What is the Hz?

[CowsGoRoar]

This would be a good TechQuickie episode.

 

What is the Hz on the headsets?

How do I know if it's better than another?

 

One headset has 50Hz-16000Hz and another has 14Hz-22000Hz, which one is better? Why?

[connorpiper]

Well. That one is not difficult. (Express Thousands of Hz in KHz)

Humans can hear to ~21KHz.  

 

Anything about frequency response, range, ect. would be nice to know.

[Deletive]

"Sound is a traveling longitudinal wave which is an oscillation of pressure. Humans perceive frequency of sound waves as pitch. Each musical note corresponds to a particular frequency which can be measured in hertz. An infant's ear is able to perceive frequencies ranging from 20 Hz to 20,000 kHz; the average adult human can hear sounds between 20 Hz and 16,000 Hz."  

anything below 20hz can be felt by the ear and above well idk

[_ASSASSIN_]

hz is a measure of frequency, in your case it would be the range of frequencies your headphones are able to reproduce.

[_ASSASSIN_]

"Sound is a traveling longitudinal wave which is an oscillation of pressure. Humans perceive frequency of sound waves as pitch. Each musical note corresponds to a particular frequency which can be measured in hertz. An infant's ear is able to perceive frequencies ranging from 20 Hz to 20,000 kHz; the average adult human can hear sounds between 20 Hz and 16,000 Hz."  

anything below 20hz can be felt by the ear and above well idk

below 20hz that can be felt is called infrasound and above 20Khz is ultrasound btw.

[SSL]

It would be a pointless episode because the frequency range spec is useless. Frequency RESPONSE is useful, but almost no manufacturer reports it.

[CowsGoRoar]

It would be a pointless episode because the frequency range spec is useless. Frequency RESPONSE is useful, but almost no manufacturer reports it.

So how do I know one headset is better than another?

[SSL]

So how do I know one headset is better than another?

 

Either try them in person or ask people who have. Such as this subforum.

[BoltActionWaffle]

Either try them in person or ask people who have. Such as this subforum.

Oh, I thought he joking about that question... lol. 

[CowsGoRoar]

Either try them in person or ask people who have. Such as this subforum.

Okay.

[CowsGoRoar]

Thanks everyone who helped here.

[SSL]

Oh, I thought he joking about that question... lol. 

 

No...a lot of people actually think that the numbers on a headphone box mean something, and are not the fabrication of the marketing department.

 

As a general example to the OP:

 

HD 518: 14-26,000

HD 558: 16-28,000

HD 598: 13-38,500 <= WTF???

 

However, a frequency response graph shows that this family of headphones basically sounds the same:

 

[BoredErica]

That's true. A LOT of people think the frequency range rating is useful for determining which headphones are better. In more ways than one, it is a useless "spec".

[Whit3Rav3n]

It would be a pointless episode because the frequency range spec is useless. Frequency RESPONSE is useful, but almost no manufacturer reports it.

But that is also pretty complicated because the headphone has to simulate the head rated transfer function to sound natural. Determining an ideal headphone frequency response is therefore pretty complicated and a flat response like in case of speakers is actually not desirable. The frequency response you linked from headphone.org is a compensated response where they picked a reference target frequency response and subtracted it from the raw frequency response of the headphone. So even these frequency responses you see can be different depending what target frequency response was chosen. In the end it leads to the problem that manufacturers could make up any kind of frequency range and frequency response depending on what they pick as reference.  

[BoredErica]

But that is also pretty complicated because the headphone has to simulate the head rated transfer function to sound natural. Determining an ideal headphone frequency response is therefore pretty complicated and a flat response like in case of speakers is actually not desirable. The frequency response you linked from headphone.org is a compensated response where they picked a reference target frequency response and subtracted it from the raw frequency response of the headphone. So even these frequency responses you see can be different depending what target frequency response was chosen. In the end it leads to the problem that manufacturers could make up any kind of frequency range and frequency response depending on what they pick as reference.  

In the end though, considering the goal of Tekquickie (If you go to a computer store and you see a term, you should be able to find a Tekquickie episode explaining it), it's gotta be addressed sooner or later, and probably sooner because people still think oh-em-gee, hadfone haz 50khz iz bettur huur hurr. I'm sure there are ways to generalize and give people the gist of the idea.

[SSL]

But that is also pretty complicated because the headphone has to simulate the head rated transfer function to sound natural. Determining an ideal headphone frequency response is therefore pretty complicated and a flat response like in case of speakers is actually not desirable. The frequency response you linked from headphone.org is a compensated response where they picked a reference target frequency response and subtracted it from the raw frequency response of the headphone. So even these frequency responses you see can be different depending what target frequency response was chosen. In the end it leads to the problem that manufacturers could make up any kind of frequency range and frequency response depending on what they pick as reference.  

 

Agreed. The point is that a graph highlights the fact that there isn't just an arbitrary range of frequencies that a headphone can reproduce, but that the headphone also produces frequencies with varying degrees of accuracy.

 

There probably isn't an easy antidote to marketing as nothing stops companies lying about their products.

[mr.skyrim_pc]

Well. That one is not difficult. (Express Thousands of Hz in KHz)

Humans can hear to ~21KHz. Most people can't hear 21KHz.

Anything about frequency response, range, ect. would be nice to know.

[Stagea]

A frequency response range value is useless without the measurement parameters and tolerance. Most headphones are measured with a very wide tolerance for peaks and dips in the response.

A cumulative spectral decay plot would be much more useful, as long as the measurement is done using an appropriate dummy.

[Lutkeveld]

What he says ^

 

The industry standard is -3dB to -3dB, but most headphone manufacturers use something more like-10dB to -10dB or some imaginary standard.
The last specs don't really matter because when those freqs are so far down they'll be very difficult to hear over other freqs.

[Whit3Rav3n]

What he says ^

 

The industry standard is -3dB to -3dB, but most headphone manufacturers use something more like-10dB to -10dB or some imaginary standard.

The last specs don't really matter because when those freqs are so far down they'll be very difficult to hear over other freqs.

The problems with the target frequency response still remains. In case of loudspeakers it is easy because the reference frequency response is the flat response but in case of headphones this doesn´t work. If manufacturers can pick their own target frequency response the problem still remains that they will most likely pick a response that makes their headphones look really linear and not an actually good one.

[mr.skyrim_pc]

"Sound is a traveling longitudinal wave which is an oscillation of pressure. Humans perceive frequency of sound waves as pitch. Each musical note corresponds to a particular frequency which can be measured in hertz. An infant's ear is able to perceive frequencies ranging from 20 Hz to 20,000 kHz; the average adult human can hear sounds between 20 Hz and 16,000 Hz."

anything below 20hz can be felt by the ear and above well idk

I'm 14 and I can only hear 14000 Hz.

[Lutkeveld]

I'm 14 and I can only hear 14000 Hz.

 

Can also be caused by your audio equipment not being able to reproduce 14kHz.

 

The problems with the target frequency response still remains. In case of loudspeakers it is easy because the reference frequency response is the flat response but in case of headphones this doesn´t work. If manufacturers can pick their own target frequency response the problem still remains that they will most likely pick a response that makes their headphones look really linear and not an actually good one.

 

Sorry, I don't understand. The FR goal of audio equipment is to get a completely flat response from 20hz to 20khz right? What do you mean by 'picking a response'? How does it make it 'look' linear but sound not good?

[jacobffeldman]

Just to be clear Hz (hertz) is a unit that imply any sort of repetitive action. The units are #of occurrences per second. Yes in this case Hz corresponds to audio frequency but you have to be carful asking "what is a Hz".

[mr.skyrim_pc]

Can also be caused by your audio equipment not being able to reproduce 14kHz.

Nah, I've done it more than once with different speakers. I just don't hear high frequencies.

Sorry, I don't understand. The FR goal of audio equipment is to get a completely flat response from 20hz to 20khz right? What do you mean by 'picking a response'? How does it make it 'look' linear but sound not good?

[Deletive]

I'm 14 and I can only hear 14000 Hz.

I'm 15 and I can feel 1hz, but only hear up to 17000hz