GRAS helps the popular website Head-Fi with audio testing

GRAS Sound & Vibration is a key player when it comes to delivering products that match the testing needs of the website community Head-Fi. Read about the cooperation here

judemansilla

Head-Fi.org was established in 2001 and is dedicated to the discussion and reviews of high-quality audio products with emphasis on personal and headphone audio. GRAS Sound & Vibration is a key player when it comes to delivering products that match the testing needs of the website community Head-Fi.

The team behind Head-Fi experiences the consumer’s increasing demand for information about high-end audio, as the site in 2016 reached over 15 million people, making it one of the most popular websites in the world dedicated to high-end audio.

More precise and accurate measurements
The founder and editor of Head-Fi.org, Jude Mansilla, regularly writes, and also produces video reviews, of high-quality audio products and therefore needs equipment for swift and precise headphone testing, which is easy to handle and ensures repeatable measurements. So the natural choice for the team behind Head-Fi was to contact GRAS to discuss options for precise, accurate, high-volume headphone testing.

GRAS product tests have been seen by millions
Jude Mansilla explains how the GRAS products have helped him make reviews of high-quality audio products: “Using GRAS products and working with the GRAS team has helped us, as we ramp up our audio measurement workflow. Already our GRAS measurements have been seen by millions of people, and we still have continuous and ongoing measurements to do, with the rapid growth of premium headphone audio - and that's just the beginning.”

How Head-Fi benefits from KEMAR and the new improved pinnae
Jude Mansilla explains: “The recent addition of the GRAS KEMAR 45BB-12 is already speeding up and improving our measurement productivity and improving the measurements themselves. The new system's smoother frequency response past 10 kHz is something we are finding helps measurements better correlate to subjective impressions. Also, the new anthropometric pinnae have made measurements of in-ear headphones far easier, especially with the more anatomically angled earphones, many of which can be nearly impossible to insert in standard artificial pinnae. Also, we are finding far more reliable and accurate measurements of supra-aural (on-the-ear) headphones, as the new pinnae compress and behave far more like real human pinnae (than previous artificial pinnae) when squeezed and covered by on-the-ear headphones.”

The low-noise system brings along new advanced measurement possibilities
Jude and the rest of his team are finding that the new low-noise system opens up more advanced measurement possibilities, allowing them to measure and characterize audio system noise levels at the ear that are low in level but still audible, which was not possible previously.
“Being able to do this is still very new to us, but we are very excited about the opportunities this will provide for incorporating more progressive consumer-facing electroacoustic measurements.” Jude Mansilla concludes.

At GRAS we are pleased to be working with Head-Fi and Jude Mansilla’s team, discussing the measurement challenges of the future. We both benefit from this partnership and look very much forward to receiving feedback from our customers in order to continue the production of the best test equipment.

 

GRAS products used for headphone tests by Head-Fi:
- Multi-purpose acoustic test fixture (45CA)
- KEMAR 45BB-12 with low noise couplers
- New improved pinnae (KB5000)
- Low-noise Ear simulator system (43BB)

 

Watch the use of GRAS products below