[Slaughter]

No one knows what the album is suppose to sound like unless you were in the studio was it was recorded, mixed and mastered.

 

[silverxxx]

The problem is that whoever mixed the album mixed it using headphones and monitors, and no matter how flat those were they still have their own signature. Even the engineer's preferred listening volume would have altered the neutrality of any headphones due to the loudness curves.

 

[rhythmdevils]

Quote:

No one knows what the album is suppose to sound like unless you were in the studio was it was recorded, mixed and mastered.

That's true.  You can't gauge the sound of a pair of headphones from one album.  That would be like doing surveys on a topic and only calling one person.  But in listening to a lot of different albums with a pair of headphones, you get a very good idea of how they sound when you notice which colorations are there on every album.
 
Quote:

The problem is that whoever mixed the album mixed it using headphones and monitors, and no matter how flat those were they still have their own signature. Even the engineer's preferred listening volume would have altered the neutrality of any headphones due to the loudness curves.

True, but a good engineer will not only use different equipment to test music, but they also know how their equipment sounds, and can compensate for it.

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

No one knows what the album is suppose to sound like unless you were in the studio was it was recorded, mixed and mastered.

Correct, but you can know what a Piano, Trumpet or Violin sounds like.  That's where things get interesting.  I have no problem saying I have colored phones to help a crappy master come to life.  Sorry but all my content isn't derived from Chesky, SACD or DVDA.  Even then...
 
So pick a phone that reveals the source faithfully.  Or pick a phone that imitates life accordingly.  Or do both.  Like I said, I think its a more complicated issue.

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

True, but a good engineer will not only use different equipment to test music, but they also know how their equipment sounds, and can compensate for it.

The keywords being good and can.

 

[Slaughter]

Good point.
 
Quote:

Correct, but you can know what a Piano, Trumpet or Violin sounds like.  That's where things get interesting.  I have no problem saying I have colored phones to help a crappy master come to life.  Sorry but all my content isn't derived from Chesky, SACD or DVDA.  Even then...
 
So pick a phone that reveals the source faithfully.  Or pick a phone that imitates life accordingly.  Or do both.  Like I said, I think its a more complicated issue.

 

[nikongod]

 
Quote:

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how can neutral sound come out of a stereo system, if recordings are already treble boosted.
 

Fixed the title of this thread.

 

[Argyris]

Quote:

The problem is that whoever mixed the album mixed it using headphones and monitors, and no matter how flat those were they still have their own signature. Even the engineer's preferred listening volume would have altered the neutrality of any headphones due to the loudness curves.

Very good point about the volume. Fletcher-Munson can wreak havoc here. Also, not everybody's ears (physically) are exactly the same, meaning that "neutral" to one person will sound completely wrong to another. That's why there's so much lively debate here on Head-Fi. I happen to have very "neutral" ears (if such a thing exists), whereas many people seem to require a large depression around the 2-6 kHz region to perceive neutrality in headphones. Neither group is "wrong," but they'll never agree on what counts as a flat set of cans.
 
I'm sure the question has already been answered, but just for the record, neutral headphones (like all headphones) are just a passive device that cannot magically "neutralize" a recording. Garbage in, garbage out.

 

[daveyyiwh9]

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Most CD masters are quite neutral sounding. They do boost the treble a little sometimes to compensate for the high frequency signal lost during the recording or mixing process, but the final master should be more or less neutral sounding.
But with gramophone records, they do boost the treble and cut the bass quite significantly to save space on the vinyl and reduce noise. The EQ of the phono preamp would then reverse this setting and make it sound neutral again.

It's quite useful, It is just the solution for my problem, Thanks for your explanation!

 

[Acix]

The only question is how strong is your treble boost in your equipment chain. On the other hand, not to have treble boost in your system is even more suspicious.

 

[rhythmdevils]

recordings are not all treble boosted!  Nearly all headphones have more treble than my Mackie Reference Monitors regardless of the room acoustics and I'm not sure you can argue that these Mackies are warm/rolled off in the slightest.