Headphones to keep you honest

Headphones are rarely ever flat. Not even close.

I use both headphones and speakers; as I live in an apartment and cannot listen at concert levels, I get a much more visceral experience with headphones than with speakers - goes right down from the skull through the bones. And no, I don't use 'Beats'. Great headphones with the right gear is a superb experience.

'Often seen as a luxury item' is a 'problem with headphones'? 🤣🤣🤣🤣 And this was said on an audiophile forum!!! 😂😂😂 Thanks, I needed a good laugh today...

I use headphones as a reference all the time FWIW.  Sound approach!

@cindyment ,

"Headphones are rarely ever flat. Not even close."

I've sometimes wondered why this was. Is there some kind of anomaly in the space/time continuum that prevents a truly flat pair from ever being built?  Even after a century? Not even one.

You know with speakers some designers argue that most listening rooms aren't particularly flat so their speakers don't need to be either. Hence it's a case of finding the placement you prefer, often by trial and error.

I haven't yet heard a good explanation as to why headphones aren't flat.

Not even with professional mixing and mastering cans.

The reason usually given there is that a little lift in the upper mids allows you to more easily hear recording defects as for example in the industry standard Sony 7506s.

However, how can it be that even an established company such as Beyerdyamic can have such differences in frequency response throughout their range? The DT880s look about as comfortable as a pair of headphones can be, but I've yet to hear a pair.

And why are Grados such a like them or loathe them design?

I haven't heard a pair of Sennheiser HD600s but I suspect these might be the phones for me. Recently the price has really shot up and I wish I'd picked up a pair of Amazon when they were going cheap

And of course there is always the old worry with Sennheiser of picking up a fake pair etc. There are sites detailing how to identify a genuine pair but I don't really want that hassle.

Perhaps it's not the headphones, perhaps it's us, the listeners? Folks seem to have arguing about the so-called Sennheiser HD600 veil for a very long very long time.

Is this destined to remain a perennial problem with all high resolution transducers? The more you can hear, the more you can hear that's wrong?

Anyway, I did get to hear some briefly at a show a few months back. They were expensive, they were large and heavy, but they sounded otherworldly in a way I've not yet heard any speakers sound.

Looking back I think I should have spent more time in that room but it was a good show, and in a good show there's never enough time.

@cindyment ,

"Headphones are rarely ever flat. Not even close."

I've sometimes wondered why this was. Is there some kind of anomaly in the space/time continuum that prevents a truly flat pair from ever being built?  Even after a century? Not even one.

You know with speakers some designers argue that most listening rooms aren't particularly flat so their speakers don't need to be either. Hence it's a case of finding the placement you prefer, often by trial and error.

Ideally a speaker should be flat on axis, with most people preferring a slowly declining output from bass to high frequencies when you look at room response. The so-called Harman curve, which is a suggestion, not absolute. With speakers, it was not extensively tested, but seems to work well.

This is the crux of using DSP room correction. Do you correct the room response or the frequency response? No simple answer. Ideally you have a flat speaker response and correct the room response with acoustics. Few audiophiles do either of course. As a speaker MFR you can attempt to control disperion.

With headphones, even if you made a flat response for one person, it would not be perfectly flat for another. You would think it would at least be flat for a head model?  ... but the reality it is not easy, and often they are going to a house sound, but mainly I find most headphones unequalized pretty nasty, even expensive ones.

I don't have a problem with using EQ as long as I don't need a lot and the headphone is low distortion. I am using Dan Clark AEON. Very low distortion, so it EQ's with no issue. I asked for the Stealth for Christmas, but the Grinch, otherwise known as the Wife and CFO, says maybe once things are less crazy after Covid. That is one headphone that could be near perfect without EQ. There is a drop on the Aeon right now, $499 USD. Highly recommend them.