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Noise Canceling
In testing the noise canceling function of headphones over the years I've found they are often unstable and will act strangely in some circumstances. For example, I've experienced with the Beats Studio headphones situations where I was laying on a pillow or wearing a hoodie over the headphones that they break out into low frequency oscillation at times. I've also noted significant sensitivity to position and seal while measuring some noise cancelers making the measurement of low frequency sound unreliable. This is remarkably common.

Also, almost all noise…

Measurements Wired Active

Measurements Wired Active Noise Canceling On

Above I am only showing the wired responses. Measurements were taken in wireless modes but are much the same as the wired response. Measurements sheets are available here for Wireless Active and Wireless Noise Canceling modes.

Looking at the raw responses of the PSB…

Like pretty much all headphone makers, I've found HiFiMAN planar magnetic headphones a little hit and miss. Some have been a too bright and sizzly, some have not had the build quality I'd like to see at the price. On the other hand there have been some really nice surprises. The HE1000 had an uncannily pleasant, floating in the clouds, sonic character, and the HE-400S was dandy at a very affordable price. One thing has been very consistant though, the folks at HiFiMAN keep trying...and that's turning out to be a very good thing.

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Sound Quality
Well...let's see if I can thread this needle.

As is my custom, I've been reading the Head-Fi thread on the Sundara as I've been doing my listening tests, and feel the need to quote this post a couple of times:

Hysterical on so many levels. For starters, geting the Sundaras from HiFiMAN was a bit like pulling…

Raw frequency response plots show very little change in response with position change on the head. Reponse from 20Hz to 600Hz is quite flat. The Harman target response would indicate a gentle rise from 600Hz to about 1.5kHz is desired, but the Sundara remains prett flat in this area producing a somewhat laid back presence response. Vocals sound a bit distant to me.Though the rise to the peak at 3.3kHz is a bit abrupt, the peak is about 13dB above baseline...pretty much exactly where I like it. The falling…

For those of you who just stumbled across this InnerFidelity review as you were looking for information about the Skullcandy Crusher Wireless, welcome! InnerFidelity is a website for hard core headphone enthusiasts and it's likely you've never read headphone reviews like the ones here. I'll be going on in some detail about the technicalities of this headphone and that will probably bore you. So, I'll save you some time. I don't think the Crusher is a good sounding headphone, even for bass-heads. Let me recommend you take a look at…

Haptic Drivers
In addition to the standard 40mm dynamic drivers, each ear capsule contains a haptic driver that creates vibration driven by the low frequencies of the music signal. Here you can see the driver within its housing mounted within the ear capsule of the Crusher Wireless circled in red.

Basically this driver uses a voice coil similar to that found on regular dynamic drivers, but rather than being attached to a diaphragm, it magnetically drives a metal slug to create mechanical vibration. The metal slug is suspended in position around the voice coil by a…

Had a little trouble with my Bluetooth transmitter so no wireless measurements, sorry about that. Like many wireless cans they did sound virtually identical in wired vs. Bluetooth operation.

In the plots above with the haptic transducer off you can see that the bass is elevated by around 10dB over its baseline level (at 600Hz), and the emphasis extends well into the midrange. This is an excessive bass response. You can also see that they are extremely sensitive below 60Hz to the fit…

Show impressions are always suspect, but I did like what I heard when I visited the 1More booth at CES early this year. They're well known for their in-ear monitors and last year introduced their first over-ear headphone, the MK801, which I found a bit too thick sounding for my taste.

Generally 1More has been offering headphone in the affordable end of the spectrum. With this new headphone they're making a move into the meaty midsection of the headphone world. And an interesting move it is!

1More Triple Driver Over-Ear…

Sound Quality
Wow!

I can't believe this is a $249 headphone. Sean Olive contends that there is little relationship between the price of a headphone and the quality of reproduction. I agree. Usually it's used as a damning criticism of expensive headphones that don't live up to their price tag. Fortunately the opposite is also true: There are headphones that punch well above their price tag. Such is the case with the 1More Triple Driver Over Ear Headphone.

Generally speaking, the 1More TDOEH is a headphone with a moderate warm tilt. Bass is emphasized in a large humped…