[bcasey25raptor]

ok, heres the thing, i took my pioneer se m390 headphones and boasted the mids to the equivalent of my shure srh840 and it sounded scratchy/harsh like the shure srh840. so i tested it even further and tried it with some iems, and guess what same scratchy harshness. im starting to think perhaps that its not harsh and that mids are supposed to sound that way. i honestly don't know how to describe it. all i know is that i don't like it. perhaps i don't like mids. so far if i turn down the mids a lot on my shure srh840 90% of my complaints disappear. are mids supposed to sound like this or is it my sound card/ipod etc.

 

[Inquartata]

Perhaps it's just your ears, dude. 

 

[wind016]

If you don't like mids, you don't like music. Simple as that. Music lives in the mids, not bass, not highs.
 
If you boost mids and you hear a scratchy sound, that means you are either using the EQ wrong, using a terrible EQ, using inadequate headphones, and/or you don't know where the midrange frequencies are.
 
Dynamic headphones have trouble reproducing a full and balanced midrange without getting congested. Most likely you are hearing congestion.

 

[bcasey25raptor]

the headphones i tested all had scooped mids except the shures, what i did was play the shures without eq then try to recreate the shure sound with my pioneers, this resulted in boasting the mids to get the same volume in the mid range.
 
i boasted 1khz to 4khz on the eq

 

[Eric_C]

One more possibility: your hearing is damaged. Have you tested your hearing?

 

[tdockweiler]

Check your source files, some songs are recorded so poorly in the studio that they're too harsh and annoying on ANY headphone. OK, maybe not some of the Sennheiser headphones, but almost.
 
Sounds like you should get a headphone that's more forgiving of your source material and fairly laid back and easy on the ears.
 
The SRH-840 at times was sometimes harsh with bad music, but it's the recording and not the headphones fault.
 

 

[wind016]

 
Quote:

the headphones i tested all had scooped mids except the shures, what i did was play the shures without eq then try to recreate the shure sound with my pioneers, this resulted in boasting the mids to get the same volume in the mid range.
 
i boasted 1khz to 4khz on the eq

Boasting frequencies with EQ causes distortion unless preamp is adjusted accordingly. Also if a headphone by design has scooped mids, attempting to change the signature (whether through tweaking or EQ) to make the mids more prominent wIll cause unwanted results. A 4db change is a HUGE change if you are boasting throughout a wide range.
 

 

[bcasey25raptor]

Quote:

One more possibility: your hearing is damaged. Have you tested your hearing?

i can hear the frequencies just fine, i took a hearing test online and i could hear all the way to 18khz and from what i gather that is normal.

 

[logwed]

Quote:

the headphones i tested all had scooped mids except the shures, what i did was play the shures without eq then try to recreate the shure sound with my pioneers, this resulted in boasting the mids to get the same volume in the mid range.
 
i boasted 1khz to 4khz on the eq

Your EQ might be causing the internal amplifier to clip if you're near max-volume on your device. Also, whichever program you're using to play your audio (assuming it's on the computer), if the output from that is maxed, and you're EQing by raising the levels on the mids, then you could be causing the program itself to clip. Or your source/amp sucks dick.
 

 

[revolink24]

Your EQ might be causing the internal amplifier to clip if you're near max-volume on your device. Also, whichever program you're using to play your audio (assuming it's on the computer), if the output from that is maxed, and you're EQing by raising the levels on the mids, then you could be causing the program itself to clip. Or your source/amp sucks dick.
 

I'd say if you're boosting mids rather than cutting highs and bass that this is the most likely.

 

[Eric_C]

Quote:

i can hear the frequencies just fine, i took a hearing test online and i could hear all the way to 18khz and from what i gather that is normal.

I'm no medical student or anything, but I suppose there is more to hearing than the ability to detect frequencies. For e.g., maybe your ears are more sensitive to certain frequencies than most people? Like I said, I'm just guessing here, but it still stands to reason that you shouldn't rule out your hearing if you haven't had it checked by an expert.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Also 4kHz I think is like the stop gap between what I'd call "upper-mids" and lower-highs. Boosting 4kHz can lead to harshness, 1 - 2kHz shouldn't (but will sound ofc weird like any other frequency when it's boosted too much). 

 

[bcasey25raptor]

Quote:

Also 4kHz I think is like the stop gap between what I'd call "upper-mids" and lower-highs. Boosting 4kHz can lead to harshness, 1 - 2kHz shouldn't (but will sound ofc weird like any other frequency when it's boosted too much).

that makes sense. i will try that tomorrow.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

I think midrange lies in the in the 500Hz - 4kHz range (lower-mids 500Hz to 1kHz, mids 1 - 2kHz, upper-mids, 2 - 4kHz). 

 

[bcasey25raptor]

Quote:

I think midrange lies in the in the 500Hz - 4kHz range (lower-mids 500Hz to 1kHz, mids 1 - 2kHz, upper-mids, 2 - 4kHz). 

i was a little off, i assumed that 500hz was still higher bass, and that after 4khz its highs. correct me if im wrong but isn't the most important part of human hearing from 500hz to 4khz, as highs are a lot harder to hear, and mids are generally vocals/talking. just something i thought, wouldn't mid range be the most sensitive part of your hearing.