When buying headphones, it is important to understand the differences between models (e.g. open-air vs. sealed headphones) and to choose the one pair that will serve you most. Because sometimes headphones may look alike, but make a great difference.
What headphones are made of
Headphones are devices that incorporate a transducer. The transducer receives electrical signals from a media-player or receiver and sends them to two small speakers that are placed in carcasses close to the ears. Speakers transform these electric signals into sound waves.
By type of transducer technology, headphones can be:
- Dynamic headphones (moving coil type)
- Isodynamic headphones
- Electrostatic headphones
Dynamic headphones
These are the most common type of headphones. Their transducers are made of miniature diaphragms connected to a moving voice coil activated within a magnetic field, and therefore they work similarly to loudspeakers.
Isodynamic headphones
These are miniature versions of magnetic planar loudspeakers. They are not as efficient as dynamic headphones and don't play so loudly. Also, they weigh heavier than electrostatic headphones.
Electrostatic headphones
The thin and lightweight diaphragm vibrates into an electrostatic field, thus the response time is very fast, and the distortion rate reduced. The sound is reproduced in great detail, but not as loud as in dynamic systems. Electrostatics tend to be more expensive and are preferred by audiophiles.
Headphones: How you wear them
By the style of wear we also mean how close the set is to the ear, how much pressure it makes on it, etc. According to this principle, headphones classify as follows:
Circumaural headphones
They are also named closed-back or closed ear headphones. They cover the ears entirely and this way minimize the amount of sounds that travel in and out. By using this type of headphones you won't disturb your colleagues in the office, especially the ones that work in your proximity. Also, you can be sure not to be disturbed by most of the surrounding sounds.
As a drawback, these headsets can be a bigger stress to your ears, producing listening fatigue, a syndrome that is due to the sound waves being shot directly into your ear canal.
Open over-the-ear headphones
They are also known as open-air or open-back headphones. They don't press that much over the ear and let sounds travel in and out the auricule. These sets are much better when walking, for instance, when you still need to hear outside stimuli.
On-ear headphones
These sets are the mid-way between the and closed-back and open-back types. While they let some of the ambient sound waves travel in and out, they are not as permissive as the open sets.
Intra-aural headphones
Or simply "in-the-ear" headphones, can be of three categories:
- Earbuds - have small nodules that fit inside the ear, but not too much inside. That may cause them to fall often and manufacturers offer them with clips-on that come attached to your auricule. Normaly, this clip-on should fit your ear size, but this is not always true. Otherwise, they're very comfortable.
- Canal headphones - are seated in the ear canal itself, forming an air-tight seal. They can attenuate external noise.
- In-ear monitors - they are worn by musicians and audio engineers and can be wired or wireless. Unlike the consumer canalphones, professional models may have frequency responses designed to compensate for hearing loss that musicians typically experience.
Noise reduction headphones
There are two types of noise reduction headphones:
- Active noise reduction headphones - the subject of our next section, the noise cancellation headphones type;
- Passive noise reduction headphones - look like the closed-ear type, but in fact they are much closer and heavier on the ear, a feature that makes them difficult to wear for a long period.
Wireless headphones
As you probably know by now, this study has a focus on wireless audio systems. Thus, in the subsequent sections we'll deal with wireless headphones, most famous brands and reviews concerning this subject.
As an introduction, when speaking of headphones, wireless was usually referable to infrared-based systems, while cordless was more specific for radio frequency transmission systems. But in the end it very much depends on how the manufacturer decides to name the product.