What Parts Help Make A Good Quality Headphone?
What makes a good headphone? This week on The Occasional Podcast host Brian Hunter attempts to answer that question with the help of Zach Mehrbach of ZMF Headphones. The Season 11 episode features a walkthrough of all the individual parts that make up a headphone and provides guidance for anyone new to the high fidelity end of the personal listening hobby.
From the cables to driver and everything in-between, this breakdown goes over all the benefits, misconceptions and possible pitfalls to avoid when buying a headphone. Do cables really matter? How about balanced vs. SE connections? Zach gives his angle from the design side of things along with some tips he has learned along the way.
The Occasional Podcast recently talked to Herb Reichert of Stereophile Magazine, covered the subject of regionalized HIFi sounds, CAF 2024, The Best Vintage Amplifiers To Buy At A Garage Sale, interviewed Jason Stoddard of Schiit Audio, and covered the future of digital and class D with Michal Jurewicz of Mytek and High End Munich 2024, but previous episodes include how tos, tips, tricks and education in all things high fidelity audio from episodes like last week’s Hot Headphones For The Holidays, an Interview With John Devore, Measurements explained with Andrew Jones, 3 things to know about streaming audio, 5 things to consider when buying a tube amplifier, interviews with Steve Guttenberg, how to’s and more from audio’s greatest talents, including Michael Fremer, another interesting conversation about the History Of The BBC’s LS3/5a Loudspeaker, A Beginner’s Guide To Tube Amplifiers and A View From The Booth: Reference Systems, Accuracy & Why Audiophiles Love Jazz So Much: including rare interview with the late audio legend engineer Al Schmitt. The finale from season 5 includes the yearly “best of awards” and you can also find episodes covering British HiFi, Subwoofers/Setup/Tips, and the how to: Budgeting From Entry Level To High End. Season 4 highlights include Joseph Audio, Pro-Ject Turntables, and Rob Watts. One can still download this season’s educational show with TOP’s Beginners Primer To High Fidelity Digital Audio alongside the latest on Two-Way Speaker Design. Fan favorite What Is Mastering? What Happens When An Album Is Remastered? is also still available as well. If you are interested in further exploring the analog realm, the Guide To Buying A Turntable (and records) might point you in the right direction.
Options to stream this week’s what makes a good headphone, direct from the embed below or subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform including iTunes, Android, Google, Deezer, Spotify, iHeartRadio and more.