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".

The coolest looking headphones

Q: What do you think the coolest looking headphones are?

A: From a "look ma, I'm in a sci-fi movie" perspective, the Sennheiser HD800, which is certainly the most distinctive headphone out there today.

from an "old world cool" perspective, the Audio Technica ATH-ESW9 has always reminded me of the New Yankee Workshop, except for headphones.

From a "wow that craftsmanship is incredible" perspective = the Fostex TH900. Unless you have seen it IRL you will not fully realize how awesome the urushi is.

But for sheer luxury, you have to go with the Ultrasone Edition 10, with its zebrano wood and lambskin it looks like something you would find in an art deco museum in Miami.

What are your top 3 headphones over $1000?

Q: What would you consider to be the top 3 headphones that cost over $1000?

A: Personally, I would consider the Sennheiser HD800, the Audeze LCD3 and the Fostex TH900 my top 3 (open, planar, closed). HD800 wins on design, TH900 wins on craftsmanship (urushi!) and LCD3 wins on its materials.

But there is a second tier of headphones that are cheaper and provide almost as much performance, so from a price-performance perspective these headphones make much more sense to aspire to than my top 3.

Two disclaimers: I'm not into electrostatic headphones, so haven't considered them in the ranking.

Second, I'm not going to rank headphones that cost well over $2000, because I wouldn't spend over $2000 on headphones. At that price point (and above) speakers reign supreme, and you will never get the best $2000 headphones to sound as good as above-average $2000 speakers, and the best $3000 speakers will end up blowing the best $3000 headphones away.

In sum, it doesn't make sense from a price performance perspective to spend over $2000 for headphones, since above that price point you are probably better off getting speakers.

Some thoughts about the Ultrasone Pro 900

OK, I will start by saying that these headphones are solidly built, and that fit and finish is excellent. Also, Ultrasone has stood by its design philosophy solidly through the years, and you have to commend them for standing by their principles.

But the fact is, either you are going to love the Pro 900 or you are going to hate it, no in-betweens. These headphones are more polarizing than Grados, and for one and only one reason -- S-logic.

S-logic based on this paper that Florian Konig, the founder of Ultrasone, wrote. I read it when I first tried to figure out what the term "S-logic" meant, and I think it is the best (and probably only) detailed explanation you are ever going to get on the topic, unless you count the rather vague statements on the Ultrasone website. The problem is that the paper is translated into English in such a clumsy way (I assume that it was not initially written in English) that many of the concepts are almost impossible to understand. It's like the paper was written by a Tamarian ("Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra, Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel"). If you don't understand what I mean by this, well, you probably never will, it's a Star Trek thing :-)

Basically, as far as I can make out (disclaimer: it's been a while since I have thought about this in detail because it gives me a migraine) the sound gets better if you place the drivers in a "decentric" fashion (i.e. in an inhumanly low position and angled weirdly) then something called "head-related transfer" occurs and then the sound that travels through regular air conduction (via the drivers) and head-related transfer function are both picked up the brain and combined to create a magical 3D sound. You with me? Good, because I'm not sure I am.

Now to be fair, HD800 also utilizes a somewhat eccentric driver placement, and many IEMs add a component of bone conduction, and Ultrasone has a ton of patents for S-logic, and Florian Konig is clearly a very smart man, and his paper offers a reasonable scientific hypothesis to support decentral driver placement, so maybe there is something to it. I should also add that Ultrasone claims that their headphones subject you to less EM radiation than other headphones, and that you are less likely to sustain hearing loss with their headphones. Rather than depend on my biased opinion, read the paper for yourself and decide!

Suffice to say that depending on your perspective, S-Logic technology either improves the sound like the Traveler (whose name was unpronounceable by Humans) improved the warp drive of the USS Enterprise, or kills the sound more thoroughly than a rerun of a Star Trek Voyager episode.

I am of the latter persuasion.

If the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation were headphones

If the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation were headphones:

• Picard is obviously a Sennheiser HD600, because he is neutral
• Guinan is a Beyerdynamic T90, because she is great for critical listening
• Geordi is a Sennheiser HD800, because he is overengineered
• Deanna Troi is a Grado, because she is too bright and gets on your nerves after a while
• Tasha Yar is a Sennheiser Amperior because she, like the Amperior, was discontinued abruptly
• the Tamarian aliens from the episode "Darmok" are Ultrasones because noone can undertand what they are saying
• Q is obviously a AKG Q701, obviously

Well we're movin' on up to the east side. To a deluxe apartment in the sky.

Q: I have a Sennheiser HD600. What do I upgrade to?

A: Until some years ago, the HD600 was the flagship model from Sennheiser. They are a great neutral headphones, and are good for a huge range of music. The problem is, when you have something as versatile as the HD600, do you really need to upgrade your headphones?

Obviously, no. I could argue that if you want a neutral setup, you could be perfectly satisfied for ever with the HD600. But if you have the disposable income and want to expand your headphones collection, I would argue that you need to consider one of 3 options:

1) Save up for a higher tier of headphones - consider the Audeze LCD3 or the HD 800. Both have different profiles, and both offer significant advantages over the HD 600 that makes their high price possibly worth it. But this would make the least sense from a price-performance perspective.

2) Get a headphone that has a very different profile than the HD600 -- something that gives you bass-rich oomph like the Beyerdynamic DT990 or the Philips Fidelio X1, or something that is treble-forward like a Grado. Each has a characteristic sound profile that will offer a very different listening experience for certain types of music that accentuates their tonal features (e.g. try 2pac on DT990 or Steely Dan on a Grado)

3) Get an IEM to complement your HD600s. That's like opening a whole new Pandora's Box.