Something struck me the other day, as I sat at my desk navigating my laptop mouse awkwardly around several pairs of over-ear headphones that I can’t bring myself to stow away. All but one of those pairs (a wireless pair) were open-backed models.
A word for the uninitiated: the headphones to which I am colloquially referring are those with ‘open-back’ designs. That is, over-ears that a) don’t have enclosures behind their drivers, and b) have perforated or otherwise unsealed earcups that leak (some) sound both in and out. Essentially, sound from those ‘free’ drivers is fired both towards and away from yourwhere sound is predominantly enclosed between your ears and the earcups. Consequently, open-backs are wired and intended for home use… unless you’re the apparently illogical (albeit brilliant) Grado GW100x.
