The problem is that you're listening, not looking at a frequency chart. And if you hear that the high frequencies are higher than normal, the other person may not hear it. You hear a dark sound, and the other person will hear it neutral.
Again, I'm tired of this useless empty talk. I'm sorry for the time it takes.
If you're tired of the talk you don't have to keep responding.
It remains a fact though that tonality can be objectively described and measured.
If someone thinks a bright headphone isn't, it doesn't make the headphone dark, but the person wrong.
So you're using an analogy to try to prove your position in an argument, and the analogy is about food, but we're talking about sound. yeah, yeah, I hear you. I'm sick of this absurd argument.
I didn't realize that me saying I hate EQing would somehow change the whole topic of this thread to food.
Also, hate is the wrong way for me to have described EQ. I understand that people have there own personal way to listen to music and if that requires Eqing the sound to better fit your tastes. That is totally fine. I just don't like doing it. I want to hear the headphone/speaker as it has been tuned/produced by the manufacturer. To see if I like what they are doing.
I personally feel that EQing takes away the unique characteristics and sounds of the thing you are listening to. Which, to me, defeats the whole purpose of trying new things if you are just going to tune it to be the same or similar to everything else you own.
I want to hear the headphone/speaker as it has been tuned/produced by the manufacturer. To see if I like what they are doing.
I personally feel that EQing takes away the unique characteristics and sounds of the thing you are listening to. Which, to me, defeats the whole purpose of trying new things if you are just going to tune it to be the same or similar to everything else you own.
This may sound weird but I also don't like adding salt, pepper, ketchup, or any other add-ons to my food, even french fries. If food is prepared correctly it shouldn't need anything added to it. Which weirdly applies to the way I listen to music. I shouldn't have to change anything with the recording/listening device.
If the song is properly EQed by the the sound engineer in the studio and you have headphones that you like the sound of you shouldn't have to change anything. I understand that some music has pretty poorly EQued/recorded. But like with food if I go eat out at a place and the food requires me to modify it to like it then I would have to assume I just don't like the way they prepare food. I'm not going to keep going back to that restaurant just so I have to modify the food to make me like it.
The chef is more or less the sound engineer/headphone in this scenario. If I don't like what they produce I'm not going to try and change it to fit me I'm going to move on to a new place/headphone.
^Agree completely. I don't make much use of condiments and I don't use EQ. If food is bland or otherwise inedible without smothering it in condiments, it's not good food to begin with. Likewise, if a headphone "needs EQ" to sound good, that means it wasn't tuned properly by the manufacturer.
I think it is more about the bad connotations associated with eq than the food analogy. Especially how people from a forum that shall remain unnamed demand eq for all headphones to make them sound "correct" (flat). Nothing wrong with this way of thinking, but it really removes a lot of what makes individual headphones unique
But even the best and most high-end headphones can sound horrible with certain recordings and could definitely benefit from some EQ. In fact, "the better headphones" often turn some recordings into an unlistenable mess, especially older records and a lot of metal stuff, while some cheaper audiophile-despised consumer models do them total justice. I believe that if used wisely, EQ can only enhance the performance of your headphones. It's like adding some salt and pepper to your food However, I suppose it's easier to go ahead and buy another high-end pair than commit the sacrilege of using EQ.
I think if you have very expensive headphones, you do what you need to do to make troublesome or sub-par recordings sound good. But that's ultimately on the recording, not the headphones. I'm very picky about recordings, and if a better-sounding headphone is showing me that the recording is lacking, I may not enjoy it with those headphones no matter what I do. Sometimes it's not even a matter of EQ, but just hearing imperfections that lower-end headphones don't reveal. But if too many recordings are proving to be "unlistenable", then I'd probably re-think the headphones I'm using. I've tested headphones that sounded great with classical, but bad with almost everything else (i.e. too bright). Those weren't the headphones for me. I need more of an all-rounder. Another person might've just used EQ to lower the treble with other genres, or considered them "classical only" headphones. We all have different approaches.
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However, I suppose it's easier to go ahead and buy another high-end pair than commit the sacrilege of using EQ. 
