Lloyd297
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2005
- Posts
- 268
- Likes
- 11
Quote:
Actually, it's not their balance that most obviously mars their neutrality. What is wrong with them - like EVERY headphone using dynamic drivers I've heard (including HD650's) - is that they badly screw up timbre. I'm constantly amazed about how glorious-sounding instruments which make me swoon when I hear them live sound so goddam drab when reproduced through almost every transducer out there. It's as if that $3000 Martin has been transduced into a $100 box of crap.
And yet hardly anyone notices this! I see these audiophiles earnestly pondering the "soundstaging", the "midrange", the "highs", and all the other rot that audiophiles earnestly ponder - seemingly oblivious to the fact that the instruments as reproduced sound like cheap knockoffs. Frankly, there are very few transducers of any type that actually preserve the beauty of the original tone-colours.
And no, electrostatics don't really do the job. While they have a lovely sweet (if somewhat glue-like and plasticky) timbre they still sound reproduced - as if the original solid instrument has been replaced by a ghost-like wraith.
And dynamic drivers almost always wreck timbre. They darken and homogenize it, as if the shining colours of the original have been snuffed out and the open skies have given way to a darkened room with curtains drawn.
The only exceptions to this sorry tale are the best ribbons out there (unfortunately not available in current headphone design) and........the armatures in the Ultimate Ears Triple-Fi 10. Frankly, I was just amazed at how true to the original tonecolours this unimpressive-looking device is. For the first time I can hear violin timbre as I hear it live, clarinet as it should be, and the sound of drumstick-hitting-skin in that unmistakable way I hear from a live drumkit and which I'd despaired of ever hearing from a set of transducers. Every other headphone I've heard (and I own two sets of Stax stats) makes an acoustic drum kit sound relatively like a drum-machine.
Of course, they have their problems. They're too bassy (there goes their "neutrality"!), the image is far too in-the-head, and the balance is on the dull and mellow side (though not to the detriment of the tone-colours) but for timbre, and complete absence of grain and distortion they've been a revelation to this listener.
| Originally Posted by Lunatique /img/forum/go_quote.gif Some people say that the K701 is not neutral--it is lacking some bass and has a slight spike in the treble region that makes them a bit sharp. |
Actually, it's not their balance that most obviously mars their neutrality. What is wrong with them - like EVERY headphone using dynamic drivers I've heard (including HD650's) - is that they badly screw up timbre. I'm constantly amazed about how glorious-sounding instruments which make me swoon when I hear them live sound so goddam drab when reproduced through almost every transducer out there. It's as if that $3000 Martin has been transduced into a $100 box of crap.
And yet hardly anyone notices this! I see these audiophiles earnestly pondering the "soundstaging", the "midrange", the "highs", and all the other rot that audiophiles earnestly ponder - seemingly oblivious to the fact that the instruments as reproduced sound like cheap knockoffs. Frankly, there are very few transducers of any type that actually preserve the beauty of the original tone-colours.
And no, electrostatics don't really do the job. While they have a lovely sweet (if somewhat glue-like and plasticky) timbre they still sound reproduced - as if the original solid instrument has been replaced by a ghost-like wraith.
And dynamic drivers almost always wreck timbre. They darken and homogenize it, as if the shining colours of the original have been snuffed out and the open skies have given way to a darkened room with curtains drawn.
The only exceptions to this sorry tale are the best ribbons out there (unfortunately not available in current headphone design) and........the armatures in the Ultimate Ears Triple-Fi 10. Frankly, I was just amazed at how true to the original tonecolours this unimpressive-looking device is. For the first time I can hear violin timbre as I hear it live, clarinet as it should be, and the sound of drumstick-hitting-skin in that unmistakable way I hear from a live drumkit and which I'd despaired of ever hearing from a set of transducers. Every other headphone I've heard (and I own two sets of Stax stats) makes an acoustic drum kit sound relatively like a drum-machine.
Of course, they have their problems. They're too bassy (there goes their "neutrality"!), the image is far too in-the-head, and the balance is on the dull and mellow side (though not to the detriment of the tone-colours) but for timbre, and complete absence of grain and distortion they've been a revelation to this listener.
