AUDIO SUPERTEST
We get hands-on with 9 kick-ass headsets
SOUND is just as important as vision. It is everywhere around you, and can take your mind away to wherever you want. Sometimes you can’t always put your finger on why you like a sound, you just like it. That’s why judging audio quality is a tough review process to trust. Everyone’s ears are different, and we pick up every sound in our own way. Every click, cry, sigh, laugh, shout, car, plane, melody—you name it, we are all going to hear it a little differently to the next person.
Over the last half a century, audio listening has become a staple of day-to-day life. Whether that is starting your day by waking up to your favorite 1980s thrash metal song, walking the dog to some Cher (we know you people are out there), or you are more on the commercial side, with conference calls from nine to five—audio listening has pushed its way into everyone’s homes. –SAM LEWIS
THE JOURNEY OF PERSONAL AUDIO LISTENING
THE MUSIC WORLD as it stands is a strange one. As a whole we no longer own music. Streaming is the done thing, and it has fundamentally changed the way we consume music. Meanwhile, everything is going wireless—less is more, cables seem old-fashioned, and the chances of you seeing someone walking around looking like a special agent with buds in their ears is increasing. However, can streaming bring the music industry back up to track where it was in its heyday? Potentially, but first, we must look at how we got here.
REVOLUTIONARY SOUND
1877, remember it? Well, it was the start of it all, with the invention of the cylinder phonograph, the first real commercial sound reproducer. It enabled people to listen to music from the comfort of their own homes. In essence, it was extremely revolutionary and has changed the way we listen to music ever since. It worked mechanically using a needle that traced the groove on the cylinder, vibrating the needle back and forth. These vibrations hit the diaphragm, creating sound waves that you can hear out of a large horn, creating the music.
A decade later saw the introduction of Emile Berliner’s gramophone. It worked in a similar manner, but instead of a cylinder, it utilized discs, technically making it the first “record player.” Berliner’s gramophone took what made the phonograph revolutionary and improved it, and was itself developed over the following decades. Recording traced a line along a rotating zinc disc that was coated in wax and oil. Then, the disc had to be electroplated, creating a negative disc with grooves that projected outward. This could then be used as a master to imprint other discs, making it possible to quickly mass-produce records. After experimenting with different materials, Berliner settled on using rubber and later a shellac compound for his discs. These were far easier to mass-produce, store, and were more durable than cylinders, and became the dominant format going forward.
Let’s fast-forward to 1948 and the introduction of the LP (long-player). Peter Carl Goldmark made a record out of plastic vinyl that could be recorded on both sides, allowing for multiple songs on one record. Although traditional records stayed in the market for decades, the LP took sound recording to the next level. The LP helped to develop the music industry into what we know today.
In the 1960s and 1970s, turntables became a lot more popular commercially, with the introduction of stereo playback. They used the same concept as phonographs and gramophones but with electrical components, making them more efficient and easier to use. Stereo playback could produce louder and clearer sounds.
Skip back a bit towards the late 1950s, though, and alongside vinyls was the creation of the RCA magnetic tape, yet again revolutionizing the music industry. It wasn’t an instant success, but it allowed recording on a smaller device for greater portability. Car manufacturers using this technology led to the tape’s rapid rise in popularity, and by the late 1960s many cars offered eight-track players. For the first time it was possible to listen to music while you drove.
Sony hit the nail on the head with the Walkman in 1979, transforming personal audio listening to a very similar form factor to what’s used today—the personal music player. You could take cassette music with you anywhere you wanted. The freedom this gave was massive, and has only been improved on since.
THE DIGITAL AGE
The mid 80s saw the rise of the digital era. CDs took full form and flooded the music market. A “compact disc” version of a record, it required lasers to read the data off of a track instead of a needle. A smaller form factor made production easier and more accessible.
Unfortunately, CDs started to plummet in the early 2000s with the introduction of online music sites such as Napster. Piracy became a huge problem, hitting the music industry hard as illegal file-sharing of music boomed. The damage was done immediately, and sharing music on the internet remains to this day.
Personal digital audio listening became huge as the Walkman was replaced by MP3 players and the mega-popular iPod. It was now possible to store whole libraries of your favorite music right in your pocket with one of these devices, creating a huge increase in download sales. Also, with CD burning you could take your beloved CDs and turn them into MP3 files. Although CD sales dwindled more and more, they were and are still usable today.
The final step in the journey was the introduction of music-streaming sites in the mid 2000s, paving the way for the future of music listening and the decline of physical copies. It’s given people the opportunity to access music at the click of a button. Sites like Spotify in 2011 managed to license a huge library of music—the first one to do so. From then on, streaming music has become the most popular and accessible way to listen to songs. Music is with us everywhere we go now, and we have quick and easy access to the world’s library of music at our fingertips on almost any device.
AUDIO’S IMPACT ON THE GAMING WORLD
TO PUT IT LIGHTLY, sound is colossal when it comes to gaming, and has been even back from its humble beginnings. Commercial gaming started to take shape back in the 1970s. The quintessential classic game of Pong is as simple as it gets by today’s standards. However, the implementation of the “beeps” and “bops” adds to the game. Even though you can see you have hit the shot, you get to hear it too. Strangely it’s satisfying, and it gives you a feeling of confirmation without you really realizing it.
Through simple soundtracks or repetitive noises, audio can soon become a huge part of the brand identity for a game. Pacman is heavily known for its “waka waka” sound—you hear that and you think Pacman. For a gaming franchise, that is gold. In a way, sound engineering can be seen as an advertisement. It works in the same way—you hear something catchy or repetitive and it’ll get stuck in your head, along with the image you pair it with. Clever, right?
Let’s move on a little bit. Gaming and audio have taken another big leap forward. You may not think it straight away, but the art and engineering that goes into the audio of a game are just as important as the visuals. Sound gives a whole other dimension of immersion. It can put you straight into the center of a war-torn town, the driver’s seat of a V8 muscle car, an intergalactic battleship, a desolate haunted forest. You name it, there is a sound for it. Sound sets the ambience and the scene for your mind to be taken away to another place. Audio immersion is therefore vital in video games.
BE IMMERSED
Gaming through your tv/monitor speakers seems to be something that only is done by “casual gamers” or in a social setting. Headsets are the preferred option for many when it comes to jumping online and busting up some noobs. The benefit you get from listening to games through a headset is a massive advantage over other gamers, especially in the competitive side of the gaming world. Directional audio and an increase in audio quality adds so much detail and immersion to help keep you focused in the game.
Game developers focus a significant amount of their time on perfecting sound engineering because of the importance of the ambience, and the increase in the use of headsets. Sound progression has to keep up with the rapid progression of video graphics, and for us that is extremely exciting. Gaming would be very empty without the realistic, immersive sounds we now take for granted.
HOW DRIVERS WORK
DRIVERS ARE the main powerhouse in a headphone, creating the sound waves we pick up. It’s the engine block behind the hood, if you will. Basically the science behind headphones is that each driver uses electricity and a diaphragm to compress and decompress air. This creates a vibrating pressure wave that your eardrums pick up when said compression is fast enough.
DYNAMIC DRIVERS
The most common form of driver in the headphone market by far, dynamic drivers work by using a coil of very thin wire. The electrically charged part that contains the data necessary to produce the sound is sent through it. By doing so this then creates a magnetic field reacting with a magnet that is located near the center of the driver. This electromagnetic reaction is where we start to get the wave effect. It forces the coil that is attached to the center of the diaphragm to move forward or backward in a rapid motion, the speed of which varies depending on the strength of the electrical part. As a result of this, the driver’s diaphragm moves, which the coil is attached to. When this is done in a fast sequence, the surrounding air is compressed and decompressed, creating sound waves that our ears magically turn into sound. Out of the three drivers, the dynamic driver is the simplest technology, thus making it the most available driver on the market.
PLANAR MAGNETIC DRIVERS
Planar magnetic drivers aim to provide a far more sophisticated listening experience by reducing the degree of non-linear distortion. At higher volumes, dynamic drivers have a tendency to warp sound. However, planar magnetic headphones get around this by using two magnetic fields placed on each side of the driver. Diaphragms used in these drivers are also far lighter and are attached using a multitude of flat capacitors across
The rise of headphone use is driving the technology ever forward.
its surface, instead of a wire coil in the center. This pushes the charge across the entire diaphragm rather than pushing the charged part directly through the thin wire coil to produce the vibrations. With the help of an increased surface area, it is possible to replicate sound at higher volumes without losing out to non-linear distortion. The result of this is an increase in clarity, and a much more accurate
soundscape.
ELECTROSTATIC DRIVERS
Sitting proudly in the audiophile driver’s throne are electrostatic drivers. They are far from cheap or portable. Electrostatic driver headphones are powered through an electrostatic amplifier or energizer. Instead of relying on conductive material to move the diaphragm, the whole diaphragm itself moves. Fitted between two metal plates is a super-fine sheet of electrically charged fabric. This way the entire diaphragm can be pushed or pulled toward either plate. The headphones produce the vibrations required to compress the air, creating sound waves with no discordance.
HOW TO MEASURE HEADPHONES
Measuring sound is divisive. Quantitative data is important when looking at a piece of audio equipment, but it isn’t the be-all and end-all of what sounds good or not. Many headphone specs, such as frequency response and headphone impedance, may leave buyers confused as to what that actually means, so we will break these down now and talk about the science behind the specs.
One of the main specs looked at are drivers. Luckily we have gone through the types of driver already, just not driver size.
Most consumers see driver size as the bigger the better. This isn’t strictly true. Driver sizes range from around 6-12mm in earphones to sizes of 20-50mm in standard headphones. The general advantage of having larger drivers is more controlled bass, but it is not necessarily louder and more powerful. The type of driver is more important in understanding how a driver sounds.
Another key spec found on headphones is impedance, whichis measured in ohms (Ω). The lower this is, the less power you will need to drive the headphones, and vice versa. If a headphone has an impedance of 1-32ohm it can be powered by something like a smartphone. 33-100ohm may require a portable amplifier to push a high volume out of the headphones. If it is over 100ohm you’ll need an amplifier— portable devices won’t have the oomph to power these. The higher the ohm the better the headphones treat the electrical current, producing richer sound.
Finally, frequency response is a phrase thrown around by a lot of manufacturers. It’s measured in Hz or kHz. Humans can only really hear frequencies of up to 20,000Hz at the most, so why would manufacturers boast of frequencies up to 60,000Hz? Well, generally this means that the headphones have no problems reproducing sounds in the very high frequencies.
Overall, the main specs to look out for when looking at headphones are the actual type of driver, the size, and the impedance level. These should give you a general idea of whether the headphones will pack a punch or not.
IMPROVE YOUR SETUP
IF YOU ARE AN AUDIOHEAD with a good pair of headphones looking to get more out of them, then you could be after a DAC / headphone amp. A digital audio converter takes digital data and transforms it into an analog audio signal. This audio output signal is then sent through a pre-amp and into an amplifier. When you are listening to a digital recording, you are actually listening to an analog signal that’s already been converted by a DAC. Without DACs we wouldn’t be able to experience the benefits of digital audio. When a record is being produced, the sound is recorded in analog and converted to digital for storage purposes. The DAC simply decodes this back to analog for it to be listenable.
By improving your DAC, you will be able to produce a sound quality far superior to that of your measly phone or standard PC’s integrated sound card. A DAC converts a bitstream of 1s and 0s into analog signals. Unfortunately it doesn’t always convert these to a consistent timing sequence, resulting in what is known as “clocking errors.” It sounds more confusing than it is. In playback, you will hear “clocking errors” as a jitter. Standard DACs found in phones and computers aren’t as wellequipped to deal with clocking errors, resulting in more jitter. Most external DACs are set up to deal with these issues. For most PCs and phones the best bet is to use a USB DAC— most are plug and play. For home stereo setups, there’s a much wider variety to choose from. It is an easy way to improve your existing audio listening experience.
HOW WE TESTED
AUDIO TESTING falls into another category of testing for us at MaximumPC— it’s not as simple as running it through some software, getting some numbers, and sticking it in a fancy bar chart. “Subjective” is one way to put it. The true nature of sound testing falls into the ears of the listener, and unfortunately quantitative data doesn’t always paint a perfect picture. For our headphones here, we have a few tests that they have all had to face. We have gaming headsets too, so we wanted to see how well they all perform for both music listening and gaming.
Firstly, we wanted fair and honest group testing. Before listening, we delved into the sound settings in Windows to make sure that the default format for all the headphones and headsets was running at the highest possible bit and Hz rating they could. This ensured that the headphones weren’t restricted via a software setting. No EQs have been used either, as this could favor some and disadvantage others.
We picked Tidal as the streaming site of choice. Tidal offers some of the bestquality streaming on the market right now, with lossless audio files, ensuring that we’re not faulting the headphones because of poor-quality files. We selected a range of genres when choosing the tracks, making sure that they are all master files in Tidal—the highest quality you can get on the site.
For gaming, we didn’t mess around with EQs in the game and just used default settings. We tested on CallofDuty ModernWarfare:Warzone, ForzaHorizon 4, AlienIsolation, and GrandTheftAutoV. Using a range of games and song genres should show how the headphones handle different aspects of audio listening, and whether they perform well under the pressure, or crumble.