- AccurateRip
- AES/EBU
- AirPlay
- Amplifier
- Audio file formats
- Bit perfect jitter
- Bits: 16 or 24
- Bit perfect playback
- Bitrate
- Bluetooth
- Burn-in
- Cables
- Clock
- Codec
- Crossover
- CDtext
- Cue sheet
- DAC
- Digital Room Correction
- Dither
- DLNA
- Drivers
- DSD
- DSP
- FFT
- FireWire
- Gapless playback
- Headphone listening
- Hearing
- Hires recording
- I2S
- ID3
- Linearity (DAC)
- Memory player
- Music Server
- PCM
- Perception
- RAID
- ReplayGain
- Ripping
- RFI
- Router
- Sampling, up and over
- Sample Rate Conversion
- Speakers
- S/PDIF
- Storage
- Sync
- Tagging
- Toslink
- Transcoding
- UAA
- Units
- UPnP
- USB
- VST
- WiFi
Headphone and speakers
The difference between listening to music using speakers or a headphone is striking.
When listening to speakers:
- both ears receive the direct sound from both channels, the sound will mix
- for each channel the far ear will receive the sound a fraction of a second later
- for each channel each ear will hear the indirect sound as reflected from the walls, floor (bass!) and ceiling.
- again the far ear will receive the indirect sound a fraction later
When listening to a headphone, each ear will receive 1 and 1 channel only. No mixing, no delay, no indirect sound.
The latter means that the room acoustics are eliminated.
We can localize a sound.
If a speaker is off axis, the sound will reach the far-ear a fraction later than the near-ear.
Interaural Time Differences (ITD)
The far ear is in the shadow of the head, so it hears the sound at a slightly
lower volume.
This will also affect the frequency response.
Iinteraural Intensity Difference (IID)
These are the two primary cues we use for localization.
This is not enough as the Pinna (the outer ear structure) is needed
too but one thing is obvious, all of this won't happen when using a headphone.
This makes why stereo on a headphone sounds like STEREO, the two channels
don't mix and all the effects described above, the Head Related Transfer
Function (HRTF) won't happen.
Crossfeed
You can simulate the HRTF by using a crossfeed.
Benjamin B. Bauer was one the pioneers.
A famous article by him: Stereophonic Earphones and Binaural Loudspeakers.
JAES Volume 9 Number 2 pp. 148-151; April 1961.
A crossfeed emulates the HRTF by taking the signal from one channel, EQ and delay it and feed it into the other channel and visa versa.
Your media player might have one or there is a plug-in.
A VST plug-in and a lot more about headphones can be found here: BlogOhl
A VST plug-in simulating both the HRTF and the room acoustics is Isone Pro
- DA11 and the >PiC< ™ (Playback Image Control) feature - Dan Lavry, Lavry Engineering, Inc.
- About Headphone Measurements - Headroom