[wind016]

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Boy my experience has been far from yours.  Quite literally almost every live concert I go to has highs so piercing and strong that I sometimes need to cover my ears.  On the opposite side of the rig, my DT990 (which almost all of head-fi calls too bright to even listen to) don't even stack up to the live concerts in terms of piercing highs that hurt my ears.
 
Brightness era of head-fi?  I seriously doubt it.  The overall trend is "warmer is better."  I certainly respect people for liking the sennheiser signature, but I personally can't stand the sennheiser signature, the highs just aren't as sparkly as they could be.
 
 

Comparing concert sound to recording? Let's not. Who considers neutrality in a concert? The artists just want to be heard clearly.
 
As for headphones, the trend is far from "warmer is better." It's brighter is better. Just look at all the top headphones, HD800, T1, Ultrasone ED10, Denon D7000, etc etc  They ALL have treble peaks. What rhythmdevils is saying that few headphones are actually recessed in the treble. There's no argument about whether you should like it.
 


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anyone who has actually played around on a set of drums knows cymbals really do sparkle with ear shattering brightness. i can say this because i have played with drums before. and TMraven, it depends on the room, a concrete room will sound ultra bright, a smaller venue with drywall and carpet, not so much. it all depends on the room. my listening room is acoustically inert as much as i can get it to be with sound absorption panels and things sound super bright, and thats using flat speakers, i had my setup in the living room once, which has no dampening and is very echoey, it definitely had a warmer sound. there is a BIG difference between brightness and harshness IMO. brightness is natural, harshness is over brightness and it sounds unnatural.
 
 

We shouldn't be considering rooms when we're talking about headphones. Yes different types of rooms can affect the frequency response, but neutral is neutral. Neutral headphones will reproduce accurately what was recorded. If the recording was done in a concrete room, then it should sound bright, but most are not.