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Why do some headphones make vocals sound "sharp" like painful to the ear with the "s/t" letters?

post #1 of 33
1/12/09 at 11:13pm
Thread Starter 
Like when an vocalist sings "take me to the stairs" take and stairs come off very...sharp is the only way i can describe it, very very painful to my ears.
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post #2 of 33
1/13/09 at 12:30am
You have sibilant headphones.
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post #3 of 33
1/13/09 at 12:31am
My MS-1's hurt my ears a lot with their sharpness.
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post #4 of 33
1/13/09 at 12:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by vash2022 View Post
Like when an vocalist sings "take me to the stairs" take and stairs come off very...sharp is the only way i can describe it, very very painful to my ears.
I think you are referring to "sibilance" which is usually caused by a problem somewhere in your audio chain. It can also be caused by an improperly recorded recording.
To check the source of the sibilance, listen to the recording through speakers. Is the sibilance still there when played through the speakers? If not, then turn off the speakers and listen to the recording through your headphones plugged into the integrated headphone amp's headphone "jack". Is the sibilance there? If it is heard, there is one of two possibilities: 1) The integrated headphone amp and /or it's connection to the "jack" is defective or 2) The headphones are defective. To find out which is the source of the problem, play the recording on another system and plug your headphones into that system's integrated headphone amp's "jack". Do you still here the sibilance. If you do, your headphones are defective. It is highly unlikely that you would have two defective integrated headphone amps...

There's a reason I'm suggesting that you use the integrated amp. Doing this eliminates all other possibilities such as sonic influence from a graphic equalizer. It helps to answer what, in a very basic sense, is causing the sibilance.

If you find that the headphones are the problem, and if they are an expensive pair, it may be worth it to send them for repair.

I hope this helps.
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post #5 of 33
1/13/09 at 12:40am
My English teacher liked to talk in a very articulate manner, pronouncing all the hard p's and s's. So I'm guessing it's the nature of the human voice.
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post #6 of 33
1/13/09 at 1:26am
Paul (PeterPinna), how did you manage to ignore the entire idea that headphone itself can be sibilant rather than broken?
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post #7 of 33
1/13/09 at 1:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MaloS View Post
Paul (PeterPinna), how did you manage to ignore the entire idea that headphone itself can be sibilant rather than broken?
I didn't really ignore that idea as much as I thought it was unlikely. Don't misunderstand, I have heard headphones which were "naturally" sibilant but, really, are they that common? I have read complaints about sibilant headphones here on Head-Fi but have often thought that the cause was probably something else in the audio chain. But, I will augment (or correct if you prefer) my previous post by "saying" that yes, indeed, Stas (MaloS) is correct, the OP could have a pair of inherently sibilant headphones.
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post #8 of 33
1/13/09 at 1:49am
I guess the next question to ask is which headphones are these, vash...?
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post #9 of 33
1/13/09 at 2:00am
Thread Starter 
well my se210s had the problem so bad i had to sale them and now my dt 990s (from 12 years ago) had it with one track, but im listening to my morning jacket-evil urges and i dont have a problem
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post #10 of 33
1/13/09 at 2:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by vash2022 View Post
well my se210s had the problem so bad i had to sale them and now my dt 990s (from 12 years ago) had it with one track, but im listening to my morning jacket-evil urges and i dont have a problem
Awesome album. Well recorded. I love it.
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post #11 of 33
1/13/09 at 2:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Pinna View Post
To check the source of the sibilance, listen to the recording through speakers. Is the sibilance still there when played through the speakers? If not, then turn off the speakers and listen to the recording through your headphones plugged into the integrated headphone amp's headphone "jack". Is the sibilance there?
Not every speakers got a headphone amp integrated, some of them (like mine) will only route the source directly to the headphone.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Pinna View Post
Don't misunderstand, I have heard headphones which were "naturally" sibilant but, really, are they that common?
Well, my cheap Philips HP250 is incredibly sibilant. I'm sure it's him, because I have tested with a Sennheiser MX500, Philips SHS8000 and Philips HP460 in the same system (my computer) and none of them sound nearly as sibilant as the HP250.
But I'm not really sure if sibilant phones are common though, but I know it's probably the characteristic I hate the most, it's sooo annoying!
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post #12 of 33
1/13/09 at 2:55am
Some speakers and headphones can emphasize this, but it's generally there in a lot of recordings and it can be quite annoying. Similarly, some recordings emphasize the scratchiness of a finger/pick moving across the guitar more than others, and if you have speakers/headphones that have a bit more output in that frequency range it gets even worse.
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post #13 of 33
1/13/09 at 4:08am
I think you guys are forgetting one important part, the human ear. I know I pick this sibilance up WAY more than any of my friends who have high quality audio equipment. To them they love it, it sounds great, to me its painful. But one thing I've noticed is that the whole 'brain burn-in' helps with this.
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post #14 of 33
1/13/09 at 4:14am
990pro do that on many newer recordings. I blame crappy mastering of the recording not the headphones.
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post #15 of 33
1/13/09 at 5:21am
that's because some headphones reveal more of that crappy recording and/or soundcard that you are playing them out of.
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