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> What’s the functional reason to get rid of analog headphones? It’s not quality – analog headphones have excellent sound quality, and 99% of people won’t be ab

> What’s the functional reason to get rid of analog headphones? It’s not quality – analog headphones have excellent sound quality, and 99% of people won’t be able to tell the difference with ‘digital’ sound, right? You have it backward - analog headphones are superior, generally speaking. The signal chain is: digital source > D/A converter > amplifier > transducer (speaker / headphone) "Digital headphones" simply move the D/A converter, amplifier, and transducer into the headphone package. In almost all cases, the higher-quality D/A converter and amplifier will be ones not crammed into your headphones; and the higher-quality transducers are not the ones packaged with a cheap DAC and low-power amplifier into your earbuds. The same holds true for speakers (exception being high-quality powered loudspeakers, still, keep the DACs out of the speakers). And don't get me started about Bluetooth....

markbao 10y ago
Wow, that's super interesting. I learned something today, thanks! Yes, I worry even more about Bluetooth. But I guess 80% of people won't be able to tell the difference (or care), so I don't know.
tzs 10y ago
I think it makes more sense to put the D/A and amp in the headphones. If you want a particular quality level of sound, you need a particular quality level D/A, amp, and transducer. If these are all in the headphones then you choose your quality level by choosing your headphones. If you use your headphones with more than one device you get your chosen quality level on all of those devices. With the D/A and amp in the device then your quality level can vary from device to device depending on the D/A and amp quality of those devices. If you want higher quality you not only need to get high quality headphones, you also have to get high quality devices. Since device makers are going to tend to put their best D/As and amps on their higher end devices those who want higher audio quality will have to be higher end devices even if they don't need most of the features those higher end devices offer. With the D/A and amp in the headphones they can buy phones and tablets and such that just do what they need and no more, which should save them some money (money which can go toward one set of headphones with a top notch D/A and amp).
- riprowan 10y ago
  > If you use your headphones with more than one device you get your chosen quality level on all of those devices. What if you buy speakers? Now you need a different DAC for them. If you have a good DAC in source device you have no problem to begin with. Having said that I'll retract my previous statement in the instance that the system is able to stream lossless digital audio to the headphones. In that case putting the DAC in the headphones could be used to actually deliver high quality wireless audio. Past that, wired will "always" sound better than wireless with lossy compression (ie bluetooth). Past that, the best DACs and headphone amps will be component. The worst ones are likely to be powered by whatever tiny battery powers the wireless headphones. I'm just pointing out, this isn't about quality - if you want quality, you'll be using wired headphones. Lossless wireless is a nice idea that would justify DACs and amps in the cans, it just probably won't improve sound quality, just cost and troubles. A decade or so ago Roland tried to convince the pro audio world that it needed "digital speakers." It was a dumb idea then, it's still a dumb idea, and that's what I hear when I hear "digital headphones."

markbao 10y ago

Wow, that's super interesting. I learned something today, thanks! Yes, I worry even more about Bluetooth. But I guess 80% of people won't be able to tell the difference (or care), so I don't know.

tzs 10y ago

I think it makes more sense to put the D/A and amp in the headphones. If you want a particular quality level of sound, you need a particular quality level D/A, amp, and transducer. If these are all in the headphones then you choose your quality level by choosing your headphones. If you use your headphones with more than one device you get your chosen quality level on all of those devices. With the D/A and amp in the device then your quality level can vary from device to device depending on the D/A and amp quality of those devices. If you want higher quality you not only need to get high quality headphones, you also have to get high quality devices. Since device makers are going to tend to put their best D/As and amps on their higher end devices those who want higher audio quality will have to be higher end devices even if they don't need most of the features those higher end devices offer. With the D/A and amp in the headphones they can buy phones and tablets and such that just do what they need and no more, which should save them some money (money which can go toward one set of headphones with a top notch D/A and amp).

riprowan 10y ago
> If you use your headphones with more than one device you get your chosen quality level on all of those devices. What if you buy speakers? Now you need a different DAC for them. If you have a good DAC in source device you have no problem to begin with. Having said that I'll retract my previous statement in the instance that the system is able to stream lossless digital audio to the headphones. In that case putting the DAC in the headphones could be used to actually deliver high quality wireless audio. Past that, wired will "always" sound better than wireless with lossy compression (ie bluetooth). Past that, the best DACs and headphone amps will be component. The worst ones are likely to be powered by whatever tiny battery powers the wireless headphones. I'm just pointing out, this isn't about quality - if you want quality, you'll be using wired headphones. Lossless wireless is a nice idea that would justify DACs and amps in the cans, it just probably won't improve sound quality, just cost and troubles. A decade or so ago Roland tried to convince the pro audio world that it needed "digital speakers." It was a dumb idea then, it's still a dumb idea, and that's what I hear when I hear "digital headphones."