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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…

Raw frequency response plots show the headphone having some difficulties sealing on the head causing the bass response to vary some when moved from position to position. These do measure more like on-ear cans in that regard. I suspect the seal will be better on real ears and I did hear bass extension as modestly better than measured.

Though a little wavy and uneven, the compensated response plot shows a mild warm tilt overall. There is a little discontinuity between 200Hz and 500Hz, but the run-up to…

Nelson Pass's Lab has produced an impeccable headphone amplifier with more than enough power, that's quiet, solid, and very clean. Several other reviewers have reflected on this excellent amplifier, but I want to weigh in with my unique sonic perspective and also measurements of its performance.

The Pass's sculpted front panel is very pretty and makes a distinctive show piece; there's no need to hide this baby. The rest of the…

I. The Genesis
I've been preparing to write this article for many years! In order to make this investigation, I needed to create a laboratory-grade distortion processor, which I've just completed designing and building. Let me introduce you to Bob's Blender (Fig 1). In a moment we'll discover its features and controls.1 But first a little background: The underlying topologies in analog amplifiers, preamps, and equalizers have been evolving for decades. At first there were only tubes: triodes, tetrodes and pentodes. Then, of…