[ChrisCoaster]

Stumbled upon this by accident. Has peak SPL of 117dB(!) and most
literature about it seems to indicate it is for testing frequency
sensitivity strictly between 20Hz 12kHz.

Sennheiser specs it out to 20kHz. The graph on their site suggests
ruler flat freq resp down to 100Hz, but above 2kHZ it seesaws(mostly
downward, with a nasty trough around 5-7kHZ, then up marginally around
10kHz.

Question: Is this "cousin" to the HD-280 pro suitable for everyday or
critical listening? Its response is definitely flatter where it
counts - acc to the mfg, but i'm concerned about it's upper mid to
high performance. It's definitely targeted at audiologists for
hearing exams, but I thought abou this and said to myself "what better
to listen to music critcally on than a set of cans designed to test
peoples' hearing!"

Absolutely NO reviews exist on-line for it, so any opinions,
suggestions, experiences with it would be appreciated.

-ChrisCoaster

[Peter Larsen[_3_]]

ChrisCoaster wrote:

Stumbled upon this by accident. Has peak SPL of 117dB(!) and most
literature about it seems to indicate it is for testing frequency
sensitivity strictly between 20Hz 12kHz.

An audiometric headphone is likely to be designed for good outside sound
attenuation and a short wearing time.

Sennheiser specs it out to 20kHz. The graph on their site suggests
ruler flat freq resp down to 100Hz, but above 2kHZ it seesaws(mostly
downward, with a nasty trough around 5-7kHZ, then up marginally around
10kHz.

My understanding is that response in the 2 to 8 kHz region depends also on
the impedance of the actual ear-canal the headphone is loaded with and that
some dip in measured headphone response in that region is to be expected.

-ChrisCoaster

Kind regards

Peter Larsen

[Scott Dorsey]

ChrisCoaster wrote:
Stumbled upon this by accident. Has peak SPL of 117dB(!) and most
literature about it seems to indicate it is for testing frequency
sensitivity strictly between 20Hz 12kHz.

Yes.

Sennheiser specs it out to 20kHz. The graph on their site suggests
ruler flat freq resp down to 100Hz, but above 2kHZ it seesaws(mostly
downward, with a nasty trough around 5-7kHZ, then up marginally around
10kHz.

There are several different ways to measure headphone response, and they
all give wildly different results above 8 Khz. I don't recall which
method Sennheiser is currently using but it will affect things a lot.

Question: Is this "cousin" to the HD-280 pro suitable for everyday or
critical listening? Its response is definitely flatter where it
counts - acc to the mfg, but i'm concerned about it's upper mid to
high performance. It's definitely targeted at audiologists for
hearing exams, but I thought abou this and said to myself "what better
to listen to music critcally on than a set of cans designed to test
peoples' hearing!"

It may not be, because it is entirely possible that sacrifices have been
made in impulse response and linearity in an attempt to get the flattest
possible frequency response. It would be interesting to listen to, though,
and I bet Sennheiser could get you an audition.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[ChrisCoaster]

On Jan 30, 1:27*pm, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
ChrisCoaster wrote:
Stumbled upon this by accident. *Has peak SPL of 117dB(!) *and most
literature about it seems to indicate it is for testing frequency
sensitivity strictly between 20Hz 12kHz.

Yes.

Sennheiser specs it out to 20kHz. *The graph on their site suggests
ruler flat freq resp down to 100Hz, but above 2kHZ it seesaws(mostly
downward, with a nasty trough around 5-7kHZ, then up marginally around
10kHz.

There are several different ways to measure headphone response, and they
all give wildly different results above 8 Khz. *I don't recall which
method Sennheiser is currently using but it will affect things a lot.

Question: Is this "cousin" to the HD-280 pro suitable for everyday or
critical listening? *Its response is definitely flatter where it
counts - acc to the mfg, but i'm concerned about it's upper mid to
high performance. *It's definitely targeted at audiologists for
hearing exams, but I thought abou this and said to myself "what better
to listen to music critcally on than a set of cans designed to test
peoples' hearing!"

It may not be, because it is entirely possible that sacrifices have been
made in impulse response and linearity in an attempt to get the flattest
possible frequency response. *It would be interesting to listen to, though,
and I bet Sennheiser could get you an audition.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
_______________________

Impulse response? What is that as opposed to frequency response?

-CC

[Scott Dorsey]

ChrisCoaster wrote:

Impulse response? What is that as opposed to frequency response?

It's effectively the same thing in a system that has no distortion and is
minimum phase. A lot of mechanical systems turn out not to be minimum
phase. Group delay isn't audible, but ringing often is.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Scott Dorsey]

Scott Dorsey wrote:
ChrisCoaster wrote:

Impulse response? What is that as opposed to frequency response?

It's effectively the same thing in a system that has no distortion and is
minimum phase. A lot of mechanical systems turn out not to be minimum
phase. Group delay isn't audible, but ringing often is.

I should say, "Group delay isn't READILY audible..."
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[ChrisCoaster]

On Jan 30, 4:38*pm, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
Scott Dorsey wrote:
ChrisCoaster wrote:

Impulse response? *What is that as opposed to frequency response?

It's effectively the same thing in a system that has no distortion and is
minimum phase. *A lot of mechanical systems turn out not to be minimum
phase. *Group delay isn't audible, but ringing often is.

I should say, "Group delay isn't READILY audible..."
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
___________________
Does the "damping factor" rating of an amp have something to do with
that?

-CC

[Scott Dorsey]

ChrisCoaster wrote:
Does the "damping factor" rating of an amp have something to do with
that?

Kind of. The speaker has all kinds of mechanical resonances in it... the
damping factor is one way of thinking about the output impedance of the
amplifier in terms of how well the amplifier controls the voice coil position
with all these other mechanical things influencing it.

For the most part damping factor is a non-issue since just about every
amplifier you ever encounter has so low an output impedance that it doesn't
matter unless you're trying to drive stupid loads.

One place where it DOES matter is that there are older speakers out there
that were designed to be driven by high impedance sources... they expect
some lack of stiffness in the voice coil drive to get a flat response and
if driven by a modern amplifier, the bass on an A-7 gets pretty recessed.
Put a big 8 ohm power resistor in series with the speaker and the damping
factor is reduced and the speaker sounds and measures flatter.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."