[bigshot]

I was part of a testing group for Oppo's PM-1s, and the engineer who designed them said that the pivot was incredibly expensive to manufacture. They send me three copies to evaluate, and one of them had some sort of fiber resin joint that worked as well as the metal one (but not as shiny and pretty).

 

[MayaTlab]

I was part of a testing group for Oppo's PM-1s, and the engineer who designed them said that the pivot was incredibly expensive to manufacture. They send me three copies to evaluate, and one of them had some sort of fiber resin joint that worked as well as the metal one (but not as shiny and pretty).

I'd love to know more about how exactly headphones brands go about designing / engineering the mechanical parts / ergonomics of their headphones, it seems a very under-appreciated aspect of headphones development even though it has a massive impact on the FR people actually experience at their eardrum (vs a test dummy).

 

[bigshot]

Oppo created a private discussion forum and send samples to us and had us give feedback. The lead engineer was part of the group and we could ask him questions. I did a whole bunch of testing on the three sets of cans they sent me and gave a lot of suggestions and feedback. They loved me. And then they sent me their HA-1 headphone amp and I told them that it sounded exactly the same as patching my headphones directly into my iMac's headphone jack. They didn't like that and I didn't hear anything back from them after that! It's OK. They asked me for my honest opinion and I gave it to them.

A lot of their requests for feedback involved the fit... clamping pressure, how comfortable, that sort of thing. The engineer had his target curve and had nailed it before we started giving feedback, so although I gave feedback on that, he didn't implement it. Didn't need to because that was 99% there anyway.

This is a weird idea, but it is interesting.

Man! Those Bose suck!

 

[bigshot]

I've been working on EQ and I've figured out the response curves of these. They appear to have a slight bowl shaped curve. The lowest and highest ranges are boosted, and it's a bit recessed in the middle, centered somewhere between 1 and 2kHz. I did an upside down dish shaped EQ and orchestral music works now. It isn't that big of a correction- maybe 3 or 4dB at the extremes. But it makes a big difference in the voicing of strings in orchestral pieces and some vocals. I know some people like big fat bass and sparkle on top. Maybe that was what they were aiming at with a bit of a tweak to the extremes. Now that I've corrected the EQ, there is much less difference between these and my Oppos. I'll have to see if I can find a response measurement on these so I can compare them to Harman and see how my own EQ curve compares.

I wish I knew what the DSP was doing. It plays some things quite different than I am used to. Perhaps that's because I'm most used to the sound of speakers. It accentuates engineering mistakes like sloppy potting and muting. I was playing a classical piece and the quiet before the music starts pulled up the room tone and gave it an odd kind of sound like an air conditioner whoosh. Once the music started it was OK. That also might have something to do with the adaptive noise cancellation. These headphones create the quietest noise floor I've ever heard. It's honestly like being in Carlsbad Caverns. The silence is almost uncomfortable. Perhaps that room tone is there like that in the recording, but I just don't hear it because it's buried under my own room tone.

I'm getting some bluetooth connectivity issues... little bump here and there, and some puzzling complete sound drop outs as if it disconnected, but it shows as being connected and works for Siri. That may be an iTunes thing. That's next on my list to track down. (EDIT: Found out... it's my comp and iTunes. If I do too many things on my comp, it acts up.)

 

[bigshot]

I've been listening to a bunch of the headphone surround stuff and I've learned something about it... It relies on the eyes more than the ears. There's a reason that it is only available on movies and TV shows. All of the front/back dimensionality relies heavily on visual cues. Every time I thought I could hear something behind me or crossing from front to back, I ran it back and closed my eyes and listened again and it was all between my two ears. I went to youtube and looked at some Dolby Atmos trailers. Every single one of them had a visual object that told you how you were supposed to hear the dimensionality. I'm sure it works with actual speakers, but I am very skeptical that we'll hear true dimensional sound with headphones and a phone anytime soon.

I do hold out hope for DSPs that can create separation though. I think what Apple is trying to do is an audio equivalent of the machine learning involved in HDR with their advanced cameras. I can totally see elements being separated out from a mix and applying time manipulation to make them sound like they are in a space. It isn't fidelity nor authenticity, but it would be very interesting. Kind of like remastering on the fly.

 

[bigshot]

I'm getting close to finishing my project on these cans. Today I found a measurement and EQed the AirPods Max to match Harman. It was very close to my by ear EQ. The main difference was that the midrange boost needed to be around 2kHz, not 1kHz. The upper mids are a little attenuated from Harman, but that is how I like it. My ears are a little more sensitive up there than other people's. I guess I have a low flinch point. In any case, I'm happy with this EQ curve and I'm going to run with it. I do wish there was some equalizer app that would work globally across both my iPhone and my iMac. It's close enough to be listenable without equalization, but it's much better with it.

 

[bikefixe]

Hello big: I'd be interested in a screenshot or eq table of where you wound up. Suspect I'd find it a useful starting point for my own listening with these headphones...

 

[Tachyon88]

@bigshot Hey, what program are you using to EQ ? Are you exclusively an apple user or have you tried them with a PC ?

 

[bigshot]

I was using the crappy iTunes equalizer, because that is the only equalizer I have that works over bluetooth. If anyone has a suggestion of an Apple app that works system wide on an iMac as well as an iPhone, I'm all ears. Not sure about PCs. Here is the curve I arrived at. Just for reference, the 1K and 4K are personal preference. The 1K probably should be perfectly flat for Harman and the 4K should probably be a bit higher for the standard curve.

 

[Tachyon88]

I was using the crappy iTunes equalizer, because that is the only equalizer I have that works over bluetooth. If anyone has a suggestion of an Apple app that works system wide on an iMac as well as an iPhone, I'm all ears. Not sure about PCs. Here is the curve I arrived at. Just for reference, the 1K and 4K are personal preference. The 1K probably should be perfectly flat for Harman and the 4K should probably be a bit higher for the standard curve.

I have apples devices, but I would like to connect to my PC and use equalizerAPO, but did not know if using the EQ would be possible over bluetooth.

If a PC APM could chime in, that would be great !

How do you like it with the EQ dialed in ?

 

[bigshot]

It is listenable without the EQ, just a little recessed in the vocal range and a little heavy in the low bass. With the EQ dialed in, it hits my sweet spot.

 

[bikefixe]

I was using the crappy iTunes equalizer, because that is the only equalizer I have that works over bluetooth. If anyone has a suggestion of an Apple app that works system wide on an iMac as well as an iPhone, I'm all ears. Not sure about PCs. Here is the curve I arrived at. Just for reference, the 1K and 4K are personal preference. The 1K probably should be perfectly flat for Harman and the 4K should probably be a bit higher for the standard curve.

Much appreciate this. I often overdo EQ adjustments. This one looks too subtle at first but proves out nicely after an extended listen. Thank you.

Yes, one adjustment for the mac and iOS systems would be great - haven't found that yet either!

 

[KeithPhantom]

Much appreciate this. I often overdo EQ adjustments. This one looks too subtle at first but proves out nicely after an extended listen. Thank you.

Yes, one adjustment for the mac and iOS systems would be great - haven't found that yet either!

Yeah, that's true. If Apple had systemwide support for PEQ. I had to buy a Qudelix 5K just to use EQ with other apps outside of Neutron. And with the announcement of lossless Apple Music (not that I care about hearing a difference though), things are going to get even more interesting.

 

[bigshot]

And from what I'm told the Apple Lossless won't work with bluetooth devices like AirPods!

 

[KeithPhantom]

Well, I think it is because the custom W1/H1 chip they use only supports AAC and SBC as codecs. Maybe Apple updates the firmware and support other codecs or maybe even create their own lossless codec.