Hello I am new and confused. I need your advice please.

[Polishboy]

Hi all I have been life flowing for a week and a half now. Its probably been asked many times but I got 2 headphones...

On The really expensive headphones, meant for studio recording etc....in life flow 10 I can hear the wob wob wob sound , not sure how to describe it. Is this the entrainment wave? On the creativity soundtrack, the wob wob wob sound is on a slower frequency.

With the normal headphones, I don't hear the wob wob wob pulse.

I read that entrainment waves are supposed to be inaudible? And read somewhere expensive headphones might actually cancel the entrainment waves or something? It just feels counter logical as the I associate hearing the wob wob pulse to mean Its working

So should I stick to using the normal headphones?

Thank you for your time.

[GilesC]

Ok, the "heartbeat" sound (as it's often referred to) you are hearing is part of the entrainment beats. Generally these are just a low background sound and you don't consciously hear them, unless you have the volume turned up, in which case they become more obvious. It's not necessary to have the volume turned up, as the ears and brain are perfectly capable of hearing and discerning the beats from the foreground sound of the track. Some entrianment beats are inaudible though others are audible. If I've got this the right way around, the isochronic and monaural beats can be heard, and this is why they can be listened to without headphones but still have effect, though they may be 'incorporated' into the sounds of the track so that they are not that obvious; conversely, the binaural beats require headphones because the frequencies/sound waves need to reach the ears at the right time where they are combined by the brain and the resultant binaural frequency is created by the brain itself (it's created by the left and right frequencies being slightly out of step, causing a type of resonance).

Of course the technicalities can vary depending on how they've been created in the tracks and whether they are being done as sounds alongside the "sounds of nature" or incorporated into the actual "sounds of nature" itself.

Now, the two different headphones...

What is recommened is that you use headphones that do not alter the sound in any way from how it was originally recorded. Some headphones have built in equalizers or bass cancelling, or noise cancelling etc. to try and improve the quality of what you're listening to... which is fine for music or movies etc. but when dealing with tracks where the frequencies themselves are an integral part of the purpose of what you're listening to, you don't want any 'technology' to go and change things.

It could be that one of your headphones is altering things and the other isn't, but you'd have to look at the specification of the headphones. I would guess that the studio quality headphones are designed for clean feedback of exactly what was recorded, whereas the others are trying to alter things a little and hence negating out the entrainment frequencies somewhat.

If you're not sure, post what make and model headphones you're using and people here can go take a look at the specs for them and see if we can advise.

Hugs

Giles

[otocs]

I hear exactly what was stated in this post, I can hear the heartbeat over the music.

I've got an older set of Bose no noise cancelling style ..

After a little research I've found this about the headphone I have

TriPort acoustic headphone structure - Enjoy deeper, richer lows from a compact headphone design.
Innovative Bose technology that fine-tunes the frequency response of the headphones so you can experience rich, clear sound

So my question is this .. What's headphones are you guys happy with, any set you'd recommend to me ?

Thanks

[GilesC]

I myself got the Sony ones that are recommended in the FAQ, though I'm not sure they actually make that model any more. They're also a bit plasticky and creak if you move your head but if you're meditating and still it's not a problem.

[EMK]

I use Bose noise cancelling headphones, it seems that they do not impact the recordings at all. I can hear all the sounds mentioned in this thread, but I am not sure if I am missing out on anything.

any advice appreciated

[Biker Bill]

I have two sets of headphones which I use frequently, one, in-ear type, the other, over-ear type. The earbuds have very deep bass, and the heartbeat sound is only just audible. The over ear phones have a degree of bass but extremely clear mids & highs, and the heartbeat is much more audible. The side to side swooshing is also different on each set of phones, and again through speakers, different sounds are more to the fore. Each has its own sound signature.
The point is, any set of phones or speakers, and I have tried many many over the years, will colour the sound in some way, as will the source equipment - cd player, digital to analogue converter, amp, cables etc. There is no such thing as neutral.
As long as there is nothing in the chain such as bass "enhancement", noise reduction etc, the particular sound signature of your listening equipment, headphones, etc wont make any difference to the effect of the entrainment track.
It's easy to become obsessional about sound quality - look at the hi fi industry, but beyond a certain point, it's all about personal preference. And bear in mind these are fairly low bit-rate MP3s, not state of the art recordings. Whatever you're listening to them on, it's good enough - the entrainment is working whether you hear all of it or not.
Relax, meditate. Repeat.