With the multitude of brands and styles of headphones on the market today, choosing the model that fits you best can be a daunting and time consuming task. Arguably the easiest way is to try different headphones side by side. Join the Audio Engineering Society Student Section @ the University of Michigan in presenting a Headphone Shootout.
Do Listeners Agree on What Makes a Headphone Sound Good?
The popularity of headphones has now exploded to produce annual worldwide sales of almost $10 billion. Premium headphones ($100+) now account for 90% of the annual revenue growth, as consumers’ audio experiences are becoming a primarily mobile one. Market research indicates sound quality is a driving factor in headphone purchases with brand and fashion also being important factors among younger consumers. Yet, ironically the science behind what makes a headphone sound good and how to measure it is poorly understood. This combined with the lack of perceptually meaningful headphone standards may explain why purchasing a headphone today is like playing Russian Roulette with your ears. The magic bullet to achieving more consistent headphone sound quality is science. (more…)
With the multitude of brands and styles of headphones on the market today, choosing the model that fits you best can be a daunting and time consuming task. Arguably the easiest way is to try different headphones side by side. Join the Audio Engineering Society Student Section @ the University of Michigan in presenting a Headphone Shootout.
Thank you to all who came out to critically listen to and evaluate our 12 different headphones and share some insight to your opinion on where different types of headphones could be preferred!
