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Whether to do anything about the limitations of our ears

In the thread 'How do you listen?' appears the following:

"We do not hear all frequencies equally well at all volume levels. Low bass and high treble in particular need to be at a fairly high level to be heard at all."

This asks a big question:

Should we listen as our ears hear, with their inability to apprehend all audio band frequencies at the same intensity? As we are of course compelled to do when listening to live music.

Or when listening to recorded music should we adjust the intensity of particular frequencies we don't hear so well?  This will of course give a different presentation from what we hear live.

Or, to put it a different way, should audio manufacturers design equipment to present the frequency range as flat as a microphone perceives it, or as our ears perceive it?

But a microphone is just another flawed ear, with its own imperfections as regards intensity across the audio frequency range (and others of course).

Or, again: a flat response can be flat only as the means of listening presents it.



128x128clearthinker
edcyn
1,876 posts
 
As mahgister & oldhvymec say (or should I say sezez). You listen to your stereo to please yourself.  It ain't a visit to the ear doctor.
jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,612 posts
 
op

two points to raise in reply to your op above, in the spirit of discussion...

1. achieving a flat, in phase response, at the prime listening position in a room/system setup is a laudable goal, if for no other reason than for the listener to judge/realize that some deviation from this ideal may make the music as presented seem more ’beautiful’ or ’real’ subjectively -- i have not tried to dabble in this pursuit myself, but at least regarding frequency response, this is what a lot of the room correction tech in modern gear attempts to enable

2. on a subjective basis, when it comes to voicing of hifi components (and most prominently speakers), there is some agreement that numerous successful but aging designers are releasing newer products that have greater/too much treble energy (as they personally are experiencing a reduction in their ability to hear higher and mid treble frequencies, but have yet to admit that, and still insist on personally voicing their gear) -- folks such as richard vandersteen, mike/jason at schiit, frank van alstine, and david belles have all been ’accused’ of this...
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,895 posts
 
having owned Vandy 3a-sig, 5a and 7 mk2 spanning some 20 years, i can assure you RV’s speakers are super flat in room. BTW Earthworks mics, good as they are are NOT good enough for Vandy production quality control against the reference each speaker is produced…
djones51
4,947 posts
 
Not sure a super flat in room response from 20hz-20khz is what most people like. Good DRC applied properly will give you a flat response over your speakers frequency range and your preferred listening curve.
henry53's avatar
henry53
280 posts
 
I recent years  I have developed a hearing "defect"  becoming very sensitive to sibilance. I changed a beautiful pair of speakers because they were too bright yet most others I have tried sound too dull. Each person will hear sound differently to you, possibly very differently. I have thus listened to speakers people tell me are great, but they sound awful to me. In the end I found a brand ( I have two pairs in separate systems) that do not sound sibilant, to me they are great speakers, reviews vary but generally are good to very good for them, Audio Physic (Yara Classic 2, and Sitara 25). I visit a number of hifi stores who frequently tell me x will sound better, they never do, to me, they have too much sibilance. Your ears are your ears no-one can tell you what you will hear or what you will prefer.

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