Headphone moments

Give headphones a chance!

As Rapid expands its stock of headphones with a range of products from some of the world's leading audio brands, we take a look at headphone history.

From the studio earpieces that have accompanied some of pop's greatest recording moments, to the Sony Walkman and the Apple earbud, headphones have an iconic place in music history. Their progress from recording studio to home to mobile reflects how far music has become a personalised, even polite experience: instead of turning it up loud in the spirit of rebellion, you put your headphones on to respect the privacy of those around you. Of course, whether this succeeds or not depends upon the quality of your cans!

The 'Electrophone'

First used by telephone switchboard operators in the late 19th century, the earliest headphones were a bulky contraption which involved a transmitter strapped to the operator's shoulder and an earpiece. Various incarnations of the instrument were to follow in these early years for a range of applications, but in terms of audio consumption one of the pioneering inventions was the 'electrophone', a stethoscope-like device which music-lovers clamped to their ears to hear live stereo performances from The Royal Opera House. This, remarkably, was in 1895!

Something resembling the classic headphone was first made in a Utah kitchen by a fundamentalist Mormon named Nathaniel Baldwin in 1910. He sold them to the US Navy who used them for radio communication, but strangely Baldwin never patented the device.

Nathaniel Baldwin's headphones from 1910

He surely regretted this when the next major breakthrough in headphone development arrived in 1952. John Koss used the money he had been given as a wedding present to buy a sofa to start a business renting portable phonographs, but headphones became a profitable sideline. His Koss SP3 stereophones were the first to be recognised as delivering a high quality of sound for listening to music. Their over ear, closed back design became popular among the leading figures in rock music during the 1960s and 1970s.

Paul McCartney with his Koss SP3-XC headphones

Once bands like Pink Floyd pioneered the use of multi-track recording, headphones became a gateway into a new world of audio delights, enabling listeners to appreciate hitherto unheard musical detail. Surely everyone has had a 'headphones moment' like former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe:

"Horses pretty much tore my limbs off and put them back together in a different way. It was so completely liberating. I had my parents crappy headphones and I sat up all night with a huge bowl of cherries listening to Patti Smith."

The original Sony Walkman

Despite this kind of epiphany (even with 'crappy' headphones), audiophiles were still shackled to their Hi-Fi's. That all changed in 1979 when the Sony Walkman made personal music possible on the move. The foam cushion pads of Sony's MDR-3L2 headphones did not perhaps deliver the best sound, but what they lacked in audio quality and noise-cancellation they more than made up for in sales. Portable headphones had their year zero. Over the last 36 years we have seen the rapid progress of on-ear and in-ear technology to meet the demands of modern lifestyles and listener's expectations. A pair of white Apple earbuds is estimated to be owned by 1 in 4 people on Earth, such is the proliferation of iPods, iPhones and iPads.

It is not only noise cancellation, bass and treble that are the holy grail for headphone makers. When hip-hop legend Dr Dre went into partnership with boutique audio equipment maker Monster in 2008, he created a market for high end headphones. Bling was now as important as bass. Denim-finished headbands and wood veneer styling were all part of the headphone experience.

Beats by Dr Dre headphones

Music fans have a head-spinning choice of ear candy at Rapid, including products from Behringer, Sony, AKG Harman, Beats by Dr Dre, Marshall and Sennheiser. We are most excited about Sennheiser, long regarded by DJs, broadcasters and musicians as an industry benchmark. Sennheiser's HD25 headphones are among the most requested by live sound engineers and DJs around the world and have recently celebrated their 25th birthday. "You can hear notes in songs you have never heard before with low down powerful bass and high quality trebles", writes a recent reviewer on the Rapid website. "Having used these for a number of years the Sennheiser HD range have passed the test of time and have outlasted other headphones within the same price bracket." 

You can view Rapid's complete headphone range here.

So what is your favourite headphone moment? Which piece of music blows you away when played between the ear pads?