[Niouke]

Your calculations in imperal system confused me, but I get the idea. Bass is difficult for IEMs to produce and BA's struggle even so as they don't move air.
I'm on my fourth set of pure BA IEM's but I don't intend to invest on dynamics as I value isolation above all and love the way BA's handle trebles !

 

[Speedskater]

Floyd Toole's book is a great place to start. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0240520092/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That's his old book. His new book just came out last month.
https://www.amazon.com/Sound-Reprod...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1508260443&sr=1-1

 

[Strangelove424]

I have the same album on CD and the bass is fine on it. But it's an entirely different mix. They even overdubbed parts on the quad that aren't on the two channel mix.

That would probably rule out recording issues and creative decisions at the mastering level. Do you have this issue with other 4.0 discs?

Your calculations in imperal system confused me, but I get the idea. Bass is difficult for IEMs to produce and BA's struggle even so as they don't move air.
I'm on my fourth set of pure BA IEM's but I don't intend to invest on dynamics as I value isolation above all and love the way BA's handle trebles !

Everyone has to make sacrifices for their use scenarios, but sub bass is going to one of the sacrifices with IEMs. Not only are the drivers small, but the lowest 'audible' frequencies are not sensed by the ear drum alone (which only registers a change in pressure) but rather by the body and organs. The less parts of the body used to collect sound data, the more unnatural the experience is. Especially with sub bass.

 

[bigshot]

I have five Dutton Vocalion SACDs... Two have no bass below 80Hz, two have weak bass and one is one of the best sounding multichannel recordings I own. Not a particularly good batting average. If I could find reviewers that actually listen to what it sounds like, I'd be able to avoid the duds. But the reviews say everything sounds "great".

 

[bfreedma]

That's his old book. His new book just came out last month.
https://www.amazon.com/Sound-Reprod...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1508260443&sr=1-1

Good catch. I wonder what's new? Maybe info around the new object oriented solutions like Atmos?

Quick, someone ABX the two versions....

 

[Don Hills]

... Everyone has to make sacrifices for their use scenarios, but sub bass is going to one of the sacrifices with IEMs. ...

Some IEMs do OK with bass. The Philips SHE3580/3590 series play with some authority down to 15 Hz or so. Those frequencies feel like driving in a car on the freeway with a window open. The best part is they cost about US$9, so cost almost nothing to try. There are reviews here on Head-Fi.

I use mine to audition when I'm preparing party music. I have a process where I use a sub-bass synthesizer to add an octave below the normal bass, to give the subs a workout. Before and after spectrograms:

 

[Strangelove424]

It's not just about being able to produce low frequency, it's how much of the body is exposed to it. I can get down to 15hz on good over-ear headphones, but even then the experience is diminutive compared to a sub. Driving down with the windows open (or better yet half open to create that weird pressurization/depressurization effect) is a fairly decent way of describing the headphone sub bass experience. With a room setup with speaker/sub it feels like the onset of an earthquake. They're widely different experiences, and the full body experience is wholly more authentic to true infrasonic sources (such as earthquakes or pipe organs). This is one area where headphones and iems both fall flat.

That said, I think I'm gonna purchase the Phillips. I'm not an iem person at all, but have been looking for something to replace my tattered HTC stock earbuds. Never invested much in mobile music listening because I only do it when I walk my dog. For $10 though, it looks like a good deal.

 

[Niouke]

well I never expected my IEMS to render below 20HZ, that said my um pro 30 have been measured to render 20Hz:

That doesn't explain me why they won't fully render certain microphone "puff" artefacts I described, maybe it's because they can't as stated move the air abruptely to render them. In any case I can live with it, I was just curious.

 

[castleofargh]

it's hard to put BA and dynamic drivers face to face. even less so when talking about perceived low end as the rest of the signature and sometimes even distortions levels will alter how we feel. but one massive issue is that dynamic drivers with impressive subs are vented, while most BA IEMs aren't. so more than the driver tech, we're often also discussing a different way to move the eardrum.

 

[Niouke]

APO equalizer is the crap, I found out toying with it that my klipshorns have a good +2.5db right at the lowest freq they can render, and that spacing to the wall is indeed important for a flat bass response.

So now I'm setting it up to match make my speakers my taste, and am considering those microphone calibration kits