iPod Do i have good headphone quality?

[Corrosive vinyl]

I found the owners manual online which had these values:
Frequency Response ........ 18–20,000 Hz
Maximum Input Power .............. 3.16 V (100 mW)
Impedance .............................. 100 ohms dB
SPL (1mW) ............................. 101 dB
Total Harmonic Distortion at 95 dB SPL ......... < 0.2%

I also have been trying to find what all this means, and keep running in circles. I looked it up in google, MRoogle. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Razeus]

Those numbers mean squat.

What is the name and model of your set? Then we can look at the frequency range and get somewhere.

I can tell you right now, that my Grado 225i's are supreme quality for the price.

Head over to headfi.org and get more headphone knowledge.

 

[Corrosive vinyl]

why do those numbers mean squat?
I just have These. radio shack over the heads. What is/how do you find/what is good frequency range?

 

[ChrisA]

why do those numbers mean squat?

Frequency response is a graph, a line that goes up and down. All they have told you by saying "18-20K" is the width of the graph. What matters to your ears is the shape of the line. A more meaningful spec would say "18-20Khz within 0.3db" that would be meaningful because they are saying the response within the range is dead flat

It is kind of like it you were buying a car and the listed specs like the bumber to bumber length and the diameter of the wheels. The numbers are acurate but don't tell you enough

 

[Razeus]

I meant to say DON'T mean squat.

The numbers are nonsense. Damn near all heaphones are 20Hz-20Khz since that's the human's range of hearing.

Radio Shack headphones? Nope, you DO NOT have good headphone quality. Nor good sound quality.

Give me your budget for good quality headphones and I'll point you in the right direction.

For instance if your looking for something cheap, but GREAT sound for the price, look no further than Grado SR-60i's.. For $79, those are the BEST sub $100 headphones you can buy. Google it, and you'll see this is damn near a fact.

If you want a step up, look to the Grado 125i's.

 

[Corrosive vinyl]

what makes them bad quality because of the brand?
I am thinking of $30 or less. Good quality which I wouldn't get horrified if it got scratched up.
Razeus, are you saying that the SPL and impedance are important? What makes them so?

 

[Razeus]

what makes them bad quality because of the brand?
I am thinking of $30 or less. Good quality which I wouldn't get horrified if it got scratched up.
Razeus, are you saying that the SPL and impedance are important? What makes them so?

What you should focus on is how the headphones perform across the frequecy spectrum. At the $30, you can't expect to much and those headphones are simply used as background music. Not critical or pleasurable listening.

Remember, those numbers are used simply because there's nothing else for manufacture's to market by. Sound is really subjective since everyone hearing is slightly different.

If you're looking for cheap and have GOOD sound quality, then I highly recommend the Sennheiser PX100's. They are $65 on Amazon, but I see them in Fry's Electronics for $40 all the time. I'm thinking about picking up a pair to use at work and when I'm out on my photography hobby.

 

[waffle911]

I have another proposal. Bring your iPod and your headphones to an Apple store if you have one nearby, or another high-end electronics store that carries high-end headphones. Pick a song you are familiar with that has a lot of intricacies (like, say, something from the Beatles from their studio years) and listen carefully. Then try one of the display headsets, most likely the Bose QuietComfort circum-aural (around-ear, the really big ones) headphones. I'm using these as a baseline mostly as a way of testing whether or not your ear is trained enough to notice a difference or if the ones you have simply are that crappy.

If you notice much of a difference in sound quality, then yes, you probably should get better headphones (though I don't recommend the Bose ones, as they are obscenely expensive and sound quality is mediocre).

I actually recommend Koss PortaPros, which I have. They were originally released in 1984, and have been in continuous production since then completely unchanged. They're THAT popular. The styling may not be your thing, but the sound quality is pretty epic considering how lightweight and compact they are. If you really can't get past the styling, then the more conservatively styled SportaPros might be a better alternative (they use the same sound drivers as the PortaPros), though I find them to be a bit boring looking. For the price, you would be hard pressed to beat either of these for sound quality, but they don't have much at all in the way of sound blocking (though I haven't seen a cheap circum-aural headset that did either). Plus, can you say Lifetime Limited Warranty/Replacement Guarantee?

EDIT: Heh, looks like a lot of people buy both the PortaPros and the PX100's mentioned above together, and a fair chunk of the people considering the PX100's go for PortaPros instead. according to Amazon's page for the Sennheisers.

Oh, and here's a review I posted on Amazon for the PortaPros.