What's a safe volume level for someone who flies a lot?

Q: Hi , I wish to know what's the safe level volume to be used with In ear monitoring headphones , I'm a young commercial pilot who recently got selected with an airline n so I was wondering the music I hear from day to day life , does it damage my hearing capabilities?

A: Safe volume = lowest volume that you can listen comfortably

Keep in mind that counting the number of bars on a phone's scale may not objectively reflect the intensity or loudness of sound exposure. Measuring decibels is the only objective way of quantifying sound levels, but that's often difficult to do ith IEMs. The good news is that typically folks listen to music at lower dB levels with IEMs than full size headphones because IEMs are in your ear canal and seal better.

If you are flying a lot, probably tthe most important thing is to resist the temptation to increase the volume of the music as external ambient noise increases. Drowning noise with more noise is never a good idea.

Wax on, wax off

Q: How do you clean IEM sound tunnel/canal? My IEMs always end up with a lot of wax deposited inside the little tube.

A: Many IEMs come with their own cleaning tool. Alternatively, you can DIY your own with some thin wire (make a loop) or use something like a toothpick or safety pin (carefully!). Avoid using chemicals or dipping the IEM in solvents. Debrox (hydrogen peroxide) may be a good choice to clean ear canals, but it's a terrible choice to clean IEM canals, b ecause the peroxide fizzes and gets everywhere.

Headphones that don't let sound out....but let sound in?

Q: I'm looking for a pair of headphones with minimal sound leakage. But I'd also be able to hear when the phone rings or when people are talking to me at work.

A: By default if you want headphones to have minimal sound leakage they must be closed, i.e. the earcups don't allow too much sound to escape into the environment.

But by the same token if sound can't get out, well it can't get in either so closed headphones tend to be quite isolating.

Hifiman HE 560 rattle

Q: I just got the Hifiman HE-560s and I noticed that one of the grills gives in a tiny bit. It barely moves if you apply pressure to it, but I can't push the other one in at all. I don't hear anything wrong but should I be concerned?

A:  A loose grille will only be an issue only if it vibrates. try running a bass shaker test, like the one here.

If the issue persists, you have two options. Option one is to engineer a DIY fix and batten down the grille with some glue or epoxy. Option two, and the one that I would probably pursue if you just got your headphones, is to contact Hifiman customer service, and also the retailer who sold you the headphones, to see if you can swap them for another pair.

Buying used headphones

Q: Should I  be worried about buying used headphones?

A: Veni's 3 rules of used headphone purchasing:

Rule 1: If the seller does not answer questions appropriately, send you decent pictures of said headphones, and overall sounds like he/she has no clue, then pass.

Rule 2: Don't buy modded headphones unless you are absolutely sure that the person who modded them knows what they are doing. It is easier to kill a pair of headphones than Mel Gibson's movie career.

And Rule 3: If you don't smoke, don't buy used headphones from a smoker. It will take more effort than it is worth to get rid of the smell.

Would you ever buy a first batch of headphones?

Q: Would you ever buy a first batch of headphones? Is it worth it to wait?

A: Buying a first production run of any engineered item, whether it is a car or a pair of headphones, is always associated with a slightly higher likelihood that you'll get a product that has some issues.

Typically large companies manage QC well, so the issues are more likely to be because of design flaws than QC, although anyone assembling anything in a factory can have a bad day and screw up their job (and your product).

And yes, verification & validation testing does not catch every flaw, and since everyone who makes anything iteratively improves design over time as production ramps up, it always makes sense to wait for a product that has had the flaws "shaken out of it", so to speak.

I like to wait before I buy new audio gear, but more for the hype cycle to die down and some credible information to bubble up more than anything else, including reliability.

But I have this inner Klingon in my head who has zero patience and does not listen to reason, and he often jumps out when he sees me looking at desirable stuff and forces me to buy it the moment it is released

Sometimes I regret it later. So I curse the Klingon in my head, and he usually replies with "Hab SoSlI' Quch!"

Equalizing those headphones!

Q: Is it a good idea to use an equalizer to change the way headphones sound?

A: While you can make some tweaks to a headphone's sound profile with EQ, some fundamental characteristics are impossible to alter.

For example, no amount of EQ can make a Grado SR60e sound like a bass monster, similarly no amount of EQ can make a Sony XB500 sound like a Grado.

Neutral headphones are somewhat like tofu -- they can take on a little of the flavor of the amp that drives them, or the DAC that feeds their signal, or EQ in the audio chain, either by using software or hardware. They still taste like tofu, mind you, but flavored.

While you can buy a relatively neutral pair of headphones like the Sennheiser HD600 and tweak the sound with an equalizer, I'm one of those folks who think that if you want a warm fun sound, it's better to get a Philips Fidelio X1 instead of using EQ to tweak a HD600 to make it sound warmer.

And if you want a bright-sounding pair of headphones, check out the Grado SR60e before throwing down money on a HD600 and trying to boost the treble with an equalizer (and you will save a ton of $!)

And while you can use EQ to dial in some of the frequency response you want, you cannot use EQ to dial in your desired level of smoothness, or soundstage, or detail. Plus the more you flog that equalizer, the more the sound gets away from what the artist and recording engineers originally envisaged. That's the main reason why I am so meh to the idea of equalizers.

But to be fair, it's easy to say "I am anti-EQ" if you own a bunch of headphones and can easily pick and choose a pair with the profile you want. But what if you can only afford (or desire) one pair of headphones?

Well in that case, if you are sure you know what kind of sound profile you dig, then the choice is easy (e.g. you want a smooth + forgiving? Then go with the Sennheiser HD650!). But what if you don't know what you want?

Then walk into a B&M store and audition some headphones. But what if you can't?

Then get a relatively neutral pair of headphones like the HD600 or the Beyerdynamic DT880 and experiment with EQ.

Because they are like, you know, tofu.

Are certain headphones better for different genres of music?

Q: Are certain headphones better for different genres of music?

A: In general, yes, absolutely. Some headphone sound profiles particularly complement specific genres (for example the Sony XB700 and DnB, or Grados and rock). The general nature of the sound can affect music substantially, for example "fun" headphones color the sound in a way that is very different than "balanced" headphones.

Neutral or analytical headphones like the Sennheiser HD600 or HD800 may be useful for critical listening.

And finally, some headphones just bring out the natural splendor of specific instruments, for example the Sennheiser HD650 really makes stringed instruments shine.

The most underrated headphone you can buy

Q: In your opinion, what is the most underrated headphone you can buy?

A: Personally, I think the most underrated headphone today is the Fostex T50RP. I'll explain why.

First, they are planar magnetic headphones, and at $100 an incredible value at a time when most planars are priced at 8-10x as much (or more). Of course planars used to be super common in the 70s and early 80s, but today they occupy a more high-end niche.

Second, T50s can be modded to become something that is way beyond what the stock T50 is. It's like they are Tony Stark when they are stock -- lovable but with specific idiosyncrasies, and then you mod them and they become Iron Man - incredibly powerful and capable of delivering truly stellar sound.

Now I agree that most headphone mods are hit-or-miss, because they are described by amateurs (often badly), and variations in methods between one modder and another means that no 2 mods sound the same. So if someone does the Kramer mod on their Koss KSC75s and you try to emulate them, you will never get exactly the same sound that Kramer got, because Kramer never detailed where specifically to drill the damned holes to make the modded KSC75 sound the sweetest.

But there are some mods that can clearly be replicated, and everyone doing the mods will have exactly the same effects as the original modder intended. For example the Sennheiser HD555 foam mod (all you do is take out the foam pad, that's the same mod no matter who does it) or the AKG Q701 bass mod (ditto with the little circular tape thingy) but standardized mods aren't just for mid fi headphones, they exist even for endgame setups, for example the Anaxilus mod for the Sennheiser HD800 (which I would argue is almost mandatory if you own a HD800).

The T50 has the advantage that it has been extensively modded, so there is a lot of stuff out there on what various mods do. But until a dude called bluemonkeyflyer posted his mod, these were hit-or-miss (or trade secrets, for those folks who modded T50s for a living). What bluemonkeyflyer did was to quantify everything he did, from posting FR curves associated with each specific alteration, to objective evaluations of alternatives, and specific results. In short, he took the "art" of T50 modding and made it into a "science".

Which means that anyone can mod the T50RP in a consistent fashion. From the materials used to the amounts of stuff you have to use, everything is well described on the Internet. My T50 is the only headphones that I have modded that sound exactly like I want them to -- by using an iterative, step-wise approach to modding them I tuned them to fit my musical tastes like a glove -- but more importantly, so can you.

Keep in mind that commercial headphones like the Mad Dogs and Alpha Dogs are T50 mods, so you know what you can achieve if you mod your T50 well.

Plus, what a wonderful way to spend time, making small sequential changes in how a pair of headphones sound, listening, modding, listening, modding some more, tweaking the SQ to match your desire.

In Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind In The Willows", the Water Rat says: "Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing—absolute nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."

Just substitute "in boats" with "with headphones".

What is the actual cost to manufacture headphones?

Ascertaining the true cost to manufacture headphones is complicated because there are multiple factors to consider, and this is the type of business intelligence every company keeps very close to its chest.

To break things down in simple terms, essentially there are 4 aspects to the cost of any product [1] R&D [2] materials [3] manufacturing and [4] marketing.

R&D is variable, so calculating the cost of R&D for an individual headphone model is difficult, especially because R&D costs may be capitalized or expensed even before production begins. In general, newer models still haven't seen a return on ROI costs, while older models (for example the Sennheiser HD600) have probably recouped their R&D costs, and then some.

Material costs vary over time, often wildly, and are subject to supply and demand constraints.

Production costs also vary, for example AKG Q701s were made in Austria, but AKG wanted to save costs and moved production to China. But moving production to China does not necessarily make things cheaper, for example some Audio-Gd amps probably cost more to make than equivalent Schiit amps, even though Schiit makes its stuff in the US and Audio-Gd in China.

Material and manufacturing costs may be variable (materials, packaging, etc.) or fixed (labor, storage, personnel salaries, etc.). To make things even more complicated, many companies OEM some or all of production, which again affects costs depending on who they OEM to. And it's not just a case of folks using cheap Chinese OEMs to save money aall around -- some Denon headphones for example were OEMd by Fostex, another Japanese company.

And keep in mind that OEM companies typically conduct their own R&D, have their own design costs, have to retool equipment for specific products, etc, which changes cost calculations.

And finally marketing: some companies spend more on marketing (e.g. Beats) and make huge profits, while others spend very little on traditional marketing and still manage to do very well for themselves (e.g. Schiit).

In sum, good luck finding this info out unless you are an industry insider, and even then you will have issues trying to calculate the true product cost of your competitors.

My RHA MA350 IEMs are electrocuting me...help!

Q: I bought a pair of RHA MA350 IEMs when they first got released around 2 years ago and they've been fine ever since.

Recently however, whenever I connect them to a PC or a Laptop I feel an electric shock (along with an electricity sound), which as you might imagine is a tad annoying. When connected to my phone it's fine. Any ideas what's causing this?

A: Watt? I find it shocking that you still continue to use them despite being electrocuted.

While some folks may get a charge out of your predicament, I for one must strongly suggest that you do not try to swim against the current of prevailing wisdom and stop using them in any capacity. It you meet with any resistance to this suggestion, then ignore it.

But seriously, it's not right to be electrocuted by your headphones. First, make sure that it isn't a grounding issue with your equipment, to be safe. If not, it is most likely to be static.

Apple has a great support post about static and Apple earbuds which is worth reading.

Modding the Fostex T50RP

There is probably more out there about how to mod the T50 than any other headphone. Yes, if done right you will have an awesome sounding pair of headphones. Keep in mind that the mad dogs are in essence modded T50 RP, so you have a sense of what a good mod can achieve.

Many headphone mods are one-offs and hard to reproduce but IMO the T50 can be modded in a consistent way to sound good. All you need is time, patience, and a steady hand.

In essence the mods for the T50 consist of the following

1) mass load the baffles inside the cup with something like blu-tac (I used uhu-tac)

2) create a bass port by closing off the vent with something like electricians tape. The size of the bass port determines the level of bass you want from the T50s.

3) use sound baffling material to line the inside of the cups (I used acoustimat that I got from an auto repair place. How I got my hands on the stuff is an interesting story, but probably not for this post)

4) Fill the cups with cotton wool / fiberglass insulation etc just like a speaker (I used cotton wool. Be sure to weigh the wool and use the same amount for both cups!)

5) create a reflex dot for the driver with transpore or paper tape, or add layers of transpore over the driver to redirect sound (I used two layers, it worked best for me. Others have used more or less)

6) change the pads (I used shure 840 pads but there are other options)

A good place to start might be to search for " bluemonkeyflyer T50RP mod". Do your research, make incremental changes and tune your T50 to just the way you want it to sound like!

My T50 is the only headphones I have modded that sound exactly like I want them to. It took me a while to get there, and some steps were hit and miss and required undoing, but in the end it has turned out to be a fun and enjoyable activity.

I ripped my headphones!

Q: I accidentally ripped the fabric around the driver in my Beyerdynamic DT770 headphones! Will this affect sound?

A: Best case scenario, the tear reduces the treble reflex, so treble will increase. Most likely on the Beyerdynamic DT770 770 it will make treble harsh and the sound fatiguing.

Worst case scenario, over time the vibrations from the torn fabric that will be frustrating. In that case, the headphones may become unlistenable.

Why do Ultrasone headphones sound different?

Q: What's with Ultrasone headphones? Why do they sound different than everything else out there?

A: Few headphones polarize audiophiles as much as Ultrasone. Folks either love the sound, or hate it.

In essence Florian Konig, Ultrasone's founder, came up with this paper on how to bounce sound waves off the ears rather than into the ears directly to create this surround effect with normal headphones. They called this effect s-logic, and have been refining the technology ever since. Only Ultrasones have them. More details here -- this is what makes Ultrasone headphones sound so different.

Folks who love S-logic love Ultrasone. They sound unique, and in my opinion the only way you can figure out if you are a lover or a hater is to listen to them for yourself and decide.

What is a "sound signature"?

Q: What do you mean when you say "headphones have specific sound signatures"?

A: Different headphones have different signatures. For example the Beyer DT880 or Senn HD600 are more "neutral" sound profile, i.e. they are free from coloration,

Coloration refers to deviations from neutrality, for example the Philips Fidelio X1 is very colored. Coloration also often adds a "fun" element to listening.

Some headphones are intrinsically dark -- the term signifies a warm + rich sound profile. Technically, dark headphones have a frequency response which is skewed clockwise across the entire range, so that as the frequency increases, the output diminishes. A good example of this would be the HD650.

Other headphones are very bright, their frequency response is skewed counter-clockwise across the entire range, so that as the frequency increases, the output increases. A good example of this would be the Grado SR60i or e (or pretty much any Grado).

Q: Just bought a pair of Shure SRH440s, left speaker sounds great but the right one is quieter and more tinny, his there something I can do about it?

A: First make sure the pad on the R side is well seated, that the headphone connector has been inserted all the way into the jack, and that balance levels from your source are in the middle and not skewed towards L or R.

Then do the driver matching test here. Swap the sides around and do it again, if your R earcup is more quiet on the R side the first time around and on the L side the second time, then its a driver issue, and you should return the SRH440.

However if the R earcup is quieter on the R ear the first time around and the second time you do the test the L earcup is quieter (i.e. on the R side both times) then its your ear, you need to see your doctor or audiologist to figure out what is going on.

Purchase advice for headphone noobs

Q: How do I go about buying my first decent pair of headphones?

A: you can enjoy music at any price. Just follow Veni's 3 Laws of price-performance personal audio-lation!

Veni's First Law: set a budget and stick to it. This rule is the Prime Directive.

Veni's Second Law: if you are on a budget, remember the rule headphones > amp > dac >> cable. This will give you a sense of the relative importance of components. If your budget is $100, you will get more bang for your buck spending the $100 on a pair of headphones that you can drive off your phone or computer than spending $30 on headphones and $70 on an amp.

Also, if all your music is poor quality (eg 64k mp3, or ripped off youtube) then it doesn't matter how good your headphones are, it will still sound terrible. So upgrade your music files as much as you can when you get good headphones.

Veni's Third Law: Do your research. There are price-performance champs at almost every price point. Know what they are, avoid hype, and be an informed consumer.

Veni's Bonus Law (Buy Three, Get One free! Law): Look for sales / deals. Audiophile products are usually marked up to an insane degree. If you are patient, there will always be a deal on the stuff you want sooner or later.

Help, my Grado headphones rattle!

Q: I have an annoying rattle emanating from my Grado SR80i whenever I try to hear it. At higher volume levels there are buzzing/fluttering noises that come from one or both sides of the headphones. How do I get rid of the noises?

A: Grado rattle is a known issue and quite common. At best it is irritating. At worst it is unlistenable. The rattle is typically caused by one of  three things:

Most commonly its a hair on the driver. Take the pads off and take a look. You can gently blow the hair off, or use tweezers. Non magnetic tweezers are best if you don't want to risk accidentally puncturing drivers. I have a pair if plastic tweezers I keep around for working in close proximity to driver magnets.

Second, it may be because of a deformed driver diaphgram. Grados are notorious for rippled diaphragms, which dimple and distort with alarming frequency. Folks say its because Grados are so easy to drive, but personally I think it is because the quality of the materials they use are suboptimal. You can gently try to suck the driver back into shape. It usually works, for a while, so you have to keep doing it again and again.

Third, it may be because the driver does not fit well in the enclosure. This is because  cheaper Grado parts are made with poor tolerances. You could always lay down a bead of glue or epoxy circumferentially at the join, which sometimes fixes the issue.

But once a Grado starts rattling, it is probable that its days are numbered.

Modding the Audio Technica ATH-M50 with new pads

These Audio Technica ATH-M50s are extremely popular headphones, but one issue with them is their uncomfortable plastic-covered pads, that cause may folks to itch and sweat.

The good news is that the issue can easily by solved by swapping the stock ATH-M50 pads with Beyerdynamic DT250 velour pads.

This mod is easy and straightforward and should not take you more than a few minutes. You don't need any special tools like a screwdriver, soldering iron, etc. Just slip the stock pads off, and pull the new ones on. The DT250 pads fit tightly, without any looseness. You can rest assured these pads won't come off accidentally. You can still fold the M50s the same way as before.

Tip #1: If you invert the lip of the pads before placing them on the earcups, and slowly roll the pads down circumferentially, you will have them on much quicker (and with less cussing) than if you try to force them in place.

Tip #2: Also, use a thin plastic tool (I used a credit card) to tuck the edge of the pad into the groove on the earcup. You'll know what I mean when you see it.

Sound differences: There is definitely an audible drop in bass prominence with the velour pads. Rolloff is a little sooner, too. Bass attenuation is a little more prominent in the lower end of the bass frequencies, but the relative differences between lower and higher bass drop is really not that noticeable unless you are listening to genres like DnB, and even then only when you know the song well. Another interesting effect is that the infamous 70-80Hz bass dip (dude to the stock M50 pad) goes away.

But there is a silver lining. The 9000 Hz spike is also attenuated a little with the pad swap, so the treble sounds a little less tizzy than with the stock pad.

A couple of other listening notes: IMO the mids and highs are a little more smeared with the velour pads, which adversely affects detail as well as clarity, luckily only modestly. And there's a mild reduction in "boominess" of the sound compared to stock.

The biggest difference is the comfort, which increases by leaps and bounds. The internal volume of the pads is about the same, so the diameter of the opening is relatively unchanged. The old pads would get warm and cause me to itch after a while, but the velours are perfectly cool, breathable and significantly more comfortable for extended listening sessions.

So is it worth it? As you can see, I have put my money where my mouth is (or my velour where my ear is, to be more precise). I aint going back to stock anytime soon.

While the DT250 pads are more comfortable, unfortunately they do not reduce the (significant) clamping force of the M50s. I have read about folks bending their M50 headband to make them fit less tightly, but I would not recommend using force since the headband is prone to crack. An easier way is to use a pillow -- place the M50 over the pillow making sure that the size of the pillow is a little bigger than your head. Let it marinade for a day or two. You'll notice some reduction in clamp force. Try repeating the pillow stretch if the first time does not work for you.

AKG Q701 headband bumps hurt my head!

Q: I got a new pair of AKG Q701 and those bumps on the headband hurt my scalp! What can I do?

A: If you condition your scalp you will soon learn to ignore the headband. I recommend this activity.

But seriously, some have cut the bumps out with a knife, narrowed the headband and applied a Beyer headband cover or a modded HD600/650 headband pad. Others have crafted new headbands from fabric or leather.