Recent comments in /f/headphones

audioen t1_j5r8ty5 wrote

Reply to what information an impulse response graph provides about headphones? by MEGA_AEOIU792

It is actually the same information as the (complex) frequency response. This is just the time-domain representation of it. More specifically, the Fourier transform of the impulse response is the (complex) frequency response, and the inverse Fourier transform of the (complex) frequency response is the impulse response.

I guess usual smoothed magnitude spectrum has elided phase information, while phase information is in some sense still visible in the impulse response. It is thus the more complete record of the system's behavior. That is why I put the word "complex" in parenthesis above, it means that the ratio of the imaginary and real part of the complex number gives the phase angle. In my opinion, the phase should be processed to group delay plot which shows how much the system delays sound across the response's frequency range. I agree in that I don't think the raw impulse response is easy to read at all.

Group delay is not often an interesting plot with headphones because they are not supposed to have much group delay to begin with. Group delay is more of a property of electronics and digital filters. However, sometimes group delay plots of headphones have big spikes that show that phase is wildly inconsistent at some frequency, and this is often something like a resonating structure in the headset cup. It would also be apparent in frequency response as a narrow spike at that location, but often frequency response plots are heavily smoothed which hides these defects.

As an example, Hifiman Ananda has something wrong in its group delay plot: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?attachments/hifiman-ananda-group-delay-measurements-open-back-planar-headphone-png.122835/ -- the plot can be quite noisy which probably comes partially from how the headset sits on the fixture and how reflections go inside the headset cup. However, curve fragments going up and down all over, especially in low frequencies above 200 Hz just isn't normal. So this is example of headset with messed up phase that indicates a sound quality problem.

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Solypsist_27 t1_j5r6cyv wrote

Reply to comment by BobTheMenace in What do you do while listening to music? by _Deh

Listening to compression artifacts on purpose sounds really menacing lol. I just settled for 320 kbps mp3s since I can't hear the difference from flacs, but whenever I have to listen to some music on YouTube and I can hear the difference in quality, it does bother me quite a bit lol

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Solypsist_27 t1_j5r5wlz wrote

Reply to What do you do while listening to music? by _Deh

Something I like to do a lot is playing tetris lol. I play Cultris 2, it actually also has some pretty cool music as a "soundtrack", but recently I've been turning all of its sound off and just playing tetris in "training" mode. My mind goes on autopilot on the tetris game and I am somehow able to focus a lot more on the music, and at the same time to occasionally space out on it and focus on clearing lines, I find it overall very relaxing and I really like to do it after a long day or just to unwind before going to sleep. It took getting somewhat good at tetris though, so I wouldn't recommend unless you're already into it lol

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TheFrator t1_j5r5pp5 wrote

Reply to comment by TheOrangeSpud in What do you do while listening to music? by _Deh

My exact philosophy.

And hello fellow psychopath that works out without music! I get some funny looks when I tell people I workout without any music. It makes your mind go to a cool place when you're deep into a lifting or cardio session with nothing but the task at hand to focus on and complete.

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AtomikPi t1_j5r5hbl wrote

Reply to comment by No-Tune-9435 in what information an impulse response graph provides about headphones? by MEGA_AEOIU792

The reason why is that headphones are nearly entirely minimum phase. This means that phase domain and time domain are directly related, and the above impulse response is implied by the frequency response. (This isn’t true of room issues with speakers by the way.) This is not entirely the case at low frequencies and with certain weird designs. There is a Crinacle video and some Oratory1990 posts explaining this better that I can’t find right now. Fwiw I subjectively sometimes think impulse response corresponds with my sense of speed and decay (stats sound dry/ fast decay), but don’t claim that is objectively the case.

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shaledecimal t1_j5r52lc wrote

Reply to what information an impulse response graph provides about headphones? by MEGA_AEOIU792

https://www.stereophile.com/content/innerfidelity-headphone-measurements-explained "You can also think of step response as a measure of frequency response where the leading edge slew rate indicates the high-frequency limit, and the length of time it can keep the step at the new level an indication of its low-frequency limit. At every point between, you can think of the level of the top of the step response as related to the frequency response at the frequency whose quarter wavelength is equal to the elapsed time since the leading edge of the step/square wave."

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aknudskov t1_j5r1s62 wrote

Reply to comment by blargh4 in what information an impulse response graph provides about headphones? by MEGA_AEOIU792

Yeah that is where I was going with it at first but I guess the first part shows the initial response too. Interesting. I would say this implies to show how fast/responsive a speaker is. I wager a planar magnetic would have a much tighter graph than an hd-600 as an example. Something that sounds "muddy" would have a much longer timeframe shown right ?

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LuckyUser777 t1_j5r147l wrote

Reply to What do you do while listening to music? by _Deh

When I need to focus and get work done it helps me to have music in the background. I can't focus well on the music, but it doesn't distract me. It's usually a familiar playlist or music I know well. I use noise cancelling because it's easier for me to focus with music than random background noise. Exercise is a specific playlist - faster, heavier. Cooking is another big one, always need music on for that. Browsing - Reddit, eBay, etc, is always with music too. The only times I just have music are when trying out new equipment or at the end of the week/weekend when I sit down with a glass of wine and wind down.

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