[elmoe]

Their best as far as I'm concerned.

 

[krismusic]

This is OT but cannot resist. If I could only listen to one album ever again it would be Electric Ladyland 

 

[elmoe]

It's a hard choice but Axis Bold As Love would definitely be considered if I had the willpower to choose one album only.
 
As far as OT goes, I think this one is acceptable 

 
Speaking of Hendrix, if there's one headphone I always grab whenever I listen to any Hendrix album it's my Grados.

 

[UmustBKidn]

This sounds like mumbo jumbo to me.
Gear is either good or indifferent. Sometimes regardless of price. I just want to listen to my music. Not embark on some kind of brain training odyssey!

 
Hah. Well spotted. Note the time of the post. That was half speculation, half intoxication

 
I suppose if you can take anything away from that post, I was trying to explore for myself the relative merits of this whole discussion. Clearly, sound quality changes. The question is, why? And is better gear really worth the cost?
 
If I had to guess what the OP of this thread was driving at, it would have to be something like that.
 
We seem to agree that much of it is in our heads. Yet some gear sounds better than others ("better" being highly subjective). And some folks are willing to spend amazing sums of money to get that "better" setup.
 
As for me, well, necessity means that I started in Budget-Fi land, and I'll slowly work my way up, assuming I can justify the expenditures. I just wish there was a good way to justify them.

 

[UmustBKidn]

   
You misunderstood I'm afraid.... I'm not EQing to my personal preference. I'm EQing to achieve a flat frequency response. That's a very objective calibration, not a subjective one. It is difficult to calibrate to a flat response in a 5:1 speaker system, and it requires balancing both level on each channel and EQ. It can take a bit of back and forth parallel parking of settings to fine tune. But once that balance is struck there is no coloration, just natural sound. That's the sweet spot.
 
Balanced response always sounds better than colored response. And every transducer involves compromises that make it deviate from flat. So just about every transducer benefits from a little calibration with EQ. It's possible to EQ mid priced transducers to make them sound more like the best ones available.

 
Ah. Well yes, I did misunderstand. But it was worth a curious rant

 
I don't personally run EQ on most of my setups, save for one that badly needs it. Am I robbing myself of better performance? I don't know. But I can tell you this: on the two setups I run as-is, they both sound so much better than anything I previously owned, that it's worth leaving them be.

 

[krismusic]

Hah. Well spotted. Note the time of the post. That was half speculation, half intoxication :tongue_smile:

I thought it was a touch new agey for you!
I've read that headphones and source are worth spending money on. Everything else not so much.

 

[bigshot]

  I don't personally run EQ on most of my setups, save for one that badly needs it. Am I robbing myself of better performance? I don't know.

 
It's less important for headphones than speakers, but I've found EQ will always improve even the best cans a little.

 

[upstateguy]

   
You misunderstood I'm afraid.... I'm not EQing to my personal preference.
 
 

 
Nothing wrong with EQing for personal preference either. 
 
All recordings are not mastered the same.
 
All radio stations do not sound the same.
 
And all internet high bit rate streams do not sound the same, even at the same bit rate.

 

[bigshot]

Pretty much all classical and jazz and pre-1970s music is mastered for a flat response. I never have to touch my tone controls, but I don't play much current music. It's only since the advent of home studios that all standards went out the window. Movies are generally much more consistent. They all work with a calibrated response.
 
The problem with EQing to personal taste is that boosting certain frequencies can cause huge problems. Not all frequencies exist in all songs, and you can get into trouble boosting frequencies that aren't there. For instance, if you "like bass" and bump up the low end in a typical 70s album rock song which doesn't have much below 80Hz, all of a sudden a rap song with sub bass content comes up and rattles the room. If you use a flat response, sub bass never jumps out like that.
 
Best to calibrate, then use your bass and treble only when necessary.

 

[SilverEars]

Ok, so I just recently got a really hard to drive planar-magnetic phones, and according to the instructions, it mentions burn-in.  Do planars benefits from burn-in?  

 

[KamijoIsMyHero]

no

 

[SilverEars]

I feel like my new iems took a bit of time to burn in. It sounds more open now.  

  I didn't believe in burn-in before but I don't know why my iems sound more opened up than 2 hours ago.  I always thought burn-in was some BS, but my BA drivers do sound like it opened up. 

 

[bigshot]

If you stop listening to them for a while, they'll close up again

 

[UmustBKidn]

Quote:

  I feel like my new iems took a bit of time to burn in. It sounds more open now.  

  I didn't believe in burn-in before but I don't know why my iems sound more opened up than 2 hours ago.  I always thought burn-in was some BS, but my BA drivers do sound like it opened up. 

 

  If you stop listening to them for a while, they'll close up again

 
I hereby dub this discussion, "The Thread That Refused To Die (tm)."
 
I think we have beaten this to death. Several times. I'm not entirely sure why it refuses to remain dead, but then again, people keep watching cat video's on the Internet, too.

 

[RazorJack]