markanini
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- May 17, 2004
- Posts
- 415
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- 80
I'm trying to get my head around some of the different design goals of headphone frequency response and related concerns. Here goes.
Free-field conveys an open space, a somewhat less likely and ideal place for music reproduction.
A phone of such a response is Beyer DT48.
Diffuse-field is a closed space of arbitrary parameters but a more likely and ideal place for music reproduction.
Examples are AKG K240DF, Etymotic ER4.
From what I've read the most popular phones lie somewhere in-between.
Should I guess Beyer DT880 and AKG K701 belong in this category?
The most recent "Independent-of-field" curve does away with defining the listening space and only defines the effects of HRTF. It's happens to be quite simmilar to DF.
Now to me it seems to me the most reasonable goal is the Independent of field curve as it doesnt define abstract or arbitrary spaces. There doesnt seem to be much discussion about this one though, AFAIK only Inner fidelity's dummy uses this curve. Does anyone happen to know of software that lets you translate curves between these different goals for graphic representation?
Where does 30 degrees HRTF fit in al this? I believe this is what crossfeed aims to do. One curious discovery to me is how all crossfeed implementations affect the responce of dual-mono sources as well. I've found this to be an improvement on mono sources , probably cause they were mastered on a stereo setup. What kept the headphone manufacturers from including this curve though? It certainly wouldn't be beneficial to the user of crossfeed but would be an improvement for the large majority or users that don't use crossfeed, even if it's a incomplete implementation.
Any comments are appreciated and feel free to correct if I'm misstaken on any points. No need to tell me that every ear is different, this is about dealing with averages obviously.
Free-field conveys an open space, a somewhat less likely and ideal place for music reproduction.
A phone of such a response is Beyer DT48.
Diffuse-field is a closed space of arbitrary parameters but a more likely and ideal place for music reproduction.
Examples are AKG K240DF, Etymotic ER4.
From what I've read the most popular phones lie somewhere in-between.
Should I guess Beyer DT880 and AKG K701 belong in this category?
The most recent "Independent-of-field" curve does away with defining the listening space and only defines the effects of HRTF. It's happens to be quite simmilar to DF.
Now to me it seems to me the most reasonable goal is the Independent of field curve as it doesnt define abstract or arbitrary spaces. There doesnt seem to be much discussion about this one though, AFAIK only Inner fidelity's dummy uses this curve. Does anyone happen to know of software that lets you translate curves between these different goals for graphic representation?
Where does 30 degrees HRTF fit in al this? I believe this is what crossfeed aims to do. One curious discovery to me is how all crossfeed implementations affect the responce of dual-mono sources as well. I've found this to be an improvement on mono sources , probably cause they were mastered on a stereo setup. What kept the headphone manufacturers from including this curve though? It certainly wouldn't be beneficial to the user of crossfeed but would be an improvement for the large majority or users that don't use crossfeed, even if it's a incomplete implementation.
Any comments are appreciated and feel free to correct if I'm misstaken on any points. No need to tell me that every ear is different, this is about dealing with averages obviously.
