Don's Audio Guide

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An Audiophile’s Guide to Basic Audio

Glossary/Table of Contents

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Chapter 1 Introduction ....

5

Headband

1 Hinge

4

Driver

2

Ear pad

3

Cable

Headphone Parts

1

Holds the headphones together by connecting the speakers to the headband, a truly innovative design choice. May come with a special ‘move up and down’ feature, allowing for multiple head sizes to fit the headband.

2

Protects your ears from the cries of screaming babies on airplanes, in addition to providing comfort. Wear with caution, many audiophiles claim it nearly impossible to remove, without third-party involvement.

3

Transfers data from your device to the headphones, assuming you’re not using wireless headphones. It’s usually a dangerous tripping hazard, probably the second leading death in audiophiles worldwide.

Hinge

Ear pad

Cable

4

Driver

5 Headband

Processes the audio coming from your device and plays it directly into your ear canals, often granting a sense of mental pleasure to the listener. Keep in mind, accelerating the drivers to loud volumes over long periods of time might endanger your fragile ears, increasing the chance of them possibly falling off, growing legs and running away forever.

Shields a small part of the center of your head, in addition to flattening your head, assuming you have hair. Fun fact, if you’re guillable enough, you can activate the hidden ‘ghost’ feature by shifting the headband exactly 45 degrees past your forehead to cover your eyes, giving you temporary x-ray vision.

Chapter 1 Introduction

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Opening Hey, I’m Don, the author of this ‘guide’, or at least that’s what I’m calling it. This was all done as a project I did for school, known as the “badges project.” Basically, you have to become a ‘young expert’ in some sort of field. Whether that’s something hobby related or not is up to the student, it can be whatever they want it to be… as long as the coaches approve it, of course.

So I decided to do my project on the ‘magical world of audiophilia.’ I’m going to assume that most of my readers don’t initially know what the word ‘audiophile’ is, and what it’s supposed to mean. If you didn’t want me to give you my own definition of the word, you could just assume that an audiophile; judging by the two words ‘audio’ and ‘phile’ put together, is someone who’s freakishly obsessed with audio technology. Well you’d be sort of right, but also totally wrong.

What is an Audiophile?

An audiophile, in simple terms, is somebody who has a strong knowledge and passion for audio and technologies surrounding it. I’m no audiophile saint or anything like that, but there is an important difference between an audiophile and anyone who just ‘appreciates’ audio. The main thing that separates the two is ‘hi-fi’, which is an abbreviation for high-fidelity (just a more formal way of saying high-quality sound). Audiophiles don’t just love sound, they ‘strive for greatness’ with it.

You see, anybody can consider themselves an audiophile, but to be considered a ‘true audiophile’ among the community, you must have an understanding of basic topics in the field of audio, and most importantly must share the unique amount of love and appreciation for hi-fi sound. Whether it’s hi-fi in terms of music listening and/or production, or immersive effects and/or calming sounds, it’s all considered to be audiophile grade entertainment.

Usually, audiophiles already have or are looking to get that special hi-fi sound. What separates the average ‘shopping for audio’ consumer from an audiophile is that audiophiles will most likely settle for nothing less than what meets their expectations for hi-fi sound. When buying audio equipment, audiophiles will spend more than what most people would consider to be ‘a lot for audio technology’… however, most audiophiles will be constricted within a budget, obviously.

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Prologue Before school ended, all of us 9th graders (almost 10th) were given various announcements and presentations about the badges project. The teachers (our future coaches) told us to think about it over the summer, but I personally didn’t put too much thought into it. In fact, I didn’t even come up with the idea for doing this as my badges project until school had already started. Anyway, here’s how I first developed my interest for the world of audiophilia.

I was on vacation from home and camp for a week with my family, and I spent a lot of my free time just relaxing and watching videos on my laptop. I kind of wish that I had spent a little bit more of time during the day with my cousins, but I don’t necessarily regret it. I don’t remember how exactly I stumbled upon it, but I first discovered the world of audiophilia by watching a YouTube video from one of my favorite technology channels, who was reviewing my now favorite headphones, the Massdrop x Sennheiser “HD 6XX.” I’ll get into the technical details later in my guide, but this was how it started.

From there, and over the next couple of days, my interest in hi-fi was growing and growing; actually to the point where I was fully confident in myself and the research I had done to make a buying decision. Only a couple days after I had first learned about hi-fi technology, I completely changed how I perceived audio, as well as what ‘high-quality audio’ really meant. Of course, when I told my dad that I was now interested in the field of hi-fi audio technology, and that I was interested in buying a pair of hi-fi headphones, as well as a sound card (we’ll get into sound cards later) to be coupled with it, you can guess what his reaction was like.

Despite my new interest and ridiculously unexpected buying request, my dad didn’t shut me down immediately. He told me to do more research and make sure that this was something I really wanted, and not just something that I’d regret. I took his advice with heed and I quickly made up my mind by the next day. I knew I had done my research, I knew I truly wanted these two products and I had to have them. At the time, I hadn’t spent any money on anything in the recent months, so I definitely had enough money saved up to pay for my ambitions. Also one of the main reasons why I had to make my decision within a couple days of first discovering my interest in hi-fi was because the headphones I wanted were part of a so-called ‘drop’, which ended in a couple days.

My dad understood this, so he allowed me to make haste with my buying decision. Obviously, he didn’t agree with my sudden impulse to buy expensive hi-fi technology… I mean, who would! Even now I’m sure that he doesn’t exactly meet eye-to-eye with me on expensive hi-fi technology. But with all this in mind, he still let me proceed with my buying decision, one that has since changed how I experience music and everything else; obviously, and has also given me new sight and perception over what things really sound like in a hi-fi environment.

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The two products that; in a way, have changed my life for now are the headphones I already mentioned some paragraphs ago, and a hi-fi ‘gaming’ sound card known as the “Sound BlasterX AE-5.” Yeah, names for cool products can be weird, but sometimes that’s what distinguishes them from other things… oh, and it also grabs people’s attention well.

Getting back to the story, I asked my dad the next day if he had any tracking information on the two orders, and he said that I’d receive the sound card within the next couple weeks. I was excited, but my smile turned upside down when he let me know that the headphones wouldn’t arrive until the end of the year (five to six months later). I’ll talk more about this later in the guide, but getting to the point of this super long ‘prologue’, school started a couple weeks after this point, and I had no idea what I was going to do for my badges project.

I brainstormed when it was time, and soon enough I had an amazing idea for what my badges project could be. Since I first learned about hi-fi a couple weeks prior, I couldn’t stop thinking about the headphones, as well as learning more and more about things hi-fi related. If you couldn’t guess, my idea was to do my badges project on hi-fi, and I wanted to make a so-called ‘guide’ for it. At this point I wasn’t too knowledgeable in the field of everything hi-fi related, but I was determined to become an expert in it. Thus began my year-long project on learning about hi-fi and writing a guide about it.

The Point

It turns out that there’s another reason as to why I’m writing a guide about audio and stuff, besides the fact that it’s for a school project. This ‘guide’ is supposed to be lightly detailed, yet helpful and understandable for the likes of audiophiles, pre-audiophiles (people who are still learning about the world of audiophilia, like myself), as well as anybody who’s just looking to learn a little bit more about hi-fi audio, without getting into the ‘nitty-gritty stuff.’ Of course, at the time that I’m writing this, I don’t know what kind of impact this may have on myself and anyone who reads this entire guide to the end. I guess my hope is that someone (whether it’s a family member, friend, or just anyone at all) reads this guide and is able to learn something from it.

My ‘Guide’ If you still can’t guess what exactly this ‘guide’ will be about, that’s fine, I tend to let my imagination flow when writing creatively. I’ll be going over various topics and sub topics in the fields of audio and whatnot. However, this ‘guide’ won’t be just a guide, it’ll be more than that. I like to think of myself as a creative person, for writing at least.

This ‘guide’ will be part information, part creative writing, and part whatever I want it to be. Hopefully you understand now what I’m trying to do with this ‘guide’, as well as why I keep putting quotation marks around the word ‘guide.’

The Rundown In case you chose not to look over the table of contents (which I should have included in the beginning of the guide, if not, whoops), here’s the rundown of what I’m going to be talking about. I’ll be going over four main topics (not including this introduction and the conclusion), as well as some subtopics inside of those topics, regarding the basics and what you need to know about the world of audiophilia. For some subtopics I’ll be giving my own opinions on what I think, or what I’d recommend, or even just a brief history and/or personal story relating to it all. Hopefully by the end of all this you will have at least a basic understanding, or maybe even a little bit more, about hi-fi sound and the world of audiophilia.

One Last Thing

It took me a while to figure out where exactly to put this in my guide. I’m putting it here because it’s right before I start talking about audiophile stuff, and I want to make sure you know so I don’t have to constantly mention it later.

Anyway, I’m somebody who knows and loves headphones much more than speakers (despite them being similar in various ways), and I have chosen to talk solely about headphones and very little related to speakers. So [for any speaker lovers out there], I hope you understand and mind me ignoring speakers, even though it’s probably one of the more important things to discuss in something like an audio-related guide. Without further ado, let’s get on with it…. In other words, let’s begin.

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Chapter 2 Audio Systems AKA DACs, AMPs, etc.

1.1

Ports

1

1.2

DAC

Tuning

2.1

Ports 2.2

2 Headphone AMP

Tubes

3 Soundcard

3.1

Ports

Different Systems

1

Acts as a seperate computer, only specifically for audio. Usually comes in the form of a miniature rectangular coffee table, just with a bunch of electronics

DAC

Many DACs come with a port for your headphones and microphone. The headphone port is obvious, however, the microphone port allows you to connect your microphone to it, assuming you have the right cable, and listen to yourself.

1.1

Ports 1.2

Tuning

2 Headphone AMP

2.1

Ports 2.2

Tubes

3 Soundcard

3.1

Ports

The tuning for DACs generally involve the volume wheel, and any other wheels that may tune the sound of it, such as an equalizer.

If you know anything about computers, you know that you need a power supply to, well, supply power. The headphone amp basically acts as that, only for powering the audio. Of course, it’s not required to use one, but a dedicated amp will give you plenty of power.

Every headphone amp will come with a headphone port... because how else are you going to use the amp?

Some headphone amps come with actual vacuum tubes, which light up and everything. No, the point of them isn’t to look pretty, but it’s nice.... They’re there to power the amp via heat, thermal energy, and stuff like that.

Same concept as a DAC, only instead of the term ‘computer,’ we’ll use the term ‘circuit board.’ It’s only made for desktop computers with a decent amount of space inside, as you’re supposed to put it onto your motherboard.

Most soundcards support almost every kind of port. This means all the types of ports for different sizes/forms of audio cables and different audio channels.

Chapter 2 Audio Systems

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What are Audio Systems?

Starting off with the most important piece when it comes to audio equipment, the audio system is your source audio output. It’s the device within the device you’re really using, which is what you’re actually listening to when playing music or any kind of sound on your “sound entertainment device” (I made that word up, but what I mean by that is a computer, smartphone, etc.). The reason why I’m using the word “audio system” as a general term is because audio systems can come in many, many different forms. Just for the simplicity of the guide, let’s say your computer is your main “sound entertainment device” (let’s also hope that I stop using this made-up word now).

First off, if I confused you about what an audio system actually is, that’s okay. In the simplest terms that I can put it in, the audio system is its own computer part, but within your actual computer. Now, before we get into a couple different forms of audio systems, it’s important to understand that every computer, smartphone, and “sound entertainment device” (okay, this is probably the last time I’ll use this word) has some kind of audio system, whether it’s built into the actual computer or not.

Most people don’t have anything fancy for their audio-related needs, and they just use “onboard audio” from the “motherboard.” In case you don’t know what a motherboard is, it’s basically the skeleton of a computer, it holds everything together. One of the many things the motherboard of a computer holds is what’s called the “codec”, or the “sound chip”, which is the very computer part that’s actually playing the sound.

Now, don’t be disappointed if you’re one of the many people that’s currently using standard onboard audio.

Just in the past few years, onboard audio has gotten better and better. For people who build their own computers, any decent motherboard you buy in today’s world will usually include a decent or high-quality (sometimes advertised as hi-fi) audio solution. And for people who buy either pre-built desktops or laptops in today’s world, they’ll also receive the same kind of treatment, and sometimes even better if you pay the right price.

In case you’re wondering about the kind of treatment I’m referring to, some high-end pre-built desktops and laptops (usually seen in laptops) manufactured by big companies (such as HP, Dell, etc.) will include premium audio developed behind a certain brand (such as Bang and Olufsen, Dolby, etc.). Some people believe these brand names can justify how one computer might sound better than another, other people think it’s just a gimmick or scam.

Anyway, let’s get back to the point. Despite all of this chit-chat on whether onboard audio (premium or not) is more or less decent, it doesn’t matter at all to audiophiles. I mean, seriously, almost every audiophile will say that in order to get the absolute best audio possible, you’ll need some type of different audio system to get the job done.

Sure, that might be an obvious point, as computer manufacturers don’t usually have the right amount of resources and funds to beef up a computer’s audio to “hi-fi standards.” But even if an audiophile owned a computer with the most premium onboard audio ever, it still wouldn’t be comparable to a different premium audio system, especially one outside of the computer’s internal system (this is important, I’ll talk about it later).

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Basics of Audio Systems Yeah, you read the title right. I know it seemed like I was finally about to dive into our two options for different audio systems (for computers at least), but sadly I’ve deceived you with my evil trickery and stuff. I’m sure you were excited to get into the ‘good stuff’, but before that we’ll have to get into the basics of audio systems and whatnot.

I know it sounds boring, but don’t worry, I got this. Besides, how else are you going to understand whatever I’m blabbing about?

What are DACs? Starting off with DACs (Digital-to-Analog Converters), these things do exactly as their unabbreviated name implies, they convert digital signals to analog signals. This may be confusing at first, and trust me, it is, so I’ll try my best to keep it simple to understand. Every so-called “audio signal” is played in the analog format (with very little exceptions), meaning whether you’re playing an instrument or music from an electronic device, it’s being played as sound you can actually hear because it’s in the analog format.

The digital format differs greatly, as digital signals aren’t necessarily audio signals. Because of this, the digital signals (which come from pretty much every type of electronic device) must somehow turn into analog signals in order for the sound to actually work.

That should be simple enough to understand; besides, I don’t even know how DACs actually even work, I just know they do stuff. So, to clarify how sound works with computers, the digital signals are played from the computer, then the DAC does its magic, and finally the analog signals are played as the sound you actually hear. To tie all this in with onboard audio, the codec/sound chip in your motherboard contains a DAC. Here’s a fun fact, the codec (I’m going to call it a codec from here on out, just because it’s easier) actually contains a DAC and an ADC (Analog-to-Digital Converter), although the ADC isn’t important for what we’re talking about, so let’s not worry about it…. Well, okay, in case you do care, the ADC is basically the opposite of the DAC. That’s obvious of course, but I mean that they perform opposite functions. The DAC provides sound, while the ADC acquires sound. In easier to understand terms the DAC allows you to listen to music, while the ADC allows you to record music.

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What are Amplifiers?

Moving on to amplifiers (or just amps for short), these things focus on powering your audio systems. They have a lot to do with voltage, which is basically the fuel for feeding them power, but we don’t need to go into it. All you need to know is that the amp provides more power to the audio system, which ultimately makes it louder.

Now, as far as I can tell, there’s only two types of different amps, which are headphone amps and stereo amps. They don’t differ from each other too much, so just compare them like this: stereo amps are for speakers, while headphone amps are for headphones, simple.

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What is Headphone/Ohm (Ω) Impedance?

Right, one more thing to go over. In case you come upon the term “headphone/ohm (Ω) impedance”, it’s referring to headphone amps. Now, every pair of headphones has an impedance rating, and higher end hi-fi headphones usually have much higher ratings. Impedance ratings are basically just a way for people to know how many ohms are required in order to effectively power a pair of headphones. Tying this back in with headphone amps, in order to correctly power high impedance headphones correctly, you must couple your headphones with some type of headphone amp.

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Different Audio Systems Alright, we’ve finally gotten to our two main competitors (again, for computers at least), hopefully it wasn’t too hard actually getting to this point. I mean, I tried pretty hard to simplify the basics of audio systems so I wouldn’t bore anybody. Besides, writing long and comprehensive stuff bores me out too, so it’s a win-win situation. Anyway, getting back to audio systems, we’ll be going over external DACs and sound cards. Now, before I cause any confusion, external DACs and sound cards are similar, as they’re both audio systems (meaning that they do the same general things), but they do in fact have different purposes and ways of doing things.

What are Sound Cards?

Sound cards are basically just separate circuit boards (similar to motherboards, but smaller) that can stick onto any motherboard that features a so-called “PCI” or “PCIe” slot (some motherboards feature both). If you know what a motherboard looks like, you may be thinking to yourself, “The idea of a smaller shaped circuit board (the sound card) being placed onto a bigger shaped circuit board (the motherboard) is a very silly concept.” Well, first of all, it’s not a concept anymore, it’s a real thing now, despite however much criticism it may face. Second of all, there’s actually a good reason as to why something like this would be a smart idea.

When sound cards first appeared on the computer-audio scene years ago, people must have been horrified by the monstrosity that it was. Some people thought the complete opposite and were happy to fill up a PCI/PCIe slot on their motherboards and fill up the space in their computer cases. Other people just thought nothing of it and were interested to see what the actual device did. Anyway, most people who were intrigued by sound cards got past the ‘hideous design’ and realized how useful of a tool they really were.

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At the time, motherboards weren’t nearly as powerful as they are today. Besides much slower processing speeds and whatnot, audio was a problem for anybody who needed to utilize all the power their computer could give out. The reason why sound cards were so revolutionary was because they removed a lot of the stress the motherboard had (due to audio). In other words, a computer that had a sound card attached to its motherboard now ran seemingly faster.

Of course, this is just an old tale from a time period long ago. I mean, 20+ years ago might not seem like too long of a time, but in the grand scheme of things (computer related), it would feel like forever ago for anyone who had first learned about sound cards in the 90s. The past couple sentences might not have made you realize why they’re actually there in the first place, but my point is that within most of the audiophile community, sound cards seem to be a thing of the past. The reason for their decline in present day isn’t really anyone or anything’s fault directly. However, external DACs may have had a thing or two to do with it, which brings us to our next audio device.

What are External DACs? External DACs are basically mini-computers that are dedicated to just audio (similar to sound cards, but in box-shaped form), which connect/plug into computers via USB ports. In case you don’t know what a USB port is for some reason, it’s the tiny rectangle-shaped port on your desktop/laptop. Most of you probably knew that, considering you’ve gotten this far into the guide, but I just like to make sure there’s nobody reading this that’s completely lost.

Anyway, getting back to external DACs, I’m sure you were very excited to read about why they’re better than sound cards, or how they had something to do with the decline of sound cards in present day, but I’ll get to that stuff later. Besides, if we’re going to get into those things, I have to explain their history in a short few paragraphs, as well as how they now dominate the market variety of audio systems.

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When external DACs first appeared on the computer-audio scene, they blew the competition away with their easy-to-use functionality, yet powerful and comprehensive audio capabilities. What I’m referring to with this is that external DACs have a lot more usability (physical buttons and knobs) to them when compared to sound cards, if you know what I mean (in case you don’t, of course I mean physically, but also from their inner proficiencies). I won’t compare the two audio systems anymore (until a bit later), but at least you get the gist of why external DACs are the “big boys in town.”

Twisting this back with original non-believers of the sound card, external DACs provided a much cleaner space for them (in the sense that the inside of their desktop computers didn’t have an oddly-looking circuit board sticking out of the motherboard… then again, they now had to worry about putting the external DAC by them, which may have been a good or bad thing), as well as a usability plus-side. By the way, I might have only implied this, and not actually said it, but external DACs are outside of the computer, while sound cards are inside the computer. This means that if you’re using a laptop, rather than a desktop, you actually have a choice when it comes to audio systems.

It’s also important to note that not all external DACs connect via USB ports, as some of them have specific functionality for smartphone use, which is mainly for audiophiles that won’t settle for anything less than the best, even when using their smartphones. It may seem pretty ridiculous to non-audiophiles, but some This all brings me back to my original point, which is that external DACs take up most of the audio system market. Now, don’t get me wrong, it certainly isn’t a bad thing, as there’s a lot of different external DAC types to choose from, whether you’re looking for a certain brand, or just a certain type. However, this means that sound cards are left in the market at a state where they’re not the best ‘buying choice.’

Also, I’m sure a couple questions relating to what’s the better audio system have crossed your mind by now.

Well, I hope you’re excited, because now we’re going to delve deep into the differences, as well as how one may be better in a certain way when compared to the other.

Which is better?

Oh right, I guess I should mention [what I believe to be pretty obvious] that one isn’t truly better than the other. Yeah, sorry about the misleading title, it just looks nice. Anyway, they’re both audio systems, and despite whatever has been said before this point, you’ll find that they’re both strong as well as weak in certain areas. So if you’re looking for what is simply the best audio system, you’ll be fairly disappointed, because it all comes down to personal preference and what does things best for you.

So, going over the simple things to note, they’re both viable choices when it comes to choosing an audio system. Obviously, the point of having either one of them is to get a better sound for your listening experience, as they almost always offer much higher quality sound than your standard onboard audio (I won’t talk about this anymore, it’s up to you to decide whether you need a separate audio system or not).

Also, before we get into the exact differences of the two, we should look at other things that might have you reconsider your choice. One thing to keep in mind is your budget, which I’ll get into when comparing the two audio systems. Of course, for some people the budget isn’t an issue, as they’re simply trying to get the best for their money.

Most audiophiles will keep their budget fairly within the ‘couple hundred dollars’ mark. Some audiophiles will even venture into the low tier cheap alternatives.

However, the problem with this narrative is that audio systems aren’t the only thing your budget should be spent on when looking for a new setup. Besides DACs, there’s also amps, which; as I’ve explained before, do different things and serve different purposes. There’s even other things like pre-amps and such, but don’t worry, those shouldn’t come up again in this guide.

Now, before I complicate things too much, in case you’re in this certain situation, there’s always great mid-to-high priced solutions that serve as both a DAC and an amp. But I’ve failed to mention that most audiophiles won’t spend their whole ‘wallet’s worth’ on an audio setup all at once. These things usually take time, so [in case you’re actually thinking of spending absurd amounts of money on audio technology] you shouldn’t just rush into the audiophile market and make every buying decision you think you’ll ever make.

Anyway, getting back to just audio systems, another thing to keep in mind is your specific usage. That will definitely come up once we go more in depth, I just wanted to make it clear that it’s important to know what you really need, not what you really want, or even what you may think you need for that matter. So, without further ado, let’s finally get right into the comparisons of the two audio systems.

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Sound Cards [Strengths and Weaknesses] Starting off with the ‘OG audio system’, sound cards mainly aim to provide an ‘immersive’ (keep that word in mind) sounding experience, in some cases featuring different playback effects, and/or a virtual equalizer for a unique type of sound that the user will enjoy. In case you don’t know what an equalizer is, it’s basically a way to ‘equalize’ your sound. However, an equalizer can do so many other things, the most common probably being the ability to change certain notes and sounds (such as bass, treble, etc.).

All these features are made possible through special software, which comes with almost all ‘modern-day’ sound cards. Most external DACs won’t come with software for various reasons. The main reason is that external DACs are [usually] placed by you, allowing you to easily tweak the device with its provided physical controls, while sound cards are pretty much impossible to reach from inside the computer case. High-end sound cards (mostly modernday ones) support high-quality playback and sample rates (we’ll get into this later), as well as high grade DAC chips, allowing modern-day sound cards stay competitive with external DACs in the audiophile scene.

Most sound cards also provide a choice of audio channels (we’ll also get into this later), one of them being surround sound (yes, another thing we’ll get into later). Most external DACs won’t have a choice of audio channels, partly because stereo (you should know what this is, but I won’t blame you if you don’t, we’ll get into this later anyway) is an audiophile standard.

Unfortunately sound cards only cater to one group of users, and that’s people who plan on using their highquality audio systems for their desktop computers only. External DACs on the other hand, can connect to just about anything (given the external DAC’s particular connectivity). Then again, similar to sounds cards only fitting on PCI/ PCIe slots on motherboards inside desktop computers, to some people it might be a problem to keep something (even as [typically] small as an external DAC) besides them or on a desk, as they may not have enough space.

Sound cards also do a great job at taking stress away from the motherboard, resulting in better computer performance. Although, as I said before, there won’t be a large or noticeable change unless it’s being used in some kind of old or dated computer from years ago. But even if a sound card can speed up your computer’s performance by just a little bit, external DACs will accomplish this better. It might be obvious, but in case it isn’t, external DACs are located outside of the computer, while sound cards are still located inside the busy area that is your computer.

Lastly, sound cards are relatively cheaper than most external DACs. This most definitely has to do with the modern-day decline of sound cards, and the fact that there’s much more external DAC solutions than sound card solutions on the market. Keep in mind, this doesn’t mean that there’s no viable options from low to mid and high priced sound cards, but that there’s a lot less of them than external DACs.

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External DACs [Strengths and Weaknesses] Moving on to the second and last contender in our lineup, external DACs mainly aim to provide only the clearest quality of sound, a quite different experience when compared to sound cards. What I mean by this is that external DACs have a more plain and simple taste to them, compared to sound cards. Without implying anything related to external DACs being better in terms of audio quality, they simply just have certain advantages that sound cards lack in.

External DACs don’t include any ‘gimmicks’ (as some might call them), such as effects or software tuning.

Without saying much more about it, external DACs aren’t really about the ‘immersive’ and/or complicated sound experience. They’re more about the ‘soothing’ and/or simplistic sound experience. I’m not the best at metaphors and whatnot, but I guess what I’m trying to say is external DACs do a better job than sound cards at providing most audiophiles their desired themes and traits when looking for an audio system.

Anyway, coming back to just external DACs, most of them are small and connected via USB, meaning that they’re portable. Some external DACs are so small that they actually take up around the same amount of weight and space (even less in some cases) as a smartphone, something that most people will always be carrying around with them. I know I’ve mentioned this multiple times already, but I just need to make it clear that portability is an important feature of external DACs, something that sound cards obviously don’t have.

Something that touches on portability and the simplistic experience of an external DAC is the ‘plug and play’ aspect. In case you have no idea what that is, it’s basically a way of saying that something is so simple that once you connect it, that’s it… like seriously, that’s all you have to do. Now, of course this exact description can change with different devices, but the point is that it’s such a great ‘feature’ (if you can even call it that) for making devices a lot easier to setup. Whether it’s pairing the device with a different one, or a first time setup, it’s always an easy and ‘laid back’ experience.

I probably didn’t need to explain all that, but I hope it somehow helped at least one person who decided to read the entirety of it. Anyway, if you didn’t get what I was referring to with the ‘plug and play’ thing, I was trying to say that external DACs are much easier to setup than sound cards. With external DACs, you [usually] just have to ‘plug and play’ (sorry, I’ll stop saying that over and over again), while with sound cards, you [most of the time] have to go through a huge setup process, just to get it connected or working in the way you want it to.

The cost of this may seem unapparent to most people, however, it does come with some limitations. Because of this ‘plug and play’ (okay, okay, that’s probably the last time I’ll say that) aspect of external DACs, particularly referring to there being no setup process or software to tweak things in, you’re provided with only the physical buttons, knobs, etc., on the front, back and sides of the audio system. Like I’ve mentioned before, this could be considered a plus-side for some people. But there will always be users who want to get the best out of their audio system and ‘tweak it to the max.’

Despite the simplicity and limited customization of external DACs, they seem to do certain things better than sound cards. As I’ve mentioned before, they do an amazing job at taking [little] stress off of the motherboard, and they eliminate any and all hissing that may be heard due to the audio system being outside of the computer’s noisy environment.

Lastly, touching on something that I previously mentioned, external DACs can be much more expensive [for seemingly obvious reasons] than sound cards. This has a lot to do with the fact that external DACs dominate the audio system market, and there’s a lot more expensive options (as well as less expensive ones) than sound cards. Don’t let this frighten you though, as there’s plenty of mid-range priced solutions that will do your audio listening experience justice.

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What’s right for you?

I’ll be honest, there’s no real need for me to write this whole thing of text, as you could easily just go back to the two previous subtopics that are probably much more detailed. But that might be the problem, maybe you’re somebody who doesn’t like to make their own opinionated decisions and have someone else tell them what the right choice is for their specific needs and whatnot, I don’t know. I guess the right way to look at this is that I’m able to summarize two giant subtopics into one medium-sized subtopic… which could be an easier way to help somebody with their buying decision. Anyway, yeah, here’s a bunch of stuff that might or might not help you choose what the best audio system is, for your specific usage at least.

Sound cards are probably the better option for people who like to customize their sound listening experience with various effects and whatnot through provided software. Most of the software that comes with sound cards usually include features such as a virtual equalizer, surround sound [and/or other audio channels], as well as typical minor benefits. You should also be able to control everything else with your sound card in the software, including any amp capabilities if your sound card has a built-in dedicated amp.

So if you’re somebody who has no intention of using your audio system anywhere else but inside your desktop computer, as well as being a ‘tweaky’ kind of person that can’t compromise with limited customization options, sound cards should be your primary type of audio system to look at, that is if you’re thinking about buying an audio system (which, if you are, then… I mean, good for you, I must have done a great job at writing all this). If I were to categorize this type of person, I’d say that they’re probably a pre-audiophile who might be choosing a sound card over an external DAC for the reasons of either being a full-on ‘PC gamer’, or only being satisfied by ‘maximum customization capabilities.’

External DACs are probably the better option for people who prefer to have a very simplistic yet utterly capable sound listening experience with [usually] powerful inner potential involving the sound quality/clarity itself.

Most of the knobs, switches and such that come with external DACs (almost always in physical form, meaning that you can’t change the layout and/or functions of anything) include features such as the obvious volume changer, increase or decrease in frequencies, bass, treble, etc., or maybe even a headphone ohm manipulator [if the external DAC features a built-in headphone amp].

Along with ease of access, portability is also a ‘feature’ that’s well appreciated. Like I’ve mentioned before, some external DACs are either bulky or just not made for complete portability, but they’re all miles ahead of sound cards in that regard. Some of them also come with a built-in display to show certain information, whether it be statistical or something else.

So if you’re somebody who has full intention of using your audio system almost anywhere and with most devices (via USB), as well as being a ‘simplistic’ kind of person that can compromise with limited customization options, external DACs should be your primary type of audio system to look at, that is, again, if you’re actually thinking about buying an audio system. If I were to categorize this type of person, I’d say that they’re probably a newly-bred of full-on audiophile who might be choosing an external DAC over a sound card for the reasons of either wanting the most superb and clear sounding audio (which, I mean, if you want the best of the best, it’s going be to like… really expensive), or enjoying the simplistic [and usually portable] experience that it has to offer.

It’ll be a good idea to have bullet points and other design elements, or something of that sort to make this seem less ‘boring.’

My Recommendation/s [Sound Cards]

Wow, that was definitely a mouthful, sorry about that. Sometimes I just write and write until I’ve filled pages upon pages of super-duper uncondensed blocks of text. Well, I hope we’re both happy that all that’s left is a [hopefully] nottoo long set of paragraphs on what I might be able to recommend as a good buying choice (spoiler alert: it’s going to be a little long). Of course, not to imply that you should be buying anything at all after reading this whole guide, but maybe as a go-to source when looking for audiophile equipment in the near or far future… I swear this isn’t any kind of advertisement whatsoever, I’m just rambling on and on like I usually do, something that I would think you’d be used to by now.

Anyway, getting back to the guide, here’s what I can recommend to anybody that is at all interested in looking into audio systems. Now, I’ll be honest, personally I haven’t gotten a chance to try any external DACs before, so I can’t recommend any of those from experience… which is why I’ll be talking about my sound card! So yeah, like I mentioned in the beginning of the guide, I do currently use a sound card as my ‘daily driver’, and it’s something that I can absolutely recommend if you’re somebody who’s looking for one.

The “Sound BlasterX AE-5” by Creative Labs (a well-known brand when it comes to sound cards) is the newest [and in my opinion, the best (as in sound quality/clarity/you know what I mean)] sound card that’s available on the market right now. Though before I continue, I must mention that the AE-5 is Creative’s attempt to make sound cards ‘a thing’ again. This sound card is both a revolutionary step in the right direction, as well as a desperate cry for attention… you’ll see what I mean once we get into it, but keep all that in mind.

The AE-5 is marketed as a ‘hi-resolution PCIe gaming sound card and DAC with RGB Aurora Lighting System’… or just ‘hi-fi gaming sound card with RGB’ for short. If you couldn’t tell already, the AE-5 is targeted mostly towards gamers (PC gamers, to be exact). Although, obviously you must be a hardcore gamer in order to be interested in purchasing a sound card. I must bring up again that sound cards aren’t cheap by any means… unless you’re rich… or maybe you’re experienced with spending loads of money on audiophile technology.

Also, most gamers have probably never even heard of the concept of upgrading from onboard audio, mostly due to the fact that onboard audio has gotten so much better over the years. That’s why sound cards were invented in the first place, to provide desktop computer users (whether they were actually audiophiles, or just looking to get a better audio listening experience) ‘pristine and clear sounding’ audio. Anyway, getting back to the point, Creative obviously needed to separate the AE-5 from other sound cards and make it seem appealing enough to attract its core audience… PC gamers.

The AE-5 could be argued as being the most powerful sound card to date, featuring (a bunch of complicated statistics incoming) an ‘ESS Sabre32 Ultra Class’ DAC, which offers some of the best sound quality for games, entertainment, music, etc., available at 122dB 32-bit/384 kHz playback, along with a custom-designed dedicated headphone amp (called ‘Xamp’… not that it matters, just saying) that can easily drive your headphones perfectly from 16-600 ohms at an ultra-low 1 ohm output impedance. Don’t worry if you have no idea what any of these statistics mean, you might or might not learn about some of it later in the guide.

In simple language, the AE-5 has a premium DAC that’s found in various high-end external DACs, along with its headphone amp that actually performs dual channel amplification (which seems to out-perform various amps [mostly built-in ones] in external DACs, and certainly the ones that are coupled with other sound cards). The amp also drives high-end headphones perfectly, which has to do with its output impedance. I might go in-depth with output impedance later in the guide, but in short, the lower the output impedance, the better the amplification process performs.

Also, touching a bit on the non-importance of ‘dB’ (decibel), ‘32-bit’ (bit-depth) and ‘384 kHz’ (sample rates) on the AE-5, they shouldn’t be of much concern. The decibel rating is just a way of saying how loud and powerful the audio system is, which isn’t good or bad by any means. Same deal with bit-depth and sample rates, as even when advertised they don’t do too much good or bad for you. I’ll talk more about these two things later in the guide.

Something that I didn’t really talk much about until now, and for good reason, is the RGB (‘Red, Green and Blue’, AKA color wheel) feature that comes as an ‘added bonus.’ In short, the AE-5 features a colored light show that can shine light outside of your computer case (depends on case). Yeah, it’s pretty stupid in my opinion, although it does look nice when tampered with (sorry I forgot to mention, but you can mess with different colors, modes, etc., from the provided software).

If you’re not familiar with ‘gaming computers’ in the past couple years, there’s been an influx of RGB-related accessories and whatnot that’s become a huge trend in the ‘gaming community.’ The decision to include RGB effects with the AE-5 does make sense when looking at it from the ‘core-audience’ consumer point of view, the gamers.

Then again, there’s always the thought that the AE-5 might have been priced lower if there weren’t any RGB-related gimmicks.

Moving from hardware to software, the AE-5 offers most of the features that you’d expect to find in a high-end sound card, such as a choice of audio channel (ranging from stereo to different versions of surround sound), a virtual equalizer, and of course the controller for the built-in amp. There’s also a few more gimmicks that I won’t go into, for seemingly obvious reasons.

If you look at reviews on the AE-5, most of them (consumer or not) will speak badly about the software. The issues with the software range from major features not working properly, to people’s computers just not being able to install it correctly. It may seem like a problem on the consumer’s side, but most software for high-end sound cards have pristine flexibility and compatibility, so that’s an obvious ‘no.’ Even I had multiple problems with the software, forcing me to contact support over and over again. Not to say that everybody will have countless problems with their AE-5, but it’s definitely something to consider. To be fair they have improved the software a lot, even adding new features along with it, but nobody should have to go through a multitude of issues (ones that shouldn’t even be problems in the first place) after buying their ‘all-new’ AE-5.

So, the question still stands, “Is the AE-5 worth its $150 price tag?” Well, I certainly think so. I think it was the

second best audio purchase I’ve ever made… next to my headphones, of course. Now, if I were to recommend this to somebody who was interested in it, I’d say that if you’re someone who’s [for various reasons] specifically looking to get a sound card, especially one that will kick butt, and if you’re willing to spend $150 on it, then go for it!

Oh, before I finally put an end to this long ‘review’, I must mention that there’s a couple more options to choose from, in case you’re not very attracted towards the AE-5. However, all I can do is mention these products and a few advantages with using them over the AE-5, as I obviously haven’t used them before.

So, in terms of audio quality and how they sound, you won’t find anything better than the AE-5. However, if you’re looking for a sound card that can effectively compete with the AE-5’s hardware, as well as the best sound card in terms of provided features, software, etc., you should definitely take a look at either the “Sound Blaster ZxR” from Creative Labs (yes, same company) or the “Essence STX II” from ASUS (a well-known brand when it comes to most things computer related). Although it should be noted that the ZxR and STX II are both over $200, which is a bit more than the AE-5.

Now, let’s say your decision is largely dependent on your budget. Well, of course it depends on your exact budget… but let’s just say you’re dealing with a ‘less than $100’ budget. If so, you should definitely look at either the “Sound Blaster Z” [again, also] from Creative Labs or the “Strix Soar” (yup, you guessed it… also) from ASUS. They’re both around the $100 mark, but various vendors will sell them for a little less, usually as a sale.

Well, I think I should call it there, because I doubt there’s somebody reading this who wants to know if I can go any lower, such as the $50 mark or so. Besides, if you’re serious about it, you can just look it up yourself. I mean, I’d love to be your ‘go-to guide’ on every sound card ever (not really), but I’m sure there’s hundreds of better ways to go about getting that information than my guide.

My Recommendation/s [External DACs]

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Fortunately I can keep this one ‘pretty short’, as I haven’t used any external DACs before, so I can’t personally recommend anything. Although there’s some great external DACs that come to mind when thinking of them. Also, like I mentioned about a paragraph ago, I’m positive there’s much better ways (google) to find out this kind of information, rather than reading this part in my guide. Then again, some people [including me] are pretty lazy at times, so maybe they’d rather get their information right here. Anyway, here’s some external DACs that I can kind of recommend as great products.

So, I’ve mentioned this already, but I feel like I need to say it again for some reason. There’s many different types of external DACs, usually taking up different form factors. Sometimes they’re in the form of a small usb stick, while other times they’re in the form of a large (yet still small in the grand scheme of things) box-shaped object that might be a bit of a challenge to move around. Because of this, I’ll be stating what I think to be the best option/s for external DACs in different categories.

Starting off with what I believe to be the best external DAC for portability and sound quality, as well as not being ridiculously expensive is the “DragonFly Red” by AudioQuest. Again, this isn’t a review or anything like that, so I’ll just keep it short. It’s probably one of the smallest (if not the smallest) external DAC on the market, being in the form factor of a simple USB flash drive. It’s also impressively powerful, yet quite subtle, resulting in a perfect portable solution for your audiophile needs (unless you need the best of the best sound, of course). The only thing you need to consider is that because it connects via USB, you’d have to get an adapter cable in order to use it with a smartphone. Also it’s $200, which isn’t exactly cheap… so in that case, you might want to look into AudioQuest’s “DragonFly Black”, which is basically a ‘lesser’ version of the Red, but at a more affordable $100 price point.

Now, if you’re planning on getting an external DAC and not caring too much about the portability of it, then… well, there’s a lot of options to choose from, and I’m not very familiar within the field. However, one set of products that’s definitely great to look into is the “Stack” by Schiit. Yes, Schiit is pronounced the way you’d expect. Anyway, the Stack is a combination of Schiit’s product lineup, usually being made up of an external DAC coupled with an amp.

If you’re wondering, Schiit does offer external DACs that have built-in amps, but some audiophiles believe that

an external DAC coupled with a dedicated so-called ‘external amp’ can result in better overall performance. You may get it now, but in case you don’t for some reason, that’s the point of Schiit’s Stack. Though if you’re not so interested in the whole Stack audio solution, you may want to look into Schiit’s “Jotunheim” or “Fulla 2”, which are external DACs with built-in amps… or the other way around… basically just the same thing. The Fulla 2 will cost you a measly $100 (compared to the price point of many audio solutions), while the Jotunheim will cost you a much heftier $400+, seemingly a much more expensive option.

Because Schiit offers numerous external DACs and external amps, it might be a challenge to just pick two favorites. That’s why you have the internet on your side… and me of course. As far as my research goes, the most popular Stack seems to be the combination of Schiit’s “Modi” (external DAC) and “Magni” (headphone amp).

The two products have seen multiple versions in time, every other version proving to be even better than the last. So if you’re going to look into these two products, the latest and greatest ones are the ‘Magni 3’ and the ‘Modi 2.’

As a combo they’ll cost you a measly (compared to the price point of many audio solutions) $200, although that might change if you decide to look into the few different versions of the Modi 2.

In the end, it all depends on what you’re really looking for and how much money you’re willing to spend. Some audiophiles these days seem to forget that a $1000+ audio solution isn’t always the most ‘cutting-edge’ technology, and a much cheaper $100+ (just an example) audio solution isn’t always obsolete. Some audiophiles might argue that spending much more money on audio technology is totally worth it, and that’s fine, because that’s their opinion.

But I can assure you [with my experience of researching stuff on the internet] that you’ll be more than happy with a standard $100+ audio solution, and unless you adopt the philosophy that buying something five times the price equates to it being five times as good, you should feel no need to upgrade to something much more expensive in order to get the ‘best of the best.’

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What are Audio Devices?

So, looks like we can finally get to the real exciting stuff when talking about audio equipment, audio devices (by audio devices, I mean headphones). Of course, don’t forget that audio systems (DACs, etc.) are still hugely important, as it’s where your sound comes from (AKA the source), but audio devices are what you’re actually using to listen to sound with.

Now, the thing to consider when talking about audio devices is that there’s many different kinds, whether it be speakers or headphones [which are just tiny speakers made for individual listening].

Basics of Audio Devices

Yup, just like our previous chapter, I’ll be stuffing you with a bit of basic information before we can move on to what I’ve hyped you up for. Again, the whole point of this is to provide just enough knowledge about a certain set of things so that when you’re actually reading through the guide, you don’t instantly get confused after some word I lightly mentioned.

Anyway, I’ll stop wasting your time, let’s get into it.

What is Audio Frequency?

Starting with something that I probably should have explained much earlier, audio frequency [which is measured in hertz, or Hz) is basically just a way of saying how high or low of a pitch sound is. For example, people with high pitched voices are measured at higher frequencies, while people with low pitched voices are measured at lower frequencies.

Pretty easy to understand, right?

Now, let’s get a little more complicated. It’s widely believed that the standard audible range of hearing for humans is from 20 Hz to 20 kHz (or 20,000 Hz). This is mostly true, although there’s more to it than that. It turns out that the range of frequencies individual people can hear depends a lot upon environmental and/or health factors. Think about it this way, you know the myth that says if you play a high enough sound, you can actually break glass with it? Well, I’ll say it’s not quite as easy as one might think, but it’s possible. Oh, and this is probably obvious, but this isn’t really important to the guide at all, I just like talking about stuff for fun… so if you’re interested, read on, otherwise just skip to the next paragraph.

Chapter 3 Audio Devices AKA Headphones 5

Headband

1 Hinge

4

Driver

2

Ear pad

3

Cable

Headphone Parts

1

Holds the headphones together by connecting the speakers to the headband, a truly innovative design choice. May come with a special ‘move up and down’ feature, allowing for multiple head sizes to fit the headband.

2

Protects your ears from the cries of screaming babies on airplanes, in addition to providing comfort. Wear with caution, many audiophiles claim it nearly impossible to remove, without third-party involvement.

3

Transfers data from your device to the headphones, assuming you’re not using wireless headphones. It’s usually a dangerous tripping hazard, probably the second leading death in audiophiles worldwide.

Hinge

Ear pad

Cable

4

Driver

5 Headband

Processes the audio coming from your device and plays it directly into your ear canals, often granting a sense of mental pleasure to the listener. Keep in mind, accelerating the drivers to loud volumes over long periods of time might endanger your fragile ears, increasing the chance of them possibly falling off, growing legs and running away forever.

Shields a small part of the center of your head, in addition to flattening your head, assuming you have hair. Fun fact, if you’re guillable enough, you can activate the hidden ‘ghost’ feature by shifting the headband exactly 45 degrees past your forehead to cover your eyes, giving you temporary x-ray vision.

When talking about sound physically affecting physical objects and whatnot, there’s a lot that goes into it; a lot of physics that I’m sure will complicate things too much… that’s why I’ll try and keep it brief. So, every physical object has a ‘resonant frequency’ (which is basically frequency having to do with vibration of physical objects), and in our case, glass will vary from each piece. Supposedly if you played a high-pitched sound that was powerful enough (again, not going to get into the physics) to break glass, then… well, there you go. Again though, there’s a lot about this that isn’t exactly very well known to humans, and there’s a bunch of other things that we do know factor into this equation, such as amplitude (the power of the sound).

Anyway, that all probably just derailed everything related to audio frequency I was trying to talk about, but whatever. As long as you understand what it is, I can move on to the next thing… which hopefully won’t confuse you even more.

What is Audio Sensitivity?

Continuing with another thing that I probably should have explained much earlier, audio sensitivity [which is measured in decibels, or dB] is basically just a way of saying how quiet or loud a certain sound is. For example, somebody who’s quietly whispering is measured at a low decibel rating, while somebody who’s loudly shouting is measured at a high decibel rating. If we’re sticking to the simple stuff here, there isn’t a whole lot that’s complicated about it… but by now I’m sure you know me well enough to see where I’m going with this.

You can see that audio sensitivity is pretty similar to audio frequency, in the sense that they’re both ways of rating different measurable amounts of sound. The obvious difference though is that one specifies sense in pitch level, while the other in volume level. Similar to audio frequency, audio sensitivity also has its own range, though this one is a bit different. It’s called the ‘threshold of hearing and pain’, which is basically just the term used for knowing at what point certain volume levels get to where you’re either able to hear it or not, and where your ears cannot take the amount of intensity that’s coming from it.

Focusing a bit on the threshold of hearing, there have been many studies on this sort-of-phenomenon, so there’s a lot of information to go off of. The simple way to look at it is most people can’t hear sounds very clearly that are at 0 dB or any lower. Now, this might not make too much sense at the moment, especially regarding the very low end of decibel measurements. You might as well be thinking that it shouldn’t be possible to hear any sounds in the negatives (under 0 dB). Well, here’s where we’re going to get a bit more offtopic, so like last time, just skip to the next paragraph if you’re not interested.

So, it is quite possible to hear a sound that’s lower than 0 dB, though there’s a lot of strings attached (most of which I can’t even try to explain). Similar to the range of hearing in audio frequency, the possibility of this is affected by the type of environment you’re in, as well as your specific hearing abilities, which can vary depending on many things, such as age, prolonged exposure to loud noises (music, etc.), and a couple of other things. One thing to note here though is most of this information is very… well, not all of it is absolute fact.

There is some legitimate information out there that might prove or disprove a lot of this, but that’s a whole other subject that I don’t really want to get into.

Coming back to audio sensitivity, the other side of the spectrum is the threshold of pain. It may seem like a supernatural sort of thing, but it’s totally possible to feel immense pain after hearing such a loud noise… and sometimes the effect it has can worsen, depending on the time you’re listening to it for. The simple way to look at it is that, differentiating from person to person, any kind/type of sounds measured at 120 dB or higher are generally unsafe and damaging for human hearing.

A good example of this is, according to various resources and studies online [which all seem to measure the same kinds of sounds, but with different ratings], somebody who’s fairly close in distance and has been exposed to a gunshot (rated at 140+ dB) will most likely immediately feel pain and suffer temporary or permanent hearing loss… I know, sounds scary. That’s why when you go to a gun range, they have you put

on ear muffs.

What is Headphone/Ohm (Ω) Impedance again?

As you might or might not remember, I already covered headphone impedance in Chapter 2… but as you can probably tell, it’s clearly important when talking about audio devices, otherwise why else would I be explaining this again? Anyway, you could just go back to Chapter 2 if you forgot, but I’ll make it easy for you and just explain it again, although this time a bit differently… you’ll see what I mean.

Headphone impedance in short is basically just a way of measuring [in ohms (Ω)] how much power a certain pair of headphones needs to fully utilize its sound. As stated in Chapter 2, headphones are powered using headphone amplifiers (amps). Now, before you get confused too much, not all headphones require amps to sound good, or even great for that matter. Simply put, some headphones (mainly ones directed towards audiophiles) require more power than what your typical smartphone or computer can give it, while others are just fine.

For example, my pair of HD 6XXs (headphones I mentioned in the beginning, and will talk more about later) are rated at 300 ohms, which means your typical smartphone or laptop won’t be able to fully utilize these headphones’ potential. Now, to be clear, this doesn’t mean that high impedance headphones paired with something like a smartphone won’t sound good… unless of course, the smartphone or device in question doesn’t have a good sounding DAC.

Different Headphones

Ah, yes, here we are. We’ve finally come to what might be my favorite audiophile-related thing to talk about…

FILL UP almost. I love talking about headphones, but I love talking about audio systems just a tiny bit more. Anyway, I’m going to assume you know what headphones are, otherwise I’m sure you somehow cheated your way over here…. So, I won’t take the time to explain something that’s unnecessary, you’re welcome.

Now, I’ll be honest, I don’t know exactly where to start with something like this, as there’s a wide variety of differences and whatnot when discussing headphones. Just to be safe, I’ll start by going over different kinds and forms of headphones, then end with comparing different kinds of uses and brands for headphones, as well as what demographic they are (or at least should be) directed towards.

Different Design Types

Alright, look, this isn’t as weird and silly as the title suggests. I’m obviously not talking about different looking designs for headphones and how they might or might not look ‘cool.’ By different design types, I mean how the shape and form of the ear pads and overall design of the headphones differ from each other and whatnot. So, now that I got that out of the way, let’s get into it and go over the different kinds.

Starting with my personal favorite, ‘over-ears’ are exactly what their name implies, headphones with ear pads that go over your ears. Typically the point of this design is to provide the best audio performance along with ear pads that surround the ears in a way that obviously feels comfortable, and usually attempts to block out at least some sound coming from the background environment. They also have large sized drivers (without going too much into them, headphone driver units are basically the actual ‘phones’ in headphones… they’re the things that make the sound, if that makes more sense), which means that, aside from the ear pads being fairly big enough to enclose your ears, over-ears are generally more powerful than other design types.

Now, to be clear, ‘more powerful’ doesn’t necessarily mean louder or better quality sound. It’s more like saying that bigger drivers will require more power and force and whatnot to successfully perform at the same amount of effort required from smaller drivers…. Ok, I probably just made everything super confusing, my bad. Here’s a better and easier way of looking at this, let’s say you have two pairs of headphones, one with a diameter of 45 mm drivers (most likely over-ear), and the other with a diameter of 30 mm drivers (most likely ‘on-ear’, the next headphone design type I’ll go over). Let’s also say that the two pairs of headphones process audio exactly the same, and you’re using the same media player (smartphone, computer, etc.), that way the only things being compared are the headphones and their driver size.

So, if you were somehow able to play both headphones at the same decibel rating (loudness level, if that makes more sense), most likely the 45 mm driver headphones will require and use more power from the media player to perform at the same level than of the 30 mm driver headphones. Now, assuming that you’re not able to accurately play both headphones at the same decibel rating (AKA reality), it’s not entirely impossible for the specific pair of 45 mm’s to still perform louder than the 30 mm’s. The only reason why loudness isn’t a key difference has to do with the fact that it’s inaccurate information, it’s not always the case where bigger drivers are louder than smaller ones.

Anyway, hope you got my point. I probably shouldn’t have even started to discuss this whole driver situation, it’s pretty complicated.... Actually, one more thing, sorry. Besides the possibility for some larger driver headphones to perform louder than some smaller driver headphones, there’s also a lot of other headphone qualities that can be considered worse due to larger driver size. These things include problems like more sound leakage, more distortion, etc. But similar to the loudness stuff, these can all be avoided, and even improved, if the headphone manufacturer simply makes/uses good quality components.

Going over the next headphone design type, on-ears [similar to my introduction on over-ears] are exactly what their name implies, headphones with ear pads that go on your ears. Typically the point of this design is to provide a mix of audio performance, comfortability, as well as portability. I mentioned it lightly when talking about over-ears, but to cover it again, on-ears have ‘medium’ sized drivers, which is basically just saying that their driver size fits right between over-ears and ‘in-ears’ (the last headphone design type I’ll go over).

Fortunately I don’t need to go over what their driver size actually means, as I did all that and more when I talked about over-ears. Anyway, on-ears are interesting for what they brings to the competition, in the sense that [depending on what the headphone manufacturer decides to do with certain qualities] they can essentially give you the perfect pair of headphones [also depending on what you look for in headphones], all the while being fairly inexpensive, compared to most over-ears. However, like I said with over-ears, there’s a lot that can go wrong in terms of quality (build quality, sound quality, etc.)… either that or the idea of an absolutely flawless pair of on-ear headphones would most likely be absurdly expensive.

Moving on to the last headphone design type, in-ears/in-ear monitors [AKA IEMs] are exactly what their name implies, but not exactly… don’t worry, this isn’t going to get complicated or anything like that. Looking at the definitions I gave for over-ears and on-ears, it’d make sense to assume that IEMs are headphones with ear pads that go in your ears. Well, technically… I mean… okay. I guess that’s correct, but they’re not really even headphones.

IEMs have quite a lot of nicknames, earphones being one of them, and earbuds not being one of them (I’ll talk about this in a bit). Obviously the term earphones suits IEMs much better, as headphones implies that they’re worn on or around the head. Anyway, whatever, there wasn’t really a point in explaining all this.

Typically the point of this design is to provide good audio performance alongside portability, having ‘ear tips’ that go inside the ear and reach to the ear canal. IEMs also have small drivers, which [similar to what I’ve said about the other types] means that they might not do as good of a job as over-ears, in terms of various kinds of sound performance (I’ll get into all these headphone designs’ strengths and weaknesses soon). Of course, repeating myself at this point, IEMs can be just as good, if not better than the other design types, depending on what the earphone manufacturer decides to do with the quality of the components.

Now, coming back to what I said about earbuds (most likely a term that you’ve heard at least once in this day and age), it wouldn’t be ridiculous to think that they’re the same thing. One thing that’s helped the confusion and misconception stir further is the marketing and advertising of IEMs as earbuds. I feel as if this is mostly due to the unexpected rise in popularity of Apple’s classic earbuds (yes, these are the ones that seem to come with almost every iPod and iPhone, and that you’ve probably seen worn everywhere by teens

and college students), but I’m not going to do the research, you can do so if you’re curious. Anyway, different online sources will say different things, but from what I’ve been able to gather, there’s just a couple key differences to note.

The first big thing is that, despite their extremely similar designs, most earbuds seem to have no ear tips surrounding their drivers. Also, it may not look like it, but IEMs actually have smaller driver sizes than earbuds. Interestingly, earbuds use a system called ‘one size fits all’, which means that if they don’t actually fit well [or just aren’t comfortable], they’ll probably just constantly fall out of your ears. Although, I guess it’s worth mentioning that some earbud manufacturers have implemented different ways to stop them from falling out, which you’ll usually see advertised as ‘sports earbuds.’

The second big thing is that IEMs rest inside the ear canal, while earbuds rest outside the ear canal.

While IEMs seal the ear canal to block out ambient/background noise, earbuds do the complete opposite.

Now, this may seem like a total design flaw with the earbuds, and I’m sure many audiophiles think so, but the other argument is that if you’re in an environment where you also need to listen to things going on around you, they’re perfect.

The third big thing is that there’s a huge difference in terms of quality. Though, to be clear, I don’t just mean sound quality…. Because there’s a lot that goes into making a great pair of headphones/earphones, such as [the obvious] sound quality, build quality, the price, the warranty, and probably more that I haven’t thought of. I’m sure you know where I’m going with this, but if not, I’m just trying to say that IEMs are practically in a whole other league. It’s just unfortunate that earbuds are such a misconceived term on the market now.

Alright, so this is where I planned to change topics, but it turns out we’re not quite done yet. Don’t worry, there’s just a few more design types to go over, and I’ll be sure to keep them fairly brief. Before I continue though, I want to make it clear that, yes, they are indeed headphone design types, but they’re quite different from the types I already went over, in the sense that… well, they’re both specific variations of them (particularly over-ear variants, but on-ear and in-ear variants do exist, just aren’t very well known).

Starting with my personal favorite, ‘open-back’ headphones are exactly what their name implies, headphones with ear pads where the back (outer structure) is open. Now, this probably makes no sense, as why would headphones have ear pads that are hollow where people could see your ears? Well, yeah, that makes no sense at all, so here’s a couple pictures of two pairs of open-back headphones, just for reference and better understanding.

Cool, now you know that I was kidding, they obviously aren’t see-through… not 100% anyway. Every pair of open-back headphones has a [usually subtle] see-through design on the back of the ear pads, the point of this being that it allows air to pass through the headphones and to your ears. I know, it doesn’t make any sense, but it’s actually quite clever.

You see, this provides soundstage’ (wide-sounding to listen to. It’s really all about immersion Maybe for useaamore cool‘open background, possibly coveringenvironment) the whole page besides and realism. the titles and images for the chapter. If I use a cool background, make sure Oh, and in case you don’t know what soundstage is, it’s basically the ability to hear where certain it either transitions nicely into the next page and thereafter, or matches a sounds [in your music, etc.] are coming from; directional awareness. Anyway, this is why many audiophiles background design love of the and thereafter. (including myself) thisnext typepage of headphone, with some describing the experience as being right in the middle of a concert or orchestra.

Moving on to the next design type, ‘closed-back’ headphones are exactly what their name implies, headphones with ear pads where the back is closed. This might make more sense than open-back headphones, in the sense that they’re what most people would call ‘normal’ headphones…. Then again, what even is normal?.... Okay, I probably just made everything confusing all over again, so here’s a few pictures of two pairs of closed-back headphones, just so you have a better idea of what they are.

Alright, now you know what I meant when I said “normal” (in the sense that the back of the ear pads don’t have any tiny holes on them). Every pair of closed-back headphones has a completely walled-off design on the back of the ear pads, the point of this being that it blocks out some or most of the background noise (depending on how ‘good’ they are, your environment, etc.) going on around you.

They also [usually] do a great job at reducing sound leakage, something that’s equally as important (if not more) as blocking out background noise to some people. This is why lots of people (including myself) love this type of headphone, with some describing the experience as secluding yourself from the outside world, peacefully trapped inside a jukebox.

So that’s that. Those are all the main design types that I wanted to go over. I was thinking about including ‘semi-open-back’ headphones, but as you might be able to tell from the name, it’s pretty complicated. It’s also not very popular in today’s market, so there’s really no reason to even mention it… yet here we are. Anyway, we can move on to the next thing now.

Different Features

Before I begin, let me just say that most [if not all] of the features I’ll be going over are… well, just

features, nothing more. They’re not even that practical to write about, in terms of ‘audiophile headphones.’ What I’m trying to say is that these features are seen more in average consumer headphones than audiophile headphones, which are not exactly the kind of headphones that put nearly all of their budget value into how they sound. Anyway, if you’re really not that interested, obviously you can skip to the next subtopic. Otherwise, enjoy learning about headphone features (some of them you might already know about).

Starting off with [probably] the most widely known feature that I’ll be going over, ‘wireless’ headphones [if you don’t know what they are for some reason] are exactly what their name implies, headphones without wires.

Now, to be clear, wireless headphones have been a thing for almost as long as wired headphones have been a thing. However, due to technological advances, in recent years they’ve been commercialized and marketed to the point where now they take up an entire 41% share of the global headphone market, while wired headphones take up 59% [according to an article published by “PR Newswire” in January of 2018).

Getting back to wireless technology, it’s obviously a little complicated, in terms of how it actually works, so I won’t bore you with anything about that. However, I will say that most wireless headphones use ‘bluetooth’ technology to connect via your smartphone, computer, etc. Now, to state [what I believe to be] the obvious, wireless headphones will [for now and most likely the near future] not be able to beat wired headphones in sound quality. And to be clear, I don’t mean that wireless headphones can’t be better than just any pair of wired headphones. I’m saying that if you were to take two pairs of headphones, one wired, the other wireless, and they were somehow able to produce the same exact sound, then chances are the wireless pair cost a lot more to make.

Just to touch on this a bit more, there’s many reasons why what I just said is true [in this day and age].

What makes the most sense is that because wireless technology is still not as advanced and progressed as wired technology, there’s much more of a cost attached compared to manufacturing wired headphones. Also, if you take any of the ‘best sounding headphones of all time’ and compare their sound with the ‘best sounding wireless headphones,’ then… well, you get it. Maybe one day wireless audio technology will surpass wired audio technology, in terms of sound quality and price to manufacture, but for now wired headphones dominate the audiophile market almost entirely.

Moving on to the next feature, noise-cancelling headphones are exactly what their name implies, headphones that ‘cancel noise….’ Okay, maybe their name is just a bit confusing. Obviously it’s not cancelling the noise that the headphones produce, as that would be counterintuitive. Basically they aim to block out ambient background noise that might be going on around you. How they do this though, is very interesting, as there’s quite a few different ways/methods of doing it, thanks to various technologies in our current day and age.

So, Before I start, let me say that because there’s a lot I could possibly go over that’s related to noise cancellation, I’ll keep it simple and go through the most widely known and popular ones. Okay, the first type of noise cancellation is passive noise cancellation (PNC for short). Oh, and super quickly, another term for PNC is noise isolation, which is important because if you look this stuff up later, you’ll see both noise cancellation and noise isolation thrown around everywhere. Anyway, PNC is probably the easiest type to understand, as, its process is very simple. What PNC means is that the headphones create a seal around (in case they’re over-ears) or inside (in case they’re in-ears) your ears, supposedly forming a barrier between your ears and the outside world.

Now, as you might be able to guess, this ‘barrier’ isn’t very effective in most situations where, let’s say, you’re on a public bus, and even one person on the bus [or just the vehicle itself] is making some kind of noise that’s clearly noticeable. Of course, that was just a random example, but the point is that PNC isn’t the best way to block out ambient background noise.

Oh, and in case you’re thinking that the best way [in that scenario] to separate yourself from the noises going on around you is to increase the volume of whatever you’re listening to… well, I shouldn’t need to say it, but, most likely, someone’s going to be able to hear everything you’re listening to at that kind of volume. And I don’t need to mention this either, but, high volume levels can cause temporary or permanent ear damage over long periods of time, as I’ve already gone over earlier.

Even if you didn’t care about any of those things though (sorry, almost done with this), trying to drown out ambient background noise with high volume levels can also bring stress and other similar emotions into the mix, which is, of course, the opposite of what you’re trying to accomplish with headphones.

Anyway, with all that said, let’s move on.

The second type of noise cancellation is active noise cancellation (ANC for short). ANC is definitely the most popular among the different noise cancellation methods, as it’s both mainstream/heavily advertised and, in some people’s opinion, the best performing. Now, let’s get into why some people think that is. Obvious warning alert, understanding how ANC works might be quite a bit more challenging than PNC. Real quick, before I get into ANC, let me explain that while PNC is a more simplistic and traditional method of noise cancellation, ANC is a more advanced and technological method of noise cancellation.

So, they’re two different ways of achieving the same goal, yet with a few strings attached…. I’ll get into this soon. The mechanism ANC uses to do what it does is a microphone…. Yeah, you read that right, an actual microphone. That in itself isn’t too hard to wrap your head around, rather how ANC and its use of a microphone works.

Now, just to have this make more sense in the long run, let me start by saying that most, if not all of

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FILL UP

on the market currently with ANC have some kind or virtual button that you can Havethe aheadphones design or something here toof physical transition. use to switch off ANC. If you don’t immediately know why such a thing exists, it’s fine, I’ll explain soon enough.

Oh, and not that it matters, but most headphones with ANC come in the form factor of closed-back, as they simply go together quite well.

So, the microphone aims to pick up any and all of the ambient background noise going on around you, and plays back an inverted waveform, or ‘anti-noise,’ along with whatever you’re listening to with the headphones (music, phone call, etc.) to essentially create another world that’s only for you and separated from the real world. If that didn’t make much sense, basically, the microphone hears noise going on around you, and the electronic part inside the headphones that’s responsible for ANC then creates noise that’s blank enough to pretty much block out ambient background noise. If you still don’t get it… well, I tried.

Lastly, to touch on a few things I brought up, ANC isn’t always the greatest solution to noise cancellation. This might be obvious, but not all headphones with ANC work with the same effect. Now, I’m fortunate enough to say that I haven’t really tried any ‘bad noise-cancelling headphones,’ so I don’t know if what I’m about to say is true, but it’s been said within the noise cancellation community (if that even exists) that while really good ANC is great, really bad ANC is extremely unenjoyable.

I know some of that might make zero sense, so let me go a little further by saying that certain cases of really bad ANC have been reported to actually make ambient background noise [as well as everything else] worse. In other words, really bad ANC ruins the purpose of noise cancellation by adding more annoyance to the mix.

Oh, and one more thing related to ANC to go over, sorry. Some paragraphs ago I mentioned the use of a functional button that turns ANC on or off, and why it’s necessary. Well, I’ll quickly go over the few most likely reasons for the button’s existence. Firstly, the most obvious being what I just discussed, really bad ANC can result in an unbearable experience, and the option to turn that off can make all the difference… before the consumer purchases headphones with better ANC, at least.

Secondly, putting potentially bad ANC aside, other reasons simply fall under one’s personal preference. I’m sure certain people might find it bothering that extra noise is being mixed with what they really want to listen to, or [for people who get paranoid over little things] that there’s a microphone always listening to them. Now, to tell you the truth, I don’t know what extent these microphones go to, and, of course, this guide isn’t about whether big companies [such as Apple, Microsoft, Google, etc.] are actually spying on you or not…. So, maybe we’ll just forget that second reason.

Anyway, despite all the negativity I’ve brought upon ANC in the past few paragraphs, I’ve tried to make it clear that ANC [when compared to other noise cancellation methods, and in this day and age] is the superior type of noise-cancelling technology. Also, I was going to end up talking about one or two more ‘headphone features’ after this, but as far as I can tell, there aren’t really any other good ones worth going indepth about. So, yeah, that’s it, no more features, you’re welcome.

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You can stop holding your breath now… seriously. We’re pretty much done with all the informational stuff (sort of; not exactly), and now we can focus on… well, you guessed it. Now, for both your and my own sake, I’ll quickly summarize what I’ll be going over, as this will be a bit different than what I wrote last chapter. Basically, I’ll take some of the headphone-related stuff I talked about and apply them to what a certain consumer might be looking for in the market. Also, I’m going to compare everything based on what I believe the right consumer group is. As an example, people who don’t care too much about sound quality and are on a budget should look at earbuds.

Just remember, this guide is part informational, part consumer interest, and part ‘whatever I want it to be.’

Oh, and if you specifically wanted the stuff I was going to talk about, then… well, you shouldn’t be mad, because I’m literally about to begin…. Except one last thing, there’s a good chance that I’ll repeat things I’ve already said earlier in the chapter, so let them serve as reminders.

For whoever’s reading this and has at least a bit of interest in buying headphones for your particular needs, this might or might not serve as a very complicated and confusing set of paragraphs. Although, if you’ve made it this far into my guide, I’m sure you can handle anything that’s even remotely complex at this point. So then, if you’re totally lost and don’t know what to get (headphones, in case you forgot), or simply just eager to read what I think, I’ve got you covered. Keep in mind though, I won’t be going extremely in-depth or anything, just what I think is ‘necessary.’ Anyway, I’ll stop stalling and get on with it.

Alright, the first group I’ll look at are people that take their sound on the go. Now, before I continue, let me clarify (AKA complicate things a lot more) a bit by saying that I’ll give a group more than one suggestion, as I know there’s always people that might belong in a certain group, but with some strings attached… (if I just confused you a ton, nevermind, don’t worry about it). These people are going to want something that’s conveniently portable, usually involving headphones with some kind of folding mechanism, or ones that are simply small.

There’s a lot about this group that can change depending on one’s practices, preference, etc. To give the simplest solution, I’d say the best kind of headphones to bring with you on the go would be a wireless pair (preferably with some form of noise cancellation) that’s over-ear or on-ear, can fold together and be placed inside a small carrying case. Another viable solution could be a pair of earbuds or in-ears, as they’re extremely small and can usually fit in a pocket. Of course, due Haveyou image/s of the product, some related anything thatBudgeting makes sense to budgeting, might have to settle for headphones that havedesigns, only a few of these benefits. is out ofand the picture for makes this section look without being just a huge page of text. now though.

I’ll be sure to include that good in my next subtopic.

second groupthis I’ll look people that are all about home don’tabout. usually, or ever, PerhapsThe even divide all atupareinto different sections of entertainment what’s being(they talked take their sound outside of their home). Now, obviously these people can pick really any type of design type, feature list, etc., Maybe have designs/images this. but keep in mind even that with certain kinds, portabilitycoincide becomes a with challenge.

Again, I’d like to stir away from budgeting as much as I can for now, but just so it’s easier, let’s say you’re someone who appreciates sound quality [enough to pay even a bit more than usual for great sounding headphones].

Most headphone solutions out there right now that cater to either audiophiles or ‘normal people’ that simply appreciate sound quality will come in the form of over-ears (open-back or closed-back), and almost always wired.

That’s not to say wireless headphones can’t sound good, but… okay, we had this conversation already, let’s move on, please. Another viable solution could be a pair of on-ears, as [even though I personally don’t like them very much] they’re also great for home listening, just… well, I kind of already talked about it earlier, but over-ears are better for immersing yourself in a listening environment, thanks to their ear pads going over your ears.

The third group I’ll look at are people that move around a lot (AKA people that are physically active). As you might be able to tell, this group is sort of similar to the first, just with a different kind of movement involved. Now, if you’re absolutely not in this group and just eager to skip this whole thing… well, I can’t stop you from skipping, but I’ll make sure to keep this fairly short… not counting this super long thing you’re reading right now. These people will benefit greatly from using earbuds/in-ears, but mostly from in-ears, as their wide variety of ear tips will surely present you with a way to listen to your music, etc., without having to worry about them falling out your ears, whether you’re running, working out, or whatever… (yeah, I’m repeating myself, I know, I warned you).

Now, I’d be silly not to mention on-ear and over-ear headphones (again, preferably wireless), as they can still give you an enjoyable experience while doing whatever it is you’re doing, related to physical activity. The few reasons earbuds/in-ears are better suited for the job are quite simple. First of all, they’re smaller, thus, more portable and easy to forget about once ‘in the zone.’ Second of all, they [usually] do a better job at staying with you and not falling out/ off. There’s even earbuds/in-ears on the market that are advertised as ‘sports headphones/earbuds,’ which usually are accompanied by various traits and features, such as an attached neckband (I know it sounds weird, but it’s not totally crazy, just look it up), an attached microphone, various buttons/controls, etc.

Alright, so, I was planning on having one or two more groups of people, but unless I wanted to go for something exceedingly specific, there aren’t really any more groups to go over… or at least, none that I can think of.

Now, I’m sure I didn’t touch of nearly everything, so if you think you’re barely [or not at all] part of the groups I went over, or you just want to learn more about this kind of stuff, I highly recommend that you do your own research to find what’s right for you. Besides that, I think it’s time to finally move on from all of this.

3.5: My Recommendation/s If you’ve been paying attention throughout this guide, you probably saw this coming from a mile away, only in text form…. Anyway, as you can see, I’m not done with this entire chapter just yet. This section will be pretty similar to how it looked last chapter, although, I won’t make it exceedingly long this time. If you forgot how it looked last chapter, don’t worry about it. Basically, I’ll just go over some pairs of headphones that I can personally recommend.

Oh, and if you’re wondering how this will be any different from the previous section (it’s what we just covered), think of it like this: The last section was about certain types/kinds of headphones, directed towards various groups of people, while this section will be about specific pairs of headphones that I can personally recommend, and maybe even a bit more than that.

Last thing, I want to make it clear that even though I’m an audiophile for life, I absolutely love finding a great deal on at least a decent-sounding pair of headphones. If that was confusing, what I mean is that I won’t just be recommending expensive hi-fi headphones. I’ll also cover headphones that aren’t even advertised for home entertainment, such as travel, etc. But enough of this, let’s get started.

Home Entertainment So, I’m no headphone maniac or anything like that, but I’d say I’ve used my fair share of headphones, ranging from pretty much everything we went over earlier in the chapter. However, at the time of writing this, only one of the pairs of headphones I’ve used can be considered ‘real audiophile headphones.’ Before I got my Sennheiser x Massdrop “HD 6XX” pair of ‘reference class’ headphones (a late remake of the legendary Sennheiser “HD 650”), I’ve only used various pairs of ‘gaming headsets’ (headphones advertised towards people that play videogames), which were great for me for a long time.

Not to say these headsets were complete polar opposites of my HD 6XX [when it came to audio

quality and the enjoyment of music], but the HD 6XX definitely comes a long way, in terms of sound reproduction. What I mean by this is that almost any pair of somewhat premium headphones (I’d say at least in the $100 range, but you never know) can sound ‘amazing’, as well as give you an immense sense of pleasure, or whatever feeling/s you have when listening to music.

It all depends on what the certain pair of headphones focuses on. Some headphones focus heavily on bass or treble alone, while most try to keep some equality and balance in their reproduction, yet have somewhat of a gain and/or loss in certain audio areas. Despite all of this, if you’re someone who likes to tweak certain sounds when listening to music, there’s many ways to alter your experience with whatever headphones you might have. Probably the most convenient way to change how your music sounds is to use an equalizer (I already explained what this is earlier in the guide, so, if you forgot or just don’t know what it is, look it up… sorry, just trying to save time).

Coming back to what I explained before about what exactly ‘audiophile/hi-fi headphones’ are (keep in mind, I’m just calling them this to make everything easier, that’s not the proper term for them), they should always aim to provide you the flattest and most balanced sound possible, all the while trying to give you the best sound reproduction it can offer. Now, don’t get confused by the terms ‘flat’ and ‘balanced’, as in the ‘audiophile world’ they only mean a specific type of sound with no particular difference and gain or loss in the audio areas. If that didn’t make sense, basically, they shouldn’t have any priority on any of the audio areas (bass, treble, etc.). This may sound boring and quite colorless to people who haven’t tried audiophile headphones, but any audiophile can tell you that, in simple terms, it’s actually supposed to sound just like the original recording had intended.

Audiophile headphones and their magical ‘flat-sounding’ technology is something that’s been the center of focus in the audiophile community forever, but unfortunately this technology can never come cheap… not in our current day and age, at least. This obviously has to do with the fact that manufacturing audiophile headphones comes at a large cost, including the sound reproduction, physical quality, and other various things. Because of these many factors, audiophile headphones are a specific type of headphone for a specific type of person, who are willing to pay the right kind of money for a set of premium headphones (and no audiophile buys premium headphones without being able to pair them with a premium DAC and/or amp). That’s where the original HD 650 (old headphones that the recent HD 6XX are based off of) came into the picture…. But before I continue, let me make it quite clear that I’m about to ramble on about the history of these headphones… so, if you’re not too into that, skip these next few paragraphs.

When Sennheiser first released the HD 650 pair of reference class headphones in late December of 2003, the audiophile community couldn’t get over the fact that such amazing sounding headphones could come at such an affordable price. They all jumped at the opportunity to pick up their very own pair for around $500 at the time. For years, the HD 650 was the most widely talked about pair of headphones in the audiophile community. But something that most people really didn’t understand at the time was how the HD 650 had been the start of a powerful movement for ‘cheap and affordable’ audiophile grade headphones.

Because of the HD 650, many more upcoming audiophiles were able to join the movement, thus the audiophile community grew as a whole. Skipping past to late 2016, years after the HD 650 phenomenon first began, a small company known as Massdrop, known for giving their members and users better prices for costeffective products, released their new [yet old] HD 6XX pair of reference class headphones, for just $200! All of a sudden, you could now buy yourself a pair of these ‘entry level’ audiophile headphones, for $300 less than the HD 650 (to be fair though, at this time you could get your hands on the original HD 650 for about $300+ from various online stores, such as Amazon). Now to be clear, there is no real difference in sound between the two headphones, only some minor physical changes with the design to make it ‘unique’.

Despite still being somewhat recent in the audiophile scene, the HD 6XX has quickly turned into the new ‘talk of the town’ within the audiophile community; just like its predecessor, the HD 650. What’s so great about these headphones to the audiophile community is that even before the HD 6XX was released (about a 12-13 year span from HD 650 to HD 6XX), the HD 650 was still considered to be one of the best, if not the best pair of audiophile headphones to buy for the money. Even despite there being numerous attempts constructed by other companies to closely replicate Sennheiser’s undoubtedly successful product, the HD 650 stood on top before any others in its category. Of course, that was until literally the same headphones were released over a decade later as a collaboration from Massdrop and Sennheiser themselves, along with some minor design changes and a heavy price drop.

With all that said, the HD 6XX (HD 650) has its strengths, but also its flaws, as it’s very hard for audiophile headphones that cost $200 to be ‘perfect’. There’s thousands of different audiophile headphones out there that could surely best the HD 6XX in different ways, but the HD 650 and the HD 6XX will definitely go down in ‘audiophile history’ as being two of the best pairs of audiophile headphones on the market for the money, as well as two separate milestones of a powerful movement in the audiophile industry for ‘cheap and affordable’ headphones for audiophiles around the world.

Wow, that was definitely a mouthful, sorry about that. For the reader/s that were brave enough to

Maybe have an image or small design to seperate these sub-chapters. MAYBE an image of headphone impedance

read through that, awesome, I hope you got something out of it. And for the reader/s that were smart enough to skip through that, cool, welcome back. Anyway, now that I got the history portion of this guide out of the way, I’ll get straight to why I can recommend these headphones.

So, as I explained before, the Sennheiser x Massdrop HD 6XX is a pair of high-end, high-fidelity, reference class, audiophile grade headphones… or [to stick with what we used before] just audiophile headphones. By the time I’ve written this, I’ve used my own set of these headphones for a good year and a half, so I have a pretty clear idea on how I’m going to ‘review’ them. Now, keep in mind, I won’t be actually reviewing these, as that’s not the same as recommending them… I think. All I’ll be doing is giving my simple opinion on them, as well as explaining what it is about them that’s interesting and/or different, etc. Also, just to be clear, I won’t be diving into any specs [because it’ll make this take a lot longer than it should], unlike my recommendations in the previous chapter. getting back to the HD 6XX, I’d describe it as a great entry level pair of audiophile MAYBE a good headphones. idea isAlright, to create a sorta side-by-side panel with images and the informaFor me, personally, they were quite an eye-opener into the world of hi-fi audio. I already tion. IF I DO THIS, I should probably have it as‘gaming two pages, which be the toleft and explained this earlier, but, I used $50-80 headsets,’ which should I always believed have great sound to them.

That may still hold true to other people, but ever since I listened to music with the HD 6XX for the first right. time, my opinion and judgement on sound reproduction has changed greatly.

Okay, I won’t bore you with any more unnecessary details, I’ll just get straight to the point. The HD 6XX is an excellent audio solution for information anyone that’s either to get intointo audiophile THEN find a way to divide and seperate all the thislooking section has manyequipment, or on a budget for audiophile headphones. Though just remember, if you are somebody that’s starting fresh, pages, so it’s notyou’ll just most hugelikely blocks of boring text. ALL PAGES SHOULD BE DIFFERENT need a DAC [and maybe even an amp] to go along with your audiophile headphones. Now, IN DESIGN. obviously you can get away just fine with nothing but your audiophile headphones, however, it’s never recommended. I could go on and on about this, but I already did in the previous chapter, so I’ll spare you for now.

I was planning on cutting it here and moving on, but I remembered that in the previous chapter I mentioned alternatives to the main products I recommended. Don’t worry though, I’m not going to write a whole report or anything like that, I’ll keep it fairly short… trust me this time. Okay, let’s say that for whatever reason you don’t like the HD 6XX, whether it’s because $200 is still too much, the ‘sound signature’ (how the headphones perform in certain audio areas) isn’t to your liking, or something else. Well, I’ve got a few pairs of headphones that I might be able to [sort of] recommend as alternatives.

One pair of headphones that immediately comes to my audiophile mind is the Massdrop x Sennheiser “HD 58X Jubilee.” As you might be able to tell from just the name, it’s another collaboration project from Massdrop and Sennheiser. The difference here is that these sell for $150, which is $50 less than the HD 6XX. That’s just price though, the sound itself is quite different from the HD 6XX. Now, obviously I haven’t used these before, so I can’t really compare them with the HD 6XX. However, after reading a few really good reviews, it seems like the HD 58X performs on par with the HD 6XX, with the only main difference being sound signature. So, if you’re interested at all, I’d say look into these and the HD 6XX, as well as decide for yourself what sound signature seems like the right fit for you.

Alright, for the sake of diversity, I’m done talking about Massdrop and Sennheiser. A few more pairs of headphones that might be worth looking into are the “ATH-AD1000X” by Audio-Technica, the “K702” by AKG, and the “DT 990 Pro” by Beyerdynamic. These are just a few pairs of headphones that I can recommend looking into, simply because they’re all great and currently around $200 [at the time of writing this]. Trust me, I could go on and on about all these headphones and why they’re so good, as well as other headphones at this price point or higher, but I’d probably end up chasing away the last few readers that have made it this far without leaving.

Travel/Portable Okay, this subtopic will go a lot quicker, I swear. Like I explained earlier, I’ve used my fair share of headphones, and I’ve probably tried at least one variant of most kinds of headphones out there… though maybe not. Anyway, even though I’m an audiophile, I can still appreciate different kinds of headphones that don’t exactly aim to provide extremely clear audio. In other words, I’m not some rich guy who only wants expensive things (in this case being audio equipment). I think that as long as I’m using headphones that are good enough to listen to music [or whatever] with, I’m happy and content with them. Although, being an audiophile still means that I’m going to try and get the best sounding pair of headphones I can, while staying with my budget…. So, this doesn’t exactly lead me to the point of recommending travel/portable headphones like I thought it would. I think I just wanted to explain how I’m not totally insane with buying headphones… but yeah, sorry if I wasted a paragraph already.

Over the course of some four or five years trying to travel with different kinds of headphones, whether it’s just going to school or actually travelling somewhere, I’ve found that my personal favorites are wireless noisecancelling headphones. I’ve only owned and used [for at least a couple months] two pairs of wireless noise-cancelling headphones (again, at the time of writing this). Those two pairs of headphones are the “MDR-XB950N1” by Sony, and the “RPHD605N” by Panasonic.

Starting with the MDR, these headphones are over-ears (particularly closed-back) with quite a few

features, such as ANC, volume/media buttons, a microphone (which sucks, so, don’t get impressed), and tuning software. First of all, let me begin by saying that these headphones are definitely not for everyone. This mostly has to do with the fact that these headphones are advertised as being quite ‘bass intensive.’ In other words, these headphones excel in bass, and do ‘okay’ or ‘good enough’ (depending on how much of a critic you are) with everything else.

Now, if you’re not a ‘bass head’ (yes, this is an actual term for people who really love bass), don’t worry, as you can try to tune out some or most of it using the tuning software, which comes in the form of an optional application you can install on your phone. Although, assuming you don’t like bass and intend to tune it out with the software, it’s currently only available for mobile devices (android and iOS), so, you’d be quite disappointed trying to use these with your computer.

I was going to talk a bit about the actual sound, but I think I better not, as I’m not quite able to explain that kind of thing without saying something simple, like, “It sounds great,” or, “It’s terrible!” Also, I’m all about consistency (yeah, I know, it’s weird because this whole guide has been all over the place), and because I didn’t really talk about the actual sound for the HD 6XX, I won’t be doing so with the MDR either. However, I will say that these headphones really aren’t advertised as being ‘hi-fi’ or anything, so, don’t expect the same quality from these as the Panasonic headphones that I’ll be going over in a second.

Yes, it is a bit weird that I’m talking about non-audiophile headphones in a guide that’s based around the world of audiophilia and whatnot, but keep in mind that these headphones aren’t extraordinarily bad by any means (depending on who you talk to). They’re also [at the time of writing this] around $150 retail value, and even less when on sale, so, the decision’s yours… but, again, let me go over the Panasonic headphones first.

The RP is a pair of over-ear headphones (particularly closed-back, similar to the MDR) with quite a few features, such as ANC, volume/media buttons, a microphone (which I haven’t used, but probably sucks), and a unique feature (which, at the time of writing this, seems to have just one or more competitors with the same feature) that I’ll get into soon. As you can probably tell, they sound quite similar [in terms of their feature list] to the MDR, but trust me, they’re very different.

One thing that immediately separates the RP from the MDR is the difference in sound quality and clarity. Without getting too specific, the MDR claims to output ‘hi-def’ (high-definition) audio, while the RP claims to output ‘hi-def’ and ‘hi-res’ (high-resolution) audio. Now, without knowing what they both mean, you’d assume they’re the same thing… well, they pretty much are, but not exactly.

What they mean by ‘hi-def’ is simply that the audio is, well, high definition. But when they say ‘hi-res,’ they’re talking about ‘hi-fi,’ or just ‘audiophile quality’ sound. So, yeah, the RP has the ability to play higher quality sound, although, it’s limited to using a wired cable, which is quite interesting, as well as something I didn’t know when buying them myself.

I thought about explaining why this sort of makes sense, but I already explained the wired vs. wireless philosophy earlier. Now, assuming you’re like me and refuse to use a wired cable with these headphones, just for supposedly better quality audio, the difference between the audio quality both pairs of headphones output is not too important. Although, what is important is the audio clarity advantage that the RP has over the MDR. I’ll try and explain this in simple terms, just so I don’t overcomplicate things, as I always do. You see, the MDR focuses on bass above all else. That’s its selling point, the MDR has profound bass, and ‘okay’ or ‘decent’ treble, etc. The RP on the other hand, focuses on a balance of all audio areas. This brings us back to the concept of ‘flat’ sound, which is a more ‘audiophile’ kind of trait.

So, that’s why I love these headphones so much. They sound very clear and pure, with no real focus on a certain audio area, but a steady balance between all of them. Now, this doesn’t go without saying that the RP has its flaws. However, like I explained before, I’m not giving my review on any of these headphones, just a simple recommendation.

Before I move on, I’d like to talk a bit about the price. In retail value, these headphones go for around $250, which is no small purchase. In fact, these headphones cost more than the HD 6XX, which, without saying much, is [better in various ways, but] in a completely different medium, and has a very different target audience. It’s not insane though, wireless technology is still developing and undergoing its own transformation/s (again, at the time of writing this), all the while transitioning into the wildly competitive headphone industry. And, just so you know, you can probably get the RP for much less than $250, because, even though I love them, they didn’t sit very well with many people who tried using them.

Finally, I’d like to transition into simply mentioning another pair of wireless headphones... seriously, that’s it, I’m almost done. When discussing wireless headphones, one pair that immediately comes to mind is the “WH-1000XM3” by Sony. Now, obviously I can’t truly recommend these, as I haven’t used them, but these are [currently] regarded as one of the best pairs of wireless headphones on the market. They’re actually pretty similar in features and whatnot to the RP, just better in every single way. Most of the reviews on them are just amazing, so it’s not surprising that they go for a retail price of $350… I mean, not to me, at least.

Okay, I thought about going over one more category of headphones, which probably would have been IEMs/earbuds, but I’m just not a big enough fan to recommend any. It’s too bad, as they’re probably the

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most portable of audio solutions. If they’re just simple/cheap Apple earbuds or something, you can just stuff it in your pocket, and if they’re a more fragile/expensive pair of IEMs… well, you can probably stuff it in your pocket, but I’d personally take better care of it and store it in a small plastic case [or something like that, I don’t know]. Anyway, that’s that, let’s finally move on to the next chapter.

4.0: Audio Channels

4.1: What are Audio Channels?

Congratulations, you made it… not to the end, of course, but you’re pretty close now. I’ll be doing just a few more chapters, including this one, but to say they’re chapters like the previous two is just strange, as these next few chapters will go much quicker, trust me… if you can’t, well, I get it, you’ve been through a lot, just to get to this point. So, again, congratulations… but we’re not done yet. Oh, real quick, before I start, let me mention that the next few chapters [most likely] won’t have anything to do with buying products or anything like that… so, yeah, informational stuff at this point, not a buying guide.

Audio channels are essentially channels that receive the ‘audio signals’ coming from the source and then transmit them to the speakers/headphones… in other words, it’s reproducing the audio that the computer, phone, etc., is sending to it. Now, an ‘audio channel’ refers to an individual discrete audio channel. But when you want to refer to more than one audio channel, it’s called ‘multichannel.’

4.2: Different Audio Channels There’s tons of different kinds/formats of audio channels, but the main three audio channel types are ‘monaural/monophonic’ (mono), ‘stereophonic’ (stereo), and ‘surround sound.’ Although, mono is very uncommon in today’s world, due to it being obsolete. This is because mono is single channel audio (one speaker), and now that we have stereo (two speakers), as well as surround sound (I’ll get into this later), there’s no point in having a single speaker, when you can realistically have two, one for each ear. Now, something to note is that this doesn’t mean more speakers automatically equals better than fewer, as it’s highly dependent upon the placement [and practicality] of the speakers.

Mono was replaced by stereo, which is dual channel audio, where there’s two separate audio signals from two speakers coming together (realistically, one speaker on the left, and the other on the right). Stereo, unlike mono, gives a sense of direction to the listener as to where the sounds are coming from. In today’s world, stereo is by far the most widely used audio channel, whether it’s listening to music, watching a video/movie, etc. Of course, this doesn’t mean stereo is the best audio channel out there (but some people might think so), just that stereo has the most practical use in our world of audio. It makes a lot of sense, especially when looking at the concept of human hearing, considering how we have just two ears.

Stereo obviously hasn’t been replaced, and won’t be for a long while, but has been bested by surround sound, which is multichannel audio, not including stereo (even though stereo is considered multichannel)…. Sorry, I just did the opposite of what I was going to do and made everything much more complicated. Basically, the concept of surround sound has to do with, you guessed it, surrounding the listener in sound. I’m sure I just made it seem like some Sci-Fi concept, where you have a room filled with speakers, all surrounding you in an endless wave of audio, but… well, it’s certainly possible, although not very realistic…. Alright, let’s backtrack a little bit.

Surround sound, unlike mono and stereo, can be any number of audio channels that’s more than two (stereo).

Now, I’m sure you’re wondering how that would even work in the first place, as we have only two ears to listen with.

Surround sound is more like building upon stereo and adding more speakers to ‘surround yourself.’ It aims to provide a much better sense of direction than stereo can, when it comes to listening for where a specific sound is coming from. It does this by the use of one or more speakers, all set up in certain directions; aside from the necessary stereo speakers.

Okay, I’m hoping I did a decent-enough job at breaking down surround sound, as you’ll obviously need to know what it is before moving on. Now I’m going to list and explain [what I personally think to be] the three main (most common) configurations of surround sound. These configurations are 2.1, 5.1, and 7.1 surround sound. I might get into more than just these later, but, again, we’re not exactly looking for what’s possible, rather what’s actually practical.

Starting simple, 2.1 surround sound is definitely the easiest to understand out of them all, as it’s only a bit different than 2.0 (stereo). Before I explain though, let me get the weird naming system out of the way. Basically, the number before the decimal point indicates how much speakers there are, and the number after represents the ‘subwoofer.’ Now, I would have explained subwoofers in the previous chapter, but I decided to take out speakers and only talk about headphones. I’m absolutely not trying to imply that surround sound only applies to speakers, but it just works better that way, in the way that I’m trying to explain it. Anyway, I’ll touch a bit on subwoofers, then we’ll get back to 2.1 surround sound.

So, without explaining the entirety of speaker knowledge, subwoofers get their name from ‘woofers,’ which are basically speakers that focus solely on reproducing low frequency sounds… remember audio frequency?... Okay, if not, let me [quickly] explain. In our lives, we commonly hear sounds from all over the spectrum, ranging from 20 Hz to 20 kHz (or 20,000 Hz). Now, keep in mind, we humans only hear from this range, so, that sort of explains why we can’t understand many frequencies produced from various animals and insects.

Anyway, getting back on topic, while woofers focus on low frequency sounds, subwoofers take it to the next level, or rather the opposite, as they focus on the very low frequency sounds, particularly bass. To compare the two in an analytical sense [for any number people reading this], woofers can typically reproduce sounds from 40 Hz to 500 Hz, while subwoofers can typically reproduce sounds from 20 Hz to 200 Hz. Now, I know this might not make any sense, especially when looking at the numbers (although even these are just a way of displaying data), but trust me, they’re quite important when constructing a home theater system.

Alright, that explanation of audio frequency, woofers, and subwoofers wasn’t exactly ‘quick,’ but we’re here now, so, yeah…. Oh, and now that I’ve explained what I needed to, you should [hopefully] have no trouble understanding the different configurations of surround sound. Now, with 2.1 surround sound, in case you haven’t figure it out yet, it’s simply two standard stereo speakers, one being for the left and the other being for the right, as well as a subwoofer.

Before we move on to the next configuration, let me explain placement, as it’s quite important…. Of course, this doesn’t exactly matter if your surround sound setup is virtual (via headphones using software/hardware), but, again, explaining this in a real life scenario using speakers will make a lot more sense.

So, obviously the two stereo speakers go on your left and right, but the subwoofer is a bit more complex. The interesting thing about its placement is that you can practically put it anywhere in your room, and it will still [most likely] sound good. However, depending on your own preference, as well as other technical factors, there are specific spots in your room where the subwoofer might perform better than other places. Because of this, there’s not really a strict rule on where to put them, and most reliable guides on the internet will tell you it’s all based on wherever it pleases you best.

Just to touch on something lightly, there is such a thing as dual (two) subwoofers. It’s not very common, clearly, but there’s practical reasons for it. One point is that in a bigger room the addition of another subwoofer may improve the overall range that they can output to, assuming they’re spread out. Another point is that more subwoofers equal not more bass, but clearer (better quality) bass. I could totally keep going about subwoofers and whatnot, but I’m sure you’re either quite bored to death or simply want to move on, so, I’ll stop. Oh, and now that I’ve actually finished explaining all that needs to be said (hopefully), the rest of the surround sound configurations should go pretty quickly.

Moving to our next configuration, from 2.1 to 5.1 surround sound, there’s quite a few notable changes being made here. To start simple, let me say that we still have our original two stereo speakers and our subwoofer.

However, now we have an additional three speakers, which each have a different purpose, as well as change the entire positioning of our original setup. Two of the new speakers are known as the ‘left-surround’ (rear left) and ‘right-surround’ (rear right) speakers. The final new speaker is known as the ‘center’ speaker, which is basically a repurposed mono audio channel.

Now, I’m sure you have questions, but I’ll try to address them while explaining how these new additional speakers change our setup. Basically, we now have four speakers that are dedicated to what’s technically (in terms of position) the left and right side of our setup. Obviously, you wouldn’t put them right next to each other, you’d spread them out. That’s why our original two stereo speakers are now known/repurposed as the ‘left-front’ and ‘right-front’ speakers. Fortunately I can supply you with images of what all these configurations look like, otherwise I’m sure you’d have no idea how to apply any of these visually.

Anyway, our new setup is a speaker in the front and to the left, a second speaker in the front and to the right, a third speaker in the back and to the left, and a final speaker in the back and to the right. Now we can get to the center speaker, which unsurprisingly is the center of our setup. However, depending on where you’re sitting in this imaginary room, the center speaker won’t actually be in the center, as that would mean you’d be sitting on top or below it.

The center speaker actually goes right by the TV, monitor, etc., although not to the actual right or left sides.

Now you sort of have to worry about the subwoofer and center speakers when designing a surround sound setup.

However, typically there’s a spot available either in front, on top, below, or [in some cases] behind the screen… so, this isn’t that big of a deal. As for our final speaker, the subwoofer, the placement of this won’t really change, unless one of the newly added speakers got in the way.

Alright, moving to our final configuration, from 5.1 to 7.1 surround sound, there’s still an immense change being made here. Similar to how we went from 2.1 to 5.1 surround sound, the original speakers are still staying (the stereo and subwoofer speakers), as well as our recently added speakers (the left-surround, right-surround, and center speakers). However, now we have an additional two speakers, and as you’d expect, these will change the position of our entire setup. This is where things get a little confusing.

The two new speakers that appear when moving from 5.1 to 7.1 surround sound are known as the ‘leftsurround’ and ‘right-surround’ speakers. Now, obviously we have a huge problem here. I’m sure you’re already expecting me to explain why there’s now two sets of left-surround and right-surround speakers… well, that’d be too much for even me, so let me just try to make more sense of the situation.

Going back to 5.1 surround sound for a bit, there’s two speakers on the left side, and two speakers on the right side. As you already know, both sides have a speaker in the front, corresponding to its side. Both sides also have a speaker in the back, corresponding to its side… sort of…. Okay, let me just say something, this will be quick.

So, excusing the names of these back speakers, they’re practically double-purposed, in the sense that they output whatever’s happening [in the movie, song, etc.] and coming from the middle left and right, as well as the back left and right…. Yeah, I’m sure this will be much easier to explain by simply showing images, so, just look at those, in case I confused you.

Assuming you got my point, I can now try to explain how the two new speakers factor into all this…. Before I do, though, let me reiterate the ultimate point of having more and more speakers. You see, even though we humans have just two ears, one on each side, we can hear what seems like an infinite number of sounds, all depending on what direction it comes from, where exactly, etc. That’s why multichannel audio is a thing… because, aside from people trying to immerse themselves in the most futuristic and crazy way possible, it provides a clearer sense of where sounds come from, assuming the media (movie, video, song, etc.) supports it correctly.

Now, coming back to speakers, one problem with 5.1 surround sound is that the left-surround and rightsurround speakers attempt to output sounds from two directions at the same time. That’s why, with 7.1 surround sound, these two speakers essentially break up into halves… in other words, two speakers take care of the back left and back right directions, while the other two speakers take care of the middle left and middle right directions.

Okay, that should be it for surround sound configurations. Obviously, it’s possible to go way above eight channels (7.1 surround sound), but I don’t have the time, mental capacity, or interest to cover any of them. I’m sure you’re still a bit weirded out by the fact that multichannel audio is a thing… which is fine, because it’s definitely weird.

Believe me, when I first learned about it, I thought it was just a gimmick or some kind of cool engineering trick. Well, it’s definitely cool, but some people do think it’s ridiculous, while others think it’s simply impractical. I’ll be going over these things [and a bit more] in the next few subtopics.

4.3: What’s right for you?

So, before I start, let me point out [what I think to be] the obvious stuff. Like I said before, technically speaking, more (speakers) is better… right? Some will agree on that, others won’t, and that’s just how it is…. Anyway, that’s why this subtopic isn’t about ‘which is better,’ and rather what looks and sounds right to you. Now, I’ve done this kind of subtopic before, so hopefully nothing will really come as a huge surprise… but, of course, I like changing things, so I could end up accidentally [and unintentionally] explaining why one is better than another one…. Okay, I’ll just stop so we can keep going and have this not take another thousand years…. Oh, sorry, one more thing! Just to keep things simple, I’ll be using the ‘room setting’ again, as it’s harder to understand in the context of headphones.

Starting small, mono is… well, let me just say that I’d love to skip talking about this one again, but that’d be pretty unfair, so I’ll say what I can about it. “One audio channel to rule them all, one audio channel to find them, one audio channel to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.” …For anyone who hasn’t read/watched the “Lord of the Rings,” or just didn’t appreciate my failed attempt to be creative, that was a joke… the joke being that mono is… I mean, mono is the joke.

Okay, I’m done throwing mono around like a toy, I couldn’t resist.

In all fairness, mono is the predecessor to every other audio channel type, and even though it’s been replaced by stereo, it’s still something that changed audio forever. Anyway, yeah, mono simply doesn’t meet the modern standards set by stereo. Most media (movies, songs, etc.) today uses either stereo or multichannel audio, where there’s a left channel, right channel, and more in certain cases. To use mono with this kind of media, that would require mixing the two [or more] audio channels together into one singular audio channel.

Now, if I’m being completely honest, I’m not trying to say that mono is terrible and shouldn’t exist, but just that with stereo, your listening experience is changed vastly (and for the better). Obviously this has to do with the fact that stereo allows for directional sound reproduction…. For example, if you were to watch a movie with a single audio channel (mono), you wouldn’t be able to tell what sound was coming from where, besides the fact that the movie is visual… you get the point, I think.

Alright, moving on to stereo, the most simplistic of the bunch, this is probably the easiest to ‘recommend.’ …

You know, funny enough, I think stereo might be what I need to talk about the least, as I’ve already talked about it a bunch in the previous subtopic… but also, it’s not hard to understand why stereo is so great. Like I’ve said again and again before, most of the media (movies, songs, etc.) out there uses stereo, with music being above all.

Quickly going from stereo to multichannel audio, something important to note is that these audio channel types belong to very different audiences…. What I mean is that most people wouldn’t even know what to do with multichannel audio, given its complexity and specific usage. I’m sure somebody could find many ways to take advantage of multichannel audio, but the most common media that uses this audio channel type is film.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s many audiophiles out there who construct an entire home theater system in their house, just to listen to a few songs that surprising support multichannel audio… but the audio channel type is just seen much more commonly in the form of watching movies. It makes sense, of course, as people want to feel immersed when watching movies… in other words, they don’t want to just watch movies… they want to feel the movies….

Anyway, yeah, people like hearing sounds in different directions, rather than just left and right.

Okay, I thought about actually taking the time to discuss the differences between the various multichannel configurations, but it’d just be me repeating several things I’ve already said in the last subtopic. Just to summarize, though, if you’re a fan of many audio channels, and the cost of setting up a home theater system is out of the picture, then obviously you’re going to want as many speakers as will possibly fit in your car, after buying them in bulk at your

Chapter 5 Audio Formats AKA MP3, FLAC, Etc.

3

1

File Extension

Audio File

44.1 kHz, 320 KBPS, 8.6 MB Stereo

2 Metadata

Audio File Information

1 Audio File The actual file source that contains the digital information of the music you’re listening to.

It’s a digital file, so remember that the DAC in your device is converting it to analog, making it actual music... otherwise you’d be listening to code.

2 Metadata Useful information stored within the audio file. Metadata can include information related to the music itself (band name, song name, etc.), as well as audio data (file size, file code, etc.).

3 File Extension The end of a file [after the file name] (might be hidden), as well as the actual audio format that the song is using. ‘MP3’ files are the most recognizable, and easily one of the best compressed audio formats.

local audio equipment store. Of course, if you’re someone who has limited space in whatever room you’re planning on using for this grand art project, then… well, you’ll have to figure that one out yourself.

5.0: Audio Formats

5.1: What are Audio Formats?

Alright, before I start, I better mention that ‘audio formats’ is just a made-up term from yours truly…. So, basically audio formats is my term for audio file formats, which are the different types of files on your computer that play music (audio/music/song files). I guess it’d be good to also mention that I’ll be sticking to digital audio, rather than analog (vinyl, etc.) audio, as many modern audiophiles today simply stick to the standard digital audio format…. Anyway, to give an example of audio formats, you know what ‘MP3’ files are, right?... If not, you probably stream all your music using ‘Spotify’ or something like that, rather than downloading music onto your computer… which is fine, just, not the best way to listen to music at good quality…. Okay, don’t worry, I’ll get into all this soon enough, but let me do a little bit of explaining first, just so everything makes a bit more sense.

So, I’m going to unfairly assume that you’re not a computer geek like me, and don’t know what ‘file formats’ are. File formats are simply the different kinds of files that plague your computer… they’re not viruses, I just used the word ‘plague’ to indicate that computers have hundreds of thousands of files on them, most of which you have no idea about. But anyway, to give an example of a common file format on computers, ‘txt’ files, which show as ‘.txt’ at the end of the file name, are text files…. To elaborate more, I mean files that, when opened, open your computer’s default text program (‘Notepad’ on the ‘Windows’ operating system, ‘TextEditor’ on the ‘Mac’ operating system, etc.) and display whatever text/words the file contains…. Okay, I feel like that just made things more confusing…. I don’t know anymore…. I think you get the point, which is that these text files show words when opened.

Of course, there’s not just text files on your computer, as there’s many different formats for different purposes.

Just to name a few that might make the most sense, there’s image/picture files (‘.jpg,’ ‘.png,’ etc.), video/movie files (‘.mp4,’ ‘.mkv,’ etc.), and, of course, audio/music files, which we can get to now that we’ve [hopefully] got file formats out of the way….

Oh, one more thing. Earlier I said that streaming music isn’t the best way to listen to music at good quality. The reason for this is because most streaming services (with the exception of a few, as well as ones with premium/high quality streaming plans) stream music at ‘low quality.’ I’d love to explain more, but we should probably just move on to talking about the actual audio formats.

5.2: Different Audio Formats Alright, so, just like the other kinds of file formats, there’s many different audio formats, and they’re all quite similar, yet different in one way or another. To keep it simple, we’ll start by going over the three types of audio formats, which are ‘uncompressed,’ ‘lossless,’ and ‘lossy.’ …Okay, I have a feeling that I might need to do a bit of backtracking…. Don’t worry, this shouldn’t take too long.

Aside from the many different audio formats we’ll be touching on later, there’s three categories to group them all in, which differ in the amount of data/space that the audio file takes up on your computer…. Yeah, I know, I’m losing you…. Alright, think of it like this, you know how various files take up a certain amount of space [in the form of kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), gigabytes (GB), etc.] on your computer, right?... I really hope so, because I’m definitely not willing to explain it right now.

Anyway, music files obviously take up a certain amount of space on your computer, and the point of there being different types of audio formats [regarding computer space] is to create different ways for people to store their music in a preferred file size (file size depends on how much data is in the song files)…. So, hopefully that solved any questions you might have had.

Now, getting back to the three types of audio formats, and starting with uncompressed (raw) audio, this basically constitutes any audio file that is… well, not compressed…. If you don’t get what ‘compression’ means in the form of audio files, it’s a way of deleting data (usually the unnecessary stuff) in an attempt to make the audio file smaller in size. So, uncompressed audio is like recording a song and exporting it exactly the way it was recorded… in other words, not altered with.

A few of the audio formats that use uncompressed audio are ‘WAV’ (‘.wav’) and ‘AIFF’ (‘.aiff’). These audio formats retain the maximum audio quality from the original recordings, doing so at the expense of having huge file sizes…. I don’t know if it’d be too helpful to provide actual numbers, so let me just say that unless you’re carrying a quantum computer with you wherever you go, it’d be better to keep these audio formats off your mobile phone…. That was supposed to be a joke, but I’m sure it just made things super confusing…. My point is that they take up a bunch of space, and if you’re actually curious how much, you can find out on your own.

Okay, the next type of audio format is lossless (lightly compressed) audio, which is quite similar to uncompressed, only better… well, in my opinion, at least. I won’t get into what’s better, as that’s a whole different situation, something I definitely don’t want to get into. Basically, this constitutes any audio file that is barely compressed, as in it’s enough to call it compressed… in other words, it’s compressed to take up less space, but done in a way that keeps all the original data intact.

A few of the audio formats that use lossless audio are ‘FLAC’ (‘.flac’) and ‘APE’ (‘.ape’). These audio formats retain [near] maximum audio quality from the original recordings, doing so at the expense of having huge files sizes, although, considerably less than uncompressed audio…. Again, it’d be silly for me to include any numbers, so you’ll just

have to either take my word for it (that they’re huge files, but a lot less than uncompressed audio), or find out on your own. Now, just to mention it, some audiophiles do indeed believe that uncompressed audio really is quite different [in terms of audio quality] than lossless audio, but… it’s just too complicated…. I’ll touch on this stuff later.

The final type of audio format is lossy (heavily compressed) audio, which is similar to lossless audio, yet quite different at the same time. It’s similar in the sense that they’re both compressed versions of the original recording, but different because lossy audio aims to bring down the file size of these audio files to extremely low amounts (when compared to uncompressed and lossless). Basically, this constitutes any audio file that is immensely compressed, but done in a way that supposedly keeps all the ‘important data,’ while leaving out any and all ‘unnecessary data.’

A few of the audio formats that use lossy audio are ‘MP3’ (‘.mp3’) and ‘AAC’ (‘.aac’). These audio formats retain enough of the audio quality from the original recordings to have many people think that there’s nothing short of them, compressing at the expense of having super small file sizes. Once more, it’d be weird for me to include any numbers, but you’ll have to trust me when I say that the file sizes of these audio formats are minuscule (when compared to uncompressed and lossless)… either that or figure it out yourself.

Okay, so, those are the three types of audio formats, and now that we’ve covered them, I should probably explain something I should have done before all of this. There’s three terms that are heavily associated with audio files, and those terms are ‘sample rates,’ ‘bitrates,’ and ‘bit depth.’ At this point, though, I’m sure neither of us care too much about any of them…. So, to keep things as simple as possible, I’ll just explain what bitrate is, as that’s the most relevant to our audio formats.

In a literal sense, bitrate is the amount/rate of kilobits produced per second…. Okay, obviously that’s complicated and confusing, so here’s a simpler way of explaining it. Basically, bitrate is a way of displaying how much data (in the form of kilobits per second) is contained in an audio file. To put it into perspective with what we’ve already covered, uncompressed audio formats generally have very high bitrates, while lossless audio formats have high (just, not as much as uncompressed audio formats) bitrates, and lossy audio formats have low to very low bitrates. I wish I could elaborate more on what high and low bitrates look like [in terms of numbers], but it’d just make everything super complicated.

Now, this doesn’t exactly mean that audio formats with higher bitrates will always be of higher quality than audio formats with lower bitrates… but, that’s usually the case, so, yeah. Unfortunately there’s no real way [that I know of] to tell [by simply looking at an audio file’s details] whether it’s actually high quality or not. This has to do with many, many factors, but the most obvious one is that people can easily convert a low quality MP3 audio file to a ‘high quality’ WAV audio file. Of course, this would never work, as you can’t just increase the quality of an audio file by changing the audio format.... Anyway, I feel like we got sidetracked with things, so, let’s just move on.

Alright, this last thing has to do with bitrates and MP3s (in this case). If you download music, particularly MP3s, you probably know what I’m going to discuss. So, while most of the various audio formats differentiate all across the board in their bitrates, MP3s (and most likely a few more, at least) have a specific range in bitrates… typically…. Okay, just, let me explain, it will [hopefully] all become clear soon enough.

To start, let me quickly explain a few concepts/terms. ‘Constant bitrate’ (CBR for short) is basically a way of encoding (exporting) an MP3 audio file to have a supposed ‘fixed value.’ Some examples of these fixed values would be ‘128 Kbps,’ (Kbps is kilobits per second) ‘256 Kbps,’ and the ‘maximum’ for MP3s, which is ‘320 Kbps.’ The other way of encoding an MP3 audio file is known as ‘variable bitrate’ (VBR for short), which means the MP3s have supposedly ‘random values.’ Now, I don’t think supplying any examples of the random values will benefit you in any way, so… well, just know that they’re typically in the range from ’40 Kbps’ to ‘256 Kbps’ …I think…. Alright, we’re moving on.

5.3: What’s right for you?

With so many audio formats to choose from (not to mention the extra challenge in picking between the three types of audio formats), it’s all one very complicated ‘audio buffet.’ Of course, no matter what, your preference for any of these is the most important thing… but there’s plenty of differences between each audio format to pick at. However, that’d take too long, so I’m going to simply explain what I think to be the best audio formats for specific kinds of people/groups.

For the more casual listeners who personally can’t tell the difference between an uncompressed or lossless audio format from a lossy audio format, they should just stick with MP3 files, or any other lossy audio format. MP3 files have the advantage of the industry, as they’re by far the most commonly used audio format. MP3 files are also much smaller in file size than any uncompressed or lossless audio formats, so if you have limited space on your computer for some reason/s, or just like carrying around your music on your mobile device, then MP3 files are your go-to audio format… or any other lossy audio format. And if you don’t want to sacrifice too much audio quality, even 320 Kbps MP3 files work great, as they’re still much smaller in file size than any uncompressed or lossless audio formats.

Now, for the people who really do believe that they can appreciate and tell the difference between 320 Kbps MP3 files [or any other lossy audio format] and uncompressed or lossless audio formats, and also have no issue with computer (or a mobile device) space, they should use FLAC and/or WAV files, or any other uncompressed or lossless audio formats.

Unfortunately FLAC and WAV files have the disadvantage of the industry, as most people either can’t tell the difference between these and the far more convenient 320 Kbps MP3 files, or simply don’t care enough about audio quality. However, some online music services/websites offer high quality file options (FLAC, WAV, etc.) for downloading, so it’s not like they’re hard to find.

One important thing to figure out when deciding between these different audio formats is whether you can

actually tell the difference in audio quality. Technically, yes, any [correctly done/true] uncompressed or lossless audio formats will be vastly superior in audio quality when compared to any lossy audio formats… and the same goes for any [correctly done/ true] 320 Kbps MP3 files, as they’ll always be vastly superior in audio quality when compared to any 128 Kbps MP3 files, or any other low bitrate audio formats.

There’s countless arguments on both sides as to whether us humans can really tell the difference between high and low bitrate audio formats [when listening]. I’m sure there’s probably even been a scientific study (which, if you’re super curious, you can do your own research for online) that has proven either belief, or perhaps something completely different. Anyway, if you want to test your own ears and find out whether you can hear the difference between high and low bitrate audio formats, there’s various websites online that offer such services [for free].

5.4: My recommendation/s Alright, the rest of this section should go fairly quick now, as I only use one specific audio format when downloading and listening to music on my computer and mobile device. So, for the past couple years, I’ve used mostly 320 Kbps MP3 files, and lower bitrate MP3 files when the album/website doesn’t offer anything greater. I use this specific audio format over something like FLAC or WAV because of various reasons and advantages.

The first reason is that MP3 files are the most common audio format, so whenever I’m looking for music online, it’s usually offered in that audio format. Of course, not all websites/services offer high bitrate MP3 files, which is a bummer for me, but not a huge deal. And if there’s a case where the only audio format available is uncompressed or lossless, there’s many ways to convert those into the 320 Kbps MP3 format. The way this works [exactly] I couldn’t really tell you, but it should be easy to understand that it’s possible to convert a higher quality audio file to a lower quality one… if not, for whatever, then… well, now you know. If this makes sense, it should also make sense that you can’t [truly] convert a lower quality audio file to a higher quality one… it’d be like taking a really old object, which might or might not have dust and whatnot on it, and magically turning it into the same object, only in the original form it took on before…. Okay, that was a pretty terrible analogy….

I think you got the point, so we’ll move on.

The second reason is that, because I like to keep lots of my music on whatever device I normally use, MP3 files work great, as they are quite the bit lower in file sizes than any uncompressed or lossless audio formats. So, just to elaborate some more, let’s say I’m transferring my whole music library to my phone. My phone doesn’t have nearly as much space as my computer, so if I want to transfer my whole music library to my phone, I’ll have to use a compressed audio format; such as 320 Kbps MP3 files. There’s always the argument that I could just have a portion of my music library in FLAC or WAV format, but this gets me to my last reason.

The third and final reason is that I personally can’t tell the [hearable] difference between any uncompressed or lossless audio formats and 320 Kbps MP3 files. Now, I don’t know exactly how much having a good pair of headphones matters/factors into this, but to be clear, I was using my HD 6XX (pair of entry level audiophile headphones), along with my AE-5 (hi-fi ‘gaming’ DAC and amp). I’m sure having good audio equipment helps a bunch with a test like this, but I just don’t know whether it matters a lot or a little.

So, from my own personal tests with listening to FLAC and/or WAV files against 320 Kbps MP3s, the only real difference I can make out is that when I squint my eyes and listen really hard, as well as have the volume at a ‘moderately loud level,’ and when I’m in an environment where there’s no distracting background noises (just me and my music), I feel that I can hear just a bit more of the actual instruments and musical sounds that were in the songs.

Of course, this could just be my distorted perception of the different bitrates, and my mind might have just been tricking me into thinking I was getting more out of the songs at a higher bitrate than a lower one, but… well, I don’t know. Again, that’s why I highly recommend you to figure out for yourself whether there’s a [hearable] difference between a lower bitrate audio file and a higher bitrate one. That’s also what makes audio so cool, as technically, us humans hear things at least a tiny bit different from each other… and the same goes for eyesight and colors, but that’s something entirely different.

Now, some people may disagree with my opinion and observation, as they might suggest that using a higher quality DAC and amp; and maybe even a pair of higher quality audiophile headphones, could actually result very differently.... but even without the need of higher quality gear, some ‘audiophile enthusiasts’ do really believe that they can truly make out the difference in musical and audio quality between a 320 Kbps MP3 file and any uncompressed or lossless audio formats. Of course, if you truly do think uncompressed or lossless audio formats work better for you, and you have the hard drive space, as well as the money/time to get all your current music in the form of uncompressed or lossless audio formats, then by all means, do what you think, I won’t stop you.

6.0: Conclusion

6.1: Opening (of the Conclusion) Well, you made it… sorry, we made it! You weren’t the only person in pain through this, you know? Anyway, yeah, we’re finally to the end of this whole guide/adventure/thing. I’m sure there were rough times through this where both of us simply wanted to stop what we were doing, stand up, and walk away in the opposite direction. It’s all over, though. We finished, we won, we beat the game that is reading through a very, very long guide about audio and stuff like that…. So, yeah, celebration time, woohoo!

6.2: What should I have learned?

I hope you learned something through reading all this… I mean, it’d really suck if you were tasked to read this

whole ‘mumbo jumbo’ collection of audio stuff, perhaps for a research project, or because it’d make me happy that you read it, and realize at the end of it that you either forgot everything or simply didn’t pay attention… or just found everything super boring and complicated, which, I won’t blame you for.

So, actually, what should you have learned? Well, obviously that audio is like, super cool, and stuff…. But uh, you know, this should have provided not only an ‘audiophile’s guide to basic audio,’ or at least what I deem to be ‘basic audio,’ but also an extremely long synopsis into the world of audiophilia… in other words, this should have taught you some stuff about audio, and that it’s not just something that came about for the purpose of giving people entertainment… although, that part is so important.

Now, in the scenario that you learned a lot more than just what I’ve laid upon you as a foundation for what’s expected, then that makes me as happy as a dog… because dogs are happy… usually…. So, yeah, that’s super cool that you might have actually learned something that I taught. As you might hopefully be able to me two years to finish, but that’s beside the point. All I’m trying to say is that I feel amazing that I’ve not only finished this insanely long guide, but also by the possibility that someone read this and learned something from it all… something they might even be able to take with them into the real world…. Anyway, you get it, I’m happy.

6.3: What’s next?

For you, nothing I know about, as I’m not exactly trained in the mystical art of knowing where you’ll be after this… but, for me, I’ll perhaps revise this, maybe even publish it officially… probably not, though. If this fantasy doesn’t come about, I’m sure I’ll just be fine with having this as an example of what can come out of a simply hobby…. If you don’t remember, I only started this because of a hobby that I picked up, doing so after just watching a quick video or two on audio equipment, particularly headphones.

6.4: Closing (of the Conclusion) I think it’s just amazing how much I’ve learned about audio technology through doing this project, now having a guide to show it off. I think it’s also definitely changed how I think about the human ability to hear sounds as a whole. And, of course, I can absolutely appreciate music far more than I could before. It’s all just such a beautiful world of ideas and concepts, forming what many can describe as more than just a simple way to entertain themselves. Anyway, I’m just speaking in tongues at this point, so I’ll just leave and drop everything right here, finally giving both of us a moment to breath and ponder over everything… in due time… yeah, I’m really tired, goodbye!