do you ever find headphones sound slower???????

forge · Post by **forge** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 2:33 pm

yes, I know sounds highly bizarre, but sometimes I'm listening to something, and then I put my phones on and it's like it slows down slightly - I've actually noticed it before so strongly that I've actually checked to see if there's any way I could have been hearing 48k through speakers and 44.1 through cans or something .....

Is there something scientific about this - to do with length of time for the soundwaves to get to my ears? Why would that make t sound faster or slower?

weird.

clipperer · Post by **clipperer** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 2:43 pm

it depends what hps you have and how do you connect things, i really dont think hps sound slower infact they should sound even faster cause dynamics are closer to ears

icedsushi · Post by **icedsushi** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 2:44 pm

I'm confused. Slower, to me, in a musical context could mean change in tempo (bpm), the speed and accuracy of the heaphone drivers to accurately reproduce the music, or maybe you mean a time (speed of the audio file) stretching effect?

Sounds like you are just talking about sample rate. However, what would give you reason to believe the sample rate sounds less? The sample rate is whatever you set your soundcard to. It's the same whether you put on the headphones or listen through studio monitors.

clipperer · Post by **clipperer** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 2:46 pm

i quess he ment delay

icedsushi · Post by **icedsushi** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 2:49 pm

So the reproduction of transients we are talking about?

It should depend on the quality of the headphones. Technically smaller drivers should reproduce transients more accurately. So, if anything, headphones should have a (faster) more transient attack than a large speaker if the quality of the drivers were the same.

forge · Post by **forge** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 2:55 pm

It's when the headphones are plugged into the firewire 410

I tried it in the amp and it seems normal

I'm definitely noticing it

I wonder if it's something weird with the M-Audio driver routing setup where you can patch what you monitor

forge · Post by **forge** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 2:58 pm

or even because I'm listening at low level and most of what I'm getting though the speakers is above 100 Hz, infact mostly the tweeters because it's late and I am conscious of thumping bass

It's possible the other times I've noticed have been the same, and I probably wouldnt use Cans at all during the day when I can have it loud

robin · Post by **robin** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 3:00 pm

I think what we're getting at here is psycho-acoustics rather than something technically slowing it down.

When I first started mixing on turntables I found I was very sensitive to the level the headphone was at for cueing....different volume levels appeared to be subjectively at different speeds, even though clearly that wasn't the case.

forge · Post by **forge** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 3:51 pm

robin wrote:I think what we're getting at here is psycho-acoustics rather than something technically slowing it down.

When I first started mixing on turntables I found I was very sensitive to the level the headphone was at for cueing....different volume levels appeared to be subjectively at different speeds, even though clearly that wasn't the case.

thankyou! I knew I wasnt just mad. It's a strange thing and I wouldnt mind hearing some Physics PHD out there explaining it to me in laymans terms

robin · Post by **robin** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 4:07 pm

forge wrote:
thankyou! I knew I wasnt just mad. It's a strange thing and I wouldnt mind hearing some Physics PHD out there explaining it to me in laymans terms

always nice to rule out madness as a cause forge

i'd love to hear a decent explanation too.

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 4:09 pm

It may have something to do with the movement of air around you, as opposed to the movement of air around your ears?

LOFA · Post by **LOFA** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 5:16 pm

Wow. Ever since that remote control for humans post, the ears seem so much more culpable!

computo · Post by **computo** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 8:59 pm

I wouldnt absolve the Maudio device just yet.

Try comparing the Maudio out with the head phone out on your cpu.

scottorlans · Post by **scottorlans** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 9:42 pm

I have noticed this as well and have a possible explaination. Also, I notice it not only between monitors and headphones, but if you are in a different room or listening at a low volume not paying attention and then you turn it up it seems to slow.

I believe this is due to psychological properties of our brains. On headphones we can be more immersed in the sound. As musicians we are deeply tuned to what is happening in a mix and our brains act on that information based on the level of attention we are giving. What is happening is not that the music is slowing down, but that your brain is speeding up its processing, and by contrast the music seems slower. It's like the classic "time slowing down" in a particularly traumatic situation. When our brain focuses intensly it can go into superclocking mode, and time can actually seem to slow in comparison. After all, the movement and speed of time as we observe is a fluid thing and subject to our perception.

scottorlans · Post by **scottorlans** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 9:45 pm

Also, try this trick:

Take off the headphones and press the cups together (or lower volume), hold it a few inches from your head. It "speeds back up!" Then put them on and it will seem to slow again... At least this is my experience