[mironathetin]

  You wouldn't use this argument for plenty of  other genres. Is there a particular "reference" associated to techno ? 

 

 I don't think so. Live techno concerts may not be the right reference for good sound.
But this thread is about classic. And although there are places with good and less good acoustics, live can be a reference.
Try this: listen to a piano live. This doesn't have to be a concert. A shop that sells pianos usually is full of people who try them out. Or a nearby music school. Or force your kids to learn piano (like we did

, 

).
Then pick a recording of a piano. The difference is stunning. 

 

[johncarm]

I listen to mostly Baroque and Classical period recordings, although I have plenty of 20th century in my collection and enjoy powerfully recorded Prokofiev, Copland, Stravinsky, Mahler, and more. 
 
I think I'm going to correct myself. I don't think that bass is generally lacking from modern recordings except for some Baroque in which the engineers don't seem to appreciate the importance of bass. But there are some good modern recordings too, like Telarc's Bach's Mass in B Minor ... good with bass, that is, although I find Telarc sounds like there's cotton over the microphones in the mids and highs. 
 
I like Telarc's Copland recordings as well, and their Stravinksy Rite of Spring.
 
Bass in classical music has two functions I think. One is to be dramatic, to hit you in the gut. Think bass drums. The other is to serve as the foundation of the harmony. In that sense getting the pitch delineation right (the opposite of one-note bass) is very important.

 

[diamondears]

I agree with the OP and @Claritas - a good, realistic bass response is what gives weight and timbral accuracy to a lot of instruments.    

I think this whole "classical music requires air" claptrap comes from those who listen to baroque/chamber music or other small ensembles - cos an orchestra at full thunder has enveloping, reverbing bass and warm highs:  quite the opposite of the "clear treble, rolled off highs" ideal that so many people seem to ascribe to headphones that are good for classical.   

Most rock and EDM rarely goes past 50-60Hz.    Organs are one of the few instruments that plumb the bottoms of the last octaves - the sound of bassoons, double bassoons and even cellos gains timbral accuracy with proper* bass, not that polite, rolled off cr*p that is touted as the reference by people who listen to classical music on Harbeth or Spendor or other monitor bookshelves.

*By proper bass, I do not mean "tight" bass.  I have no idea what tight bass is cos I have never heard it live.   Organs dont sound tight and controlled - they fill the room, they shake your innards, they STAY in the room reminding you of their presence.      That is not the same as an exaggerated bass response, though - the impact is in the time dimension, not the amplitude dimension.   And this is sort of where all headphones, due to their very nature, get let down.   Because they do not have the benefit of room acoustics, they are unable to provide that last bit of timbral accuracy (when using the live sound as reference, as opposed to accuracy of reproduction).  

Still, the LCD2s are about as good as it gets here - the Oppo PM1s come close, but are a little on the polite side and lack the same dynamic impact;  the HD650s also come close but lack a little something in the transient response compared to the LCD2s.   I have the HD800s.  I enjoy them with several types of music.   Orchestral music is not one of them, however.   

However, to put this in context, I am unabashedly in the "my fi", not "hi fi" camp.  I know what live music sounds like, and I gravitate to systems that reproduce that more realistically  to my ears.     That means warm, somewhat attenuated treble, a modest bump in the higher bass/lower midrange (in headphones) and deep bass.

Can't agree more re this and LCD-2 Rev. 2. I don't know what's with people looking for more treble, unless you have hearing problems.

 

[RRod]

I have the HD800s and like them fine for all music, classical included. But they won't make up for deficiencies in the recording, and no deficiency is more fundamentally frustrating than a lack of good bass. Take for instance one of my favorite examples: Mackerras' Scheherezade with the LSO on Telarc. I adore the hell out of this performance, but there is one thing missing from the sound: the bass! I'm never aware of the contrabasses, so there's just this feeling of something "missing" the whole time. Now, if I had phones that had a bit of a bump down at 30-100Hz, I might not care as much, but the HD800s tell it like it is so there you go. Now in fairness, sometimes you have halls that just don't have a good acoustic, which I think might be in operation with this example.
 
Annoying too is when the composer specifically calls for something like the contrabassoon, but you'd never know it from the recording. For instance, I want to feel a little raunchiness in the low notes in Ravel's Ma mère l'oye (the beast), so when I don't get that groove from the recording I'm really disappointed. Same thing in something like Mahler's Um Mitternacht; here's a stringless orchestration that has prominent contrabassoon and tuba lines; let me hear them!

 

[Mink]

Solid bass reproduction with classical music to me is more important than with pop or rock and this exactly why I like the unusual suspect, the Denon D5000s for classical, their bass add a fundament to recordings that are very bass-lite, and D5000s bass is very deep as well, not many headphones I know can deliver this.

 

[diamondears]

Solid bass reproduction with classical music to me is more important than with pop or rock and this exactly why I like the unusual suspect, the Denon D5000s for classical, their bass add a fundament to recordings that are very bass-lite, and D5000s bass is very deep as well, not many headphones I know can deliver this.

Once I heard and owned an LCD-2 (Rev. 2), and heard that linear bass to sub-bass that ARTICULATE and full-bodied, everything else sound "lacking", even it's supposedly improved LCD-2Fazor. Almost all can get that mids and treble details and articulation. But bass to sub-bass...naaaaah...

 

[Claritas]

I'm going to go with my original guess that many are willing to trade planar bass for dynamic soundstage.

If bass were a priority for me, I'd choose HE560 because it doesn't have the usual shelved planar treble.