Are you overwhelmed by the flood of normal and wireless headphones? You never heard of the terms open and closed headphones or dynamic and static transducers? This overview will help you select the right model.
Headphones are available in many different styles. In regard to design, the smallest type headphones are in-ear headphones which are plugged into the ear, a number of of these have a bracket that wraps around the ear. These in-ear headphones are often bundled with iPods and other MP3 players and can simply be placed in a pocket. The next size up are lightweight headphones that sit on the ear and are connected by an elastic frame. This headpiece either sits on top of the head or wraps around the neck. If your budget is tight then you should possibly focus on these types of headphones. They are the least costly of all types. Some models offer insulation from exterior noise to some degree.
If you are looking for better sound quality then you should take a look at medium-end headphones which have soft ear cushions that depending on the model will be located either on your ear or around your ear. A lot of people prefer the second type since there is no pressure on the ears. Then you will have to decide whether you want to go with an open design where the audio can penetrate from the transducer to the outside or a closed design. While a number of people feel that an open design sounds light, a closed design will tend to absorb external noise more and offer better insulation between the two earpieces.
The majority of today's headphones are dynamic which refers to the sort of transducer that is used. The second more expensive type which requires particular headphone amplifiers are static headphones.
If you favor liberty of movement then you should look at cordless headphones. Wireless headphones eliminate the cord. This means that you have full freedom of movement which is crucial if your audio source is not mobile. Bluetooth headphones are one type of cordless headphones and work with Bluetooth-enabled devices and cell phones. The operating range is normally just 30 ft or less. Bluetooth headphones do typically not offer audiophile sound quality.
Other wireless headphones include low-cost 900 MHz models which use FM transmission and more advanced digital wireless headphones which work at 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz. The main downside of FM headphones is a noticeable hissing, audio distortion and fairly high susceptibility to interference which I caused by the transmission.
Digital models such as the Amphony headphones will encode the audio into data prior to transmission which makes these models the best choice regarding sound quality and robustness against interference. Models which use the less crowded 5.8 GHz frequency band offer the lowest amount of problems with radio-frequency interference from competing devices.
Author Resource:
Gunter Fellbaum has been designing audio and other electronic products for over 10 years. You can get additional details about wireless headphones and other wireless audio products from Amphony's website.
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