Hello everyone. I am out of my mind to be thinking about getting into headphone testing. But the itch exists and I am reminded of it often in private communication with people asking me why I am not testing headphones.
I had tabled the whole thing for many reasons, most of which is that I am not happy with state of the measurement systems out there for headphones.
There has been a development which may make the measurement situation better. It is the Brüel & Kjær 5128 HATS (head and torso simulator). Here are a couple of quick promotional video on it:
I like the flexibility of the artificial ear/pinna and better reliability and repeatability that this brings.
There are some big negatives however:
1. The 5128 extends the simulation limit of the older "711" standard substantially. But with it, it also makes the measurements non-standard so existing research may be difficult to apply to it.
2. The cost. Man, oh the cost. The full HATS has a retail cost of $41,000! There is a truncated one that is a bit cheaper (just the head and no torso). This is a stunning amount of money to spend to measure headphones.
I have asked BK to give me an evaluation unit to test. After all, I still don't know if this is a good solution or not. They have been kind enough to say Yes and the unit will arrive soon. I only have a few short days when I get it to test and then return it. Let me know what you think I should be measuring/doing with it.
Whatever you all do, don't mention a word about this to my wife! I honestly don't know how to go and tell her I want to spend $5,000 on this let alone nearly 10X that!
Anyway, any and all feedback is welcome including whether we should even bother doing this.