Pelham Records

If you’re looking to purchase a new pair of headphones the first thing you’ll want to know is exactly how headphones work, or you may end up purchasing a low quality pair.  There’s 3 main types of headphones: workout headphones, audiophile headphones and musician headphones.  And while they’re all different, they are also almost exactly the same.

Each of these types of headphones still function the same way.  They utilize what is known as air conduction to transport sound waves from the device, through the speakers and into your ears.  Essentially what happens is the sound moves the air within your ear canal which then stimulates your inner ear.  A signal is sent to your brain and instantly recognizes the frequencies and amplitudes to create a unique sound.  Pretty cool huh?  But what does all that have to do with headphones?  Well, now that you know the basics of sound you can use that to choose the best pair of headphones.

Here are 3 things to look for when determining sound quality of any headphone or earbud.

Frequency Response.  Each pair of headphones will have a specific range of frequencies that it can understand and then pass on to you.  It is very unlikely that you’ll find a pair of headphones that can’t pick up a common frequency.  Typically you’d want to see something like 20 MHz to 20,000 MHz.

Total Harmonic Distortion.  This is essentially just what it says, the amount of distortion of the sound that is generated between the source (MP3 player) and the exit (earbud).  The goal would be less than 0.5% at which point you wouldn’t notice anything.

Sound Pressure Level.  This is basically how loud a the headphones can play the music.  Usually it’s around 120dB, but you would never want to turn your headphones up that loud as you’d damage your hearing.

Now that you know everything about headphones you’re ready to buy the perfect pair!