Pristine frequencies aren’t the only thing Reggie Smith gets when he wears his headphones. He gets an experience.

“I don’t have to worry about anything else when I am wearing them. I’m completely immersed in the music,” says Smith, a Leawood sophomore and a local DJ. He invested and bought his pair of Ultrasone DJ1 Pro full-sized headphones online for $235. They are binaural headphones, which means that they stimulate the pinnae, or outer ears, and create a realistic sense of the audio playback coming from any direction, not just left or right. The desired effect can place you in the room of the recording and make 3-D movies run away with their tails between their legs.

The right pair of headphones will make you feel as if you are in the music, not just listening to it. Yet expensive professional DJ headphones aren’t required for improving your listening experience. There are hundreds of ’phones out there that can provide a transient experience, but the trouble is knowing what to look for.

Consider the following information for your audio adventure.

Untangle tech specs

Unfamiliar technical specifications can be the most daunting factor when comparing headphones. When looking at specs, it’s best to keep it simple. Focus on the frequency response range. The average frequency response range is 50 to 20,000 hertz, says Scott Houston, product specialist for Sennheiser, an audio equipment manufacturer. Humans can typically only hear between 20 and 20,000 hertz. “Headphones that go past that frequency range make the response smoother and more natural, like human hearing is supposed to be,” Houston says.

Deter hearing damage

In-ear headphones sometimes get a bad rap for being in the ear canal, but hearing damage from headphone use is entirely up to the user, not the design. People adapt to the volume of music they are listening to very quickly, Houston says. Most people wear in-ear headphones when they are in noisier environments such as subways or buses because of their portability. Because people adapt to what they are listening to, they constantly turn up the volume to compensate for their noisy environment. “If you are exposed to certain amplitude for even five minutes it can cause hearing damage,” Houston says. “It’s up to the user to prevent that.”

Noise-canceling considerations

There are two types of noise-cancelling headphones can provide — passive and active. Passive cancelling comes from the physical sound barriers that headphones provide, such as the plastic and foam against the ear. Active cancelling is the electronic manipulation of sound waves. “There is a single or pair of microphones that hear a certain set of frequencies and cancel it out in the headphones,” Houston says. The cancellation is done by the headphones producing similar sound waves of what the microphone is hearing. The produced sound waves are then shifted over to create a tight zipper effect for the frequencies that results in quieter noise.

Size doesn’t mean jack

The standard width for audio jacks used to be 6.35 millimeters. Today’s standard of 3.5-mm jacks came with the advent of the Sony Walkman and other portable devices. Though the sound quality may not be affected by the size, it can be affected by the material of the jack. “Most people prefer a gold-plated material because gold is a better conductor,” Houston says. Better conductivity ensures better signal strength to the headphones.

Investigate different styles

Technology has made it so that in-ear headphones can compete with most full-size headphones in terms of sound quality. “It just depends on comfort and what you are going to use them for,” Eric Sapozhnikov, sales associate for Abt Electronics, says. The little things can make a big difference in your satisfaction. Do they fold in for portability? Is the cord split or does it conveniently go only into one side? Will your head be comfortable after wearing them for an hour? Pay attention and find what features fit your needs better.

Isolated or exposed?

There are some extra considerations for design when choosing over-the-ear headphones. Closed-back and Open-Air styles influence the amount of passive noise-cancelling. “Closed-back isolate the listener from the outside environment,” says John Chen, national sales director for Grado Labs, a headphone manufacturer in New York. Open-air headphones often have some sort of mesh on the outside of the ear-cups to act as an auditory vent. “We feel the open-air gives a much better sense of space,” Chen says. Consider if you like your music socially or privately to choose which design would be best for you.

Listen for legitimacy

Though many variables affect the sound of headphones, there is really only one good measurement tool. “The final arbitrary is a trained ear,” Chen says. He says that during the listening tests of a product, Grado technicians listen to analog recordings of unamplified music so they can examine harmonic structure at its best. Remember natural sounds of unamplified instruments and use your judgment to determine how well the audio device reproduces those sounds, Chen says.

Embrace your entity

Headphones can speak volumes about your personality. The best thing to do is find something that fits your identity. There are plenty of online retailers and credible review sites available to help you get a beautiful, great-sounding pair of cans. Reggie Smith recommends using CNET and other websites for reviews and turntablelab.com for purchasing ’phones. Explore with the mindset of quality, comfort and function for your personal headphones and unleash your inner-audiophile.