If you're a metalhead, chances are you like loud music, but what if you want to rock out without damaging your precious ears?
Enter the Heavys, a team of "metalheads, engineers and audio enthusiasts" who claim to have created the world's first heavy metal headphones, which will protect your eardrums and let you listen to your favorite tracks the way the artist intended. The team includes veteran engineer Axel Grell, who designed some of Sennheiser's most beloved headphones.
Currently in development through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, the Heavys earphones come with no fewer than eight drivers designed to mimic a full-size home speaker: while earphones typically contain a speaker inside each earcup, Heavys headphones have four, with two tweeters. and two subwoofers on each side.
This allows each speaker to focus on a specific frequency range, without the need for a single speaker to drive highs, lows and mids simultaneously. According to Heavys, this reduces distortion and allows you to hear every detail of your music clearly.
While some of the best headphones we've tested only use two drivers and they sound fantastic, we can see how using separate drivers for each frequency range could be useful for metal in particular, which often involves complex, multi-layered compositions. complex instrumentation.
Heavys in-ear headphones are also designed to make sound seem like it's coming right in front of you, rather than blasting into each ear canal. The tweeters are positioned just in front of the ear, with sound waves coming from different directions to simulate a natural forward-facing sound field, like watching your favorite band in the crowd.
Whether you like it depends largely on what you want from your music. If you're looking for a natural audio experience, a forward-facing soundstage will probably work just fine.
However, the rise of spatial audio technologies has allowed more of us to experience the three-dimensional sound of a pair of headphones, making us feel like we're at the center of a group, each instrument reaching out to you. from a different angle, and can deliver a more immersive listening experience that some may prefer to traditional stereo sound.
The Heavys also come with all the modern conveniences you'd expect, including active noise cancellation, wired and wireless connectivity, and a 50-hour battery life.
Audience matters
Heavys also claims that his headphones will allow him to listen at higher volumes without damaging his hearing.
Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) is a big problem; The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that up to one billion young people are at risk of NIHL, with nearly 50% of adolescents and young adults in particular being exposed to hazardous sound levels from personal audio devices.
Heavys proprietary psychoacoustic technology delivers specific frequencies at different volumes that will seemingly make your music louder without causing high levels of pressure on your ears.
According to a study from the Keck School of Medicine of USC, hearing loss is the result of two things: the death of sensory hair cells that detect sound and convert it into neural signals, and a buildup of fluid pressure in the inner ear. , causing neurons to die.
As John Oghalai, MD, chair and professor of the USC Tina and Rick Caruso Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, explains, “the death of sensory hair cells leads to hearing loss, but even if some hair cells Sensory cells still remain and function, if they are not connected to a neuron, the brain will not hear the sound.
If Heavys headphones can really alleviate these issues without making your music too quiet, they could be perfect for metalheads who want to turn the volume up to 11.
Combining this technology with the Heavys headphones' unusual driver range, long battery life, active noise cancellation and wireless connectivity make this a very attractive proposition. Especially since the headphones are priced at €149 (about £110 / AU$200) as part of a limited early bird promotion.
However, we always recommend caution when investing in crowdfunding campaigns. There's no guarantee that the product will actually make it to market, even if it hits your fundraising goal, so think twice before parting with your hard-earned money.