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Headphones vs. Earbuds: A Comprehensive Guide to Types, Sound Quality, and Practical Use

The topic of headphones is very broad, so where should we start? Generally, we start with the classification, so I will also talk about the classification here. I personally think that the first classification is the two major categories of headphones and earbuds. The former is called Headphones or Headset in English, and the latter is called Earphones or Earbuds in English. These are two major categories with obvious differences in size, purpose, and sound. When I usually say "headphones", I mean headphones, not earbuds. If I specifically refer to earbuds, I will use the word "earbuds". In other words, I don't use the word "headphones" to cover both headphones and earbuds. Headphones are headphones, and earbuds are earbuds.

Earbuds, especially the in-ear earbuds that have been popular for many years, completely fill the sound into the ear canal, eliminating the role of the outer auricle, so the sound cannot be very natural. This is a physical limitation of it. No matter how well the earbuds are made, there are such limitations. Since people are born, the sounds of nature they hear are all affected by the outer auricle, so only such a listening effect will appear very natural. Headphones, especially those with large earmuffs, can be more similar to this process (of course, they are not completely the same), while in-ear earplugs that directly inject sound into the ear canal cannot make the human outer ear play any role, so the sound cannot be very natural. Of course, the sound of the speaker is the most natural in the end, more natural than headphones and earplugs, because the process of hearing the speaker sound is exactly the same as the process of hearing other natural sounds. In terms of the real naturalness of the sound, speakers> headphones> earplugs.

There are several famous "incomparable" in hi-fi, such as the sound of speakers and headphones, which are not comparable. It is often said that the sound of hi-fi headphones is comparable to speakers that are 5 to 10 times the price. This is an exaggeration of headphone enthusiasts. In fact, as some people say, even the top headphones of 10,000 yuan are not as real and natural as multimedia speakers of a few hundred yuan. This is "incomparable". The sound of speakers and headphones is not comparable. Headphones can certainly provide better detail reproduction (because the sound unit is close to the ear), but the sound of speakers is much more real and natural. The word "sound quality" does not simply refer to detail analysis. Similarly, the sound of headphones and earplugs is not very comparable. My personal opinion is that it is best not to compare blindly. It is more scientific to compare headphones with headphones and earplugs with earplugs.

In-ear earplugs can achieve good bandwidth and detail reproduction, especially now that the dynamic iron units are extremely small, and multiple units can be installed in one earplug to form a multi-unit dynamic iron earplug. As long as the design is good, multi-unit dynamic iron earplugs can achieve a very wide frequency response, very low distortion, and excellent resolution. In terms of bandwidth and resolution, it is unmatched by single-unit dynamic earplugs. Therefore, high-end earplugs can achieve better detail performance and wider frequency response than headphones. What is lacking is the natural sense of the sound field, or the natural sense of the overall sound and the real sense of presence.

Different people look at the world from different angles and concepts. Some people look at the big picture, the so-called Big Picture, while others focus on small details, or even get entangled in small details. From the perspective of the big picture, the speaker is the best for playing music because it is the most natural, followed by headphones, and earplugs are the worst, with the sound being the least natural. But from the perspective of small details, the sound of earplugs may be the best in terms of details. Since the distance between the sound source and the eardrum is the closest, the various details in the recording can be heard most clearly. Which one is the best? It depends on each person's philosophy and what they pay most attention to. That's why I said that the comparability is very small, and it's best not to compare!

Another important reason why many people use in-ear earplugs now is that they provide good sound insulation, allowing us to listen in a noisy environment without disturbing others. Indeed, in-ear earplugs with good sound insulation have a sound insulation capacity of 20-30 decibels, which is enough for people to listen on the subway and bus. It is absolutely not recommended to wear earplugs with good sound insulation while walking on the street. It is related to safety, so I won't say more here. Although closed-end headphones can also provide a certain degree of sound insulation, the sound insulation performance is generally not as good as in-ear headphones. Closed-end earphones with too good sound insulation generally have tight clamps, which will cause some problems with comfort. Therefore, indeed, if you need good sound insulation, in-ear earplugs are the best solution. However, the wearing comfort of in-ear earplugs is also a problem - some people are not used to the "deep ear" that needs to go deep into the ear canal, and the ear canal feels like a foreign body. I personally only adapt to shallow in-ear earplugs, such as Celest's 3D printed earphones, and don't like the deep earplugs that are inserted deeper.

Another advantage of shallow in-ear earplugs is that you can adjust the sound by changing the earplug head and adjusting the depth of insertion. This kind of adjustability is not available in headphones. Headphones cannot adjust the low-frequency volume (unless you replace the original earmuffs), but earplugs can be adjusted by themselves - plug deeper and tighter to get more low-frequency volume, plug shallower and looser to reduce the low-frequency volume. Three-section earplug sleeves, sponge sleeves, and rubber sleeves have different sound characteristics, and their characteristics can be used to adjust the sound of the earplugs.

People often ask me about the sound comparison between headphones and earplugs. I often answer: it is difficult to compare, and the comparability is very weak. Generally speaking, headphones usually have a more natural sound overall, closer to the feeling when we hear real sound (due to the auricle effect), while high-end earplugs often have a wider frequency response and better detail performance. Which one is more important? It is really hard to say and it varies from person to person. My personal practice is to use headphones as much as possible when I can use headphones to enjoy music. According to the concepts of "big pattern" and "small details" I mentioned earlier, my concept belongs to the former, paying more attention to the big pattern and big lines, so I prefer headphones.

Headphones can be classified in many different ways. For example, according to the transducer method, there are dynamic, electrostatic, and planar headphones; according to the size of the earmuffs, there are over-ear and pressure-ear types; according to whether the headphone shell is open, there are open, closed, semi-open, and so on.

In recent years, there is also an obvious trend that closed headphones are becoming more and more. This should be driven by the purpose. Closed-back headphones have certain sound insulation performance, and they will not disturb others when used. In some environments where open-back headphones cannot be used, they have inherent advantages. Let me give you an example. In a quiet library, if you use open-back headphones, it will definitely disturb the people around you. At this time, only closed-back headphones are suitable. In places with certain environmental noise, such as subways and buses, closed-back headphones are also more suitable for enjoying music.

However, it is more difficult to make closed-back headphones sound better than open-back headphones. Closed-back headphones that are not very successfully designed have some common sound problems: low-frequency muffled boom, mid-frequency sound coloration, high-frequency muffled, and narrow sound field, which are very typical and common.

For headphone "parameters", I only look at two items: impedance and sensitivity. I don't look at anything else because it is meaningless. The conditions for testing data of each manufacturer are different, and generally only a very rough number is given without detailed data background, so it is meaningless and cannot be compared horizontally. One thing to note is that there are two ways to mark the sensitivity of headphones, namely decibel/milliwatt and decibel/V. When looking at the headphone parameters, you must see clearly what the unit is, otherwise you can't compare it randomly. For example, the sensitivity of the AKG K812 headphones is 110 dB/V. If you think this sensitivity number is very high, then convert it to a sensitivity number in milliwatts. According to its 36 ohm impedance, it is actually only 96 dB/mW. Since the sensitivity of speakers has traditionally been marked in decibels/watts, I prefer to look at the sensitivity numbers of headphones marked in decibels/mW.

If the sensitivity number of headphones in decibels/mW is lower than 90, then the headphones are difficult to drive. Generally, a separate headphone amplifier is required, or they are plugged into a headphone port with a certain driving force; between 90-100, it is a medium sensitivity, which is also the sensitivity range of most headphones; if it is higher than 100, it is easy to drive. Many headphones with a sensitivity of 100 dB/mW can be driven directly by a mobile phone or portable player to produce an OK sound.

Many beginners like to judge whether the headphones are easy to drive based on the impedance. In fact, I pointed out this problem many years ago. Sensitivity is the factor that most affects the ease of driving headphones. High-sensitivity, high-impedance headphones are not difficult to drive. Many people mistakenly believe that low-impedance headphones are easy to drive, but in fact, low-impedance, low-sensitivity headphones are very difficult to drive. At the same time, although some high-sensitivity, low-impedance headphones are indeed easy to "drive loudly" and can reach sufficient sound pressure when plugged into a mobile phone, it is difficult to make the sound good. For example, some high-end headphones from Audio-Technica are like this. The sound is very loud no matter where it is plugged in, but the sound is not pleasant and it is easy to be unbalanced. It is not easy to make a good sound, and there are special requirements for the headphone amplifier. Such headphones with special driving properties cannot be said to be suitable for direct driving even if they are highly sensitive and low-impedance.

Finally, I emphasize that when listening to headphones, please remember the importance of protecting your hearing. Hearing damage is irreversible, that is, once substantial damage occurs, it is useless to rest.

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