The Edge - Headsets - Frequency Response and Max Input

Comments on Categories #7 and #8

 

Category #7 - Frequency Response

 

Human Hearing

The following discussion is a very brief look at human hearing. Only some base information to help understand want we want to look for in a headset and what is important for the purchase of a headset to give that edge while gaming.
 
As humans we hear low frequencies down to 20 cycles per seconds, 'cycles per second' is expressed in hertz denoted Hz. This unit of measure was named in honor of Heinrich Hertz, the German physicist who in 1887 first produced electromagnetic waves. On the high end we hear up to 20,000Hz, well some of us do. As we age, or listen to music at high volumes, or are exposed to any loud sound our hearing is damaged and that damage translates into diminished ability to hear the higher frequencies.
 
Newer studies have demonstrated that some of us can hear down to 15Hz. One instrument that can generate frequencies below 20Hz is the organ. If you play a 16Hz note on the organ, it's that far left foot peddle, you can feel it, but hear it? The question is that in these new studies the people can feel the frequency and are aware of it, so they can repeatedly identify when the sound is generated, but, the question is, are they using their ears or the fact that another part of their body is vibrating in response to the harmonics of the tone.
 
Diminished hearing affects the higher frequencies and can reduce the ability to hear to 20Hz-6kHz from the normal 20Hz-20kHz. The lower frequencies stay in tact.
 

Human Speech

The frequencies we use to speak are broken down into two categories, the Voice Frequency (VF), also referred to as Voice Band, and the Fundamental Frequency. The more important of the two is the Voice Frequency. The range of Voice Frequency is 300 to 3400. The Fundamental Frequency range is 85 to 180Hz in men and in women 165 to 255Hz. Note that the fundamental tones fall below the low end of the VF range. As with the human hearing section above, our focus with this is not the discussion of human speech, but the knowledge that we need to be able to recreate frequencies from 85-3,400Hz to cover all of human speech.
 

Know your frequencies

The lower the frequency, the less directional. Bass is the rumble you hear from an explosion, but it's difficult to tell which direction it came from. We can think of bass as frequencies up to 100Hz. You want the headset to reproduce frequencies as low as possible, but, below 40Hz is of less importance than the mid-range. It's nice to hear that there was an explosion, but even in the real world, it is difficult to tell where it came from.
 
The mid-range, which is where the human voice falls, overlaps the bass range a bit and is generally considered to be 85-3,400Hz is the more important of the sonic range. After all, in gaming with a team, we need to be able to clearly communicate with our team. This is the range that contains most of the useful directional information that we hear aiding us with enemy location, again, the edge we seek.
 
Like the lower frequencies, the upper range which starts at 3kHz and goes to 20kHz, is not as critical to be able to reproduce as the mid-frequencies to aid us in gameplay. Again, better to have than not.

Summary of Category 7

What we are looking for is accurate reproduction of the mid-range frequencies and, as a bonus, the lower and higher the range, the better. With the frequency range category all headset manufacturers will report numbers that include the mid-range, so with this category, we will be able to look at the bonus areas, the high and the low, since by the numbers we always get the mid-range covered.
There are more detailed objective tests that can test how well the mid-range is reproduced, not just if it is reproduced. The mid-range frequency response will be covered in more detail in the subjective portion of the reviews. This is one are that a well done subjective point of view can be invaluable.
 

Category #8 - Maximum Input Wattage

 
The comments on this category are to be brief for now. This is a number that indicates what the drivers can endure without damage. Generally, the higher the better. Very high numbers indicate that unusual spikes will be less likely to damage the headset. If you are considering a headset that has a rating in this category that is considerably different from others you may be considering, it would be worth further investigation but not a deal breaker.

The Edge - Headsets - Transducer Type / Operating Principle

Category5 - Transducer Type / Operating Principle

This category is the first combined category in the list. Categories will be combined to decrease the number of headings and make the list more readable at a glance. The goal is to make the list less time consuming to study and get the information you need to make comparisons so it will be a useful tool in your selection of a set of headphones.
 

Transducer Type

Transducers are the devices that convert electrical energy into mechanical energy. The transducers are attached to or are a part of a physical object that moves in response to the application of the mechanical energy.
 

Coil Type Drivers

Coil type drivers, the type that most of us are the most familiar with, use a magnet to hold the driver coil in a neutral position. As energy is applied to the coil the driver moves quickly in and out to reproduce sound. Okay, that's way oversimplified, but if you really want to know how they work there are many article on the web that will go into as much detail as a MIT physics class. For the purposes of our search for a sonic edge it's important to know that when the list says ’dynamic’ under this heading that it is referring to coil type drivers.
 

Electrostatic Type Drivers

Electrostatic drivers are a less common driver type that use a sheet of Mylar suspended in an electrostatic field suspended between two rigid, porous, conductive plates. The front plate, or the plate closest to your ear, is the positive and the plate behind the Mylar, also called the stater, is the negative plate. When no energy is applied to the plates the stater is in the neutral position. As energy is applied to the plates the electrostatic charged stater moves back and forth in response to changes or fluctuations of current.

Other Driver Types

There are other types of drivers that reproduce sound. Another example is the ribbon type. These are actually a variation of the dynamic type but use a flat panel as rather than a cone to push air and bring the sound to our ears.
 
If you want to know more about driver types or transducer types do a web search, but be mindful of the fact that in our computer driven age the word ’driver’ has more than one meaning. It not only refers to the moving part of the speaker or headset that reproduces sound, it also refers to the widget that translates binary code to analog energy so that sound can be reproduced.
 
The transducer type will not always be listed, most manufacturers don't list the transducer type, because most are dynamic. If a headset has electrostatic drivers, the company will list it, therefore, if not listed we assume dynamic. This is a safe assumption in that with respect to sound reproduction the driver type is not as important as the subjective experience.
 

Operating Principle

This part of the category is the way the headset couples to our ears. There are three basic ’Operating Principles’: in the ear, on the ear and over the ear. The in the ear principle are earbuds and those we are not yet covering. The on the ear principle are called superaural. And the over the ear principle are called circumaural. Superaural and circumaural headsets can also either be open or closed.
 

In the Ear - Earbuds

Earbuds we are not yet covering. They are very popular with portable or on the go music players. Their advantage is their size, they are highly portable and can be worn in public with anonymity. Because of their size they do not reproduce sound as well as their bigger counterparts. We write this with reservation, we do not mean to make a sweeping statement about earbuds, in fact there are earbuds designed to primarily be gaming headsets. Further, we recognize that there are well designed earbud gaming headsets that may outperform their superaural or circumaural and as the blog go on we intend to include these.
 

On the Ear - Superaural

These are padded headsets and the padding is placed on the ear. These tend be a bit more transportable than their larger circumaural counterparts and more acceptable to wear in public but are not able to reproduce sound quite as well by virtue of their coupling to the ear, their smaller drivers and the area of their dome.
 

Over the Ear - Circumaural

These are padded headsets that fit around the ear. Their larger drivers, greater area of enclosure and positive coupling principle give them sonic advantage over their smaller siblings. They are large, don't travel as well and can call out for attention in public, an advantage if you want to call attention to yourself, a disadvantage if you'd rather not. As an aside, a general observation, not to be confused with scientific data, superaural and to some degree even circumaural headphones are becoming more acceptable in public. This trend we hypnotise is driven by their better sound reproduction and our acceptance of those who wish to walk around in their own little music cocoon ignoring the rest of the world.
 

Open or Closed

This refers to whether the back of the headphone part of the headset is open to the outside world or sealed against it. Open designs let air and sound from the room in and let sound from the headphones out into the room. Closed designs block sound from entering or exiting the headphones. Open designs can be cooler keeping your ears not to get hot when gaming for long periods of time and allow you to here sounds from the room. Closed designs isolate your sonic environment bring you more into the game and can be hot as they insulate sound they insulate heat, for some this is an issue for some not.
 

Summary

Of the Transducer Types most will be dynamic in design and are dynamic unless otherwise stated. Operating Principles include Earbuds which are, for now, beyond the scope of this series of articles, Superaural or on the ear, are better travelers, and Circumaural or over the ear generally given the nod with regard to sound. Open versus Closed is a matter of personal preference.

The Edge - Headsets - Cable Length

Comments on Category #4

We know what you're thinking: finally, a short article. No, don't worry, we'll find a way to make it longer than necessary, with to much detail, and ramblings, well...sort of like we're already doing.
Just kidding, it can't get any more objective than this...Cable Length is our category #4. Don't overlook this category when choosing a headset. Think about where you sit when gaming, how much cable do you need. Your not going to get custom lengths, so you may have to buy an extension cable.
If you have different spots to lounge while gaming, you'll have to consider the location that will need the longest length of cable. Thankfully you can get extension cables in varying lengths. Don't get 15 meter cable if the longest you'll need is 2 meters just because it's inexpensive, you're not doing yourself any favors, cables can become a tangled mess if not extended.
You will want the cable to be long enough to lay across the area between you and your connection point, you don't want it stretched through the air like a overhead power grid line. With respect to this category, do a little measuring, from the connector point on the console or processor down to the floor, then across the floor to the point on the floor directly below your headset/ear location and up to the headset/ear location. Keep that measurement in mind while looking over the list's data. If the cable supplied is not long enough, you'll need an extension.

The Edge - Headsets - Microphone

Comments on Category #4 - The Mic

Thus far in the 'list' development the 'Mic' category contains one or two of the following type descriptors: Boom, In-line, Dynamic, Condenser, Pre-polarized. This post takes the terms one at a time for discussion.
 

Position or Form

The first two possibilities, Boom and In-line, describe the position of the microphone.
 

Boom

This term is the easiest to understand. A boom style mic is attached to the end of a rod, usually positionable via a flexible rod, called the boom, or it could be positioned by a pivot point allowing the mic to swivel up and down. The actual positioning function of the mic is more appropriately handled in the written or video review segment of the review rather than in the objective list. While true that some booms pivot 270° and others can be attached to either side of the headset, there are issues with the variations that need to be considered and some experienced gained to give that hands on point of view we want.
 

In-line

This term is the second designation of where the mic is located. Like it's name says it's in the line (cable) that leads to the headphone portion of the headset. For those of us familiar with headsets for mobile phones, this is a common alternative to the on the ear bluetooth style earpiece/mic.
 

Microphone Basic Type

The other three terms Dynamic, Condenser, and Pre-polarized are terms that describe how the microphones work from a theoretical perspective. We will stick to general overview of these three terms for now.
Dynamic and Condenser are terms that are not combined, in other words, these are basic principles. We can have a dynamic mic or a condenser mic, it's either or, not both. The other term, pre-polarized can be combined with other terms. For example you may have a pre-polarized condenser microphone.
 

Dynamic Mic

This type of microphone is the simpler microphones in the list so far. These type of mics work on the electromagnetic induction principle, the same principle that the drivers in speaker systems use. An electromagnetic coil is moved back and forth with a cone that moves in response to sound.
 

Condenser Mic

These type of microphones are also called capacitor or electrostatic microphones. There are two plates in the pickup. The front plate is a moving diaphragm the responds to sound and the change in distance between the front plate or diaphragm, and the rear plate, a fixed plate is measured by one of two ways DC biased or frequency. The frequency type can use either radio frequency, RF, or high frequency, HF.
 

Pre-polarized

We are using this as an example of a term that is used in to further describe the microphone's basic type. If manufacturer feels that the term is significant enough with respect to the microphone's operation to note it, the term appears in the specifications or description.
We will note the inclusion of these term types as they occur in the list. The key here is that when you come across a term that has a low, or perhaps even singular occurrence in the list that you recognize that the manufacture is looking to set itself aside from the competition, implying an advantage, and we can respect that, after all, we are in search of the sonic edge.
Pre-polarization, by the way, helps define the directional quality of the mic. It's a good thing.
 

Other Microphone Types

The science behind the way microphones work is beyond the scope of this blog. We want to be aware of the different basic types and have a general idea of how they work as an aid to making our purchasing decision. This is true in any of these type of categories, that is categories that state a type of principle or form. We can group the microphones into two groups, so far, and being aware of the two groups could help us recognize patterns and make observations about the two that are unique to each.
There are other ways to pickup sound and transfer if to another location. Everything from fiber optic to cup and string. If other microphone types appear, we will include them in the. We don't see the cup and string as being practical.

The Edge - Headsets - Marketing

Building Experience - Marketing Influences Opinion

 

First, let's qualify...

 
Keep in mind that this post is not meant to serve as a completely fact checked article, it is meant to serve as an example of marketing. The source of this article comes from recollections of the story as told to me by associates of mine in the high end audio business in the mid eighties, in other words, memories of a few years ago. So, with this qualifying statement out of the way, and keep in mind that other views and comments on the body of the story are welcomed and encouraged. Read this as a story from memory based in truth and open to correction of the facts. Use it as a marketing story that illustrates how our opinions are shaped by marketers who understand human nature.
 

VHS, Beta, Video Disk

In the 1970's three video playback formats were developed by three different companies. VHS, Beta and Video Disk. VHS was developed by JVC, Beta by Sony, and the Video Disk format by RCA. All three formats were released and the respective companies had a look at the competition.
The RCA Video Disk format required that prerecorded disk were purchased to use the format as could be done with either of the other two formats. This format had a superior picture as compared to the other two formats but you couldn't use the format to record and playback. JVC and RCA were not threatened by the format and the market showed little interest. The format was used by a select number of customers and, as an aside, it could be argued that the Video Disk evolved into the Laser Disk format after an at first unforeseen rental market developed. Then the Laser Disk, which was an analog format that read the frequency of light return from a laser to recreate video and audio evolved into the CD and then the DVD formats which used light return but to read binary code rather than frequency. So, in the long run the better base idea won, at least for now. Back to the story at hand.
With the ability to record, we had two formats remaining. The folks a Sony must have had a party after seeing the VHS format compared to Beta, just as JVC must have gone into damage control mode. Beta was just undeniably superior. The tapes were smaller, the picture better, the recording times longer, and Sony was what all the pros were using worldwide.
JVC goes to Hitachi and other major manufacturers and offers the rights to product VHS at a deal with the understanding that they would not market Beta machines in the North American market. The story goes that JVC understood that the European and other markets would go for the Beta format in that they recognized Sony as a superior product manufacturer and would be more likely to devote more discretionary income to a better format.
The target consumer in the North American market was in college and recognized that Beta was a better format and reasoned that they would by the far more affordable VHS format for now and switch to Beta when they could. What they didn't anticipate was the amount of recorded hours that they would have making it impractical to switch formats. Beta did sell in the states to the more discriminating but held a virtually none of the market within five years.
There was never an affordable Beta format unit sold in the US. VHS dominated the market until the affordable recordable DVD format replaced it, almost three decades of dominance.
From this manufacturers took a cue and make sure that both the CD and DVD formats were made compatible one company to another. The other lesson learned by the manufacturers was by Sony. With the development of the high definition format, that is HD-DVD vs Blue Ray, Sony didn't let a competing, and possibly inferior product, win. Now, only a few years later it's hard to remember that there was a high definition format other than the Blue Ray disk.
 

Building Experience

The manufacturers, namely Sony, learned from their marketing mistakes how differing products competing for the same market can hurt their sales and equate to winners and losers, but what can we as consumers learn from the VHS vs Beta story.
The first point is that we should a little digging is needed to get behind the hype and that many manufacturers are looking to fill a price point rather than accomplish a sonic goal. Other manufacturers are building products to accomplish a sonic goal and then setting a price based on a balance between what market dictates and what their margins need to be to stay in business. The latter is the company type we want in that they like their jobs and income helps them do what they like, the former is in business to make money.
The other point is just the history itself. It helps to be aware that when backed into a corner with a product that could ruin a company, that company can turn to the marketing pros and its up to the marketing department to make lemonade...and they can. Its fine to buy lemonade, none of us want to by a lemon.
There are flaws if you take the story as an analogy for VHS vs Beta compared to binaural vs multi-driver. Indeed, when you buy a headset, driver configuration is only one consideration. The two are not competing formats in that one will win and one will lose. The reason to know the VHS vs Beta story as it pertains to headsets is to understand the marketing portion of the story not the competing format angle.
It is our intention to review the products based on their merit and not on their marketing. We want to keep in mind that the marketing of a product does not have a bearing on it's performance. Just because a product is well marketed does not make it a great product, it also does not make it a bad product; marketing just helps the product sell.

The Edge - Headsets - Driver Type / Size

Comments on Category #3

Review of Driver Definition

The third heading or category is 'Driver Type / Size'. In an earlier post we discussed what a driver is, so to review a driver is a component of a speaker or, in our case headset system. The word 'driver' is often used interchangeably with the word 'speaker' and most of us think of the conical moving portion of the headset as a speaker. If a headset is binaural, it typically has only one driver per side and in this case the driver is the speaker portion of the headset system.
In the case of the multiple driver per side like 5.1 surround sound system headsets the moving cones are more accurately referred to as drivers. If we refer to the speakers in these systems, we could be referring to the group of drivers and components that make up each side.
Therefore, in both cases we will refer to the individual moving cones as drivers and will not use the term speakers unless referring to the components as a whole that make up one side of the headphone portion of the headset.
 
 

Type

Binaural

There are two basic types of headsets binaural and multi-driver. The 'type' portion of the category refers to the number of drivers per in the headset.
The binaural type is a stereo headset or one driver per side. To recreate surround sound these type of headsets use a surround sound processor. It can be in the form of sound card which the headset plugs into and the sound card connects to the gaming console or it can be a more elaborate, and expensive, component again connecting between the headset and the gaming console. The card or component decodes the surround sound information from the gaming console then synthesises 7.1 surround sound information to be sent to their binaural headsets to give the sonic edge we are looking for, that is being able to tell where the in-game sound is coming from, front, back, left, right, up, or down or a combination of these.

Multi-Driver

The multi-driver type of headset contains, we know it seems obvious, but there's a twist, multiple drivers. Notice that we did not include the two words 'per side' at the end of the last sentence. Well that's because there are two configurations of the multi-driver setup. The first configuration is what we expect, each earphone contains either three or four drivers. These headsets come with a sound card that decodes the surround sound information and sends the proper signal to proper driver, making it possible to locate the in-game source of the sound directionally.
The second type of multi-driver setup is a concept that was highly anticipated by the gaming community. The design features five drivers mounted in the top of the headband and ports or tubes that carry the sound to the earphones. The drivers are left rear, left front, center, right and left.
 
 

Size

The 'size' portion of this category is, well, the size of the drivers. With most of the manufacturers their data does not contain the size of the drivers. Size is incorporated with the driver type category and reported if the information is readily available from the headset's producer.
 
 

Comments

This category is the first category that raises debate. The two types represent two schools of thought or design approaches to giving us the sonic edge. This will be the subject of much speculation, and opinion in future posts, but for now at least in building the list, keep in mind that this is the objective part of the search and for the list we will talk physical configuration rather than how well they work.
With that said, here are the initial comments. The binaural headsets recreate surround sound with the use of a sound processor that synthesises surround sound, usually 7.1, through two drivers, one per side. The advantage these headsets have is the use of larger and, their manufacturers claim, better quality drivers for higher quality sound.
The multi-driver headsets use their surround sound processors to direct sound to individual drivers to, as is the claim of their manufacturers, reproduce more directional surround sound.
These two approaches are so different we suspect that we will find two camps of gamers each with their own bias sets firmly entrenched. This is the general tone of most of the reviews we have read. For example one reviewer stated that the headset he uses and prefers is much better than anything he has heard. He doesen't state what he has heard or used, he doesen't talk about his experience other than to say that he has had to replace the headset multiple times and each time the manufacturer stands by the product and sends him a replacement at no charge.
Back in the dark ages of video three formats of video playing devices were developed by three different companies and released within a short period of time. This presented the consumer market with a choice. Two of the formats, VHS and Beta could record, the third, the video disk could not record, it could only play disk, which were the size of a long play record (LP). This put the video disk at a disadvantage. Most people envisioned themselves time shifting TV shows and being able to play tapes that they purchased. This put the video disk out of the picture, so to speak, and with Beta players priced at one and a half time the price of VHS, VHS took the market, well the North American market anyway. There were other major factors that caused us to go for the least desirable of the three formats, and this discussion will be continued in the next post.
 
 

Next

In the next post we will discuss the VHS, Beta, Video Disk marketing, why did we choose what turned out to be the least desirable format and how can we apply this history to our choice of a gaming headset.

The Edge - Headsets - Form Factor

Comments on Category #2

The next of the categories is a basic, Form Factor.
It is as simple as is says, what is the form the headset takes. Headsets are defined as headphones or earphones with a microphone. For now we are not considering earphone or earbud type headsets. So, for now, part of our form factor parameters are set, all of our examples are headphone type headsets. Other design differences are how the headsets couple to the ear, this is covered in a separate category.
This category is used to describe how the headset is worn, basically over the head or behind the neck. This category may be changed to a different name as the list develops. There are other categories which may be refined as the list goes forward.
Due to the number of categories in the list there will be a challenge to format it in such a way as to make it easier to read at a glance. In it's present form, a number of scroll pages are necessary to view all of the categories. Our goal is to format the list so that it can be used as a tool for easy reference rather than a study guide.
Our second category, 'Form Factor', could have a name change or by combined with another category if it continues to reflect only two choices. It isn't alone, in more ways than one.