I don't think that having "personal preferences" is wrong, but performances and/or recordings are what they are. Ignore the facts to your own (and the artists) detriment...   You can choose to listen to recordings in a way that reveals the intentions of the artist and the recording team, or...

Usually, but not necessarily true. The times they are a changin'.   The Smyth Realiser A8 (can be used in two-channel or multi-channel mode and with headphones of your own choosing) is said to do a pretty damn good job of mimicking a real array of loudspeakers. A pair of excellent soundstagers...

Well (at least for me), "concrete facts" do factor into my "musical enjoyment".   Part of the reason why I am able to enjoy the kinds of recordings that I like using headphones rather than speakers? My listening experience supplies me with knowledge of what that kind of music actually sounds...

Sure, you can say that but...   But then I'd ask the question:" Why bother to listen to decent recordings on a high-end headphones if it really is "all about the music"? Why not simply buy some cheap earbuds or a $20 tabletop radio, get some crappy recordings, and "enjoy the music"? Maybe this...

I acknowledge that you read and understand what I'm saying, regardless of how we might disagree on certain points. You are certainly free to disagree and you are certainly free to make a recording into whatever you'd like to be. You own the recording, it's yours to do with as you will.   But...

Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say that.   Audio reproduction (loudspeaker or headphone) is (or may be) about the "recreation of a sonic event", but it is also about "suspension of disbelief".   How funny is this?   We all know that we are not listening to the real thing but it does not...

Funny, but after a few years of listening to music via headphones almost exclusively, I have lost the sensation that the music is "all in my head".   Back when I listened to both loudspeakers and headphones on a regular basis, headphone listening did seem to me to be a much more "compromised"...

I hear ya' (no pun intended)!   Not that there is anything wrong with making recordings that are suitable for playback on almost any kind of transducer, but the very least they could do would be to try to preserve some semblance of lifelike dynamics....

  There is some truth in this, sure, Especially in today's world where so many people listen to music on earbuds and other portable playback options. However...   Conscientious recording engineers of the hifi era (especially those from the not-too-distant past) made recordings with the...

  Of course it is!    Or rather, it USUALLY is. Without the use of DSP (digital signal processing as used in products like the Smyth Realiser) and/or binaural recordings, headphone listening is an "unnatural" listening experience. Although it would not be accurate to say that loudspeakers do...

Hey, I'm thinking that something deserves to be reiterated at this point in time.   Well, not all of us would agree that the new flagships are significantly better headphones than the old flagships were/are. My three favorite headphones? Grado RS-1 for Rock, Senn HD600 or HD650 for classical...

The prices of the "top of the line" in any hobby can seem ridiculous to someone who is not rich enough to afford such things.    Remember that $55,000 is literally "a drop in the bucket" for some people. So Sennheiser makes a few hundred limited production, handmade, *cost-no-object* statement...

The answer is simple and complicated at the same time, in sync with the rest of reality.   Even back in the good old days of the "$500 flagship", there were of course other more expensive flagships. Stax electrostatic, Sennheiser Orpheus, K1000 sold for multiples of the more basic flagships...

Genuine replacement Grado L cushions cost about $30 a pair, but there are many Chinese knockoffs on ebay that sell for a fraction of that price.   My question would be: How many of those cheap Chinese knockoffs replicate the foam density of the original and genuine Grado L cushions?   Grado...

Has anyone tried it?   www.whathifi.com/marantz/cd6006/review