flat response headphones

Almost all high end headphones claim they have flat frequency response for studio use. The typical person whose actually worked in a studio would probably approve about 10% of headphones that claim they're for studio use, and some of them being bare minimum approval at that.

 

You can try looking at frequency response graphs but you're better off just going to listen to some headphones and decide what sounds nice to you.

I have never heard a flat headphone.  And I've heard almost every good headphone ever made...

Thank you! It's weird. The only headphones that are flat are the ones that do everything badly. All decent headphones tend to lean one way or another.
 

 

If you really want flat, get speakers. 

Then you gotta hear the best rooms ever made too.

Whatever, my Mackies sound waaaaaay flatter than any headphone no matter what room they're in.  They'd sound flatter than any headphone if they were crammed inside a freakin closet.

flat headphones tend to sound very bright to lot of people cause naturally a headphone to sound ''flat'' it has to be specially equalized in an acoustic chamber. if you want ''accurate'' sounding headphones that sound like monitoring speakers and if you can find them and feed them good power,then i would try to hunt down pair of discontinued AKG 240DF. some of the best clarity and speed you'll get from a dynamic headphone. to be honest i don't know why it's not very popular around here. i guess it doesn't give the fake accentuated bass impact most people are accustomed to is only thing i can think of.

I don't think those are flat either.  Bright, lacking impact = not flat

How do you know those mackies are truly flat compared to some flat-ish headphones, though?  The room has major impact on the overall frequency reproduction of speakers, and for starters mackies have a bit of a mid-bass bloom.  I really love the way they sound, though.  Mid-bass emphasis is excusable to a point for me personally.  My pair of psb speakers' bass output can be dramatically different if I'm near corners/walls of a room or near any wall.  And no, they're front ported.

You should let go of that 'as produce intended' idea for the most part.  Listen to what you think sounds best.  Often times songs will be mastered with different systems in mind: ie, computer speakers or apple buds or subwoofer ridden clubs.

lack of impact is from lack of power. feed them power with good dampen factor for complete control of the driver and it will provide impact if the track has good dynamics. it will let you know if it's either good dynamics or accentuation. it has good top and air extension but literately cuts off around 18k but doesn't sound very bright. it can most defiantly on some tracks but i usually notice it from badly mastered electronic music with the artificial hi-hats and cymbals and most likely from lack of dynamics in the music since most electronic music has zero dynamics whatsoever. listening to something like Lion King album or old vinyl jazz like The Jonah Jones Quartet- Jumpin' with a Shuffle(or any other their albums) you'll notice how well these pick up dynamics.

they have good sub-bass extension as well but they start to roll off after 30hz a bit. think of them as a more refined and improved Sextett LP. these has the extension up top like the sextetts but with greater speed. the bass and sub-bass are more detailed as well. midrange if you liked the sextetts then no brainer anyone would like these but the midrange on the DF's are defiantly much more clean and clear. best thing about them is clarity across the spectrum.

How loud do you have to listen to fully power a driver?  Say you have a headphone that's hard to drive, but your amplifier gives them a sufficient loudness with plenty of headroom on its dial.  What exactly dictates a headphone having more power and dynamics while having the same amount of volume?  I guess I'm talking about the damping factor but don't really fully understand it.

 

One personal example would be my DT990 600Ω.  Through the Little Dot I rarely have to boost the dial above 20% to get sufficient volume.  However, when I up the volume I don't really notice an improvement of dynamics either.  Then I hear some people with more powerful amps having to boost the volume on their dial to higher percentages, but supposedly those said amps can give better dynamics.  Is there such a thing as an amp properly controlling its power?  Is there such a thing as getting a driver to provide its fullest dynamics and achieving its best control/impact without giving it gobs of power?

Edited by TMRaven - 12/11/11 at 4:55pm