Over the past few weeks I have been searching feverishly for replacement headphones for my Creative Labs Zen Vision M. Well to be specific I have been searching for replacement headphones since I got this MP3 player. Unfortunately for us buyers of this highly expensive equipment, the manufacturers think that the sound quality of the headphones really don’t matter at all and that we will be satisfied with headphones with very low performance with muddled bass and unclear mids and highs. Sheesh, you would assume after spending 2-300 dollars on these things we would get a little respect, but alas it is not so. So most people end up having to buy replacements for their stock headphones which can only be described as rubbish. However buying these replacement products can be quite a hassle because manufacturers continuously try to trick us by giving us figures like frequency response, total harmonic distortion etc. Well being an audiophile and a geek I already understand alot of these figures, but there are alot of people who don’t and geek or not, we all like extra knowledge. So here once again I present another guide (I seem to be the guide master around here) about how to shop for headphones.

The first factor about headphones (which it helps to be informed about) is the form factor. Now headphones come in various styles and form factors. First we are gonna look at earbuds. Now earbuds are the kind of headphones which normally come with mp3 players. These generally give no bass at all (or very poor bass), and drop out of your ears as soon as you turn your head left then right too fast, and are what you normally are trying to get the upgrade from. They look like the following picture

Next we have In-Canal Headphones (or just In-Ear) for short. These are called in ear because… well… they go in your ear. When in your ear they also form a seal which sometimes helps in making noise isolating headphones (only sometimes). These headphones because they are in your ear can also help for a better clearer sound, with deeper bass and all the things that audiophiles love to hear.

Next are over the ear headphones. These come in two styles, namely Circumaural and Supra-aural. Circumaural headphones cover the entire ear and are the headphones that you typically see djs using when they are mixing.

Supra-Aural headphones on the other hand sit on your ears but do not form the seal around them. Therefore these sometimes let in outside noise but still are able to provide excellent sound however.

All headphones created fall under one of these form factors or another. Now to get at some of the terminologies these crafty manufacturers use to swindle your hard earned money out of your pocket. Firstly we deal with Noise Isolating headphones. These headphones remove outside sound by creating a seal which prevent any other noise from coming into your ears except those emitted by the speaker. Noise Cancelling headphones on the other hand and I quote from wikipedia.org reduces unwanted ambient (outside) sounds by “means of active noise control. Essentially, this involves using a microphone, placed near the ear, and electronic circuitry which generates an “antinoise” sound wave with the opposite polarity of the sound wave arriving at the microphone. This results in destructive interference, which cancels out the noise within the enclosed volume of the headphone.”

Looking at these differences if you want to completely removing outside noise it may make more sense to go with noise cancelling headphones because noise isolating headphones may not completely remove outside sounds if a seal gets worn down and also if a person’s ear canal is smaller or larger than regular it may prove to be very uncomfortable, but due to the fact that chances of this are rare then you may just be satisfied with noise isolating headphones. Noise cancelling headphones aren’t without fault either, as due to the fact that they are larger, they are also heavier and the large amount of foam within the headphones may cause your ear to sweat and it may be tiring to wear them over long periods of time. Also because these headphones generate sound that means that they require electricity and you may find yourself having to buy batteries weekly or monthly (or just buy rechargeable batteries) and they may not have that staying power that you want because batteries die and on that 12 hour flight from Jamaica to Germany I doubt you would want to suddenly start hearing annoying engine noise. Another disadvantage to these headphones is also that because they use a microphone you may also hear an annoying hissing noise in the background which can be just as frustrating if not more frustrating than the noises you are trying to get rid of. I have used a Bose QuietComfort II noise cancelling headphone already and I must say I was deaf to the world when they were on, but I also felt like my ears were about to pop. SO that was a disadvantage for me. Therefore none of these technologies are perfect but they do their jobs as best as possible though.

Other terms manufacturers may give you are the maximum SPL (Sound Pressure Level) which is simply how loud the headphones can get, this is measured in decibels and also please remember that permanent hearing damage starts at 90 dB and that 120 dB is the threshold of pain. So if you see headphones that can do that, you might not want to test their maximum noise (at least if u enjoy hearing that is)

Frequency response is one of those figures that very rarely matter as well. Almost all speakers no matter how cheap they are can give low and high frequencies from about 30Hz up to about 16Khz, which is more than satisfactory for speakers.

Total Harmonic Distortion is also a figure that really doesn’t matter. While the lower THD the better is true, almost every headphone you look at will in fact say that it gives less than 1% THD, distortion may present itself as those annoying little outside sounds which add to the unclarity (i coined another word) of the music you are listening to. The best way to really compare this is to listen to the headphones before hand, but most of the times you can just ignore this (unless it says more than 1% then run away… very very far away)

Impedance measures the ability of the headphone to get louder (volumewise). The lower the impedance the higher the volume SHOULD be able to get. But there are also many other factors which can lead to how loud the headphones can get, such as the power output of the mp3 player (or cd player or whatever you are plugging into), if the mp3 player doesnt generally give alot of power then no matter how loud the volume is, the headphones wont get as loud as you would like. The only way to change this is to get an amplifier but thats next to impossible unless you are buying headphones for home usage in which then you can feel free to get an amplifier and burst your eardrums.

Now I am not going to suggest any particular headphone because everybody’s listening tastes differ and the headphones I like may not be the ones you like due to the size of my head compared to the size of your head (comfort), how good your hearing is compared to how good mine is, the music you are listening to etc. However this should help to clear some of the questions you may have when you are buying headphones.

I have spoken enough now and have given you something long enough to read so I shall end this entry here. Of course feel free to ask me any additional questions and I’ll try to answer to the best of my ability