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Almost all audio product reviews share the same conceit: the idea that the opinions of the person doing the review will correspond with yours. That’s because almost all evaluations of audio products are performed by a single reviewer, with negligible, if any, solicitation of or mention of others’ opinions. The premise has always been that because the writer is an expert, he (or in very rare cases, she) will understand the product well enough to predict whether or not an audio product will be a good choice for you -- or at least he or she will be able to describe the product’s characteristics accurately enough for you to get a good idea of whether or not you’ll like it.

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Yesterday at the IFA show in Berlin, Qualcomm announced aptX Adaptive, the latest in a line of audio coding technologies intended to improve the performance of Bluetooth audio. During the advance briefing I received early in August from Chris Havell, Qualcomm senior director of product marketing, I was excited about what aptX Adaptive might do for headphone sound quality, but also wondered about the reaction it may get in the audio community.

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When people who own gear priced in the thousands of dollars encounter similar gear priced in the hundreds of dollars, human nature practically forces them to disparage the cheap stuff. So I wasn’t surprised to see a few professionals disparaging the new miniDSP EARS headphone measurement jig on social media. I chimed in myself, predicting that the EARS might be part of an ongoing “crisis in headphone measurement.”

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If you read audio websites often, you’ve surely seen discussion about whether or not measurements are important in audio reviews. Unfortunately, few of the people writing about this topic have experience in audio measurement, and their comments rarely amount to anything more than excuses for why they don’t do measurements. Because measurement is such a big part of SoundStage!’s group of websites, and SoundStage! Solo in particular, I thought it important to explain why we do measurements, and what conclusions you should draw -- and not draw -- from them.

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The last ten years have seen a renaissance in headphone science. Important new research into frequency response and tuning has already improved the quality of headphone sound. But I’ve seen no research into something almost as important: isolation, or the degree to which headphones block outside sounds from reaching your ears. The less such isolation you have, the more your music will be polluted by the sounds around you. That’s no problem in a quiet listening room at home, but on a passenger jet or in a crowded Starbucks, it’s impossible to get good reproduction of music unless your headphones isolate your eardrums from the ambient sounds of such environments.

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Why launch SoundStage! Solo -- a new website dedicated entirely to headphone listening -- when the Internet already has several headphone-focused sites, and dozens more audio and tech sites that review headphones? Simple: Because we think headphones deserve more serious consideration than most sites give them.

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Doug Schneider 11 days ago Audeze LCD-5 Headphones
@HelloguyHello. As most regular readers know, Brent Butterworth left for a full-time stint at Wirecutter ...
u want to tune out the world around you for travel, the office, or at ...
Helloguy 22 days ago Audeze LCD-5 Headphones
Hello there's no link to the headphone measurement in this review and I don't find ...
@Brent ButterworthThanks both for your replies.. after tapping the post button a piece of my post ...
Brent Butterworth 27 days ago Beyerdynamic T5 (3rd Generation) Headphones
@Doug SchneiderYeah, and I moved toward the end of the pandemic and never was able to ...
When I hear music using MDR-7506, I tend to be more analytical then enjoying the ...
Doug Schneider 27 days ago Beyerdynamic T5 (3rd Generation) Headphones
@MauroI'll perhaps talk to Brent and see if he can answer. But as we know, ...
@MauroA big chunk of my take is missing. A bit upset by the website/Safari glitch. ...
Hi guys, after COVID restrictions it was not possible for Brent to have a listening ...
Doug Schneider 29 days ago Shure Aonic 5 Earphones
@Ed GeeInteresting that you bring up Shure. Early one in my earphone purchases, I had Etymotics ...