Audiophiles are bassheads in some degree?
Dec 19, 2014 at 2:33 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 12

ubs28

Headphoneus Supremus
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There are posts about the brightness of the HD800 and some even buy expensive gear to reduce the brightness. Yet there is almost no complaints about the mid-bass bump. I think there is nobody that buys expensive gear to reduce the mid-bass of the HD800. So would that mean that audiophiles are bassheads to some degree?
 

 
Dec 20, 2014 at 3:38 PM Post #2 of 12
Maybe brightness is something that tends to be more annoying than bass in general, bass is usually pleasing to the ear, while brightness is rather harsh.
I am planning to get the HD800 in the (not so far) future.  As a Grado fan and owner, I don't think I Will have a problem with their so called "brightness" :)  I think they will be a nice neutral complement to the Grados
 
Dec 20, 2014 at 3:56 PM Post #4 of 12
Maybe there's a slight tendency towards that.

I lack long term experience in the audiophile "scene", but I know the following:
 
The M50s are some of the most recommended budget headphones ever. 
To my ears, the M50s are way, way too bassy. I like my headphones and speakers as flat as possible (I'm one of those "as the producer intended" type hippies) , and I never got the appeal of extra bass. Especially thumpy, mid-y bass. Sub-bass is more pleasing to my ear. 
 
Then again, what dictates the norm if not a majority? 
 
 
Dec 20, 2014 at 9:55 PM Post #5 of 12
  There are posts about the brightness of the HD800 and some even buy expensive gear to reduce the brightness. Yet there is almost no complaints about the mid-bass bump. I think there is nobody that buys expensive gear to reduce the mid-bass of the HD800. So would that mean that audiophiles are bassheads to some degree?

 
Audiophile as a term is at the extreme of a continuum; it's more likely that a given person interested in audio is better described by some other term. So no need to stretch the meaning of audiophile to cover whatever the majority happen to be doing.
 
Dec 21, 2014 at 10:53 AM Post #7 of 12
Quote:65
  There are posts about the brightness of the HD800 and some even buy expensive gear to reduce the brightness. Yet there is almost no complaints about the mid-bass bump. I think there is nobody that buys expensive gear to reduce the mid-bass of the HD800. So would that mean that audiophiles are bassheads to some degree?

 
You can't really tell the actual overall sound from the graph; what it can tell you is if there are obvious response issues, or as a guide for EQ-ing it closer to flat. Many headphones vary greatly in terms of the ups and downs in the midrange up to the treble, but a lot of them actually have a bump in the midbass. This isn't simply about being basshead, but compensating for how speakers would otherwise sound like. For example speakers may measure flatter in the same range, but since it pressurizes the air, if you're in a small enough room (or using big enough speakers), you can "feel" the bass if there's a loud enough bass drum hit for example, which enhances the overall listening experience. The thing with speaker vs headphone reviews though is that since the room can EQ a speaker's response, speaker reviews typically don't bother with measurements anymore.
 
Here's a comparative graph that includes the HD600 and HD650. Looking at it the HD800 should have more bass than the HD600, and sound similar to the HD650, but if you read subjective impressions that's not the case. One problem with the subjective impressions though is that many of them are made with a lot of wear on the earpads, like being the nth person to try it out late into a meet, or having owned it for a while. Depending on a lot of ergonomic factors earpad wear may affect some headphones differently and on absolutely brand new earpads the HD600 and HD650 are very close to the HD800's sound.
 
Dec 22, 2014 at 12:51 PM Post #8 of 12
Anyone that says HD800 are bass light are deaf or something. I had them for a while and they're definitely not bass light.
They may not be crazy bass cannons, but the entire FR of bass is there, and definitely present, it definitely presents a rumble here and there and some kick when it's needed.
 
Dec 22, 2014 at 1:07 PM Post #9 of 12
Anyone that says HD800 are bass light are deaf or something. I had them for a while and they're definitely not bass light.

I think people "learn" from the media to prefer bass and do not realise how much is revealed by upper mids and treble done well.

Perceived bass and brightness are also currently amongst the most mis-described and debated qualities on the forum. I remember a few years back it was dark this and dark that. It is all cyclical. The reassuring constant is that threads will settle down once fotm has passed and you can extract the consistent opinions and equipment reviews
 
Dec 22, 2014 at 3:28 PM Post #10 of 12
  There are posts about the brightness of the HD800 and some even buy expensive gear to reduce the brightness. Yet there is almost no complaints about the mid-bass bump. I think there is nobody that buys expensive gear to reduce the mid-bass of the HD800. So would that mean that audiophiles are bassheads to some degree?
 


Well, the mid-bass bump is... actually not so much a mid-bass bump. Notice how it's centered around 300Hz or so. That's more a lower-mid bump.
 
And also if you'd pay attention to the scale, low bass is -10dB down from that bump, which... is kind of not the definition of "basshead" per se.
 
More sub bass being perceived as "better" is actually a very natural reaction. This follows the Fletcher-Munson curve pretty well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher–Munson_curves
 
So... it's not that audiophiles are bassheads, but that all humans are bassheads to a certain degree. Certainly, having more lower bass to compensate for our inability to perceive it well would help.
 
Dec 22, 2014 at 6:03 PM Post #11 of 12
  Maybe brightness is something that tends to be more annoying than bass in general, bass is usually pleasing to the ear, while brightness is rather harsh.
I am planning to get the HD800 in the (not so far) future.  As a Grado fan and owner, I don't think I Will have a problem with their so called "brightness" :)  I think they will be a nice neutral complement to the Grados

 
Yes, brightness really annoys me. For the bass, I'm willing to sacrifice that, a little, for other things but not to give it up completely. For my setup, the bass is OK. Not great, but some of that is because of the different environment (headphones instead of loudspeakers).
 
Dec 29, 2014 at 12:14 PM Post #12 of 12
i would def agree. why? because its part of the sound spectrum. to be a audiophile one is to enjoy the full range of the sound spectrum not just one frequency aspect or another, but all the frequencies in their totality. if one was to be biased against a frequency then they wouldnt totally be enjoying the complete tonality of all frequencies had to offer.
 
now with that being said, there has to be a balance in frequencies.
 
and i think that in that balance is where you will find use ''audiophiles'' bassheads'' because we enjoy the frequency of bass the lower tones, but in moderation and in given circumstances.
 
just a full rush of muddled bass is not what a ''audiophile'' will consider to be enjoyable by all means, its just like a basshead enjoys highs, they have to, its almost a given law, just listening to bass is boring, you need highs you need mids, you need the full spectrum of sound frequencies to fill in the spaces, to how much well that is to the listener at hand.
 

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