Well MrMateoHead, your settings make a big improvement. So, a big thank you for your help. Glad I posted here! When you have a minute what are your experimental settings around the 2-5khz?
Glad you think so. The "treble spike" is not "objectionable" so much as it is noticeable - according to freq response charts online, the "spike" is actually of similar amplitude to the 1 khz and below freqs. So, I don't really consider it a spike. Also, with the velours, CSD plots show more of a "hill" of upper treble energy than a "spike" - one reason it probably seems more balanced. Your other phones may seem to have more treble energy because they are not "scooped out" as much in the 2-6 khz area (but most phones scoop out that area to one degree or another). Anyway, the main thing with the HE-400 is that the hi-hats cymbals have seemed to be a step louder in most recordings and I like to dial that back. I hate cymbals in concerts too - they are always too damn loud!
Many comment on "sibilance" of the HE-400 and point to the treble spike as the culprit - so that is the objectionable part. The truth is that "sibilance" by itself is a normal part of speech and music, and taming it can mean tweaking the treble
and the midrange. For the most part, the HE-400 has a pretty laid-back approach to the upper mids and lower treble which avoids a lot of sound energy that I sometimes find grating and distracting (sort of like having too much mid-bass). But most of the midrange is essentially flat. That said, I don't think a lot of people have stayed with the HE-400s long enough to understand that some of the listening issues are with
recordings, not the phones themselves per se. Yet they've been vocal critics. That is why it is so useful to KNOW your recordings before really getting critical. For a lot of us, I suspect the HE-400 has been "teaching" us a lot about our music library!
I have been rocking to my new Pioneer BS-22s for days, for example (with the 8 inch sub). They are awesome and smooth, but definitely more forgiving than the HE-400s. With the 400s, I can hear flaws in my recording much, much more easily. On occasion, distortion in them or bad sibilance is highlighted no matter how I EQ because the recording sux. But, in truth, I've never enjoyed piano recordings more than I do with the BS-22s, they have beautiful imaging, timbre, and just the right "weight" and "bite". Just a slightly "warm" tilt to go along with great detail. Its very addicting.
But the HE-400s just do everything with a similar effortlessness well into extreme volumes which the Pioneers can't do, with superior bass texture and dynamics. So, I can handle a little treble bite so long as it stays "musical", and both speakers are pretty darn neutral.
Anyway, here is the other adjustments I've been doing:
1000khz: -1.5 dB, Q.63
2500khz 1.5dB, Q1.66
3650khz 1.3dB, Q1.5
5000khz 1.3dB, Q.60
The affect should be a pretty smooth ramp 1-2khz, then flat to around 5khz (if used with the aforementioned treble cuts).
None of my adjustments are final, I move target frequencies around quite a lot and play with the Q all the time. The longest lasting changes have been the 50hz bump and 8-10khz trim. The HE-400s don't, for example, need much cutting outside of 20 khz. Boosting bass below say, 30 hz, is pointless because that bass is not really audible but may tax your hearing and your amp. No matter what I do, though, I still can't get the last bit of glariness out of the mids when I try piano music - that or my ears just hate some frequencies that I am still ignorant of.
