"CurtK" writes:

Thank you... very helpful! I hope it is okay to ask some minor questions
below...

np.

Is there any correlation of sensitvity to quality (higher the number/better
the quality and sound)?

Nope. Quality and sensitivity are orthogonal.

Sensitivity however might (theoretically at least) have an impact on
battery life. More sensitive phones require less current to achieve
a given sound pressure level. Hence, for a given loudness, your
headphone amplifier has to work less hard if you have sensitive
phones.

We're not in the area of theory though and I don't htink anyone's
looked at this to quanitiify how much real world battery life change
with actually would have if any.

So your battery will last longer if you get one with higher
impedance?

Assuming the volume control stays int eh same place in both cases,
yes. However, in reality you'll turn up the volume enough to get
enough power out of the headphones to achieve the loudness you want.
So, impedance is pretty much a non-starter. Ignore it completely.

Will this number being higher or lower change the quality or
richness of the audio you will experience?

Nope.

REsponse accuracy as its name implies is the frequency response of the
system. Ideally you'd like a perfectly ruler flat response that
indicates the headphones neither add or subtract any given frequency
range across the range of human hearing (most often considered to be
20-20kHz though, hte older ya get the quicker that high end falls
off).

Perfect explanation... thanks.

Noise reduction is as it implies. For noise reducing headphones, they
attempt to cancel ambient/background noise. The higher the dB number
they claim to reduce the noise, the better. There are expensive
"active" noise canelling models, and also ones that seal into your ear
that provide very reliable, effective nad inexpensive noise
cancellation. If you want some quiet on a plane ride, while mowing
the lawn, noise cancelling phones are a good thing. Otherwise, you
have to crank your regular phones up to get over the noise, and that's
not a good thing. :-)

What are your thoughts on tradeoffs (sound, quality, richness, etc)? Which
type of headphones would you go with for an MP3 player (iPod and iRiver 799)
and why?

Depends what I'm using it for. If noise reduction is a chief
concern, I'd get a pair of Shure E2c or E1's or something like that.
If I wanted to spend some bucks, I'd get Shure E5's and spend an extra
$60 to go to my audiologist and have her put them in custom molds,
just like my custom ear plugs:
http://toddh.net/music/ear/

One more curve ball... my main speakers 100W/6ohms, center 30W/8ohms and
rear are 40W/16ohms... does this mean anything with a minimum load impedance
not higher than 6ohms is fine? Any recomendations of brands that would be
good to go with?

The receiver market changes too quickly.

The most important criterion in selecting audio gear you haven't
mentioned, so I'll be sure to highlight it he
Ignore the specs. They can't be trusted to be right anyway.
Trust your ears.

What sounds best to you is what's important. What looks best on paper
might give you bragging rights on a text medium such a usenet, or
impress friends without a life, or whatnot, but at the end of the day,
it's your ears that are gonna listen to these things, so make em
happy!

For headphones, take _your_ mp3 player to the store, and try
everything they've got on display until your ears chose the one you
like.

For receivers, since they're not transducers, they dont' have that
much affect on sound quality, as much as say shopping for speakers or
headphones does. So, it's not terribly critical. When I shopped
for my receiver, I chose a brand I was comfortable with (Denon) to
some extent, but mostly I shopped to find a receiver that had the
number and type of inputs I needed, and the amount of power I wanted
for my room size and needs, in the budget I wanted to spent... and
then I took a listen to each of them using a CD I brought along
running through the speakers I owned (which luckily they had).

I did hear differences among receivers--some were warmer and richer
and punchier than others. It's all in how they bias those transitors,
and they can sound remarkably different. But, not THAT different.
Audiophiles will debate all that till the cows come home because by
definition, audiophiles are extremely picky about their sound, and
spend an inordinate amount of money to achieve it. But for most of
us, a remarkable range of inexpensive gear will get the job done quite
nicely.



Best Regards,
--
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