The internet allows us to find information at speeds never before seen in history, with tons of authoritative sources and forums full of potentially knowledgeable people disseminating facts, but also falsehoods.Audio techis no exception to this, with even the most committedaudiophilesoften falling for incorrect or overblown information.
So, I found some of the most common audio myths I could find on the internet, and I’ll present the truth behind each one. Thankfully, these myths are largely harmless, and just have the effect of making people spend more money unnecessarily, or giving into deceptive marketing. But once you’re in the know, you’ll hopefully save some money and time.
Is lossless audio worth paying for?
Despite what some audiophiles may whisper, switching streaming platforms for lossless audio might not be the best choice.
1Myth: Gold plated cables are better for conductivity
Truth: Gold plating serves a purpose, but it certainly doesn’t make your music sound better
Gold plating on electronic cables serves two functions – to prevent tarnishing of the copper inside, and for esthetics. Gold doesn’t rust or tarnish like copper does, and when copper oxidizes and turns that distinctive green color, it loses contact area, and becomes less effective. Along with not rusting or tarnishing, gold is expensive and pretty, so it gives manufacturers a reason to sell you something shiny and functional. But this doesn’t mean it’s any better than other metals, and it certainly does not affect conductivity.
Buying a cable with nickel-plated connectors is a lot cheaper and will sound just as good as a gold-plated connector. Since nickel is not as soft as gold, being a 4 on the Mohs hardness scale, while gold is 2.5, it won’t wear away as easily with repeated use. Considering the gold-plated cables will probably not have very thick plating, it will wear away to either reveal the copper underneath, or a layer of nickel plating. If the cable is plated with a gold-nickel alloy, it won’t wear away as quickly, and you’ll get the nice esthetics of gold while having a stronger coating around the connector.
Ultimately, you will not hear a difference between gold-plated and nickel-plated cables.
Bose adds multipoint Bluetooth to its QuietComfort Ultra and Ultra Open earbuds
Your Bose earbuds can now work with two Bluetooth devices at once.
2Myth: Bluetooth is capable of having no latency and supporting lossless audio
Truth: The limitations of Bluetooth mean you’re never going to get the same experience as wired headphones give you
There seems to be an idea that Bluetooth, as it progresses, now has little to no latency, or that Bluetooth is on a path to having no latency. Additionally, some people seem to be under the impression that you can listen to lossless music over Bluetooth. Both of these ideas are myths, due to the nature of Bluetooth itself.
Bluetooth requires encoding and decoding data when it’s transmitted from your device to your headphones, so latency will always be present withBluetooth. This means that you’ll always have some lag between your audio source and the audio when it reaches your ears, making Bluetooth headphones impractical for watching movies or playing games. Whilesome codecsmight have lower latency or sound better, they’re not going to be perfect.
Use wired headphones – they last longer than wireless ones, anyway.
I wasn’t ready for how good these Edifier ANC headphones would be at this price
The Edifier W830NB just might be the best budget set of noise-cancelling wireless headphones I’ve ever tested.
If you wantwireless headphonesorearbudsforgamingor for movies, you’re better off getting headphones that use a 2.4GHz connection orWi-Fi connectivity. Both of these wireless connectivity types have significantly lower latency, making them ideal for situations where you need audio and video to be very closely synced. Otherwise, just use wired headphones for the lowest latency.
While Bluetooth has a lot of latency, you’re going to get the lowest latency with 2.4GHz or Wi-Fi headphones instead.
On the topic of lossless audio, the bandwidth required to transmit lossless audio is much too high for Bluetooth, so you’re not going to be able to get the most out of lossless audio over Bluetooth. To be able to listen to lossless audio over a wireless connection, you’re going to need Wi-Fi enabled headphones, or just give in and usewired headphones. They last longer than wireless ones, anyway.
Best Bluetooth headphone adapters: Wirelessly connect wherever, whenever
Bluetooth is nearly ubiquitous, but it’s not all the way there yet. Until then, here are some excellent Bluetooth headphone adapters.
3Myth: The more drivers, the better
Truth: One good driver is better than four sub-par ones
Headphone manufacturers will sometimes boast headphones with quad drivers as being significantly better than dual or single drivers, but moredriversisn’t necessarily better. It’s like how more cylinders in an engine doesn’t necessarily make a car better – headphones, like cars, have a lot of parts, and the quality of those parts, including the drivers, is what matters more than simply the number of drivers.
The idea behind having multiple drivers is to cover the whole frequency range better, like a speaker system would with a dedicated subwoofer, for example. But just because these dedicated drivers are in the headphones or earbuds doesn’t mean that they’ll actually be effective. High-quality multi-driver IEMs can also be super useful for musicians that need a high range of frequencies tuned in a specific way to help them as they work, but the average person doesn’t need to spend all that money on multi-driver headphones or IEMs, and is better off with a good quality single-driver headset.
It’s like how more gears can benefit a truck driver who needs them, but you don’t need 12 gears in a Honda Civic.
4 biggest differences between on-ear and over-ear headphones
They might seem similar on the surface, but there are some key contrasts.
4Myth: Wider frequency response range means better sound
Truth: Human hearing has its limits
When you look at a spec table for a pair of headphones, it’ll always list the frequency response range of the headphones, most often in the range of 20 to 20000Hz. Sometimes headphones will list a range that begins lower and ends higher, and this is often touted as being better than the usual 20 to 20000Hz range. One may think that this means you may hear a wider range of sound from the headphones, but this is simply not the case.
Unless you’re putting the headphones on a dog, you’re not going to get anything out of a wider frequency response.
Human hearingitself ranges from 20 to 20000Hz, and that’s at its best with no hearing loss. We all lose the ability to hear this full range as we age, and you’re not going to be able to hear sounds lower or higher than this range. So, buying headphones with a bigger range is essentially useless. Unless you’re putting the headphones on a dog, you’re not going to get anything out of a wider frequency response.
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