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Originally Posted by LnxPrgr3 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I know some deviations are necessary to sound anything like speakers placed some distance in front of you. For example, my limited experience tells me a ruler-flat response would sound painful and thin coming from headphones. Flat speakers measured a distance away don't measure flat -- the highs roll off. I definitely prefer my headphones emulate that.
But the other deviations? I guess if your brain can turn that 6-10kHz spike, or the Senn's dip at ~6kHz, into a positional cue, it might work out. HRTFs vary wildly between individuals, though, especially in the highs. One man's holographic imaging is another man's painful upper-mids/highs over-emphasis
Of course, given this, how can anyone give a reliable recommendation for a good studio headphone? The K702 sounds flat to acix, and the Pro 750 sounds flat to you. Neither may work out for me, or any other random person. We are all doomed forever to disagree on what is truly flat...
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This certainly is a "loaded" subject, isn't it? In one of my posts, I used the phrase "speaking in generalities". By using this phrase I was referring to the idea that there certainly are deviations in the way that sounds are perceived differently to some degree by different individuals and when trying to determine what you might call the overall average way that humans hear we are "speaking in generalities".
One example of this might be your point (if the following is true) that Acix perceives the K701 as sounding "flat" (when compared to "flat" studio monitor speakers in an acoustically controlled room) and I don't. And, I perceive the Pro 750 as sounding the most similar of any headphone I've ever heard to the sound produced by "flat" studio monitor speakers in an acoustically controlled room and supposedly, Acix doesn't. (Please take note of the way that I describe my perception of the sound of the Pro 750)
The question now becomes has Acix ever compared thoroughly the sound of the K 701's to "flat" studio monitor speakers in an acoustically controlled room? And, if so, does he really think the K 701 sounds "flat"? If he does, Acix would certainly be the first person with whom I've ever communicated who would think the sound of the K 701 sounds "flat". Here, let me point out, that I'm not saying what Acix's actual opinion would be. I'm only asking a question where he is concerned.
You also brought up the idea of how the sound that we perceive might be affected by the space (I think you used the word "air") between our ears and speakers. And, how that space would affect the way that we perceive the sound coming from those speakers. There is no doubt that this factor does affect our perception. However, this factor is much less significant when one is in an acoustically controlled room. Sometimes, over the years, I have heard the acoustics in an acoustically controlled room described as "dead". The reason for this is because sound does not reverberate or echo nearly as much as it would in a room that is not acoustically controlled. I do not know the percentages of differences of reverberation or echo. Suffice it to "say" that it is quite a bit different. And, the smaller the acoustically controlled room the easier it is to hear the "deadness" of the sound. A very good example of this would be a solidly built isolation booth usually used for vocalists and drummers in a recording studio. If a vocalist has never been in one before, it is almost funny to watch their reaction when they hear the sound of their voice when singing in one. At home, they hear themselves singing and their voice would reverberate off the tile in the bathroom or off the ceiling and walls in the living room. In the isolation booth, most of that reverberation is gone and in frustration a typical response by a vocalist in this situation is something to the effect of 'That's weird? Why can't I hear my voice the same way I do at home?' and 'My voice just doesn't go out in here'.
When listening to studio monitor speakers in an acoustically controlled room, the "normal" room reverberation that one would hear in a living room (for example) is, probably for the most part, missing. One is left to hear almost only the reverberation and/or echo that is in the recording itself. This would be somewhat similar to listening to "closed" and "sealed" (varies with the headphone) headphones because when one is "in" a pair of "closed" and "sealed" headphones, the acoustics are somewhat "dead" (varying degrees of this vary with the particular headphone). And, consequently, for the most part, similar to being in an acoustically controlled room, when listening to these types of headphones, the reverberation and / or echo that one hears is coming, almost exclusively (if not completely) from the recording and not from any additional "room acoustics".
I hope that made sense to you.
Regarding your question of the reliability of the so called "experts", I find myself only able to answer this question with my own arbitrary experiences. At times I have agreed with the "experts" in their reviews and other times I have not. IMO, one has to judge for themselves. I forget which Head-Fi member has the following in their signature area but I have found it to be true:
"If it sounds good to you, it is good."
