Audio Technica A500

Most, if not all people have a portable digital music player which can support MP3’s. Most, if not all people also use the headphones or earphones that come packaged with  the player during purchase. To the person who does not know better, those earphones, or popularly ibuds (the white ones that come with iPhones and iPods) sound sufficient. However, a small investment into good headphones will change the way you will enjoy your music, movies, and games. In fact, with a good pair of headphones, you can hear every little detail, every nuance of the music you are listening to. It could be compared to listening to your own personal concert, even! Gamers will appreciate the extra detail afforded by good headphones, allowing for better positioning in shooter games and greater immersion.

Choosing a pair of good headphones will look like an impossible challenge, especially in the face of so many big name brands like Sony and Philips and so many models to choose from. In this 3 part series, this guide will give you an introduction into your first serious headphone purchase

In this part, I will cover the types of headphones available on the market and their various differences. The largest type of headphone are the full size headphones, which are then split into 2 distinct categories. The two categories are closed and open  headphones, both of which have their differences.

First, a note on brands. Most of the high profile brands like Sony and JVC will be the most noticeable, and they will be stocked in all the chain electrical stores. However, they aren’t the only choices that one is limited to. There are specialist companies like Sennheiser, Audio-Technica, and  Koss which make excellent audio equipment, including headphones for every budget imaginable. Looking for these brands will require a bit more effort, such as going online or going to small shops because they aren’t as well known. However, these brands are famous in the audiophile circles for their excellent quality.

Closed headphones allow a certain degree of isolation from the surroundings and do not leak sound to the environment. This is great for listening where you don’t want to disturb the people around you and vice versa. Closed back headphones also have slightly better bass than that of open back headphones. However, when comparing them to open back headphones, the soundstage is smaller. This means that the music will feel closer to your ears. A good analogy to compare a small soundstage to a wide soundstage is the comparison between a small auditorium and a concert hall. A smaller soundstage would be like the small auditorium, where the performance is closer to you and more personal, while the wider soundstage would be like a concert hall, where the music sounds wide and spacious. An example of such a headphone would be the Audio Technica A500 shown above, which is widely known as an excellent pair of all round headphones.

On the other hand, you have open  headphones. These headphones have a grille at the back of the drivers, allowing them to vent freely to the surroundings. This design will allow noise out into the environment, and also external noise into your music. The upshot of this type, is that the sound quality tends to be better than that of the closed type headphones. The soundstage will be wider, as well as the music sounding more natural. The bass will be weaker though, so bass heads, avoid this type! The Sennheiser HD555’s are probably the best known of this class, and are also a very popular choice among audiophiles for their quality.

Sennheiser HD555

The second type of headphones are the smaller portable type. Roughly half the size of full size headphones, they are inherently more portable, however the sound quality of the best portable headphones cannot reach the best full size headphones. An example is the Koss KSC-75, which are portable clip designs and are known to be a good budget choice.

Koss KSC-75

The smallest type of headphones are earbuds and in-ear monitors (IEMs). Earbuds are small and the best example of them are the stock earbuds bundled with the iPod. Earbuds will sit just outside the ear canal, and because there is no seal between the ear canal and the surroundings, sound will both leak in to your music and your music will leak into the surroundings. Sound wise, the quality can vary, but good earbuds sound very good.

IEMs are small, around the same size as earbuds. Their primary difference is that the tips surrounding the speaker in the IEM are made of rubber or foam. The tips are inserted into the ear canal itself, causing a seal to be formed. This is extremely advantageous because it can potentially block out all ambient noise. I’ve had stories where people were wearing IEMs and they claimed they couldn’t hear the person screaming next to them! Due to this property, sound out of good IEMs tends to be very good.

Shure SE210 noise isolating IEMs

I personally see no need for active noise cancelling headphones. This type of headphone uses electronic circuitry to detect and cancel out ambient noise. However, when noise cancelling is on, the sound quality can degrade. To compound on that, the electronics requires batteries to function. For noise isolation, it would be a better option to use IEMs such as the Shure shown above.

This concludes the first part of G’s headphone guide. The next installment here will describe sound and give recommendations for your first purchase!