Headphones 101

[ShortBuSX]

I usually put the left in mah left and the right in mah right.

BUT I have a tip that may improve your enjoyment of your ear buds that few people know bout. When I did lawn work many years back I found that if you insert the ear bud in sideways you get a better seal inside your ear and the music sound better, richer, fuller and louder.
Sideways is a lil hard to describe, so I will try and explain....instead of putting it flat towards your ear(with wires hanging downwards) put them in with what used to be the top in your ear with the speaker facing that lil nubbin of your ear so it looks like the wires are coming right out of your ears...does this make sense? Cause its kinda hard to explain without showing you...but it works fantasticlly!

Another tip, when buying earbuds...look at the specs on the package, they will give you a range of frequencies that they perform at...find earbuds with the lowest hz available...sometimes you can find them as low as 12hz or even 10hz...I know the human ear isnt supposed to hear bass frequencies that low, but you are getting a better quality earbud by looking for that.
20hz earbuds are low quality.

[Ch0jin]

Another tip, when buying earbuds...look at the specs on the package, they will give you a range of frequencies that they perform at...find earbuds with the lowest hz available...sometimes you can find them as low as 12hz or even 10hz...I know the human ear isnt supposed to hear bass frequencies that low, but you are getting a better quality earbud by looking for that.
20hz earbuds are low quality.

Interesting.

You're right in saying the human ear can't hear below 20Hz (or above 20KHz), but I'm a bit dubious about the advice to select headphones based on their lowest stated frequency. My thinking is that any manufacturer making claims of 12Hz from "in ear" style headphones is being misleading and should be avoided. Just like any Hi-Fi amplifier that is rated in PMPO rather than RMS.

As I understand it, frequencies below 20Hz are "felt" rather than "heard" and whilst in ear headphones could possibly vibrate your skull enough to "feel" <20Hz frequencies, I have big doubts.

Enclosed headphones are another story however and because of their design I'd believe they could vibrate your skull at frequencies lower than 20Hz.

The Sennheiser HD 380 Pro monitors claim an incredible 8Hz-27KHz, but of course, these are not in-ear headphones (and frankly, I'm still skeptical)

Of course the next thing is to consider what you are pugged into. Unless your amplifier has a frequency response that drops into the sub 20Hz area your are obviously not going to hear those freq's in your headphones. I'd suspect that includes every portable media player and a large percentage of low to mid level hi-fi amps with the exception of those with a dedicated sub channel, and even then, I point to your source. Was it mastered with the intent to include such low frequencies? If it was mastered for vinyl records I'm thinking no it wasn't.

Anyway, interested in others opinions on this

[Algonquin]

Hey Teach... am I wearing them right?

[street music]

I try to match those L_R to L-R.

[bigoldron]

This kid knows how to wear them!

[Tone2TheBone]

Hey Teach... am I wearing them right?

Yes and so was your sister.