[Utopia]

I wonder which headphones are best for low-level listening. I'm finding that with warmer headphones I listen at louder levels, which in the end make the warmer headphones more fatiguing than brighter headphones - although I would have expected the opposite.
 
Is a U-curve preferable on low listening levels? Or should the headphone have high sensitivity - to still sound lively and musical at low levels? Or is it something else?

 

[kramer5150]

I am mainly a low volume listener.  I have to turn it up to overcome the PC fan noise when the fan picks up RPM, drives me nuts.  Wood Grados, with a 2-3db boost at 32Hz on the iTunes EQ works best for me.  They still sound very dynamic and energetic, even at very low volumes.

 

[NilsTentacles]

Just good quality headphones in general will do, that's my experience. Headphones in general are very good to pick up information from "the bottom" of recordings compared to speakers.

 

[PFULMTL]

Quote:

I am mainly a low volume listener.  I have to turn it up to overcome the PC fan noise when the fan picks up RPM, drives me nuts.  Wood Grados, with a 2-3db boost at 32Hz on the iTunes EQ works best for me.  They still sound very dynamic and energetic, even at very low volumes.

Time to change your fan setup or get rid of some fans?  A tip I learned years ago is to get a really big CPU heatsink (like the EVGA Superclock) and just use it without a fan. Unless you are maxing out your CPU OC, you don't need a fan.  For your GPU fan, you should run it at lower RPM unless you are playing something.  You can use a program like MSI Afterburner to do this automatically.