Headphone FAQ

I have seen many people asking which headphones (cans) to get, so hopefully this will help clear up some questions you might have. There is no one best headphone, because you have to take into account price, portability, purpose, ease of powering, and most important, sound. All headphones do not sound the same, and as surprising as it might be, the earbuds that come with your iPod don't sound great. Almost all headphones included with Portable CD Players (PCDPs), Digital Audio Players (DAPs), and any other devices tend to sound quite bad, with few exceptions.

Types of Headphones:
Circumaural: This type of headphone goes around your ears, and is generally quite comfortable, but large. They can be either open or closed, both of which have benefits. Examples are Sennheiser HD580 (open) and Audio Technica A900 (closed).
Supraaural: This type of headphone sits on your ear, like the stock headphones that come with many cheap cd players that have a band that goes over your head. They are much smaller than circumaural, but many people find them uncomfortable. This design tends to be open. An example is all Grados without the new circumaural pads.
IEM or Canalphone: Just what they sound like, this type of headphone goes in your ear canal, physically blocking sound much more than most other headphones. Origionally used by musicians while performing on stage, they have now come down to the consumer market, with even some inexpensive offerings from larger companies, like Sony. The consumer IEMs tend to isolate much less than professional models, but still block some sound. Some people find them uncomfortable, since it is a piece of foam or plastic in your ear. Examples are the offerings from Shure and Etymotic.
Earbuds: Often found bundled with cd players and daps, most tend to be low quality. Similar to IEMs in that they sit in the ear, earbuds don't penetrate the canal, so don't block sound out nearly as much. The most common is the stock ipod buds.
Open Headphones: Open headphones simply referrs to headphones where there is no solid barrier between the driver and the rest of the world. Open headphones tend to give a great sound for less money than closed, but offer almost no sound isolation in either direction, so you can hear the surrounding environment while wearing them, and people in the same room can hear what you are listening too. This can be benificial if you can't afford to be isolated from the world, but often gets annoying in noisy environments.
Closed Headphones: Closed headphones have the driver sealed from the outside, blocking some sound in and out. Not all provide great isolation, but it is much better than open headphones. The sound has a tendancy to not be quite as good for the price as open, especially with models offering high levels of isolation, but this is not a rule, as anyone who has heard good IEMs (Ety ER4) will tell you.



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