I had this impression that there are a lot of EL-8 haters out there. So when I sat down and listened to the EL-8 open today my expectations weren't that high, but as soon as the music started my thought was...these sound quite good!
There are a ton of haters, one reason is largely the frequency response graph. The EL-8 was measured with a crazy dip around 6500Hz and immediately everyone went crazy about it. I posted a picture on Reddit and literally the first handful of responses were about the "treble canyon".
All I know is when I tried them on, I immediately went "yep, these are what I'll be buying."
These are great sounding headphones. I don't care about graphs, I just know what i hear. But I think the majority of the hating is about the defective EL-8's that came out.
It's awesome except for the huge drop around 6500Hz, except I think something is funny with that because I definitely do not hear a drop on NEARLY that level. I mean like, according to the chart, around there the headphone practically stops making sound:
If I had to take a guess, that's due to some cancellation that happens inside the cups if they aren't situated properly.
The human ear is quite sensitive to that region. I would not expect the average person to detect that alleged 6kHz dip.
These cans are excellent! Only the self professed "Golden Ears" have said otherwise :rolleyes:
Or perhaps have narrower than average auditory canals which would raise their canals' resonance, thus sensitivity, higher in frequency.
The only time I can detect it is doing a sine sweep. During actual music, like others have said, the treble sounds more pronounced compared to usual Audeze fare (which isn't necessarily a bad thing).
The only time I can detect it is doing a sine sweep. During actual music, like others have said, the treble sounds more pronounced compared to usual Audeze fare (which isn't necessarily a bad thing).
Same. I can clearly hear 2 distinct dips (@ or inbetween ~6k and ~7k) using a sine generator. It's not really audible in normal listening though (at least not to my ears).
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I'm also curious about these, they get a LOT of negativity, an I had an LCD 2 Fazor I demo'd for a while an... yea it sounded just like it's graph a nice BIG DIP in the like entire upper mids, anything with vocals was wonky! I tried to watch movies with it an it drove me nuts
either way, I try not to pass judgement on things I've not heard, though 9/10 the graph can confirm what your hearing, when you hearing something that's... amiss.
Like the HE X has a bit rolled off sub Bass... turns out the graphs measures the same thing
The thing is, I'm not going to try and claim these are the most "accurate" headphones in the world. But you know what they are? Some of my FAVORITE sounding headphones.
I'm coming to the conclusion that Audeze is a little like Grado in that either you like the house sound or you don't. If you feel it's "unnatural" or whatever then probably their whole line will seem off to you. To me, they sound well rounded and inviting.
A funny thing actually happened at work today, I started up an album with the volume kinda high (I'm alone tonight on shift) and I actually got confused because I thought the music was coming out of my PC speakers for a moment. I had to take them off my head and play a second, then put them back on. The sound was THAT big.
The thing is, I'm not going to try and claim these are the most "accurate" headphones in the world. But you know what they are? Some of my FAVORITE sounding headphones.
I'm coming to the conclusion that Audeze is a little like Grado in that either you like the house sound or you don't. If you feel it's "unnatural" or whatever then probably their whole line will seem off to you. To me, they sound well rounded and inviting.
A funny thing actually happened at work today, I started up an album with the volume kinda high (I'm alone tonight on shift) and I actually got confused because I thought the music was coming out of my PC speakers for a moment. I had to take them off my head and play a second, then put them back on. The sound was THAT big.
Same. I can clearly hear 2 distinct dips (@ or inbetween ~6k and ~7k) using a sine generator. It's not really audible in normal listening though (at least not to my ears).
Yes, that was my point. The fact that most people's ears are sensitive to that audio frequency region shouldn't cause the dip to be noticeable while listening to most music. It may even be an advantage because it's compensating for the ear's high sensitivity to those frequencies.
Yes, that was my point. The fact that most people's ears are sensitive to that audio frequency region shouldn't cause the dip to be noticeable while listening to most music. It may even be an advantage because it's compensating for the ear's high sensitivity to those frequencies.
I'd be willing to bet that's why the dip is there, I just think something very peculiar happened in that particular measurement because if the headphones actually dropped off that far there'd be a chunk in the spectrum nearly missing entirely, which is simply not the case.
Just for the hell of it I sat and ran sine sweeps at a fairly moderate volume for a few minutes here, trying to pinpoint where my ears hear it the most readily. To my hearing, it's about 6200-6400Hz and another happens at roughly 8200Hz. It's an audible dip, but not a canyon-like drop that the IF graph showed. What I hear is just about spot-on to Audeze's own graph and I seriously don't think there is a better headphone out there that can be played out of a phone outside of high-end IEMs.
I'm just tempted to look at the closed-back so I can use them at work at full volume...
I'd be willing to bet that's why the dip is there, I just think something very peculiar happened in that particular measurement because if the headphones actually dropped off that far there'd be a chunk in the spectrum nearly missing entirely, which is simply not the case.
Just for the hell of it I sat and ran sine sweeps at a fairly moderate volume for a few minutes here, trying to pinpoint where my ears hear it the most readily. To my hearing, it's about 6200-6400Hz and another happens at roughly 8200Hz. It's an audible dip, but not a canyon-like drop that the IF graph showed. What I hear is just about spot-on to Audeze's own graph and I seriously don't think there is a better headphone out there that can be played out of a phone outside of high-end IEMs.
I'm just tempted to look at the closed-back so I can use them at work at full volume...
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