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Listening fatigue

post #1 of 40
12/27/12 at 4:08am
Thread Starter 
Just wanna ask you guys, do you experience this?
 
Over a listening session, if I listen to the song (at moderately loud volume) for more than 30 mins, I'll experience something like my ears ain't capturing the details anymore. I will have to put more effort to notice the song itself. It happens faster if I'm listening to rock/louder songs.
 
How about you? I guess it's called listening fatigue right?
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post #2 of 40
12/27/12 at 8:08am

I don't experience this, but then again I don't listen loud.

 

Possible problems are:

- imbalanced frequency response (for example peaky or boosted treble -> EQ)

- stereo separation (-> crossfeed)

- pressure in the ear canal with sealing head-/earphones

- high clamping force


Edited by xnor - 12/27/12 at 8:11am
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post #3 of 40
12/27/12 at 11:21am
Aside from mechanical issues of headphones not fitting one's noggin, listening fatigue is almost always a result of imbalanced frequency response. A narrow spike in the upper mids can be pretty much inaudible when listening to music, but it can cut into your ears like a knife. Cranking the treble can do it too, and that's easy to do if you have a little hearing loss at the top.
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post #4 of 40
12/27/12 at 11:34am

Some music is just fatiguing to listen to.  Not everything is supposed to be sunshine and unicorns leaping over rainbows.

 

Some albums are recorded and processed in such a way that even though the music may not necessarily be fatiguing by content, the master itself is too compressed or bright or loud sounding.

 

Some sound reproduction systems may have flaws that shift the balance, provide too much stereo separation (i.e. headphones without correction), have way too much distortion, etc.

 

The above effects may interact.

 

 

In your case, my guess is to blame the masters foremost.

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post #5 of 40
12/27/12 at 12:22pm
Thread Starter 

Well, to be precise, my experience comes to that I felt I lost track of the details of the song. I felt like for the same song I played again and again, the listening experiences somehow differ. I always thought it was my physiological problem and not the song. Well, for one, I try to listen on a lower listening level. it helps me to retain focus on the songs a little longer, say a +30 minutes before I start to experience a lost on certain details again.

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post #6 of 40
12/27/12 at 12:42pm
You might try doing a little EQing, autumnholy. It isn't supposed to be that way.
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post #7 of 40
12/27/12 at 12:48pm
Thread Starter 

Well, I will be able to do the EQ-ing when i'm using my desktop setup.

 

But on a portable player (I just bricked my iPod), I am currently using a screen-less media player therefore I'm unable to access into the EQ features. Looking for a better portable player btw.

 

Speaking of EQ, what am i supposed to do? Tuning it to become flat?

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post #8 of 40
12/27/12 at 1:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by autumnholy View Post

Well, to be precise, my experience comes to that I felt I lost track of the details of the song. I felt like for the same song I played again and again, the listening experiences somehow differ. I always thought it was my physiological problem and not the song. Well, for one, I try to listen on a lower listening level. it helps me to retain focus on the songs a little longer, say a +30 minutes before I start to experience a lost on certain details again.


Hold on, do you mean you listen to the same song over and over for 30+ minutes?

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post #9 of 40
12/27/12 at 5:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by autumnholy View Post

Speaking of EQ, what am i supposed to do? Tuning it to become flat?

I'd start by looking at the response chart for your headphones and see if there is a bump somewhere between the upper mids and the top. Try dialing that back to flat and see if it helps.
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post #10 of 40
12/27/12 at 8:19pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigshot View Post


I'd start by looking at the response chart for your headphones and see if there is a bump somewhere between the upper mids and the top. Try dialing that back to flat and see if it helps.

 

IEM: Flat-4-Sui Ocharaku. Requesting FR graph from the designer Facebook. Shure SE535 LTD. Frankly, I can tolerate the Shure longer than the other headphones/earphones.

Headphones: Beyerdynamic T70 (250 Ohm). 

 

Edit: I'm aware of the unusual spike of T70 on the 5KHz, 8-9 KHz and also 12-13 KHz by testing using Sinegen. The rest I haven't tried yet.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by anetode View Post


Hold on, do you mean you listen to the same song over and over for 30+ minutes?

 

I'll be bored on the 3rd time lol.


Edited by autumnholy - 12/27/12 at 8:21pm
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post #11 of 40
12/29/12 at 11:13am

Shure SE535: http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/ShureSE535.pdf

 

Beyeredynamic T70 (250 ohm): http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/BeyerdynamicT70250Ohm.pdf

 

You see the classic Beyer treble on that model. The IEM seems to be reasonably well behaved though.

 

Listening fatigue is part of the nature of headphones to a certain extent. You can try more comfortable pads or rolled off treble but it won't change the fact that you've got a transducer strapped to your head.

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post #12 of 40
12/29/12 at 1:45pm

Yeah I get fatigue when I use my Marantz amp with my HD650. It pumps out too much bass.

 

Sometimes I like to switch from the Little Dot to the Marantz just to give in to a sense of wanting to experience that heavy-sounding frequency response. It's fun at first, but after a short while I always have to conclude the bass does my head in and I happily go back to the Little Dot, which I can listen to for hours.

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post #13 of 40
12/30/12 at 2:00pm

Listening fatigue?

 

You pussies have been reading too many audiophile reviews.

 

I once stood right in front of the speakers for 3 hours straight at a Hawkwind gig.

 

What's that you say?

 

Young people nowadays got no stamina.

 

w

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post #14 of 40
12/30/12 at 2:24pm

If you're listening to headphones it's most likely due to loudness or super-stereo, if I find the link I will edit my post but I read that the fact that headphones are completely independant from each other (speakers have a natural crossfeed) the brain takes much more energy into analyzing and interpreting the sound which causes listening fatigue.

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post #15 of 40
12/30/12 at 2:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by wakibaki View Post

Listening fatigue?

 

You pussies have been reading too many audiophile reviews.

 

I once stood right in front of the speakers for 3 hours straight at a Hawkwind gig.

 

What's that you say?

 

Young people nowadays got no stamina.

 

w

It's a little different with speakers... I've been right up front at plenty of concerts with no problem, but listen to headphones at any volume for several hours straight and fatigue kicks in.

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