[Tefloon]

I love sibilance and piercing highs for anything off Earth's first 2 EPs, Drive Blind by Ride, or Surfer Rosa.
 
It depends on the music. Good noise music should be punishing and grating.

 

[Tiemen]

About all the flaws headphones can have, exaggerated sibilance is the worst IMO.
So I voted 'yes'.

 

[potatoos]

I never said exaggerated sibilance. I said sibilance. The type that exists in real life. Ever sat near a high hat? That will give you some sibilance alright. I expect that in my recordings and when listening to music through my headphones.

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

I never said exaggerated sibilance. I said sibilance. The type that exists in real life. Ever sat near a high hat? That will give you some sibilance alright. I expect that in my recordings and when listening to music through my headphones.

If it's natural, it should be reproduced. When audiophiles refer to sibilance, they typically mean excessive sibilance especially in vocals. Anything that's not excessive sounds normal. The problem is we're working with different semantics, and that's the only reason your preference does seem weird. If you said something like "I like detailed treble" or "I like treble sparkle" no one would think you were weird.

 

[TMRaven]

Quote:

Sibilance does not occur in real life.

I've heard some people with some very pronounced 's' sounds in their voices.  Sibilance is realistic to a certain extent.

 

[Nick01]

potatoos,
I understand where you're coming from. For detail freaks like us, it's called "sparkling detail", not sibilance.
You should try the Grado GS1000....plenty of sparkle.

 

[potatoos]

If I could afford the GS1000, I would have bought a pair long ago. But I am a student. No extra cash anywhere. I have always expected that Grados would be to my liking.

 

[gregorio]

What I meant was I enjoying hearing very detailed treble, more so than I enjoy detailed bass/mids. Whenever I am listening to music, say Avenged Sevenfold or Beethoven, where there are loud and distinct cymbal crashes, I expect for the treble to be as detailed as it is in real life. When I stand next to a drum and someone smashes a cymbal, I hear sibilance. There isn't tons of it, but if I don't hear that reproduced with my headphones, I feel almost cheated. As if I am missing out on actually being there to hear it for myself.

Firstly, you are using sibilance where you really mean treble. Sibilance is an effect caused in a microphone diaphragm in response to certain spoken or sung consonants ("S" mainly).

There is also, IMHO, a problem with your expectations. I have, many, many times stood next to hi-hats and crash cymbals and the detail and quality of sound varies from cymbal to cymbal and varies depending on where you hear it from. For example, sitting in a big concert hall listening to Beethoven, you may be sat 50ft or (considerably) more from the cymbals. Some of the detail and HF content will be absorbed by the orchestra, the audience and the wooden walls of the concert hall. So in this case, having the cymbals sound as if you are standing next to them would be highly unrealistic and no decent producer would dream of such a thing. So, despite what you stated, you are not talking about real life because in real life you never stand right next to the cymbals when you attend a performance. While we are talking about production, the sound of the cymbals (detail and frequency content) is dictated by the producer. If the cymbals do not sound as if you are standing next to them, that is the producer's artistic decision, not necessarily a fault of your cans, amp, dac or whatever. Maybe, instead of listening for what you want to hear, try listening for what the producer intended, you might discover a new level of appreciation in your music listening.

During production and mastering it is not uncommon for a boost to be added around 7kHz, this has been found to enhance the perception of energy and helps certain genres.

G