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Should you tune room to headphones

I have Grado PS500 headphones and a Project SE headphone amp and Ohm 5000's run with a 600 watt bryston. I hadn't listened to my headphones for a long time and when I did there was an absence of bass. Every thing else was better tonal wise. Smoother and clearer . My speakers are about 18 inches from back wall about 7 feet apart in a 20 ft long 12 feet wide and 8 feet high. I have 3 bass traps and 4 24X48 acoustic panels with 4 acoustic blankets covering windows and doors. I have placed them up to 4 ft from walls but high frequencies seem a little harsh so I moved them closes in. My girlfriend likes them closer to walls as she likes the dance club sound. Do I need more acoustic treatment?
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kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,443 posts
 
Mapman, Sound from each speaker comes to opposite ear with some delay creating image in front instead of the image in the center of the head. Some headphones have acoustic feedback from one cup to another but it can be also done by creating analog delay/crosstalk in the headphone amp or by DSP processing in computer playback.

http://headwize.com/?page_id=654
unsound
7,341 posts
 
^Yes!
Headphones eliminate room interactions, but are perceived very differently than speakers or unamplified live performances. Even the rare binaural recordings, though a vast improvement in this regard, don't completely remove this unnatural listening experience. Some processors can help, but I have yet to hear any approach that sounds completely natural. Headphones can be a useful tool to better analyze specific attributes, certainly have their place in certain circumstances, but IME as a holistic listening experience they ultimately fail.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,605 posts
 
I'm hoping for a pair of phones that might convince me to ditch all the big expensive gear once and for all, but has not happened yet, and I've heard most of the usual top contenders these days plus many a vintage classic along the way.

I have 4 pair currently: STAX, Sennheiser, Klipsch, Audio Technica. All are nice, very detailed, balanced, good dynamics, lots of fun and enjoyable, but can't touch my big rig in terms of sounding real.

How do I know? I can listen for hours on my big rig until I force myself to stop. Headphones fill the bill for awhile but I am always ready to take them off a lot sooner.

Very good for hearing purely what is in any particular recording though. Knowing how different recordings sound in headphones can be a help when it comes time to assess system sound quality because there is so much variability alone just in how various recordings are produced and sound. Think of phones as "monitors". Speakers are needed to communicate the whole deal properly.
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