Changing Head Phones Like Changing Detectors

[OxShoeDrew]

On the hike out of the woods this weekend I ripped my headphones apart. They were nice Sony stereo studio headphones. This afternoon I took my wife out to see a cool mushroom I found. I was half heartedly swinging with some Apple ear buds I found laying around the house. When I heard my first signal I was mortified that I HAD NO IDEA WHAT THE TARGET WAS, OR HOW DEEP, OR HOW BIG! The only info I got was my normal VDI which (on the T2) is secondary. I learned that not only do you have to learn your detector but you have to learn your head phones too!

[Digger_O'Dell]

That's very true. When I upgraded from the stock free Koss headphones I got with my xterra to the Detector pro Black Widow, it was a world of difference. It was also a huge difference when I started to use the grey ghost phones for water hunting since they sound muffled and flat by comparison, though I'm sure they probably sound much better underwater like they were designed for.

[MangoAve]

Interesting determination, Drew. Do you mean that the tone is more important than the VDI on the T2 in the second to last sentence? I can definitely see how this is possible. Not all headphones have the same frequency response, and no detector has any equalizer to compensate. That's just unheard of. When I upgraded to the Z-lynk, I bought a set of Marshall headphones. I was looking into the Audio-Technica brand as well. I will say that if I have the headphones just around the neck (so I can hear everything else), I miss the iron clicks to tell me of the iron infested areas. I only hear the positive VDI and the grunts. I am sure that my first set of BT is nothing compared to what I use now, regardless if it was already AptX and A2dp and BT 4.0. The first set didn't cover the entire ear. The back-up to the BT was a receiver I could use with a set of regular headphones, but I had a cheaper set of earbuds for the woods. I never tried my $230 set of Shure earbuds...so I never knew the difference. (Too many options and back-ups).

[OxShoeDrew]

Chris, with your arsenal of detectors....in what circumstance would you use your x terra?
Jimbo, I'm not sure how other detectors work (and I know nothing about electronics ) but I know the most important info on the T2 is audio. I don't even need to look at the VDI until it passes the tone test....and this from a guy who went headphone-less for years

[Digger_O'Dell]

Drew, I do use the X-Terra on occasion as a back up, or when using the 15" coil in big open fields with few targets because it's so much lighter than the CTX. I can use it at 3Khz for far better depth and sensitivity to high conductors than the CTX. But now I'm thinking about the new Minelab machine to fill that spot.

[MangoAve]

Jimbo, I'm not sure how other detectors work (and I know nothing about electronics ) but I know the most important info on the T2 is audio. I don't even need to look at the VDI until it passes the tone test....and this from a guy who went headphone-less for years

LOL. I do know about 'em. Idk, I never relied solely on the VDI or the tone. Esp when my machine having the 8 tones (which I said I use 4 because it is easier), it can cycle thru the tones on some falsing signals. Sometimes I rely on how often the VDI stays in the positive range to dig it. I had one baby silver plated Oneida spoon in my yard that almost sounded like iron. It just happened to pop into the positive range more often that I went back and dug it. Never has a tone less than 10 turned out to be anything but foil, so I been avoiding them now. I was hoping they were just low due to nearby iron.

[Lodge Scent]

I agree Drew. You can feel pretty naked when you lose your main weapon. I operate the Deus in the same way. I rarely bother looking at the controller. For those really tricky targets, it's sometimes just the slightest change in the tonal quality that gives the target away. There would be no corresponding visual clue on the controller screen to act upon.

So yeah, all of a sudden having a completely different sounding audio input into your brain, will mess you up! You have to learn the target audio nuances all over again.