There is something interesting going on in the world of headphones. There are more and more expensive headphones being sold (and, as a result, people appear to be spending more on things like headphone amplifiers and high-resolution recordings…) However, there is some debate (as there has always been since the dawn of the “audio industry” – whatever that is…) whether “expensive” (or “popular”) means “good”.  (Actually if you ask  professionals in the audio industry, I don’t think that they’ll have much of a debate – “expensive” certainly doesn’t mean “good”.)

“Quality, or Something Like It” by Stephen Mejias in Stereophile Magazine, May 2013

“How do you like your headphone sound: Accurate or bassy?” by Steve Guttenberg on CNET.com

“Beat By Dre: The Exclusive Inside Story of How Monster Lost the World” by Sam Biddle on gizmodo.com

Once you’ve read those, you might be interested in some preference work that’s happening at Harman which shows that Bassy is certainly not the preferred choice.

“The Relationship between Perception and Measurement of Headphone Sound Quality” by Sean Olive at seanolive.blogspot.com

Makes me wonder how “Bassy” captured 64% of the >100$ headphone market. Must be because conformity is more important than quality…