InnerFidelity

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Tyll Hertsens  |  May 01, 2012  | 
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Headphones have changed a lot over the last 20 years. First they were accessories; then they were legit listening devices but as ugly as an outhouse; then they were bright plastic necklaces and a rapper's gravy train; but of late, they're becoming a very human interface to our tunes, designed to sound good, look good, and feel good.

The Philips Fidelio L1 is a perfect example of such a headphone.

Tyll Hertsens  |  Apr 21, 2012  | 
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Boy, do I love it when a manufacturer builds a great product and then sticks with it. I've been listening to, and recommending the Denon AH-D2000, AH-D5000, and AH-D7000 headphones for years. I welcomed the chance to get some fresh samples of these fine cans from Denon, and I was double happy to find they've gotten even better over the years.

Even better? Yes! It does appear they've made some improvements over time. Let's have a look...

Tyll Hertsens  |  Apr 12, 2012  | 
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

I've seen numerous comments about tip selection affecting the frequency response of in-ear monitors. I've seen lavish words of praise for Comply tips ... and rants about how they muffled the sound.

I figured we should get to the bottom of this, eh?

Tyll Hertsens  |  Apr 07, 2012  | 
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Having printed out the measurements for all 41 Do-It-Yourself modified headphones sent to me over the past year, I spread them out over my kitchen table and set to work picking the best and worst measuring of the bunch. I also picked what I thought were the coolest looking headphones. And I scrounged around my lab looking for all the headphones I might give away as prizes.

Let's see who got what ...

Tyll Hertsens  |  Mar 15, 2012  | 
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Tap your cheek bones, and you'll hear it plain as day. The sound's not coming through your ear canals ... it's just rattling the bones in your ear, and you can hear it. But is this a good way to get your tunes?

Let's find out ...

Tyll Hertsens  |  Mar 14, 2012  | 
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Full-sized, sealed headphones are a bugaboo. They're either too woolly or boomy sounding, or they're too uneven, or they don't seal well enough. Sealed headphones are just plain hard to make sound good. Darn few that jump through those hoops and work well enough to be worth the money.

Wanna watch the K550 make the leap?

Tyll Hertsens  |  Mar 09, 2012  | 
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

The latest in a long, long line of HD 25 variants, Sennheiser puts new clothes on the Amperior with milled aluminum cups and a new cable. Is it just bluff and bluster, or are these new cans worth nearly double the price of the HD 25-1 II?

I'm thinking so.

Tyll Hertsens  |  Mar 01, 2012  | 
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

The DIY headphone contest will be over on April 1st! If you want your cans measured and in the running, you'll need to get them in quickly as there's only a month left.

Want a look at the latest batch?

Tyll Hertsens  |  Feb 17, 2012  | 
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

One look at the Sennheiser HD 800 and it's quite obvious that this headphone is in a class of one. Seemingly as much architecture and structural engineering as it is audio, this headphone is a technological marvel and delivers incredibly accurate audio fidelity.

It's nearly perfect ... nearly.

Tyll Hertsens  |  Feb 13, 2012  | 
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Generally speaking, my teenage daughter couldn't care less about headphones. But when I brought home a pair of purple Philips Citiscape Downtown headphones, she was almost breathless as she said, "Oh dad! Purple is my favorite color. Those are so cool!" Later, I peeked into her room; she was laying on her bed, knees up with legs crossed, one foot happily tapping the air.

It was with both pleasure and dismay that I realized I had just more fully enabled her connection to Justin Bieber.

Tyll Hertsens  |  Feb 08, 2012  | 
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Like most people upon first hearing the Audez'e LCD-3 at last year's CanJam at RMAF, I was struck by the quicker sound of the new planar magnetic headphone over its predecessor, the LCD-2 Rev. 2. Definitely a step in the right direction. Then they started shipping ...

... and all hell seemed to break loose.

Tyll Hertsens  |  Dec 11, 2011  | 
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Seems like every other day a new celebrity headphone comes out. And they're not cheap! Three hundred dollars used to buy you near-world class headphones. How come there's so much bling in headphones these days? How come they're so expensive? How the heck did we get here?

And more importantly, do these headphones sound any good?

Tyll Hertsens  |  Dec 05, 2011  | 
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

With about 27% of the population over age 50, and roughly 30% of all headphone purchases influenced by celebrity endorsement, I can understand why Koss turned away from the heavy competition for the younger generation's wallet and focussed their attention on the baby boomers with the introduction of their Tony Bennett headphones. Personally I prefer Tony Bennett to Dr. Dre, Ludacris, and 50 Cent, but I'm not sure the geriatric headphone buyers are really part of the 30% of purchasers who are influenced by celebrity endorsement.

Let's see how they sound.

Tyll Hertsens  |  Nov 27, 2011  | 
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Call me out of touch with pop-culture, but I had no idea what the "True Blood" referred to on V-MODA's V-80 True Blood headphone. A quick Google and I know we have a new kind of celebrity headphone, one endorsed by a T.V. show about vampires. Fine with me because ...

... these headphones are AWESOME!

Tyll Hertsens  |  Nov 20, 2011  | 
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

When I first saw the Monster Beats by Dr. Dre Solo ($199 MSRP) I thought they might be the most beautiful headphones I’d ever seen. The fit and finish is stellar; the styling superb; they fold beautifully; the cable is pure sex; they’re comfortable … the Solos are just gorgeous. At the time I thought, “These may be the headphone of the year!”

Except for one little thing …

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