Useful Headphone Terminology 

As with any topic there is plenty of jargon to understand when it comes to headphone and earphone specifications.  Our guide to headphone terminology helps you find out what the technical jargon means.

Below is a summary of the some of the words and phrases used to describe headphones, earphones and headsets:

Circumaural Headphones

Headphones where the earcup fits over the ear, also know as full size headphones.

Closed Back Headphones

Headphones with sealed earcups that help prevent noise from getting into the earpiece and also stop sound leaking out.  The drawback of the enclosed earcup design is sound is reflected back towards the ear, which can colour the audio to some degree.  Closed back headphones are great for noisy environments and are ideal for DJs, commuters and studio engineers.

Frequency Response

Audio signals vary from low (or bass) to high (or treble) and the frequency response of a set of headphones is the difference between the lowest and highest frequency they are able to reproduce.

The unit of measure for frequency is Hertz (Hz, or KHz for thousands of Hertz).

Often it is thought that the greater the frequency range offered by a set of headphones the better they will sound.  However, there are many other factors to take into consideration and this should not be the main criteria used to assess a particular headphone.  It's also worth bearing in mind that the human ear of a baby can only hear upto 20,000Hz (20KHz) and that this value gradually becomes lower with age.

Headphone Amplifier

A headphone amplifier is an electronic device that is designed to drive headphones rather than speakers.  A dedicated headphone amplifier can provide better dynamic range, clarity and volume when driving headphones than the often cheap headphone output circuits on consumer electronics equipment. 

Impedance

Often used in the specification for headphones and earphones, impedance describes how much opposition (or resistance) the headphone gives to the signal from the audio source. 

The larger the impedance the quieter the headphones will sound for a given volume level from the source.  In contrast a set of headphones with low impedance will sound louder.

Many higher end headphones have a high impedance rating and for this reason benefit from a dedicated headphone amplifier.

Open Back Headphones

Open back headphones have earcups that are vented, allowing sound waves to move freely both in an out of the earcup.  The open earcup design provides a natural sound that is often favoured by audio enthusiasts.  The main drawbacks of the open design is that external noise can be heard by the headphone listener and also that people nearby can hear the audio from the headphone.

Sealed Headphones

See Closed Back Headphones.

Supraural Headphones

Headphones where the earcup sits on top of the ear, also know as on-ear or earpad headphones.

Vented headphones

See Open Back Headphones.

Please contact the HiFi Headphones team if there is a word or phrase that you would like explained in this useful headphone terminology guide and we will do our best to add it.