I come across a lot of people that tell me about how great their headphones are and when I try them out they usually sound awful to me. In most instances, it's just a ton of bass, with little to no mid or high frequency. I've come to realize that "good sound quality" is all subjective. I'm sure there's different tastes even among the audiophile community.
For me, I think good sound quality is when your headphones can accurately represent what the musician originally intended for their song to sound. This is tough to determine unless you have the opportunity to sit in the studio with that person and hear it from the source.
If I can't get that, I usually like headphones that have a nice balance across all the frequencies. It's nice to listen to the difference between my $5 travel ear buds (gdgt.com/sennheiser/mx-400/) and my $100 over-ear headphones (gdgt.com/sennheiser/hd-280-pro/). You hear a lot more detail with the latter.
What do you look for when you shop for your "good sound quality" headphones?
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What do you consider "good sound quality" with headphones?
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cass' pick
I feel the same way you do. I want the drivers to accurately represent the music.
Depending on the genre of music that can be challenging. The "top 100" music doesn't require much besides a little treble/mid and lots of bass so these cheesy headphones by Dr. Dre tend to suit the average listener pretty well (while abusing the hell out of their wallets).
I expect more and would rather have control over the level of bass, etc, via an EQ (which is a requirement for any music output device I'm going to spend money on).
I can accept the lower quality headphones for general usage... especially if I'm listening to streaming music but if I'm going to be listening for a long period of time I prefer to use my Etymotics.
The benefit of accurate drivers is that you do not need to turn the music up as much to actually hear the various ranges of sound and so they are actually not nearly as hard on your ears. I don't know how people can tolerate the distortion and loss of detail caused by the lower quality headphones/speaker set ups.
Anyway, in terms of choosing headphones... I research the range frequency, I look at what other audiophiles have to say about them, the intended usage by the company (sometimes they are focused on specific genres or whatever), and I test them... I usually start by throwing in some Mozart and end it by throwing in something electronic and demanding. It's a given that rock, etc, is going to sound fine on just about anything so I completely avoid that sort of music while testing.
Depending on the genre of music that can be challenging. The "top 100" music doesn't require much besides a little treble/mid and lots of bass so these cheesy headphones by Dr. Dre tend to suit the average listener pretty well (while abusing the hell out of their wallets).
I expect more and would rather have control over the level of bass, etc, via an EQ (which is a requirement for any music output device I'm going to spend money on).
I can accept the lower quality headphones for general usage... especially if I'm listening to streaming music but if I'm going to be listening for a long period of time I prefer to use my Etymotics.
The benefit of accurate drivers is that you do not need to turn the music up as much to actually hear the various ranges of sound and so they are actually not nearly as hard on your ears. I don't know how people can tolerate the distortion and loss of detail caused by the lower quality headphones/speaker set ups.
Anyway, in terms of choosing headphones... I research the range frequency, I look at what other audiophiles have to say about them, the intended usage by the company (sometimes they are focused on specific genres or whatever), and I test them... I usually start by throwing in some Mozart and end it by throwing in something electronic and demanding. It's a given that rock, etc, is going to sound fine on just about anything so I completely avoid that sort of music while testing.
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cass' pick
I'd suggest listening to music that you're familiar with when you're testing headphones. You'll notice more things when you're familiar with the music. I personally prefer the top over the bottom -- I like crisp, clean cymbals and good snare. You should be able to hear vocals cleanly as well. Hopefully the bass won't muddy things up either.
Everybody's tastes are different, and if you're not spending *a lot* of money on headphones, you're not going to get an accurate representation of what the sound engineers intended. The next best thing is to find something that *you* like.
Everybody's tastes are different, and if you're not spending *a lot* of money on headphones, you're not going to get an accurate representation of what the sound engineers intended. The next best thing is to find something that *you* like.
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cass' pick
I'm a huge fan of bass and when purchasing headphones bass is one of the most important facts. That being said I don't like headphones that have so much bass that the mids and highs become distorted. I owned a pair of Sony extra bass headphones and they killed mids and highs. The final solution for me and over ear headphones came down to the Monster Beats By Dre Studio headphones. I am a huge fan of their overear headphones and speakers. Their in ear headphones are meh though and I don't recommend them. For on the go I use Monster Turbine headphones which have an amazing range are the best in ear headphones I have used. If you like heavy bass I would always go with Dre over ear. If not I would go with Bose headphones. Just my opinion though. For budget headphones sony and sennheiser are always a good choice. Never buy skullcandy even for budget headphones.
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I rarely use my headphones for much other than podcasts and audio books, so the sound quality isn't that important to me, but I can add 2 cents for others based on my experience with my first set of nice speakers years ago.
When I first set up those new speakers, I tested them with Mike Oldfield, Marc Cohn, and Sarah Mclachlan. I noticed details in the music I had never noticed before. I ended up sitting there for several hours going through our collection and enjoying many of my favorites as if for the first time. It was like a revelation... and it made me commit that day to never buying cheap speakers for our music again.
If you are looking for good headphones for the first time, you should have a similar experience. If not, they probably aren't very good headphones.
When I first set up those new speakers, I tested them with Mike Oldfield, Marc Cohn, and Sarah Mclachlan. I noticed details in the music I had never noticed before. I ended up sitting there for several hours going through our collection and enjoying many of my favorites as if for the first time. It was like a revelation... and it made me commit that day to never buying cheap speakers for our music again.
If you are looking for good headphones for the first time, you should have a similar experience. If not, they probably aren't very good headphones.
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Good sound quality is one of the most argued-over things so you're unlikely to get much of a consensus in this respect. Even on boards like Head-Fi where headphone enthusiasts hang out, most of the posts are basically statements of the emotional condition of the listener at the time given also various other factors - how much the headphone is in relation to their disposable income, whether it has any wood on it, etc. You have three moving goalposts when it comes to sharing information - the individual's hearing ability, the user's tastes given their previous experience and their 'purchase defence factor'.
What do I look for? It’s not just about the sound quality – it’s got to be ergonomically sound for me, and also conform to the particular role. e.g. there's no point for me having a portable phone if it doesn't have, at the very least, adequate isolation - the main reason why for example I ended up dumping the Ultrasone Edition 8's ( gdgt.com/ultrasone/edition-8/ ) as my primary portable phones. So given those attributes, I pick the least worst compromise based on a combination of all of those.
In terms of the specific sound I look for, I tend to gravitate to a resolving but laid-back character: A slight bass hump, recessed yet still informative trebles. One example of a headphone I keep coming back to would be the Sennheiser HD650 ( gdgt.com/sennheiser/hd-650/ ), as well as the sadly-underused Sennheiser Orpheus ( gdgt.com/sennheiser/orpheus/ ), which has the best-judged (for me) sonic character that I've ever come across in a headphone to date.
What do I look for? It’s not just about the sound quality – it’s got to be ergonomically sound for me, and also conform to the particular role. e.g. there's no point for me having a portable phone if it doesn't have, at the very least, adequate isolation - the main reason why for example I ended up dumping the Ultrasone Edition 8's ( gdgt.com/ultrasone/edition-8/ ) as my primary portable phones. So given those attributes, I pick the least worst compromise based on a combination of all of those.
In terms of the specific sound I look for, I tend to gravitate to a resolving but laid-back character: A slight bass hump, recessed yet still informative trebles. One example of a headphone I keep coming back to would be the Sennheiser HD650 ( gdgt.com/sennheiser/hd-650/ ), as well as the sadly-underused Sennheiser Orpheus ( gdgt.com/sennheiser/orpheus/ ), which has the best-judged (for me) sonic character that I've ever come across in a headphone to date.
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Since everyone perceives sound differently, there isn't a way to describe headphones as good or not. It's easy to say if certain headphones are downright bad but in terms of good headphones, it all comes down to two things - how you like your music and what music you like.
Obviously, headphones that sound excessively tiny or bassy are not perfect for everything but as you've said, it really depends on how the musician intended for it to sound. You should, however, be able to hear everything that is going on in the recording. By this I mean all the details including instrumentals and vocals.
Personally, clarity is one of the largest factors in headphone quality but a good amount of bass makes everything sound better.
Obviously, headphones that sound excessively tiny or bassy are not perfect for everything but as you've said, it really depends on how the musician intended for it to sound. You should, however, be able to hear everything that is going on in the recording. By this I mean all the details including instrumentals and vocals.
Personally, clarity is one of the largest factors in headphone quality but a good amount of bass makes everything sound better.
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I've only bought two sets of headphones that costs over $100. I'm not really much of an audiophile and think it ridiculous the amounts of money spent for the perfect sound. The two headphones I use are the Logitech G5 and Beats. They are both bassier(that a word?) than most others I have used. I find most headphones tinny compared to real speakers, and these both reproduce sound to better match what I normal hear. Almost as important as the sound is that they are both comfortable to wear for extended periods. The G35 is for my desktop and I can go a few hours gaming and not even notice I am wearing them.
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This question really depends on how you'll be using the headphones. Sound quality is usually measured in subjective terms, though some do use quantitative measures such as frequency response.
For music listeners, it probably matters what genres you listen to most; almost all popular contemporary music gets compressed and EQ'd to target common playing devices: iPod earbuds and cheap radios. For this kind of stuff, you want to consider a quality set of "hi-fi" headphones that do things like bass boost and are targeted for active everyday listening. (This is the realm of stuff like Skullcandy, Bose, Beats by Dre, etc.. Audiophiles will knock this stuff, but are holding it to a completely different standard.)
If you listen to niches that value quality sound reproduction more – Classical, Jazz, Progressive Rock, that kind of stuff – then you want to go more the "studio" route, emphasizing headphones that prioritize an "uncolored" even frequency response, larger drivers, and perhaps isolation from ambient noise. The highest quality is going to come from bulky over-the-ear models, though you can also find a lot of high-end earbuds that target this same area.
Oh, and if you're doing any kind of production work, you should be minimizing your headphone use whenever you're touching a mix, equalization, or mastering. You need studio monitor speakers, and big ones at that.
For music listeners, it probably matters what genres you listen to most; almost all popular contemporary music gets compressed and EQ'd to target common playing devices: iPod earbuds and cheap radios. For this kind of stuff, you want to consider a quality set of "hi-fi" headphones that do things like bass boost and are targeted for active everyday listening. (This is the realm of stuff like Skullcandy, Bose, Beats by Dre, etc.. Audiophiles will knock this stuff, but are holding it to a completely different standard.)
If you listen to niches that value quality sound reproduction more – Classical, Jazz, Progressive Rock, that kind of stuff – then you want to go more the "studio" route, emphasizing headphones that prioritize an "uncolored" even frequency response, larger drivers, and perhaps isolation from ambient noise. The highest quality is going to come from bulky over-the-ear models, though you can also find a lot of high-end earbuds that target this same area.
Oh, and if you're doing any kind of production work, you should be minimizing your headphone use whenever you're touching a mix, equalization, or mastering. You need studio monitor speakers, and big ones at that.
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