Seems like lower quality headphones have the same effect but they need to be loud. I got a higher quality pair and even at low volume the effect seems like it’s not coming from something sitting on my ear but actually coming from inside my head.
In: 7
Your brain is trying to figure out if the music is coming from the left side or right side. Because the sound is coming in equally from both sides, your brain feels like the music is “in” your head.
Well, first I’d like to know the higher quality pair you got?
I’m active on r/Headphones (private at the moment) and from my understanding, and experience with higher quality headphones ($1,000+) it has a lot to do with a mixture of tuning and the actual driver itself.
A dynamic driver headphone is pretty simple, it’s a membrane with a magnet and a coil. When the signal moves the membrane, you get sound. Bass notes are from the full movement of the driver and the mids and highs are all in between essentially.
Cheaper headphones use cheaper materials and are tuned not very well. Some headphones show instrument separation very well. Some accurately can reproduce the exact sound the instrument makes (pianos for example)
It has a lot to do with the development and design of the driver and how it’s tuned.
As far as in the head, the effect over ear headphones aims to achieve is what’s called soundstage. That means to be able to reproduce the sound in a 3d field around your head. And some headphones do it much better than others.
Some people prefer a close field where you can seem like you’re on stage with the artist. Some prefer a wide expansive stage like you’re in a concert hall. I prefer more of a middle ground.
Ultimately it depends on the headphone. But
TL;DR, the tuning and design of the driver will determine how much volume you need to get the same result.
Hope that helps, and when r/headphones reopens, there’s a bunch more knowledgable folks that will be glad to help elaborate more.
Your ears and brain locate the direction of sound by picking up on subtle things like how long it takes a sound to reach your ears and the tones of a sound.
Headphones provide sound to your ears instantly.
GOOD headphones also provide a deep, full sounding tone with lots of detail.
In nature, the only way to hear deep full sounds with lots of detail is to be very close to the sound source.
So with instant sound delivery to both ears, and an unnatural amount of detail and tone that headphones deliver, your brain calculation essentially determines the sound can only be coming from a space between your ears.
This is the same reason that [holophonic recordings](https://youtu.be/IUDTlvagjJA) sound so realistic.
Because they use the same headphone delivery method, but insert timing and tonal cues into the recording itself, to trick your brain into hearing sounds *all around you* instead of just sounds being piped into your head.
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