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Headphone Requirements?

Discussion in 'Science of Meditation' started by BusDriver, Mar 1, 2009.

  1. BusDriver

    BusDriver Member

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    Greetings,

    Having received a support e-mail containing back to basics in the title and read the section regarding headphone use I have been investigating the acoustic properties of the types I have available.

    The recommended headphones are "Pilot style" headphones, do I assume correctly that this is due to a larger driver giving extended low frequency response?

    I have a CD "Sound Check 2" which contains a lot of audio testing tracks including pink noise 1/3 octave bands at many frequencies. I tested a pair of Panasonic over-ear headphones, a pair of Apple 2-way in-ear headphones as well as a standard Apple iPhone headset which uses the same ear buds as the modern iPod ear buds which is stated to be unsuitable for use with Lifeflow.

    I started with my current favorite, Apple in-ear 2-way headphone Apple - iPod - In-Ear Headphones beginning at low frequencies and working up.
    My ears begin to detect the 31.5Hz tone and up very clearly with these headphones and I detect resonance frequencies at near 2KHz which when used with music is the best I have ever heard from a pair of headphones.
    I then moved on to the Panasonic over-ear headphones, again I started hearing at 31.5Hz and up with a little coloration at most frequencies. When playing the higher tones I continued to hear coloration caused by the drivers rear sound-wave reflecting back indicating poor enclosure design and tuning.
    For comparisons I finally tested a standard Apple iPhone/iPod ear bud purely for the reason that they are not recommended for use with Lifeflow. Again I started hearing audio at 31.5Hz but a lot louder due to severe coloration of the drivers resonance frequency, 31.5 sounded like 40Hz plus the drone of 1KHz in the background. From this and my limited understanding of Lifeflow technology I arrive at the same conclusion that these are not suitable due to the inaccurate low frequency representation, a binaural beat would be smothered by a number of unwanted frequencies reducing their effectiveness.

    It is my conclusion that the Panasonic over-ear headphones are suitable at-least for binaural beats with low frequencies being heard clearly with a little coloration. However I conclude that the best headphone out of the three is the Apple 2-way in-ear headphones based on the extensive frequency response, low distortion and coloration with little resonance effect.

    I was considering purchasing a better set of headphones if they would improve the effectiveness of Lifeflow but having conducted my tests I believe that technically these apple in-ear headphones would be very difficult to beat for much more than their price. Is there anything that I may have overlooked? would others agree with my conclusions?

    Thank you for your views.
     
    Last edited: Mar 2, 2009

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