Data Gathering

Gathering Comparable Data

This blog will begin to deal the data parameters. What information do the manufacturers provide and how can we use that information to begin to get a feel for how the products compare.
 

Manufacturers Supply Data

One point to keep in mind is that most data comes from the manufacturer. When you read specs about products and try to compare one company's data directly to another company's data just be aware that each company does it's own testing; there is not a central testing facility where all manufacturer's send their products to have them tested and specifications issued. This is not to imply that companies are not accurate in their testing, rather, products are tested on differing equipment under controlled but varying conditions among the industry.
They test their own products, and publish the results. The companies use good testing methods and produce products that perform as advertised with respect to the published specifications. All companies have quality control methods in place to insure a consistent product. It could be argued that testing by an independent organization of all products on the same testing equipment would produce more comparable results by limiting the variance among test equipment. This type of testing is preferred in testing speakers to limit the variance among testing rooms, however, with headphones and headsets the largest sonic variable, namely the room in which the test are done, is not as critical in that, headphones and headsets are, by nature, a closed environment. Even with open design models, the room does not have a notable effect on testing. Therefore, data reported by the manufacturers, can be useful for comparisons among manufacturers.
It is reasonable to assume that a manufacturer wants to publish figures for products that help them sell their products, so, if the manufacturer had a frequency response number that was out of line with it's competitor's products the manufacturer would not want to have a product in it's line that did not meet the standards of the competition, the product would not hold up in the market place. It is not reasonable to assume the manufacturer would publish data that was not independently verifiable. What the company will do is do further research and develop the product until the product comes up to the specification they are shooting for.
 

Data Mining

We are in the process of gathering as much objective data such as frequency response, cable length, manufacturer's suggested retail price and other facts and figures that can help us make comparisons. In gathering the data we are compiling a chart that will be useful for comparison. In building the chart so far, it is evident that some manufacturers supply more data than others. We will first simply gather all data and build the chart. Then we will contact the manufacturers and try to fill in the gaps or, if we find a category to be of no or minimal use we may eliminate it.
 

Progress Reports and Defining Categories

The next few blogs will be in the form of progress reports or category definitions. As we build the chart, we will let you know were we are relative to the initial compilation. As the categories shake themselves out, we will define what they mean and how they can be used to compare headsets. Also, as we start to form opinions about various manufacturers and their models we'll outline what brought us to the opinion.