How to test/benchmark headphones?

[mystvearn]

I have a generic Philips headphones $12. Now I just got a Philips HP 890 Headphones. Testing it now, its way better than the cheap philips.
So what test can I do to compare these two headphones?
mp3, games, music, movies.

Now I am listening to Bond (4 girls classical music), notice that the headphone can be turn on softer than the generic one. The orchestra sound is superb.
What else

[glc]

Benchmarking speakers and headphones is pretty pointless. It's YOUR ears that matter, everyone's are different. You can compare specs on anything else, but sound is purely subjective until you get into a studio environment where accuracy, not your ears, is important.

Point: Logitech speakers are highly rated - they "sound" real good to a lot of people, but they actually are not accurate at all.

[Hi Ho]

I agree with GLC. There is really no point in benchmarking speakers. It is you that decide whether somehting sounds good. I know people who are happy with 1 dollar speakers that sound horrible to me. It is also true that many consumer speakers, although they sound "good" really aren't all that accurate. You have to pay for accuracy. I have Z-640's and they sound good to me, even better now that I have an Audigy sound card, but my home theater system sounds noticably better. That's for good reason as the Z-640's cost me around $50 and I have about $2,000 invested in my home theater system.

[Prew]

When comparing speakers though, you need to make sure that they are of identical volume, else, people tend to say that the louder of the two is the better sounding speaker. The volume difference only needs to be slight for this to occur.

[glc]

It's also very easy to rig a side by side audition too - we used to do this all the time when I worked for a stereo store. We could make a set of garbage speakers sound great, and vice versa - and did this routinely depending on what we wanted to sell that week. Speakers are just too subjective.

[mystvearn]

I see. Only i listen to the volume very soft, not sure which if both have the same volume

[Jaggannath]

Originally posted by glc It's also very easy to rig a side by side audition too - we used to do this all the time when I worked for a stereo store. We could make a set of garbage speakers sound great, and vice versa - and did this routinely depending on what we wanted to sell that week. Speakers are just too subjective.

tut tut glc, that's not very ethical or nice, now is it :P

[glc]

Nope, but that's retail.