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How Much Do tonal colorations matter?

Been playing with Roon DSP Convolution filters for various headphones I own. Think of convolution filters in this case as room correction for headphones. I find they take much of the things that make various headphones sound different and make them all sound more the same and more like what one hears listening with more "reference" level headphones. My headphone collection is nice but I do not consider any of these reference level. I own various Sennheiser, Grado, Sony, Audio Technica and Klipsh headphones/earbuds. The convolution filters makes them all sound quite a bit more similar when applied.

Over the holidays I plan to expand my application of Roon convolution filters and create my own to use in various rooms of my house.

 

So with the headphones the tonal colorations of each are essentially gone and all are more similarly enjoyable now.

 

So I am finding that proper use of DSP essentially eliminates the issue of tonal differences.

Then the question becomes: Is that a good thing for everyone? Probably not. I doubt everyone likes the same end result sound even if it can be demonstrated to be technically more accurate as a result of being calibrated using pink noise as a reference signal.

So what do you think?

 

For anyone interested applying convolution filters for most any model headphone via Roon DSP is a very easy thing to try.    All you need is Roon and a pair of headphones.  The convolution filters are provided by an external site for most headphone models.  You just enable a convolution filter in Roon DSP and set it to use the convolution filter file you download, then listen and compare with and without.

 

128x128mapman
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
13,193 posts
 

I dislike all headphone soundfield , i owned 9 ... It stay in the head , worst, the timbre perception is artificial ...

The only headphone which i can tolerate is the AKG K340 and way less performant is the K240 sextett but the two produce a natural timbre with more spatial qualities with the flagship : K340 a hybrid never imitated by any other headphone company ... Too costly to do said Kennerton ...

The two were created by an acoustican physicist of genius, Dr. Gorike ... I dont need convoluted filters ....

I need the BACCH filters of Dr, Choueiri , to improve the spatial qualities information WITHOUT LOOSING THE TIMBRE QUALITY  as most filters do ...

The timbre perception with these 2 headphone of AKG is right , thanks to their grid of passive tuned resonators ... The spatial quality of the hybrid  K340 exceed in naturalness anything i listened to ...But it is not only more  difficult to drive than any headphone , its internal acoustic chamber  must me optimized  ...

 

mapman's avatar
mapman OP
22,389 posts
 

@mahgister if you ever want to try and see there is a download available for those headphones along with many others available here: AutoEQ Web | Results | Recommended (killdozer.uk)  Note that the always appropriate YMMV disclaimer is nicely applied.

More info on targeted results: Harman Target Curve Explained - Audiosolace

 

mahgister's avatar
mahgister
13,193 posts
 

Acoustics is not subjective taste matter ... 😊

The design of my AKG K240 and K340 is unique ... I dont need convolution filters of any kind especially with the K340...

I need BACCH filters ... And there is no YMMV disclaimer with the BACCH filters guess why ?

Thanks for the information though ...

By the way i dont want tonal "colorations" nor neutral desincarnated " no colorations" ; i want natural realistic timbre perception in space ... No headphones give this ... The K340 is nearer than most ... But it takes the BACCH filters to go there ...

No convolutions filters for me ...

By the way i EQ, my K340 a bit to be nearer  the Harman curve ...

 

@mahgister if you ever want to try and see there is a download available for those headphones along with many others available here: AutoEQ Web | Results | Recommended (killdozer.uk) Note that the always appropriate YMMV disclaimer is nicely applied.

More info on targeted results: Harman Target Curve Explained - Audiosolace

 

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