Headphones - Panasonic RP HJE200K

[Stigmata]

I just picked up a pair to replace my old broken earbud headphones. So far these seem pretty awesome. 6Hz-23,000Hz frequency response, everything is crisp and clear, and I'm picking up parts of my favourite songs that I've never heard before. Then again, in reality this might be because my speakers and headphones up to this point have been absolute ass, and these Panasonics are just middle-of-the-road earbuds. Does anyone else have a pair? Should I have picked up different similarly-priced headphones instead?

[edit] The product page here: http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-...E200-K.S_11002_7000000000000005702#tabsection

 

[Vegeta897]

Bleh, buds.

Also wow here I thought those were at least moderately expensive buds. $20? Ugh.

 

[Stigmata]

I'm as surprised as you are Veggies. They're seriously pretty good so far. I can't say they're awesome, because I'm not sure if my "awesome headphone" is anywhere close to an objective "awesome headphone", but it's definitely a step up from my JVC foambuds and FM radio computer speaker setup.

 

[Viperidae]

As a point of reference; frequency response ranges mean absolutely nothing about the quality of the headphones.

 

[VirusType2]

Panasonic is inexpensive and generally pretty decent. I prefer them over Sony, but that's not really saying much.

 

[Qonfused]

Bleh, buds.

Also wow here I thought those were at least moderately expensive buds. $20? Ugh.

Could you be any more annoying.

 

[Stigmata]

As a point of reference; frequency response ranges mean absolutely nothing about the quality of the headphones.

Well yeah, but it's worth noting. 6-23,000Hz is hugely preferable over 50-15,000Hz, which is what I used to have in a set of surround-sound headphones. The low end clipped like mad and the highs were muddy and distorted.

 

[Vegeta897]

Could you be any more annoying.

I'm showing him the glorious life he can one day lead if he gets expensive headphones. Going around all day spitting on cheap consumer brand varieties like a huge prick, does it get any better?

In other words, I guess my sarcasm was too dry.

I thought everyone knew by now that I enjoy telling people their headphones suck so I thought I'd be especially annoying and unhelpful in this thread for a funny.

When I become a comedian, you're not invited to my shows.

 

[Murray]

I used those for my mp3 player for some time, then they broke like after 3 months of usage. Pretty weak. Also, I hated using them, because earwax gets stuck like crazy and is a total bitch to clean off.

 

[PimpinPenguin]

I had one of those and it was the best headphones i had ever owned. Unfortunately after so much abuse it finally died and my new Sony headphones which were more expensive is nowhere near as good.

 

[Viperidae]

Well yeah, but it's worth noting. 6-23,000Hz is hugely preferable over 50-15,000Hz, which is what I used to have in a set of surround-sound headphones. The low end clipped like mad and the highs were muddy and distorted.

Er, no.

Distortion has nothing to do with the frequency range. It has to do with circuit impedance and the driver. The fact that the highs sounded harsh is not correlated with the range. Also, I personally can't hear above 16khz, and I've been trying to keep my hearing as ship shape as possible. How about you?

Also, a person simply can't hear (as opposed to feel) anything lower than ~30 Hz unless you're in a soundproofed room. Plus, because of the way human hearing works it can actually be detrimental to tune a headphone to work at such low frequencies because of such a massive disparity of amplitudes--basically, lower = even more distortion.

Plus I'm not sure if it's physically possible for a headphone driver to accurately pump that low.

 

[Sedako]

I've always liked Shure's IEMs. I love how they include many different fittings with them.

 

[Stigmata]

Er, no.

Distortion has nothing to do with the frequency range. It has to do with circuit impedance and the driver. The fact that the highs sounded harsh is not correlated with the range. Also, I personally can't hear above 16khz, and I've been trying to keep my hearing as ship shape as possible. How about you?

Also, a person simply can't hear (as opposed to feel) anything lower than ~30 Hz unless you're in a soundproofed room. Plus, because of the way human hearing works it can actually be detrimental to tune a headphone to work at such low frequencies because of such a massive disparity of amplitudes--basically, lower = even more distortion.

Plus I'm not sure if it's physically possible for a headphone driver to accurately pump that low.

Point taken.

 

[Bakurei]

I remember reading from somewhere that the lowest level is more like 20hz, and thats individual, so some hear lower. And what does soundproofing the room do? Doesn't it just disrupt/shorten wave length?

Now for buds! Word of advice to anyone whos thinking off buying the Koss ones, DON'T. This week I picked up my third koss earplugs. And now the left one is dead... Sound was ok, but doesn't really matter when they work for like 2 days and break.

 

[Viperidae]

I remember reading from somewhere that the lowest level is more like 20hz, and thats individual, so some hear lower. And what does soundproofing the room do? Doesn't it just disrupt/shorten wave length?

Yes, the general consensus is that 20 is the average lowest (however this is mostly because of the convenient 20-20,000 rule, which is also exaggerated, as almost no one under 25 can hear over 18,000--one would probably find the low end just as variable). Other studies have seen as low as 16. However, all of these tests are done in controlled labs where there is no environmental noise. There are tons of low freqs in almost all ambient locations, so it's hard to actually pick out such low tones in everyday situations.

This is not to say we are oblivious to them; we are very susceptible to (very) high amplitude low frequencies. There have been experiments with massive 10 cycle generators on subjects, who reported extreme unease and nausea during exposure. Then there's the body itself--one of my physics profs went into a sound isolation chamber for several hours, and said that once his ears had adjusted to the quiet he was almost driven insane by the sounds his own body was making (blood, digestion, nervous system, muscles). IIRC the body runs at some low cycles that can interfere with low freq perception.

Soundproofing a room does not have any effect on the wavelength of sound. It's just high-sound absorbing material that removes outer noise and prevents inner reverberation.

 

[jet_porkins]

Not a fan of buds.

Bigass headphones are the way to go.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Certainly are, of course I'm sure he means for portability. What kind of dumb jackass would wear earphones mainly indoors?

 

[VirusType2]

There was this guy who wore these BIG ASS DAMN hooked on phonics headphones in the break-room at work. Looked like Satellite dishes tuned in to outer-space

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Yeah I know the types, had one on my old schoolbus.

 

[The Monkey]

I hate the way that kind fits in your ear. Doesn't feel healthy.