Friday, September 13, 2013

What Makes Audiophile Headphones So Desirable

Audiophiles are passionate about their music. Budget audiophiles spend thousands of dollars on a sound setup, while high-end audiophiles get in to the tens of thousands of dollars for their sound systems. With all that money spent on the sound method, audiophiles would never neglect the final piece: headphones. How do audiophile headphones differ from the stereo headphones that the remainder of us use?
Audiophile headphones are designed to work with audiophile systems.
Most audiophiles break their method down in to parts that deliver the best feasible sound. Audiophiles usually have headphone amplifiers solely to drive audiophile headphones, as plenty of audiophile headphones need additional power to drive them. Think about regular stereo headphones. When you plug them in to your iPod or laptop computer, the power for the headphones comes directly from the source. However, that limits your listening experience to comparatively little stereo headphones able to being powered by the source.
High-end audiophile headphones, such as plenty of Sennheiser models, are huge headphones with lots of internal equipment designed to deliver high-quality sound. In plenty of cases, these audiophile headphones need much power; they need a separate headphone amp in order to work. Most average listeners don't have a headphone amp at all, so these audiophile headphones are not available for the general public.
Diaphragms & reflectors & neodymium magnets, oh my!
Let's face it; audiophile headphones basically are not made in the same way as the stereo headphones that they Average Joes use. Audiophile headphones include things like special diaphragms designed to reduce intermodulation, surround reflectors to generate the auditory illusion of space around the listener, & neodymium magnets to produce superior sound quality. Audiophiles need their headphones to sound like listening to music in a room where it is actually being played, & they need specialized know-how to accomplish that experience.
Audiophile headphones usually include isolation know-how.
By their design, audiophile headphones usually block out exterior noise. With the circumaural design that plenty of audiophiles prefer, your ears are enclosed in a thick layer of foam that serves purposes: to move the speakers away from the ears to help generate the illusion of space, to insulate you from outside noises & to provide comfort.
However, some audiophiles would have canalphones; that is, audiophile headphones that fit directly in to your ear canal. Canalphones provide the same isolation from outside noises, usually blocking 20-25dB of environmental noise, functioning much like earplugs. However, they deliver sound directly to the ear canals, which usually requires less power & less volume.
Compare this with the stereo headphones that the remainder of us use. Most headphone designs for use with MP3 players & laptops are either semi-aural , which fit over the ear but don't cover & insulate it like the circumaural design, or earbuds, which fit in to the ear but not inside like canalphones. These stereo headphones are easy-to-use on the go, but don't provide the same listening experience as audiophile headphones.

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