Consumer Guide to Headphones and Headsets

Headphone Accessories

Regardless of the headphones you select, whether wireless or dynamic, electrostatic or other, you can always improve your music listening experience by buying certain accessories or add-ons.

Here is a list of the more common add­ons that can help improve your sound experience:

Jacks and cables

Good quality cables do change the quality of sound you receive from your stereo system. Most systems come with inexpensive wire that doesn’t produce the best quality of sound.

Same goes with headphone cables. You have to weed through the ‘techno speak’ however including terms like polyethylene dielectrics to select cable that will work best for you.

Most of the time you can do well with an adapter that is ¼ in size. This is sometimes called a miniplug to plug into your receiver. You may need another adapter to connect your headphones to a portable stereo system.

Amplifiers

Amplifiers are often the most expensive headphone accessory, but often also considered the most important when it comes to sound quality. A dedicated amplifier helps improve the sound pumped through your receivers. Watch out when buying however, as some amplifiers including Sennheiser’s Orpheus, attached to headphones cost as much as $15,000.

Even the best quality equipment and headphone jacks are poorly made. Most manufacturers consider amplifiers and headphone jacks as a last minute add on. While they invest much time and effort into building other aspects of the headphone set, they will not spend much time building the headphone jacks.

Many headphones need much power to work properly. Most headphone jacks attach to small op­amps that simply are not capable of handling enough watts to produce the best sound. If you want to hear what your headphones can really do then you need a set of headphone amps capable of handling the power your headphones can create.

Most portable stereos need even more help than traditional models because they don’t dedicate much power to the output unit. This is done largely to help the battery last longer. An amp will improve the sound of music if you plan to run about with your headphones in this case.

The biggest advantage of an amplifier for your headphones however is it limits the center of head sound effects. Most amplifiers help mimic sound that we would normally hear if we were listening to it in an aural environment. The combine the left side’s channels with the right so music sound appears equalized, like is coming from multiple sources rather from direct inside the head.

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