Hey everyone! So I wanted to make a video to highlight some of the tracks I’ve been
listening to lately when testing headphones. But I realised that with Youtube ContentID,
I’m not going to be able to play you samples from those tracks, because even though I think
it would be fair use to do so, dealing with the ContentID dispute process is a nightmare.
So instead, what I’m going to do is put a link in the description of this video to
a post over at my blog and you can listen to those tracks and read my comments there
at your leisure.
But honestly, unless you want to hear some new music or you’re just curious, I don’t
think you should really pay that much attention to what I listen to when testing headphones.
I may geek out about headphones, but at the end of the day headphones are for music and
not the other way around. So while I think reference tracks can be useful, I think the
most important thing is to listen to music you like and know well. So in this video I’m
going to give you some tips on testing headphones and choosing reference tracks from your own
library.
Number 1. Listen to what you know. This is really important. Choose reference tracks
that you are familiar with and that you’ve heard on a wide variety of equipment, because
then you’ll know how it should sound in different situations. This is why I think
it’s important to choose music you actually listen to and enjoy, because you’ll know
better than anyone else how it should sound. That also means that, whenever possible when
testing any equipment, ask if you can use your own music. In-store demo tracks are near
useless unless you are very familiar with them, because you have no idea how the track
is *supposed* to sound and how much of the way it sounds is coming from the headphone
and how much is coming from the way the track was mastered or produced.
Number 2. Variety! Variety is a great idea. This one's pretty simple. Maybe a headphone
sounds great for math rock but terrible for death metal. Maybe a headphone sounds amazing
for vocalist A but awful for vocalist B. Different types of music will pick up different characteristics
in a headphone. Choose tracks that have some distinctive thing that you like - maybe you
love hearing the way the soundstage pans in one track, or you just love the way things
get textured or layered in another track. Use what you expect and like to hear to guide
you when you listen to something new. Number 3. Mastering matters. And by this I
don’t mean you should only listen to audiophile recordings that are mastered amazingly, because
I think that kind of thing is like choosing movies to watch based on which movies bring
out the contrast ratio on your television best. What I mean is, be aware of differences
in how music is mastered. Some music is mastered with amazing dynamic range and a lovely sense
of clarity. Some music is mastered with a lot of sibilance or compression. You want
to know how a given piece of gear is going to handle anything that you throw at it, because
some headphones can emphasise parts of a recording in ways that are distracting or even painful.
You’ll notice that on my list of tracks I have a few tracks that I’ve chosen not
because they’re brilliantly mastered, but SPECIFICALLY because I think they are worst
case scenarios in terms of being mastered too hot, too compressed or too sibilant.
Number 4. Listen with an open mind. Let me tell you a story. One time, when I was much
younger, my sister gave me a glass of chocolate milk. Now I love chocolate milk. I took a
sip, and spat it out everywhere. Because It tasted awful. And it tasted awful because
it wasn't chocolate milk, it was Baileys. Strange thing is, I like Baileys. But because
I was expecting chocolate milky goodness in my mouth, and not creamy Baileys goodness,
my immediate instinct was to reject it. Headphones can be like that too. I’ve had so many situations
where I’ve absolutely hated something on first listen because it was not what I expected,
or it was different from what I’ve been listening to lately. But after more listening
time, sometimes you get over your initial expectations and come to love something for
what it is. For instance, I demoed the Sony XBA-Z5 3 times before I bought it. I absolutely
hated it at first. But today it’s one of my favourite in-ears. The opposite also applies.
So, something you like at first listen can reveal its flaws to you after a long demo.
So approach things with an open mind, and don’t go in expecting chocolate milk in
case you miss out on some delicious Baileys. Also, my sister is a bad person.
Number 5. Related to this is burn-in. I get asked about this a lot, and I’ll restate
my official position now. I do not believe in burn in as a significant audible phenomenon
that makes equipment sound dramatically better over time. I have never seen any measurements
that explain the kind of improvements that some users report. What I do think is a more
likely phenomenon is mental-burn in. It takes time to get used to sensory changes. I wear
glasses, and anybody who wears glasses can tell you: when you get a new pair of glasses,
everything looks weird and distorted at first. And then after a while it settles down and
everything looks normal again. And it’s not like your glasses or it's not like your
eyes burned in - It just that your brain took a little while to adjust to new input. Now
I’m no neuroscientist but I’m sure a similar thing happens with audio and hearing. So whether
you believe in the magical burn in fairy or that headphones are slowly taking over your
brain, just give things time. Number 6. Don’t pay too much attention to
price. Now this is part of listening with an open mind. Manufacturers will charge whatever
they think customers will pay, and some manufacturers will charge a higher price just to increase
the perceived quality of their products. This is possible because dumb suckers like me make
the market irrational. At the end of the day, measurements aside, sound quality is a subjective
perception. And as long as you have a sufficiently strong brand narrative, you can influence
that perception.
There's nothing sneaky about this. It's just how luxury goods work, and
I’ll be the first to tell you that fancy headphones are in fact a luxury good. Because
most people just stick with earpods. So ignore the price. Some cheap things can sound extremely
good and some expensive things can be really quite mediocre, and you might be missing out
on something if you reject things simply based on price. Lastly, sound isn’t everything.
I often get asked, “What is the best headphone for $x dollars, only considering sound quality?”
I’ll let you know something: while I understand why people ask this kind of question, I hate
answering it. Here is something I believe very firmly: the best headphone is the one
that you will actually wear. And that means that the best headphone is one that you can
wear comfortably for hours and one that’s not going to fall apart on you. If it's a
portable headphones, the best headphone is going to be a headphone that blocks out enough
noise so that you can actually hear your music without giving yourself hearing damage by
turning up the volume. And sometimes it’s important to choose a headphone that won’t
look like some kind of awkward science experiment on your head. There are a lot of headphones
that I love the sound of, that I will never buy simply because I think they are uncomfortable
or impractical. Maybe your priorities are different, but for me, sound isn’t everything,
and it’s not always the most important thing.
So with all that said, you can check out the list of test tracks over at my blog by following
the link in the description of this video. I’d also love to hear your thoughts about
what you think is important when testing headphones, and maybe a little about your own personal
approach to choosing a headphone.
As always, happy listening!