need to spend time with them in order to appreciate them as they might not have that "wow" effect on first listen. Before I got the HD650, I spent a considerable amount of time choosing between different manufacturers and models. I almost went for the AGK K701. Even today I consider them top quality headphones and considering their very flat response, they could serve as a really good reference. Sennheiser HD650 seemed veiled in comparison. But only at the first listen. Detailed listening revealed certain things AKG just omitted completely. They lacked the timbre quality and presence in the mid-rang HD650 was full of. Despite their seemingly "dark" nature, they were equally extended in the top end, just not as flat as the AKG in that particular domain. 

As for a closed-back T1, it wouldn't work. Beyerdynamic, like AKG, was one of the developers of semi-open baffle headphones and throughout the years all the best models (apart from the K701) have been semi-open. This includes the venerable DT880 studio which has been a studio standard in these parts for many years. All the attempts so far to make a closed reference headphones have failed on their part. The best example for this is when you listen to T1 and put your hands around the ear cups. The sound stage instantly collapses and everything falls apart though they are still the same headphones. Not to say they cannot make good closed-back headphones but they will not be as good. I was most impressed when I heard Denon was going to release their top models and that they will all be closed-back. Upon the fist listen, the AH-D7000 sounded excellent. Crystal clear, very transparent and with a huge sound stage. However, reference material quickly shown things are not as ideal as I thought. The stage, while wide and dispersed, lacked cohesion and imaging was inferior to a lot less expensive open-back designs. Stage seemed artificial in that instruments were not really located where they should be. They were more dense in the middle and widely dispersed on each side. But Beyer seems to have T5p model which is a low impedance version of the T1 but I don't know if there are any other differences nor did I ever listen to them.

The Etymotic ER4S are superb, no question about it. There are better monitors but in what they do good, they are very difficult to beat. You have a portable amplifier which is good and is really a must with these. Some people hated them but failed to realize that good amplification is something you cannot do without if you want to take advantage of their full potential. 

Hi Tuna I have listened to the Denon AH-D7000, the main thing that stands out is the thunderous bass but not the kind of uncontrolled rubbish you got out of the beats by Dre. I remember them being very good headphones but the bass is too much for me, they are not natural.

Yes the ER-4S may be an IEM but still need a good amp to make them sing, else they sound lifeless and flat.

Still as near as possible to the sound of the T1 in a closed back headphones would be cool.

I have now gone to 2 filters in my T70’s as 3 filters were just killing the sound quality.

I think I will experiment with creating an equalization circuit for them.

I agree on the AH-D7000 and their LF response. I did find them to be fun but at that price, they are not fun at all.

I really cannot comment on the T70 at all, I will have to give them a listen first. May I ask what is the price of the T70? I've seen some mid-priced closed-back headphones and some of them that I tried sounded good to me. For example, I think AKG K550 are a wonderful pair to be used with portable audio players. They sound very fine and are more in the category of Senn HD555 which means, slightly coloured in the mid-range but with a nice lush tonality and well extended in both directions. When it comes to comfort, they are second to none. Compared to something like Denon AH-D2000, they sound more relaxed but there's nothing really hat Denon reveals that AKG doesn't. In contrast, they cause no fatigue and that's something Denon can only dream about with their assertive nature and overwhelming bass.

I've been admiring the Etys for years but never got around of buying a pair. If I do, it will have to be online because there's really no place you can buy them, nor in Croatia, nor anywhere near. You can only get Shure monitors at ridiculously high prices (E5 monitors for 600 Euro is hardly a bargain and more like thievery). 

Hi Tuna the T70’s are £439. I love the sound and the only real downside is the bass quantity.

ER-4S and P-51 Mustang

That amplifier is so tiny! That's a really cool picture mate, thanks! Are those comply foam tips on your ER4s? 

How much does the T1 cost over there? Just trying to make a comparison and see how much the T70 would cost here. 

The amps are small but pack a big punch. www.raysamuelsaudio.com

No the tip are the Etymotic foam tips 42db isolation www.etymotic.com/ephp/er4-acc.html

But I now use the comply foam tips which are softer and more comfortable www.complyfoam.com/products/P-Series

The T1’s are now about £800 but where £900.  How much do they cost your end?

They are around 750 Euro, give or take. It depends on the method of payment however. The good thing in all of this is that their distributor is a pro-oriented company that sells musical instruments systems for studio and stage and not hi-fi so their prices are lower than they would be otherwise. Regardless of that, I'd never say they are affordable, let alone cheap. That's really a lot of money, I'm fully aware of that. But unfortunately, you cannot get this level of performance cheaper.

the grado rs-1 are great for rock, pop, house. still need a good amp for this one.

the senn he60 is a better one than the rs-1. only the hev70 amp is not that good. also need looking for a better amp.