How do they record those YouTube headphone comparisons?

For instance or a bunch of others like it. Tiny microphones stuck inside? I'm going to try some discount active noise cancelling (ANC) headphones versus the Bose QC25s whose sound I'm tired of. I haven't really though about posting my own video, but since my dad is very ill I'm going to fly back to Chicago on Thursday which would be a handy time to test some out on an actual plane. And as long as I'm doing that, it seems I should record the noise cancellation because hey why not!

 

Many are likely using the miniDSP EARS headphone measurement system or similar to record how the headphones sound. You can't just put a microphone inside the headphone cups and get a recording that will sound like the headphones do when they are on your head with real ears. The miniDSP EARS has fake ears to try to simulate how they actually sound to human ears.

 

Cool, I did not even know miniDSP had made such a thing. Unless I was truly going to get into making YouTube videos (kinda getting curious about that now) I don't think I'll spend $200 for this, but I wonder if I could sneak those into shows to make some binaural recordings for myself...

 

It seems that all of the YouTube headphone reviewers and headphone audio blog reviewers have one of those things now. Or something very similar in a DIY style. You can tell who has one based on their review descriptions of headphones. The reviews have turned it to just talking about how the measurement frequency plots look with little or no explanation of subjective sound quality impressions. Subjective reviews of headphone sound have become a lost art.