[ardilla]

Many headphones are bright, and for those of us that have a problem with brightness, it would be fabulous to have people share their experience in on place. 
 
The issue of brightness-sensitivity is not a matter of preference, but of physical discomfort or even outright pain. 
 
I have owned three high quality headsets:
 
 HD800 is brighter than T1 is brighter than HD650
 
Both HD800 and T1 can be painfull to me. Amps: Grace m902 and Naim headline (both SS) Grace m902 seems to be brighter sounding amp than the Naim Headline. 
 
HD650 is never bright. Love it. 
 
The Grado's I've listened to (325 and RS1000) were both brighter than the 3 above. AKG K701 seeems brighter than HD650 but less so than the Grado 325. 
 
That's my 1st hand experience with brightness. 
 
Please contribute

 

[EYEdROP]

Treble in headphones is very dependent on an individuals ear and head shape in relation to the driver and housing, as well as some personal preference. There are valid generalizations though, averages.  
 
Equipment matching and parametric eq can help solve problems for you but not someone else, due to the above.

 

[SengChangKo]

couldn't agree more, finally found some one that has the same impression as me, especially on the Grado 325, AKG 701 (mine is 702) and HD650. While my amps is on the D10 and onkyo receiver. On the other end, my W3 is very close to HD650 but not as dark.

 

[ardilla]

 
I do not agree on this one - some headphones has got a reputation for beeing unbright (like the HD650), some for being bright. Some like the brightness, some find it painful. This thread is for the latter group.
 
I was hoping that people with particular problems with brightness could have their own thread. 
 
Components matching is of course a part of it.  
Quote:

.....
Equipment matching and parametric eq can help solve problems for you but not someone else, due to the above.

 

[shane55]

Many of the Beyer's are bright to strident.
DT880/250 Ohm, DT770 / 250 & 600 Ohm were too bright for me... and I LIKE bright!
 
For those sensitive to 'bright', the HD600 & 650 are perfect. They have great tonality and their highs are rolled-off well enough to give comfort to the sibilant-averse.
 
 
EDIT: I forgot to mention. For IEM's, the SM3 is very good for those who don't like (or are sensitive to) bright.

 

[jasonb]

i'm in the unbright camp. i find overly bright headphones and speakers to be painful. the HD650's suit me perfectly.

 

[pp312]

I found Beyer 880 the brightest (eek!), AKG 702 next in line, then AT AD700/900, then Denon D2000 (which had a very nice treble but too much of it), then Sennheiser 555/595 (almost neutral but just a touch thin), then HD650---oooh, the porridge is just right.
 
Yep, HD650 for me, thanks.   

 

[yifu]

Unbright definitely. Bright headphones will just get brighter as many studios use speakers to monitor which give less treble response as the treble naturally fades with distance. Also, i find that many studios also give a treble boost to their recordings maybe to accomodate for the people using ibuds? I dont know.

 

[lejaz]

Depends somewhat on what I'm listening to, but the 702 can be overly bright, and the sony v6 can approach the pain threshold, with what sounds like a big upper mids peak. Some of the Beatles stuff from the 'Rubber Soul' era has very bright sounding electric guitar parts, and those two phones make it really hard to listen to. Not a problem with my other phones or speakers. Thankfully I haven't tried any of the above mentioned Grados.

Don't think I could stand any more brightness than what I've already got. The 240DF gets the bright/dark balance just about right, IMO, though they're probably not nearly as dark as the hd 650

 

[aysil]

I totally agree with all the praise for HD650 in this thread. They are the most enjoyable headphones for me, with lovely rich timbres in the mids and detailed but non-aggressive highs. And thank you for all the warnings against HD800 on this and other threads. I could have gone and purchased one thinking it would have the same properties as 650.

I am pretty sure, though, that sibilance and overly bright are not the same thing. Sibilance is a much more general problem. It is caused by the drivers getting over-excited by the complex frequency spectrum of the "s" sound which results in an unnatural rendering. Almost all speakers and headphones have this problem. HD650 also has sibilance, but like other headphones/speakers which are not overly bright, it is not so disturbing. I thought sibilance was inherent in the recordings and was caused by the microphones; until I listened to the same recordings with Kharma speakers with diamond tweeters. “S” sounds were so natural as if the singers were just in the room with no microphones or whatsoever. I wish one day Kharma makes headphones with diamond drivers!

 

[mibutenma]

Quote:

I found Beyer 880 the brightest (eek!), AKG 702 next in line, then AT AD700/900,

AD 700 has WAY more treble than a DT 880 so.....

 

[Kevin Brown]

I've mentioned before that I find the DT880/250 to be quite a balanced headphone, but yet a lot of people here call it "bright".  The DT880/600 is brighter than the 250 ohm model though.
 
I don't like bright headphones either.  I've chucked the K501, K601, K701, 7506, V6 (which is mellower than the 7506, but still too bright), and Shure 440 and 840 all because I thought they were too bright.  Grados are too bright too

, but I use mine with comfies and a little EQ and I'm a happy camper, especially with the HF2's.
 
I also have the AD900's and the K240 Sextetts (and a pair of Studios - Mk II).  The AKGs are quite detailed but walk the fine line of not being too bright IMO, and the AD900's are quite balanced I think.
 
Another good thread here:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/532660/which-headphones-are-not-bright-sounding
 
I have HD535's.  I'm looking at the 555 (and the mod to make it the 595) now.  I think it'll be funny if then I go to the 600, then the 650, and then settle on one of those two precisely because of this issue.

 

[shane55]

Quote:

I've mentioned before that I find the DT880/250 to be quite a balanced headphone, but yet a lot of people here call it "bright".  The DT880/600 is brighter than the 250 ohm model though.
 
 

Sorry, I disagree with this. The main selling point for me to go from the 250 Ohm to the 600 Ohm was the slightly reduced stridence (something that was recommended to me many times in other threads). I found the 250 Ohm really pushed my tolerance for shrill. The 600's toned that down a bit and after break-in, brought it down even more.
 
Regardless... I would certainly consider the DT880's (and other Beyer variants) to be very bright cans.
 

 

[Kevin Brown]

Quote:

Quote:

I've mentioned before that I find the DT880/250 to be quite a balanced headphone, but yet a lot of people here call it "bright".  The DT880/600 is brighter than the 250 ohm model though.
 
 

Sorry, I disagree with this. The main selling point for me to go from the 250 Ohm to the 600 Ohm was the slightly reduced stridence (something that was recommended to me many times in other threads). I found the 250 Ohm really pushed my tolerance for shrill. The 600's toned that down a bit and after break-in, brought it down even more.
 
Regardless... I would certainly consider the DT880's (and other Beyer variants) to be very bright cans.
 

Not what I heard.  And I've had other people comment on the same observation as what I heard.
 

 

[shane55]

 
Quote:

Not what I heard.  And I've had other people comment on the same observation as what I heard.
 

OK. Fair enough. Why don't you bring your 250's to the meet... We can A/B.