[Ultramus]

Ouch, that treble falls off a cliff compared to both the LCD and he-6, and for those saying 10khz is the limit of human hearing? Poppycock, I can hear tones up to 20khz still at 24, and even most older people can at least hear to 15ish, from the plot this looks like a good headphone for rock and pop and not as good for anything with strings or pianos.

 

[jerg]

Ouch, that treble falls off a cliff compared to both the LCD and he-6, and for those saying 10khz is the limit of human hearing? Poppycock, I can hear tones up to 20khz still at 24, and even most older people can at least hear to 15ish, from the plot this looks like a good headphone for rock and pop and not as good for anything with strings or pianos.

I can get up to close to 20kHz too in terms of detection, but anything over 18kHz is more of a brain/heart-piercing pain than something I can describe as a pitch.

 

[musicheaven]

There always going to be some with golden ears once through an hearing test can't tell 10khz from 15khz. The upper end dropping off is common even among the best headphones, it's by design and they all fall like a rock around the 10khz point.

 

[conquerator2]

I can hear up to 17+khz with the K612 Pro. While the MA900 for instance rolls off at 11khz.
It is something you can definitely tell in their tonal balance.
The 612 are still not a very airy headphone to my ears so I do believe that air is generated [?] by a slight boost at 13khz and up, Jerg might know more.
Again we are talking airy treble, there's still air in the midrange, where the PM1 might excel.

 

[zowki]

Try using an EQ to cut frequencies after 10KHz. It loses a lot of air and sparkle. I would not like a headphone that has such a limited treble extension.

 

[jerg]

10kHz is the definition region of treble, it's the meat of the upper end detail. 11-14k is the "sparkle / texture" region, for things like the metallic shimmer of cymbals or materials rubbing together. 15k+ is largely airiness and ambient sound, and occasionally the upper extremes of some instruments do dip into this (some metallic wind instruments, for instance).

 

[musicheaven]

It's a dimple at that frequency point lasting a good few kHz then picking up again hence allowing higher frequencies to get through however instruments like a piano for example does not even reach that point. Lots of instruments barely reach that point except for synthetic sounds like famous synthesizers. What most of us hear are harmonics and overtones at higher frequencies.

 

[zilch0md]

Ouch, that treble falls off a cliff compared to both the LCD and he-6, and for those saying 10khz is the limit of human hearing? Poppycock, I can hear tones up to 20khz still at 24, and even most older people can at least hear to 15ish, from the plot this looks like a good headphone for rock and pop and not as good for anything with strings or pianos.

Read the text of that article, in addition to looking at the FR charts. He says the PM-1 treble sits between the LCD-XC and the HE-6.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/712932/oppo-pm-1-planar-magnetic-headphone-appreciation-thread/585#post_10454291

 

[Beagle]

Ouch, that treble falls off a cliff compared to both the LCD and he-6, and for those saying 10khz is the limit of human hearing? Poppycock, I can hear tones up to 20khz still at 24, and even most older people can at least hear to 15ish, from the plot this looks like a good headphone for rock and pop and not as good for anything with strings or pianos.

 

  Try using an EQ to cut frequencies after 10KHz. It loses a lot of air and sparkle. I would not like a headphone that has such a limited treble extension.

 
Try this. Using EQ, cut off all frequencies below 10-15kHz and tell me how much actual music you hear

 

[musicheaven]

   
 
Try this. Using EQ, cut off all frequencies below 10-15kHz and tell me how much actual music you hear

A load of nothing 

 

[Otodynia]

  PM-1 measurements vs LCD-X and HE-6 : http://stereos.about.com/od/Measurements/ss/Oppo-Digital-PM-1-Headphone-Measurements.htm

Any reason why this review says the PM-1s are 64-ohm while Oppo's specs claim 32-ohm (final paragraph of page 1)?  Not being familiar with headphone measurement techniques/gear, would this difference change the frequency response plots at all?
 
Edit: Page 3 mentions using a Musical Fidelity V-can with 5-ohm output impedance.  Doesn't the general rule of thumb call for a phone/source impedance ratio of 8-10?  If the Oppo's are actually 32-ohm, that a headphone:source impedance ratio of 6.4:1.  Is that a problem, or are purely-resistive planar magnetics a different ball game when it comes to the issue of source impedance?

 

[zowki]

   
 
Try this. Using EQ, cut off all frequencies below 10-15kHz and tell me how much actual music you hear

Not a whole lot, but that is dodging the point that 10KHz rolloff is unacceptable, especially for a $1099 flagship headphone. Those frequencies are important for adding realism to the recording.
The Oppo PM-1 may not actually sound like that though, we'll have to wait for subjective reviews for more consensus.

 

[conquerator2]

Not a whole lot, but that is dodging the point that 10KHz rolloff is unacceptable, especially for a $1099 flagship headphone. Those frequencies are important for adding realism to the recording.
The Oppo PM-1 may not actually sound like that though, we'll have to wait for subjective reviews for more consensus.

Or better yet, objective review. People other than the testers, those who bought the headphone for their money.
No offense meant.

 

[Ultramus]

It's a dimple at that frequency point lasting a good few kHz then picking up again hence allowing higher frequencies to get through however instruments like a piano for example does not even reach that point. Lots of instruments barely reach that point except for synthetic sounds like famous synthesizers. What most of us hear are harmonics and overtones at higher frequencies.

I won't disagree that few principle notes reach that frequency, but it is those higher order harmonics that comprise how string instruments sound, thus something without adequate treble extension will not be the best for piano and classical.

I'll be on the lookout for the pm-2 since everyone is praising the pm-1, but I think I want more extension for the price point.

 

[frix]

funny how people are already jumping to conclusions