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Surprising Headphone Test
I've got 3 pairs of headphones. Both on-ear and over the ear. None of them are particularly spectacular, but they're all reasonably decent and usable. All satisfying for music listening of all sorts. At least to my ears.
Recently, I've been thinking I need a new pair. Like I bet many of you, I'm prone to gear lust and obsess over buying new stuff that I really don't need if I'm being honest. 
The headphones I'm thinking of picking up for reference field recording are the Sennheiser HD25 cans, but I can't find anywhere to try them out before buying.
Last night I went back and forth between all 3 pairs of my current passable sets, i.e. A pair of Yamaha RH-5Ma, that were cheap and I've had for over a decade. A pair of Sennheiser HD580 that I've had for just under a decade and still sound great. A pair of ATH-m40x headphones that I've had about a year. They sound great, but not the most comfortable (though I am starting to get more comfortable with them than when they were new)
It's difficult to decide which are the best, because they each are a little better at different kinds of listening.
This morning, I found this site the has recordings of different frequencies and tests to evaluate headphone performance. It also walks you through what you're listening for, with allowances for imperfect hearing.
I've had a certain degree of high-frequency hearing loss for most of my life. I'm told it's not an age thing but in my case, a genetic thing. However, I suspect it has more to do with some of those early The Jesus Lizard shows at the Cannibal Club here in Austin, Tx where my ears literally felt like they were bleeding and I'd leave the show feeling like I'd been deafened by a roadside IED. (This was before wearing earplugs to protect your hearing at live shows was en vogue)
Anyway, I ran all three sets through the test on this site and was very surprised at how they performed. Most surprising was that the pair that performed the best overall, were my old, cheaper Yamaha RH-5Ma headphones. They failed at allowing me to hear the highest frequencies, and I got a little more rattle at very low frequencies, but overall they did surprisingly well. The other pairs performed better in specific areas, but it was surprising to me the areas where they fell short.
The site is here: http://www.audiocheck.net/soundtests_headphones.php
Comments
interesting
I'd take 'accepted wisdom' regarding phones with a pinch of salt. Comfort is not to be underestimated. I have had many phones over the years (in fact I do pretty much everything on phones / IEMs) I currently have a pair of Shure SRH840s which are well considered for their flat frequency response, but I find them to be very uncomfortable, ditto a pair of BeyerDynamic DT 150s (considered to be an industry standard) - they are even more uncomfortable !
Get a decent / good pair and learn their frequency characteristics is my advice. I find open-backed types problematic for me as I'm listening for very subtle stuff and any kind of intrusive noise is a problem - I had some Sennheiser 580s for some time and this was certainly the case - each to their own.
Yes, but one of the tests that was most revealing to me, was the one that sweeps through different frequencies. Granted, my hearing is not bad, but it's also not perfect. And, there were certain frequencies toward the top end that completely dropped out for me with the ATH cans, but I could hear them all the way through with Sennheisers and Yamaha. Alternately, the driver matching was way off with the 580s, but near perfect with the ATHs.
My surprise with this test had more to do with how and what I could hear, rather than quality or comfort.
For comfort and decent detail with least listening fatigue, my 580s are best. For detail on high/low ends and isolation the ATHs are better, but overall detail across the spectrum, the old Yamahas win. With the Yamahas, I can't hear higher frequencies above 12khz. With the ATHs and 580s, I can barely make out 14khz.
Curious if the parts of the spectrum that drop out, and closer to 20khz could be heard with better headphones, or if that's just the limit of my hearing. Because I already know I have a certain degree of high frequency hearing loss, I'm wondering if I can compensate with better matched headphones to my ears. From this test, it's clear that's likely.
The Jesus lizard also did unreasonable things to my ears.
Seriously, on some level, fuck David Yow and the horse he and all the other postrockers rode in on. (Myself included -- me, who stood to the left of the crash cymbal every other night for about four years in the 90s and never wore earplugs! Idiot!)
Seriously though, after a decent session with my closed-back Klipsch cans, my ears will be ringing the next morning. and it's usually worse after listening on the subway. I should be using noise reduction headphones, huh?
I seen the ramones back in the 80's... ears still ringing now!
[(_)]
Seriously, get the hd25's.... I spotted the aluminiums for a steal a while back and jumped....
More than happy for my needs, (dj mixer)/ >iOS >OS X > zoom h1 for field or interior recording, nice for listening on my iPhone too... very comfortable.
I have ATH-M50s that are about 5 years old. They are basically destroyed. The speakers and cable are fine, but the padding and the plastic not so much. I probably used them every day for 5 years though, I think that's pretty good. Now I'm back to my HD-280s. Not bad, but they're a bit tight and wearing them is like being in an anechoic chamber. I'm not an audiophile or anything, but I suspect the Sennheisers are probably more honest and they were half the price of the Audio-Technicas.
I've never spent more than $40 on headphones and am currently using a pretty cheap pair of Sony zx310 for portability and decent sound.
What am I missing?
Use them for walking around outside, bus, and car trips.
Similar head squash here with the HD-280s. I where them on the rare occasion when I'm tracking drums and need to hear the source music as they are great for loud+isolation.
I grew up in DC and ear plugs were always in vogue at Fugazi (and fam) shows. Indeed, Ian used to annoyingly preach about it. He was right. I forget them when I go to shows now though! Too infrequent to remember I guess.
Whatever you buy, DO NOT BUY headphones with FLAT cables. Those flat cables transmit sound so bad, every move of your head, cables transmits the sound into your ears.
I got stuck with a pair of Klipsh that are pretty much useless...
@skiphunt : I can personally recommend these Brainwavz replacement ear pads as awesomely comfy. After trying velour and PU in both angled & symmetrical versions, I found the cheaper symmetrical PU ones most comfy and best fitting, yay.
I'm pretty sure they have round shapes too, and definitely lots of colour choices, have a search for them!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MFDT894/
I can also attest that they significantly improved the sound of all the headphones I put them on. I put a cotton round (like people use for makeup removal) between the cans and the ear pads. Dunno if it helped, but that's what I did. Overall result = Superduper.
If you have a smidge of free time, this thread includes some info on the usefulness of headphone comfort vs audio quality, a little bit about the HD-25-I's, plus some other field recording stuff.
https://www.freesound.org/forum/off-topic/13416/
Hope that helped. Headphone shopping can be tedious and arduous, I hope you end up with an awesome result, even if it's with the cans you already have.
EDIT:
ps: Amazon usa Brainwavz search link:
https://www.amazon.com/s/Brainwavz&keywords=Brainwavz&ie=UTF8&qid=1476080107&rnid=2941120011
... and this Brainwavz earbud carrying/storage case = I
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HPPL1M4/
Well, that test made me depressed. Despite wearing earplugs at all shows (including Jesus Lizard and the Ramones) and keeping my listening level low on my stereo and w/ headphones, I have lost a lot of my hearing at the upper frequencies. Getting old is sucky sometimes.
I used Yamaha RH-5Ms for years; basically all of the 90's, and loved 'em. I've moved on; Sony MDR7506s in the '00s and ATM50s now, but the RH-5Ms served me very well.
never mind... and don't be fooled by numbers (or rather their size)
Missing 10.000 cycles between 10khz and 20khz reads like desaster, but it's just one single octave
Even more: it's the top octave which entirely lacks original content.
But below 10khz there are 8 full octaves to enjoy.
To make any sense of a note at all, you need the fundamental frequency and at least 2 harmonics (because even/uneven is important for perceiption).
That sets the theoretical limit of 'usuable' notes somewhere into the 7khz range.
Anything above would just be a high pitched tone without any character, a sine beep.
@decibelle cool! Can't decide between tHe red ones, or deep purple
good info on the blog too. Thx!
To all... I picked up the Sennheiser HD25 from the Guitar shop, because I can return them with no penalty and no questions asked. Although they are better than what I already have in almost every respect, I'm likely going to return them anyway. They just aren't night and day better. The sound is cleaner and sounds more "pure", but they didn't allow me to hear the higher frequencies I was missing.
They did do better with isolation, driver matching, comfort, etc. and I'll get them again later. Maybe if there's a sale p, but for sure I'll add them to my holiday gift list. They just aren't must-hav s right now.
Strangely, the old, most worn, cheapest set of Yamaha RH-M5a cans performed almost as well, and allowed me to hear a notch higher frequencies on that test. So, although I'm sure there are frequencies that are impossible for me to hear, period, the fact that one set allows me to hear a few more of them than I can with others, tells me it's possible to compensate for imperfect hearing with the right ones matched to my ears.
I've always wondered about the Sony 7506s, that everyone raves about for along time, ur most seemed to report the ATHs were better in comparison. The ATH do sound great for music, and what some complain about the 7506s is that they sound cold and favor the highs too much. But, given my recent testing, it sounds like those are the very frequencies that I need favored. I wonder if that's why they're most popular with older listeners? Since, it's common for older listeners to have some loss in the highest frequencies?
To reiterate though, my original post had almost everything to do with simply compensating for imperfect hearing. I know quality and comfort factor heavy too, but I'm mostly interested in making sure I can detect the broadest spectrum possible, and isolated from distraction in louder ambience.
My vision isn't perfect either. I don't wear glasses most of the time, but when I'm doing more critical, detailed photo image or video editing... I wear my glasses. I'm basically looking for sort of the aural equivalent for when I'm doing critical listening, i.e. cans that compensate for my imperfect hearing.
in fact some hearing loss may be compensated by can choice.
I'm completely tuned to (half) open AKG 501/601/701 (old models), which sound very natural to me, but young folks (with full hearing) use to describe them as bitingly high.
The HD25 are good ones, but I'm generally uncomfortable with the in-head acoustic image of closed types - it's a highly individual issue...
The Binaural part of the test was freaking
It's a tough call. My goal is also good isolation for field recording too. And want to be able to make sure I'm getting the detail I'm targeting.I mostly got the HD25s to try out for that, which I haven't done yet. I don't like that they don't fold up very compact though.
For example, I went out the day before yesterday looking for sounds. Settled on some machinery drones near a large manufacturing complex. There was a lot of noise, but was trying to focus a short shotgun mic on a particular bit of machinery and the ATH cans are a bit bass heavy (to my ears) making it difficult to focus on the middle or higher end drones. Did the same at a nearby car wash, trying to focus on the water spray and compressor sounds, and less on the vacuum cleaners, etc. In other words, need maximum isolation and to be able to hear the fullest range in order to make sure I'm getting the specific sound I'm after.
then it's a perfect choice - I remember 'testing' the HD25 at Frankfurt Music Fair, in a very noisy area... nice and compact in size, too.
@skiphunt re:field recording...
For isolation and lightweight, what about earbuds.... I have modest priced sennheiser cx160 - I find them handy for setting levels for recording... I often field record without monitoring once I have set my levels... sometimes you can be more stealthy this way too!
I ran the benchmarks with the cx160's and was very impressed with the results s for a budget set of buds...
J
No doubt, sucky. However sometimes it's not a bad thing to be a little deaf sometimes around the wife...
@syrupcore if Ian was so worried about ear plugs, why didn't he just have the band turn down?
@Telefunky I do really like these HD25s. They are very comfortable, lightweight, and I like how you can flip up one cup easily. I will own these, but I think I can hold off and save them as a gift request, because for my immediate desire, what I have will suffice. I don't tend to buy a lot of gadget stuff unless I have an immediate specific need. Most of the time I force myself to make what I have work. The HD25s would be my choice in the field of what I have I think, but they aren't giving me any more frequencies than the old beat up Yamahas.
@id_23 hadn't thought of that. Buds do isolate well and some are exceptional in this regard. I know because of getting the right pair for listening while riding the motorcycle and cutting down on wind noise. I also like the idea of stealthiness. I was recently playing with some cheap binaural mics built in to headphones. It was cool walking around the grocery store getting binaural recordings, but looking like I was just listening to music without attracting attention. Made me feel a little creepy though... picking up and eavesdropping on conversations nearby that I wouldn't have normally been able to hear.
the frequency issue may be related to the direction of emission and your individual anatomy. The HD 25 drivers (iirc) are very straight with few space, while the Yamahas probably have more room around them - which can make a difference.
One big thing in favour of the HD25s is that they last for ever, and when parts wear out they are replaceable. My pair is 15 years old and still going strong. I've changed the cable twice and the ear pads once, and I use them every singe day (they're my walking the dog headphones)
that's one of the main benefits with the traditional builders like AKG, Beyer, Sennheiser
allows me to buy used cans that are out of production - the earpads are expensive, but that way I get a premium device for less than $100 which is absolutely clean. On arrival I trash the old pads, apply a sold wash of alcohol to the rest and put on the new pads, bingo ...
I could hear the low frequency test rumbling immediately on my HD280s. On the high I don't hear anything until 18k. Is that good?
I would recommend the HD25 Sennheisers. Mine are now 27 years old. I bought them back in the day when I was dj'ing. Replaced the cable once, and replaced the ear pads 3 times. They sound as good as when new. Bass is solid and full, highs are crisp.
(Stick with the original ear pads, I changed to a velour set last time and they leak sound. The original style ear pads seem to seal better on the ear)
Blasphemy. Whadareyou, some sort of dirty commie?
And to be fair to the preachyness, he was talking to frequent hardcore show goers. Even if Fugazi turned down, what about the next 20 shows a preachee attended?
Amen on the HD280's being too tight! I have those and some MDR7506's, I've come to prefer the latter for everything except guitar (something about the harsh upper frequencies). But I'm not an audiophile, so I use cheaper models as well particularly if they have other advantages (comfort; narrower plug that fits in an iPhone case; etc).
By those criteria, my HD428's might get the most use of all. Dirt cheap (now) and discontinued, but they function kind of like a lighter, stripped down HD280. If you're just playing music as opposed to mixing and mastering, do you need elite level headphones?