sandman1990 said:

  Can you guys please list some metal tracks for evaluating headphones?
I mean which tracks are good for testing Bass/Treble extension, PRAT, Midrange response, Soundstage, etc.

Click to expand...

Most would say tracks you know really well and enjoy. I recently used:
 
Tool-Lateralus-covers a lot of ground. Great track for metal bass; well recorded. Mostly a track I know quite well.
Kreator-Phantom Antichrist (a recent album that I think sounds great)-several tracks I've used from Phantom Antichrist, Civilization Collapse, From Flood Into Fire
 
If nothing else, I'll just use those two ablums-something proggy and something a little heavier.  I feel kind of dumb going into a high end audio place w/ DM w/ all these stone faced jazz and classical dudes. But, w/ headphones or home audition, I'll sometimes listen to an alum of:
 
Melodeath like Amon Amarth-just cause I like them-something from With Oden on our Side or Twilight of the Thunder god. I think they're stuff is reasonably well recorded or Dark Tranquility something from Damage Done or Character.
 
Maybe a traditional DM album I think has decent production-Jungle Rott's Kill on Command-I really like the production on this album. I might be tempted to listen to last year's Behemoth.
 
BM-something from Marduk's Wormwood; maybe Enslaved
 
Probably a doom album with crazy low end. Maybe EW; this year's Monolord has a great doom sound IMO. So many great doom albums.
 
Maybe some Opeth (Ghost Reveries) cause the production is impeccable or something from Katatonia's catalogue.
 
I'm a fan of listening to non metal to audition distinct sounds-I like Steven Wilson/Porcupine Tree (In Abstentia is a great audition rock album with some metal riffs on some songs), Pink Floyd (first three tracks of DSOTM have great sounds-clocks ticking, chimes, etc.), some 90's grunge or rock I know really well cause that was kind of my youth. Some album you know like the back of your hand-for me probably Alice and Chains or Soundgarden's Bad Motorfinger.
 
 I'll often bring one jazz track and one classical. Something obvious like Kind of Blue or Art Blakey's Moanin'.
 
The Battle from The Gladiator soundtrack has just about every symphonic element anyone could want. Great soundstage, quiet and loud dynamics....I stole that from a audiophile blog I found, but I have the album and love the soundtrack. It's a great epic symphonic battle track. Or, since I'm a dork I might bring something ominous from the LOTR soundtrack.
 
But, I just listed some albums I know and like. I think that's the main thing.

Opeth's Watershed is a great album to test a systems abilities.

Still because metal has such a diverse range of recording qualities I would be more interested in how a pair balances out in the end making great recording sound great and bad recording listenable.

Some songs can make a $20 pair of headphones sound amazing.


Ever watch a stereo salesman play an acoustic guitar song to demo a small speaker system? He found the song that highlights only the best feature the speakers can do and the musical challenges are less.


I agree Marduk's Wormwood is like an audiophile Black Metal album. I also like Primal Fear for testing headphones as they always seem to have good recordings.

The challenge is if you can listen to Metallica's Master Of Puppets all the way and stay entertained. The album is recorded well but somehow other music can sound more full to me. The hard thing about Master Of Puppets is there are many different sounding copies out there.

redcarmoose said:

Opeth's Watershed is a great album to test a systems abilities.

Still because metal has such a diverse range of recording qualities I would be more interested in how a pair balances out in the end making great recording sound great and bad recording listenable.

 

Click to expand...

I think that's a good point. Opeth and Tool will sound or should sound good on most systems because they're recorded so well. More interesting might be to see if you can tolerate some of your favorite metal that you know is recorded poorly. Some higher end systems just amplify the poor recording qualities as we've discussed before. So, that gentle acoustic guitar sounds lovely, but you're favorite BM/DM is almost unlistenable.
 
Don't underestimate the chain, too. The synergy of the amplification whether HPs or speakers can be huge. I just upgraded my speaker amp from the same company just because I felt like I needed more grunt. I've got a very small room, but going from 25w to 50w monoblocks was dramatic. It doesn't much matter with acoustic or soft music. But, it was a game changer for extreme metal!

campj said:

I noticed you started following me on Bandcamp (Jon)... That a coincidence? If so, that's pretty funny.

Click to expand...

 
Hah, what a coincidence. Could have been that I spotted you thanks to your Maladie recommendation, but then again, you have a different username there. You've got a great collection there so could not resist following you..

markm1 said:

I think that's a good point. Opeth and Tool will sound or should sound good on most systems because they're recorded so well. More interesting might be to see if you can tolerate some of your favorite metal that you know is recorded poorly. Some higher end systems just amplify the poor recording qualities as we've discussed before. So, that gentle acoustic guitar sounds lovely, but you're favorite BM/DM is almost unlistenable.

Don't underestimate the chain, too. The synergy of the amplification whether HPs or speakers can be huge. I just upgraded my speaker amp from the same company just because I felt like I needed more grunt. I've got a very small room, but going from 25w to 50w monoblocks was dramatic. It doesn't much matter with acoustic or soft music. But, it was a game changer for extreme metal!

Click to expand...

That I feel is the greatest source of confusion here. One person listens to the HD650 on one system. He may spends two days with the HD650, then feels like he has the definitive opinion on the phones. The confusion starts when someone else listens to a pair on a different system with different genres of music. The HD650 become a completely different set of headphones. Then the two folks get on Head-fi and argue about the headphones until personal insults take place and thread is locked.


System synergy is everything. A bright source can balance a dark set of headphones. Because this hobby is all about the little things in the sound signature, many forget the whole sound is a combo of the whole together.

I'm now listening to a bright DAP with dark IEM headphones. Even though the sound is not perfect, it's musical and I can listen for hours. Complete system is $65 with 8GB memory included? Go figure? It's not always how much money you spend around here, but how much time and care you chase your luck with.






Still we can not belittle the fact that expensive rigs normally do sound better than cheap set-ups. It seems many have an audiophile reaction to the esoteric big money systems. The big trend the last couple years is that 1/2 of expensive products are un- needed. All I can say is the best systems I have heard had a ton of snake oil in them. That could be overkill? I don't know.

@Music Alchemist Thank you for the link. That thread has a ton of useful info.
@markm1 and @Redcarmoose Thank you for your inputs guys.

markm1 said:

  I think that's a good point. Opeth and Tool will sound or should sound good on most systems because they're recorded so well. More interesting might be to see if you can tolerate some of your favorite metal that you know is recorded poorly. Some higher end systems just amplify the poor recording qualities as we've discussed before. So, that gentle acoustic guitar sounds lovely, but you're favorite BM/DM is almost unlistenable.
 
Don't underestimate the chain, too. The synergy of the amplification whether HPs or speakers can be huge. I just upgraded my speaker amp from the same company just because I felt like I needed more grunt. I've got a very small room, but going from 25w to 50w monoblocks was dramatic. It doesn't much matter with acoustic or soft music. But, it was a game changer for extreme metal!

Click to expand...

 
I just upgraded from my old McIntosh MC2105 to an Emotiva XPA-5 and I've found this to be the case. I used to listen to Rune of Destruction by Inanimate Existence all the time on the Mac and it sounded awesome. As soon as I started using the Emotiva it showed how flat and lifeless that track really is. When I turn on a Blu-Ray of The Blues Brothers or some Tool and Opeth, it immediately sounds far better than it had on the Macintosh. Really crazy how the stuff I used to like turns to garbage and the stuff I really love sounds even better.
 
Movies aren't even a discussion. The Mac used to clip out all the time on movies, but the XPA-5 bi-amped into my Tympani 1D's is phenomenal with movies. I can get to ear splitting levels now and there's never a sign of clipping. The part that sucks now is that the volume control is soooo much more sensitive I have to be extra careful where I set it or things can get dicey really quick.

http://www.guitarworld.com/my-war-leviathans-jef-whitehead-discusses-scar-sighted-his-biggest-influences-and-why-he-still-wont-tour
 
For those Leviathan fans out there, an interview with Wrest. God damn his Monson looks gorgeous!

redcarmoose said:

I'm now listening to a bright DAP with dark IEM headphones. Even though the sound is not perfect, it's musical and I can listen for hours. Complete system is $65 with 8GB memory included? Go figure? It's not always how much money you spend around here, but how much time and care you chase your luck with.






 

Click to expand...

sansa??

@Tom Yum Goong
 
[Note: I should post this in the headphones for metal thread, but you don't seem to frequent that one.]
 
So you said you auditioned all the in-production STAX, right? (What did you think of those, by the way? I don't recall.) Well, I just got a 1980s STAX system. Holy moly...this thing is the most amazing headphone system I have ever heard, overall. Plenty of other headphones do certain things better (and I've heard many of the flagships out there, including the Abyss, HE1000, HE-6, and HD 800), but this one takes the cake for sheer realism. I'm sure once I upgrade to better STAX, they'll leave this in the dust too.

music alchemist said:

  @Tom Yum Goong
 
[Note: I should post this in the headphones for metal thread, but you don't seem to frequent that one.]
 
So you said you auditioned all the in-production STAX, right? (What did you think of those, by the way? I don't recall.) Well, I just got a 1980s STAX system. Holy moly...this thing is the most amazing headphone system I have ever heard, overall. Plenty of other headphones do certain things better (and I've heard many of the flagships out there, including the Abyss, HE1000, HE-6, and HD 800), but this one takes the cake for sheer realism. I'm sure once I upgrade to better STAX, they'll leave this in the dust too.

Click to expand...

Uh-oh. LMAO

paradoxper said:

  Uh-oh. LMAO

Click to expand...

 
lol. You should stalk all the other threads where I've talked about the STAX, just to say "Uh-oh." in reply to each one. XD

music alchemist said:

   
lol. You should stalk all the other threads where I've talked about the STAX, just to say "Uh-oh." in reply to each one. XD

Click to expand...

Fortunately I can't ******* stand anything to do with anime. So we're good.

music alchemist said:

  @Tom Yum Goong
 
[Note: I should post this in the headphones for metal thread, but you don't seem to frequent that one.]
 
So you said you auditioned all the in-production STAX, right? (What did you think of those, by the way? I don't recall.) Well, I just got a 1980s STAX system. Holy moly...this thing is the most amazing headphone system I have ever heard, overall. Plenty of other headphones do certain things better (and I've heard many of the flagships out there, including the Abyss, HE1000, HE-6, and HD 800), but this one takes the cake for sheer realism. I'm sure once I upgrade to better STAX, they'll leave this in the dust too.

Click to expand...

Really good headphones, not the kind of sound I like. I thought they worked well with Jazz and Rock but not so much with Metal (especially not stuff like Bongripper).
All of them did sound pretty much the same to me. Improvements from model to model are hard to notice. The higher up ones are not really worth their money, if you ask me (and many other people outside summit-fi ).
They do punch above their price point, yes.