Audiophilia - Can anyone recommend an introduction?

[Coppernerves]

Today I was in the market for a new pair of headphones, my current ones don't work properly unless you twist the plug *just* right (it bent slightly), I like my media to sound good, and they come in a variety of prices, which makes them an ideal birthday gift to ask for.

So I compared a few on the high street, some Beats, Monsters, Sony, Bose, Bowers and Wilkins, Sennheisers, and out of the ones that fit on my tiny head, and in my benefactors budget, the Sennheiser Momentums seemed to have the nicest sound from them. They're on their way now, and from the reviews it looks like I did well, but I'm left wondering what exactly I liked about their output.

Spoiler: (Aside from being comfy and sexy as hell)

I don't really know anything about the quality or character of audio equipment and media, but it seems like something it would be nice to get a more informed and deeper appreciation of, to explore, experiment with, and discuss. It might even help me with mindfulness, the art of taking proper and pleasant notice of things in general.

So does anyone know a good introduction to how and why speakers can sound better? the concepts and techniques involved in being a happy and healthy audiophile?

 

[Coppernerves]

I'll try to help ! I don't know much about speakers but headphones I know a thing or two.

*snip a thing or two*

Good luck friend !

Thanks, that seems like a good start, but I'm a tad confused about the frequency and bitrate.
I'm guessing these are waves per second (thank you A level physics), and bits per second (thank you Dad who works in computing stuff).

I suppose the waves per second means that I can have more distinct notes in a given second without them being smooshed together into an "average" waveform, I guess this could be super handy in 'phones with a V signature, given that otherwise, loud bass and treble together would get smooshed into a muffled mid. It's a bit like making it less blurry, yes?

I don't see why the bitrate itself would be important on its' own, but I suppose if you divide it by the hertz, you'd have bits per wave, like, how many distinct forces the 'phones can put within their shortest deliberate waves, it sounds kind of like how many megapixels you get, and I'm guessing that, much like a sine wave sounds smoother than a square or sawtooth, it makes the sound less harsh when it needs to be, particularly at higher volumes, where the speakers have to move faster, and thus need more force to change direction.

I'm guessing a DAC would take distinct electrical currents, and convert them to a single current modulated to approach them and the ones in between, thus smoothing out the changes in tone represented in the digital file.

I'll repost these guesses to Head-Fi, see if they'll check them, chat about sources and converters.