found some; closed.

Quote: You're quite close, but not there yet, even though I much appreciate your opinion on the topic. I would agree that additional equalization would be  LESS NECESSARY if one had a dead flat system (possibly speakers, for it is not achievable *objectively* with cans) in an...

Quote: Oh boy, that sounds terrible! Seriously, you are on to sth there! What about these evil geeks audio engineers who fiddle with multiband compressors and parametric equalizers and all that horrible hellish stuff before they produce a sellable recording? And we have the Loudness Wars...

Quote: You don't need Grado or Stax to hear how ..... is that :P

"too revealing" is a misguided notion. If your headphone is accentuating high frequencies in a crazy way (it's what Grados do), you might think of them as too revealing. The same is true of Stax (especially 404/303/202). Total crap that takes away all the pleasure unless you are listening to...

Quote: That is a very real possibility. It would be very logical to think that the manufacturer picks better drivers for HD 595 and puts those of a less than stellar performance into HD 555 housing. Of course, all that provided there are any measurements & QC taken.

Quote: Well, while it is true that orthos can get really flat, it's too bad we don't really need that. The high frequency range will always be totally messed up in headphones, regardless the design. You always bet and wish the hills and valleys harmonize with your HRTF (and pinnae & ear...

Quote: Okay, it seems to be a problem of gradation... A loud noise, maybe? It makes people sick, to live in a noisy environment, for sure.

  Quote: Actually things get a little bit less or more subtle here (depending on your perspective). My source tells me that we developed acute hearing to respond to environment cues when hunting or running away. So hearing helped us a lot in surviving. An interesting side note is that...

You can try to think of it in the following way: is the music produced nowadays supposed to sound pleasant and funny, or boring/uninvolving? Then, try to find the most musical/fun sounding system and be happy with it Neutrality is needed for mixing/production, and even there it is referred to...

Quote:   A Grado fan, possibly? If you like a very upfront midrange, then D2000 is definitely not for you. This headphone has a very speaker like presentation, it is relaxed as far as "natural" goes.

What about Foobar's "Downmix channels to mono"?

Strictly speaking, HD 555 is a kind of headphone that does not need an amp/dedicated soundcard. However, you always do better with better toys.

Almost every measurement of HD 800 shows a considerable treble spike in 8-9kHz region, so if you're sensitive to high frequency content, it might be an issue. Psychoacoustically speaking, the balance should be fine as long as the treble spike is on the same level with the bass bump.    HD595...

What do these need to sound good? A thorough redesign? A change of philosophy? No, you're kiddin' me. Airy and weightless sound is excellent.... for some 30% of my music, possibly. If I could return to these days some K 501 rested on my shelf, I would. But then I would have other excellent...