Perception and Measurement of Headphone Sound Quality

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
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Another excellent piece of research by Sean and Todd. Amazing that the world goes out so much without any objective tests.
 

Bruce B

WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
Apr 25, 2010
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www.pugetsoundstudios.com
Finally a great headphone study!

Guess they didn't want to upset the manufacturers!
 

mep

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Apr 20, 2010
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Is anyone surprised that people preferred headphones who sound quality was backed up by good measurements?
 

tonmeister2008

WBF Technical Expert
Jun 20, 2010
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a bit suprised, as I would have thought the younger ones liked excessive bass vs tonal balance....and wonder why they didnt include sennheiser and grado, a couple of audiophile favorites....

interesting reading non the less.

We are planning on testing more headphones and younger listeners to determine whether kids are buying boomy headphones for reasons other than sound quality. We recently ran 71 Japanese college students through a test where they compared a popular boomy headphone (HP5) versus a relatively neutral one (HP2) and they preferred HP2.
 

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Press On dear Sir. As one of the small group of headphone advocates on this forum I will look forward to all your research results. And thank you for looking into a big big part of audios future.....headphones.


Really? What part of audio would that be? I'm pretty sure it's not high-end audio. Strapping on a pair of headphones is about as much fun as mowing my acre of grass. While some might find it relaxing, I don't share that feeling.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
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Seattle, WA
Really? What part of audio would that be? I'm pretty sure it's not high-end audio. Strapping on a pair of headphones is about as much fun as mowing my acre of grass. While some might find it relaxing, I don't share that feeling.
I get huge enjoyment out of listening to my music using headphones while flying all over the place. There is a lot to music than stereo imaging....
 

FrantzM

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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I get huge enjoyment out of listening to my music using headphones while flying all over the place. There is a lot to music than stereo imaging....

+1
 

tonmeister2008

WBF Technical Expert
Jun 20, 2010
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Westlake Village,CA
I get huge enjoyment out of listening to my music using headphones while flying all over the place. There is a lot to music than stereo imaging....

If you are listening to binaural recordings through headphones they are even superior to stereo imaging through loudspeakers, especially with head-tracking. Stereo is so spatially deprived.
 

Orb

New Member
Sep 8, 2010
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Sean,
did any of them notice the imbalance between left and right channel for headphone HP1 between 3khz to 4khz?
Just asking as Keith Howard does the measurement and most reviews of the headphones at Hifi News (using a head-ear with measurement dummy), and is always interesting just how much imbalance between channels can exist at specific frequencies, for some that are liked this can be as much as -10db (albeit over a small range of the frequency).
Another point and maybe worth researching; how many who auditioned the headphones actually positioned them correctly for both ears, because even a slight difference creates a large measurement difference from what I understand, and this is further compounded by the fact most do not put headphones back on in the exact same position.
So do those auditioning have a preference change when the headphones are positioned differently or are other factors also contributing to headphone quality perception?

Cheers
Orb
 

tonmeister2008

WBF Technical Expert
Jun 20, 2010
210
6
0
Westlake Village,CA
Interesting indeed.

Press On dear Sir.

As one of the small group of headphone advocates on this forum I will look forward to all your research results. And thank you for looking into a big big part of audios future.....

headphones.

Thanks Tom. The headphone market is huge and growing, so headphone listening is not going away.
 

tonmeister2008

WBF Technical Expert
Jun 20, 2010
210
6
0
Westlake Village,CA
Sean,
did any of them notice the imbalance between left and right channel for headphone HP1 between 3khz to 4khz?
Just asking as Keith Howard does the measurement and most reviews of the headphones at Hifi News (using a head-ear with measurement dummy), and is always interesting just how much imbalance between channels can exist at specific frequencies, for some that are liked this can be as much as -10db (albeit over a small range of the frequency).
Another point and maybe worth researching; how many who auditioned the headphones actually positioned them correctly for both ears, because even a slight difference creates a large measurement difference from what I understand, and this is further compounded by the fact most do not put headphones back on in the exact same position.
So do those auditioning have a preference change when the headphones are positioned differently or are other factors also contributing to headphone quality perception?

Cheers
Orb

Orb

There were some even greater left/right channel imbalances (see HP6) that listeners didn't specifically point out. In these comparative listening tests, listeners compared four headphones per trial and completed 6 trials per session. So they were re-seating the same headphones several times per trial. I would estimate on average 4 re-seats per trial x 6 trials x 2 sessions = 48 re-seatings. Listeners were told to position the headphones on their heads so the headphone was comfortable and provided a good seal.


So any positional variations of the headphones would be averaged out in the listening test results. The acoustical measurements of the headphones are based on an average of 5-6 re-seatings of the headphone. The biggest variations in measured response are generally below 250 Hz (air leaks) and above 3-4 kHz (acoustical interference from interaction with pinnae).

There is clear evidence in the subjective and in-ear measurement data that for some listeners certain models (e.g. HP4) didn't fit their heads well and resulted in air leaks and insufficient bass.
 

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