Choose earphones as a musician: tips from David Wallack

The leader of the indie band Chester French, David Wallack (D. A. Wallach) recently published an excellent article how musicians are choosing headphones, as well as why you should only believe what he was hearing and never - Review of musical components.

Spoiler: yes, Beats by Dr. Dre - it's a bad headphones.

The company Beats Electronics has made people very seriously treat your headphones. In return for that music fans have got in their pockets. Unfortunately, instead of high-quality sound to pay for the premium design, big box and aggressive advertising. All this has little to do with high-quality sound-reproducing.

Once Jimmy (Jimmy Ayovin - music producer and founder of Beats Electronics. - Approx. Ed.) told me that he wanted to sell running shoes. But the idea of ​​selling headphones, making them a fashion accessory, proved to be more profitable.

David Wallack, an indie musician, last endorser Beats Electronics

Instead of high-quality sound Jimmy Ayovin invented to sell headphones as a sign of social status and fashion accessory. This approach allowed to increase the price of the headphones

Beats for customers almost it tripled in comparison with analogues.

Unfortunately, people are hoping that by buying a fancy and expensive headphones, they acquire and sound quality.

The main slogan Beats: «You will hear the music in the same way as a musician in the studio during the recording." Is it possible? Not!

People at the very beginning of the era of mobile computing wanted to listen to their music. And they pay exorbitant prices for a lot of acoustic nagolovnym system several times more phones. All for the sake of "a stunning sound." Unfortunately, they have not received it. And can not be obtained by using expensive, but mass production and popularity of Beats and similar brands.

Here are some tips from David about portable speakers:

1. You do not get up at the musician behind

During recording, the recorded material musician listening through speaker and / or headphones (Dr. Dre not an exception). Not only that, each model has its own monitor sound, so also the room in which they are established (studio), gives additional color. Do not forget about setting acoustics, which is performed individually.

So the only way to hear the music exactly as it hears a musician in the record time - listen to it on the same equipment in the same room. It is desirable during the recording time.

Musicians can listen to songs on the different equipment in order to find some kind of averaged sound. Everyone has their preferred form factors of portable speakers, and the composition is to please all listeners. So it is better to drive from his mind the thought of the possibility to hear the song in the "true form". She always let to the lowest degree, will sound different.

2. Accuracy - recording the lot. Listeners need beauty of sound, not quality

Proper sound does not mean beautiful or pleasant. Frequently flaws apparatus conceal the problem space formulation flaws in writing or mastering. When radiators reproduce the sound as much as possible in detail and correctly, it is heard that before was hidden behind flaws.

Video from HD-resolution can show how a magnifying glass, all the flaws on your face. Headphones can do the same. If the music was recorded in a hurry or not too high quality, professional monitors, it sounds awful.

Fidelity is important in the creation of music for quality control and eliminate all the drawbacks. Music lover much more likely to appeal to a slightly flattering sound than flat studio.

3. Louder is not better

The same when you play at different volume composition is perceived quite differently. Typically, when the volume is greater than the level of the song it seems to be more intense. But therein lies the catch.

Usually all the fancy headphones created for a loud sound. The task of customer buying such models, is not to buy the loudest.

Compare headphones standing on one volume. Also choose to select the next track, where many complex dynamic transitions, there are loud and quiet moments.

Most of the modern music is subjected to the most severe compression, in which moments of loud and quiet sounds at the same level. Unfortunately, people love loud sound, so the musicians are going to compromise, making the music more dynamic (or "Quieter") or "louder", and paid a high price, reducing the quality of the composition, at least in their own eyes.

4. The phone is not designed to play high-quality audio

Of course, filling the smartphone, the software and the quality of the files directly affect the sound. But do not forget that the quality of the speaker is determined by the weakest link. A phone is not audiophile components in the design and manufacture of them laid mass compromise solutions.

To play high-quality entries from your phone or computer, you need at least an external digital to analog converter (DAC). This significantly improves the quality of sound through the headphones.

This rule arises both: compare headphones standing alone on quality equipment.

5. Acoustic selfishness: it is important only to their own opinion

The only thing that's really important - your own perception of sound. If we look at the reviews of headphones Hi-End-class made audiophiles, it can be seen that even Sophisticated audio equipment in the professionals can not make a completely unambiguous conclusions.

sound is subjectiveIt depends on personal perception and even personal imagination. Everyone chooses the model in which it is for his own opinion, music starts playing magically.

Believe only what he was hearing.

* What kind of headphones chooses David? For trips and walks - BeoPlay H6For the studio - Beyerdynamics DT777.