You can SEE how headphones SOUND

Theoretically. Kind of.
TL;DW: crinacle.com/2020/04/08/graph...
⇊ Play around with my Graph Comparison Tool ⇊
IEMs: crinacle.com/graphs/iems/grap... (1,000+ measured!)
Headphones: crinacle.com/graphs/headphone... (250+ measured!)
‪@TheHEADPHONEShow‬'s version of this video: • The 10 stages you’ll g...
PATREON: / crinacle
TWITTER: / crinacle
DISCORD: crinacle.com/discord
SUBREDDIT: / inearfidelity
MERCH: merch.crinacle.com
00:00 Intro
01:50 Level 0
03:05 Level 1
05:06 Level 2
07:17 Level 3
08:59 Level 4
12:16 Level 5
13:27 Level 6
* Addendum at 9:51 (and various other parts): Rtings uses a Head Acoustics HMSII.3 and NOT a B&K Type 4128. However my point still stands; you can't compare graphs from a 4128 with ones from a 5128.
CAMERA: Sony a7 III + FE 35mm f/1.8
MICROPHONE: Motu M2 interface + Neumann TLM 102
SPEAKERS: Neumann KH120 + KH750
MONITOR: LG C1 48" OLED
~ CITATIONS ~
Geddes, E. R., & Lee, L. W. (2003, October). Auditory perception of nonlinear distortion-theory. In Audio Engineering Society Convention 115. Audio Engineering Society.
Temme, S., Olive, S., Tatarunis, S., Welti, T., & McMullin, E. (2014, October). The correlation between distortion audibility and listener preference in headphones. In Audio Engineering Society Convention 137. Audio Engineering Society.
Music: ‪@dcuttermusic‬ www.davidcuttermusic.com/

[@crin]

The homework that I copied from Resolve: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqOsoIGDmtSSfas The homework that I copied from myself: crinacle.com/2020/04/08/graphs-101-how-to-read-headphone-measurements/ Also addendum at 9:51 (and various other parts): Rtings uses a Head Acoustics HMSII.3 and NOT a B&K Type 4128. However my point still stands; you can't compare graphs from a 4128 with ones from a 5128.

[@sozonewa385]

nailed it..

[@primary4075]

Dankpods make it easy

[@idreesnihad]

Need comparison between Oppo Enco X2 vs Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. ⚡

[@tofu.delivery.]

I may be a sound engineer with a degree but I'm still watching because I'm quite interested to see how you'd explain this to a layperson, because that's not how it's usually taught

[@gizmotis]

how does he do?

[@tofu.delivery.]

@@gizmotis quite well honestly, he covered all the bases in a concise way and left out the bs

[@katethegoat7507]

@@tofu.delivery. I wanna ask then, what does influence the imaging and soundstage?

[@tofu.delivery.]

@@katethegoat7507 These can be largely attributed to the physical design, with the distance and angle of the drivers relative to your ears, as well as ventilation (bass ports or open back)

[@flstep835]

@@tofu.delivery. does the rtings thing tell the truth with recording on a rig with pinna, without pinna and subtracting one from another?

[@skrounst]

Take a shot every time Crin says "Kind of". It's valentines day, and we are audio nerds. Lets be honest we have nothing better to do today than to do some day drinking.

[@lfa9329]

It's night here my man and I don't consume alcohol. But lemme get my Mountain Dew and glass anyway.

[@skrounst]

@@lfa9329 "I'm all jacked up on Mountain Dew!"

[@lfa9329]

@@skrounst

[@Jimmyvb98]

@@lfa9329 where did you got that emoji from? Btw, also got myself some Mountain Dew, cheers!

[@Judgement_Kazzy]

@@lfa9329 I do like alcohol, but I'm too smoothbrain to understand Crin half the time anyway, so I don't think it's a good idea.

[@Frostycrypton]

Person: “You can’t hear images.” Crinacle: “Hold my beer.”

[@giuseppeafellay4855]

"Hold my ear"

[@sedraniM]

Thanks for this video. There are so many audiophile videos on youtube, but so few good newbie videos. I really had a hard time getting into the hobby and i'm still at the beginning of my journey! Would love to see more of this newbie content sometime!

[@stiggles98]

As much fun as it is to learn info and the magic behind the scenes on how any new hobby works, do this above all else in audio: trust your own ears. Things don't have to make sense if it sounds good. 👌

[@ncf1]

THE BEST haircut in the audiophile / seeing sound in headphone business, bar none.

[@Chetenry]

Best cut in the game

[@miks_w8945]

Because most audiophiles are balding middle-aged men.

[@vianhoho19]

NGL I love seeing crin with a fresh cut LOL

[@AyeYoYoYooo]

A Bald fade without any product in it (I wear a version of this too) is the most practical and useful haircut for an audiophile who loves circumaural headphones. Great seals, less possibility of getting scalp sweaty with larger leather-clad headphones, etc

[@PAULGRILL]

Low-cut.

[@dragons_advocate]

In summary: How to read graphs? Crin: 'Kind of'

[@richy2563]

Total newbie here! Thank you so much for sharing this information! I've been following your content for a couple of days now and your videos really make understanding a lot of the audiophile stuff a lot easier. Really glad I found your channel.

[@cxpjamescxp]

As an electrical engineer and a relative newbie in the hobby, I find a lot of weird non-technical terms in the hobby. Appreciate the technical explaination.

[@zahitemremetin606]

this video might help a bit kzbin.info/www/bejne/hWeokJeXlrd2opI

[@Some-guy-on-the-internet]

Teacher: "There are five senses. Touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste." Me: "I can see how headphones sound." Teacher: "You can't see how headphones sound, silly." Me: *Opens In-Ear Fidelity frequency response graph*

[@somewildseal]

Was expecting this video sometime, great one Crin

[@Tomniverse]

Well done and thanks for explaining the science so accessibly, Crin. That's what it's all about.

[@alexander4369]

"How many "kind of" you want in your video?" Crinacle: Kind of

[@sangramkapre]

LOL.. editing on this video is on another level! highly entertaining!!

[@raph43L]

after level 2 or 3 everything sounds very alien to me. I love it! thanks crin!

[@orabaki]

Great timing, literally just read the article, wondering about your graphs - then this vid came out

[@aradgouklani2239]

Finally. I've been meaning to read your article for a long time

[@mohamed-aminmahamed8571]

Thank you so much for improving my audio experience. ❤️

[@shennkotoba]

Thanks Crin. This really helped! Kind of.

[@kahelsoro]

This is quite informative! I've been taking RTA measurements for years now (disclaimer: my experience is with calibrating speakers) but have never seen and considered a "target" graph. It makes sense since a flat flat is really boring, while a compensated flat makes it easier to see how "flat" it is in relation to human ears. Relating that to what I do, calibrating speaker, it's quite analogous since once we achieve a flat flat response, we still continue tuning it i.e., playing some sample tracks, listening to the room and tweaking it -- the last part is basically equivalent to the "sample track" since we compensated the flat flat response we originally achieve PS: Take this with a grain of salt guys, I know i know its more complicated than this, but i'm not getting into that nor is my goal to get into that.

[@TheHope12322]

Thank you! I just took notes the entire time!

[@tommihommi1]

The only equipment from B&K and Head Acoustics I could ever hope to own and use are the pens they give out at trade shows Head Acoustics pens are some of the best in the business of freebie pens.

[@kittykittygumdrops]

Thank you for the informative video!!❤️❤️❤️

[@amanieux]

the problem with graphs is that a very few small difference with the target curve at some frequency area (mostly the mids) are very audible and more and higher difference in other places don't matter that much so these visual difference of distances with the target curve should be ponderated by their perceived audible effects. for example pulling down 3db on 1khz for fh3 improves human voice a lot (small adjustment, big impact) . but a pulling down 10db at 8k on crn does not make the artifical ear piercing trebble go away (big adjustment, small impact), both corrections brings these curves closer to target but the resulting audible difference varies a lot depending on the location on the target curve. other problem i have with these fr graph is that our ear kind of balances the gloal perception over all freq , for example boosting bass on heart mirror made the perceived trebble less hot and peaky to my ear+brain system but make no difference on the trebble part to a microphone (this is what the graph is showing us, graph is showing us what a microphone perceives but not what a human earing system is perceiving)

[@Altanabstick]

This! And this is why I don't understand graphs. A squiggly here doesn't seem to matter to anyone, while a squiggly there makes the bass muddy or the highs piercing. But I cannot figure out which areas are okay to be squiggly and which aren't, even after reading thorough reviews which use measurements. So what do I resort to? Subjective reviews...

[@dagnisnierlins188]

It depends what eq you are using. I recommend trying auto eq project website. And not all headphones can be fixed by equalising.

[@amanieux]

@@dagnisnierlins188 i tried wavelet autoeq but it always sounded worse than without eq, i never understood

[@dagnisnierlins188]

@@amanieux I'd say because it does not have pre amplification settings, and did your headphones became quiteter when applied eq? I use neutron audio player, and applying eq lowers the output volume to compensate for eq. On my computer I use eq apo and it does miracles for headphones.

[@amanieux]

@@dagnisnierlins188 no not quieter just different, i only use iems

[@jihad4jesus]

11/10 content. if ppl like u existed in medicine and other industries we'd all be better off for it. great job. my 2c tho, unsolicited, and in no way taking away from how fkn good ur video is: make a version of this that is 3min long. its possible. have chatgpt help you. its that good, give it a remix and itll get 10x the impressions. wishing u the best, keep it up.

[@rakulex]

thanks for the knowledge passed upon! Love to hear Hertsens name one more time

[@kemoldoinc9845]

Amazing video ! *Theoretically*

[@painpeace3619]

Intelligent, funny, good video and need more videos like this one

[@BloOdYJo17]

Releasing a technical video like this one on valentine's day .. thanks for the geeks ! 😁

[@SuperDinomagic]

You are a very good Teacher yourself Crin. 👍

[@daylightsensor8695]

You should make a video making examples of sound signatures using effects in post (ie. explain what sounds muddy or shout or whatever using filters)

[@nathanr.4804]

"Flat is good" that can be interpreted many ways XD

[@IanMustafa]

"this is me trying to explain graphs to someone with room temperature IQ" r/rareinsult would be very proud 🤣

[@lemon0801]

This is even funnier for me who uses celsius bc that would mean like 25 IQ

[@toebs_]

@@lemon0801 oof that’s an uncomfortably warm room

[@Erispedia]

@@excalibro8365 I live near equator and set the AC to 26C at noon and Dry Mode at night. It's comfortable enough and the humidity doesn't exceed 60%. Actually, my skin can't handle humidity lower than 50%.

[@Elkmor2]

You could go through different FR patterns (like 150Hz bump) and tell why it is there and how it sounds like (it is usually because of leather pads and it sounds boomy). There are other patterns, and it would be interesting to listen for your experience.

[@shigshag3111]

Thanks for sharing your wisdom

[@mnczuba]

You'll be back over 100k in no time. 加油～

[@JogieGlenMait16]

This clarified a lot for me - kind of.

[@realraven2000]

This is excellent! I have a client who complained about "buzzing" noises on his Sennheiser HD 280 PRO headphones. I saw the 250 has a serious bump above 11k so I guess that will be a problem area to look at. He will bring in the cans tonight for some test listening.

[@ObeyaCorpsArmory]

Thanks crinacle. Cya next week and don't die aswell.

[@pmdthewizard]

Haven't got a haircut for a year now, but seeing your new one just convinced me to get myself a new one, you need to tell us about your hairdresser asap

[@MrAlexds02]

Congrats for the quality and your style. I'm French, don't like so much seeing at English speaking videos but yours are kick ass!!! Can you please make something about audio system for home pc. I work remotely and need a real and good improvement in this. Was thinking about bose companion but look it's not a good option, edifier... You use monitoring material because of your work, but do you think it can be a good thing for someone like me?

[@athe5217]

The thumbnail for this video is fantastic. I laugh every time xD

[@pyotrtchaikovsky6616]

Bro all I’m gonna say is you are amazing

[@agmos01]

Great video!

[@xKaz]

As a newbie everything crin said made total perfect sense, you could see exactly what he meant and was trying to say without confusing the crap out of us and just letting us figure it out ourselves.

[@martijnbos9873]

The nerd stuff was most interesting as always. Keep up the good work!

[@taitaihen8593]

Cool lesson. Thanks.

[@suryakaysee]

this crinacle+ thumbnail OMG ~!!

[@snow15243]

tbh the only reason I want a (mostly) flat sound signature, is 'cause my ears are super sensitive to high end (mostly sensitive to anything above 3khz), and I don't like headphones/IEMs with a big sub bass boost, 'cause then my brain perceives that as jarring/fatiguing, so my only middle ground is flat, maybe with a bit of warmth in the lower mids.

[@shahriarrs5213]

Crin deciding " Do I eat now? Kind of, but not really " "Do go to sleep right now? Kind of, but not really"

[@MyouKyuubi]

Doesn't Dynamic Range matter, like, A LOT? I'd argue it's basically the primary factor that allows greater detail retrieval...

[@MommysGoodPuppy]

my guess is that most speakers have good enough dynamic range especially with mast majority of music using compression other than classical piano or something also its quite hard to recognize small differences in volume with ears alone the speed volume change is probably more important maybe

[@Whit-mh9nt]

I would say that's more dependent on the signal then the gear

[@gustavrsh]

Assume a cheap no name IEM and the Senn Orpheus 2 with the same frequency response. What makes the Orpheus better? I ask this because you can get similar FR on many headphones using EQ, but that doesn't make them sound the same. Can you measure soundstage? Detail, resolution?

[@BobbyL2k]

Shape and fit, weight, venting pressure, ease of use (EQ isn't available everywhere), status symbol. Also, THD typical scale with SPL, so if you have extremely low bass response and you EQ the bass way up you will get more THD. If it reaches the audible threshold then it will sound bad.

[@guybuddy1]

There's no way of knowing about soundstage, tightness(fast/slow bass) unless you actually try them out. The only thing you'd know from looking at a graph is the frequency response.

[@Thevikingcam]

Exactly. "Sound signature" is WAY WAY overvalued. My mind. The most important thing are the soundstage, how natural the instruments sound (frequency response isnt it). Imaging in the soundstage and the instrument separation. How the "room" sound natural and believable. Is in holographic and 3D. Frequency response you can pretty much fix on every headphone with EQ. I dont care at all the sound signature cos all instruments sound differently in the differend space anyway in real life. How does the headphone make YOU feel the music, are you "there with the players" or are you listening the music "from 1985 boombox in the another room". That is the whole point in my mind. I do have STAX 6000€ systems. LCD-X/2C, hifiman anandas/5XX etc. You name it.

[@DavidLeAsdf]

rtings is probably the most prominent site that measures certain things (prtf, openness, acoustic space excitation) to try and quantify soundstage, but not everyone agrees on the value of what they're measuring in the first place, nor how rtings's reviews interpret them they have some articles on their site to read if you want

[@azurekid]

Cheap noname IEM will likely have disastrous frequency imbalance, so not fixable with EQ. The difference between headphones with the same FR (which is not possible by design) will be in PRTF (different headphones change the FR differently depending on fit/pinna shape). Otherwise they should be equal. There is no evidence that things like resolution, detail, speed, etc. objectively exist independently of FR. Headphone driver is too small to have a significant inertia (check out group delay and waterfall measurements). Also due to relatively high OI headphone driver does not have issues with "underdampening" from an amp. Thus two headphones with the same FR and same PRTF in the same enclosure without standing out resonances and distortions will sound practically the same.

[@Towkeeyoh]

Crin sounds like he has ran out of people in his life to physically "erm actually" to, give a mini lecture, and has decided to take it to the internet. Not that I'm complaining, I love it, really appreciate it. Just wondering.

[@luispadilla2842]

thumbnail is top tier

[@CardCaptorKaren]

Shoutout to everyone having to restrain themselves from making weeb jokes every time crin says flat is good.

[@vianhoho19]

oh they were wildin' on twitter tho LMAO

[@rexx3546]

such pain 😭

[@MTheoOA]

Flat's justice

[@shivansh7152]

Uohhhhhhhhhhh

[@mrkvn223]

@@MTheoOA Medium is premium!

[@jeojofabad5949]

Thank you for this~

[@King-ox8ck]

Thx for info

[@kylemoney01]

I got a pair of you kz iems. There insane. I compared them with my wife’s airpod pros. There so similar to me. I love them.

[@leonharkth]

a fair reminder for everyone trying to get into this hobby, this is only ONE part of your audio listening device. there is the technicality side, comfort, and many more which you can't measure from the graph.

[@HydratedBeans]

Comfort is not talked about enough in some audiophile spaces. What good are my SR80i’s if they are painful to wear after 30 minutes? Where as my DT-990s can be on my head for seven hours before I notice them so I tolerate a sound curve I don’t really like that much.

[@a3per818]

@@HydratedBeans ikr, build is also rlly important as what good are ksc75s if i run thru 4 of them in a year. It's not a budget device then is it?

[@ACE112ACE112]

Wish you talked about why treble in the graph always has a mountain shape instead of flat. Wish you talked about higher frequencies being thousand hertz apart but being the same distance away as low frequencies having 100-200 being far apart.

[@sugab27]

dunno about the mountain shape on treble, but the distance (scale) u were asking because it was a log (logarithmic) scale (which is a power of 10) of frequency from 20 hz - 200 hz - 2k hz - 20k hz and not a linear scale (which is... linear, 1-2-3-4-5 etc)

[@outermarker5801]

It gets even more complicated when you consider _potential_ of a headset. Portapros are a prime example - very warm and dark by default both on a graph and by sound signature. But hiding under that thick warm blanket is *fantastic* bass/mid/treble detail and clarity with just reduction of say 125-250hz range. Even better with simple physical mods to the grille.

[@tehpunisher4568]

Any links to examples of this? Am not a portapro owner but have heard of this potential too

[@MrSirGloomy]

Eyyy! The silver play button 🤘🏽

[@mat_max]

Crin, are autoeq's results graphs compensated in any way or are they raw data? I get really confused because even in the compensation graphs they use a scale with negative and positive dbr with 0 as a baseline instead of one similar to yours that uses a db scale ranging from 30 to 100+ db, so i don't know how should i read their results and compensation graphs

[@TheSuperCoolPop]

I don't know how I found myself on this side of youtube but its wild to see how intricate it is. I know this is a reductive question but I'm trying to learn to read these graphs from comparing different headphones. What model would be a "good" headphone graph? What would be a "bad" one?

[@xl_cr]

I finally understand these graphs now... Kind of

[@GoodBoyShep]

this helps. thank

[@colewalker8288]

You should make a video on what we can't see in headphones :)

[@UnimatrixYoutube]

Much appreciated video. Regarding level 2, I watched it multiple times but I still don't understand why you or anyone else would compensate the graph. I'm just getting into this but I as an observer wants to know how a headset performs on various frequencies. Why would I mess with the measured objective data? I really don't get it. The graphs look pretty different when compensated. Can you maybe do another video on this topic alone?

[@PharaoRamsesII]

yayyyy...34k subscribers again. Lezz goo 100k again1!!!111!

[@tichy_ocean]

One of the other things that hardly gets explained for newbies like me is the sensitivity and impedance of headphones. Some people tend to exaggerate headphones requirements so they could recommend some crazily expensive amps. I would love a clarification that sheds light on this subject.

[@ianpan2316]

Nice vid. I generally agree with the opinions. However, I personally found CSD charts can tell more about the high-end headphone features like airiness, micro dynamics than the FR.

[@onib1174]

I was in a signals & systems class and the teacher was basically showing us a very complex equation/ problem. He said once you convert this to a frequency domain instead of time domain, this well becomes a lot simpler. Hence he is right... I think.

[@gavingranado2146]

Finally, someone finally made a vid about my long questioned audio crap

[@nicobluestream]

Excellent ! 😎 Thanks for this video ! (at 3'18 : "MIDRANGE-Y" 😂👍)

[@AndyBHome]

I'm still looking for a label for the lower line that appears in the graphs on the website. I've searched and I've asked, but I cannot find a label for what that line is. Is it the raw data? I know the blue and red lines on the upper part of the grains are left and right, but that too is not really explained anywhere. Could we get just a single sample graph on the page about how to read the graphs with some labels? Thanks for your consideration. Crinacle is amazing. I love this channel and I love the website for it's incredibly large catalog of tested headphones and IEMs.

[@teebs90]

This all made total sense.... kind of.

[@youichigtanaka]

Flat is good. Flat is justice.

[@LVArturs]

Open up! The partyvan has come for you!

[@ashneel]

OG for those Neumann

[@VihMelchior]

Hey, do a vid testing an earphones! All the process

[@isaac_tuba]

crinacle will you be discussing Grado headphones one day?

[@the80386]

Very insightful video...Kind of.

[@wongsaraf]

Wow! this explained a lot for a complete newbie like me. Kind of.

[@frozzle]

Fresh cut Crin

[@MTheoOA]

Can you speak about macro/micro dynamics and punch of headphones?

[@felipemancini8991]

You've read my mind, some hours ago I thought "I need to learn how to read these grafics"

[@PKAWA]

Thank you for this! Just a fyi Interpret is pronounced in'terpret not inter'pret. Little thing that would make your channel even more enjoyable.

[@AyeYoYoYooo]

Level 79: 2nd & 3rd order harmonic distortion sounds GREAT ! It’s why people dislike solid state and choose tubes ! Level 99: the need and want for MORE 2nd & 3rd order harmonic distortion is why we audio professionals use beautiful devices like Empirical Labs EL-7 F.A.T.S.O. On almost every individual isolated instrument track in the mix….. and then AGAIN on the entire summed mix. Level 99.1 FATSO stands for (Full analogue tape saturation optimizer)

[@alphariusomegon8507]

level 100. lol mp3 128kbps

[@AyeYoYoYooo]

@@alphariusomegon8507 our favorite LOL

[@GlitzPixie]

tubes are dope

[@AyeYoYoYooo]

@@GlitzPixie on many instruments or genres indeed they are, but my point was, they introduce relatively high very audible levels of 2nd & 3rd order harmonic distortion to any signal they process. They are the antithesis of “clean, uncolored sound” and tubes are champions when it comes to adding pleasing, “natural” “full” sounding harmonic distortion to much modern music recorded far too close and dry to the source signal, and stupidly trying to eliminate the air and re-create the air later in the box. So in many cases, engineers, mastering engineers, and increasingly even consumers are deciding to utilize things like the fatso, ampex plug-in emulators, or tube amps to introduce their beloved harmonic distortion. To clarify for those who don’t understand my overarching point, I LOVE 2nd and 3rd order harmonic distortion on almost everything, and think that many headphone reviewers who critique consumer audiophile cans for having very small levels of it, don’t realize how ridiculous they’re being lol.

[@MTheoOA]

And how the technical performance you rate can fit on these descriptions?

[@TheCorstenn]

Hi Crin can you make some video about cables for iem and jack connectors?

[@rohan6454]

Could you do a CCA CRA x Crinical, their new diver seems pretty good, might be a beast with your tuning at that price point.

[@kyoyeou5899]

Too long didn't watch: sends to a super long website article

[@speedracer2please]

So this is that Crinacle Bass Theory I keep hearing about?

[@eardopes]

Nice! And how can I measure (for example) earbuds and create a graph of that?

[@lfa9329]

7:07 Loved the accent here! :P

[@sb848]

If you were to say use headphones purely for mixing and just want to interpret what something sounds like completely flat in order to work on the detail and frequency balance so it translates across devices, would you still compensate with a target curve or just use the inverse of the raw measurement ?

[@carminedesanto6746]

Got the Midnight..they need ⚡️..so I run them balanced of my IFI go blue 👍

[@Advythe]

Very informative video..... kind of

[@varane27]

Have you heard the Philips Fidelio series? I can't find any reviews on your website. What are your thoughts about them? As Fidelio x2hr is one of the most purchased headphones on Amazon. It is one of my targets as well to upgrade from my old superlux headphone.

[@re.liable]

Is it possible to convert compensated graphs between target curves? Or revert them into raw so that we can overlay whatever target we prefer? I'm still halfway thru, will edit this comment accordingly if this was addressed

[@crin]

Yeah if you know what the original compensation target is, you can "add" the target back onto the compensated graph to get the raw response.

[@kimjoshua3519]

hiii @crinacle is there a video which i can watch where u do graphs for iem's? want to see which brand of IEM is good b4 purchase