[ttnaboface]

I am new to the hobby, but trying to absorb as much information as humanly possible. There are a few questions I propose and any advice will be an incredible help.

1) What are other websites you use to learn about the art of sound (regarding headphones if possible)

2) Is it possible to separate sound by pitch, tone...etc.

3) What is the best way to learn about the audio market? Is there anyone I could possibly interview to receive further advice?

4) Any other useful information


Thank you, for future reference of course!!!

[K Shep]

Head-fi site:

http://www.head-fi.org/

[maxwalrath]

For questions about the audio market, I've gotten solid advice asking an array of questions on this forum.  If you have specific queries, fire away...someone in the know will likely be around to answer your questions.  People here are ready to recommend products/dealers/manufactures they have 1st hand positive experiences with, and odds are someone on the forum has gone down a path similar to the one you want to travel.  A description of the project you are working on is probably a good place to start. 

[Duke]

1) What are other websites you use to learn about the art of sound (regarding headphones if possible)

Head-fi.org, avforums.com (they have a headphone forum).  I don't frequent either one so can't make any further comments.

2) Is it possible to separate sound by pitch, tone...etc.

Yes, we do it all the time.   Maybe I don't understand the question.

3) What is the best way to learn about the audio market? Is there anyone I could possibly interview to receive help on a project I'm working on.

Subscribe to Stereophile and The Absoulte Sound, frequent online magazines and internet fora.  Go to audio stores in your area.

What's this project you're working on?

4) Any other useful information

You might also consider Robert Harley's book, "The Complete Guide to High-End Audio".

[ttnaboface]

This is all amazing information. My focus will be on high end headphones. I am looking for the right pair that sounds almost surreal. I like the soundstage effect that B&W speakers deliver and im looking for a similar effect in headphones. Also, I want to understand how this happens, whether it be through the audio or by the headphones themselves. Although it would be nice to receive headphone recommendations, I would rather focus on the technology that delivers such quality and performance.

I want to understand how and why this happens. Dont be afraid to use technical terms...wikipedia is a lifesaver.

The audio community is like a family and I appreciate all the input

[Duke]

Headphones tend to put the sound images inside your head - I've heard it called "tiny orchestra in your head syndrome".  This is because the sound goes straight into your ears.

The outer ear (the pinna) plays a major role in determining the direction of a sound source, and if the sounds don't come from in front of your outer ears you only get side-to-side directional cues so the tiny orchestra sounds like it's in between your ears.  My head must be fairly hollow, because the acoustics in there seem to be pretty good.

Some headphone amplifiers have a cross-feed circuit that sends a little bit of the left-channel signal to the right ear and vice versa.  I think they also delay the crossfeed signal a bit.  This does a better job of simulating what you hear from loudspeakers, and helps counter "tiny orchestra" syndrome.  In my opinion it's an improvement but it's not perfect.

A company name AKG makes (or used to make) a set of headphones that suspended the speaker units out from your head and in front of your ears a bit, like microspeakers.  They did the best job of getting the soundstage out in front of you of anything I heard, but didn't have much bass.

The best headphone I ever heard were a pair of Stax... Lambdas, I think.  They were big rectangular electrostatic headphones and went up against your ears but instead of firing straight into your ears the elecrostatic elements were firing back at an angle, again moving the soundstage around to in front of you.  It has been several decades since I heard them so I don't recall if they did as good as the AKGs in this respect, but I do remember they sounded magnificent.  The story I recall was that Stax developed them for Mercedes Benz engineers.

If you are interested in how the ear processes sound to get spatial and localization cues, I recommend "Spatial Hearing" by Jens Blauert.  It's a college-level text on the subject, not written with audiophiles or headphones in mind but still useful.  If you read and understand that book you will know more than most speaker designers (including me) about the subject.