[JoeDoe]

If the mids are boosted, it's not neutral either.  Many refer to that signature as sweet.  If the mids and bass are boosted, then we get warm and/or warm and sweet.  That isn't neutral either.  If mids and treble are boosted, it's bright.  If only treble is boosted, it's called treble-happy   None of the above are truly neutral. 

The UE 900 is closer to neutral than the TF10 (based on what I've read, descriptions, etc.).  The UE 900 is still not neutral. 

Agreed

 

[tinyman392]

Quote:

So, are there any true neutral earphones or headphones?  I do not think so.
 
There will be always a sound signature. Even amps have been tuned to have a specific sound signature.
 
So if you have a very colored amp, you might want a flatter sounding earphones, but if you have a flat sounding amp these earphones will not do the trick.
 
Synergy is the key IMHO.

 
Neutral is a sound signature.  There is a tolerance for neutral (varies by person unfortunately).  The UE 900 has a large dip right at 1 kHz and treble that is a little leaner than what true neutral would give you.  There is a neutral signature though, and headphones that meet that signature (HiFiMan RE272, Etymotic HF5, ER4, etc).
 
Amps are tuned to a specific sound signature, they tend to boost certain things that would help out many headphones.  If you want a truly neutral system, you need a neutral output amp/DAC as well as a neutral headphone. 
 
Then you also have to deal with output impedance and how that will effect the signature  
 
Quote:

Agreed

 

 

[StudioCat]

I have yet to find an actual neutral pair of IEM's. I'd like to try the UE Capital Records ones, which are touted at neutral but they are just too much dough for me. I can say this, the studio monitors I'm used to mixing on, Genelec 1032's plus a Genelec sub in 7.1 I find relatively flat or neutral. My small speakers are Yamaha NS-10's which are NO WHERE NEAR neutral. But I've mixed so many records, movies and commercials on them that I've gottern used to them. And that's the main point. It's what you get used to, and know and trust, which brings me to the UE TF10's. For my ears, the TF10's hold up really well to Genelec 1032's, and is what I reference my mixes on when I drop down to ears. Yeah sure they've got a bump in the bottom, but I'm aware of that when I'm mixing and take that into consideration. I think the main thing is that you ARE listening to your mixes on ears at some point as it really challenges your reverb and delay returns. It's amazing to me how many mix engineers (and some really big names ones)  DON'T even reference on ears, when clearly 90% of their mixes are going to be heard on those POS white Apple headphones. Which is another philosophy, just use those Apple ones for mixing, but I can't get those things in my ears.
 
Now, for audiophiles who just want to hear high quality IEM's. Well, since there really is no neutral that I know of, it's kind of a season to taste and what you get used to. That's why each company (UE for example) makes so many different models. Over all, I much prefer the TF10's to the UE 900's but both are high quality IEM's. Ultimately what I've decided to do is keep my UE 900's for working out, mowing the lawn etc, and have my TF10's re molded with customs by 1964 Ears. Those will become my mix phones and 1964 Ears says it retains 95% of the original signature. I'll still keep my UE7's for stage work, even though they are bass light, they really seem to work well onstage as you get a fair amount of bass from wedges, bass amp, and FOH from behind. It all seems to even out.
 
My 2 cents on a long winded explanation.

 

[tinyman392]

If you're looking for tre neutrality, maybe an Etymotic would work well for you.

 

[JoeDoe]

Quote:

If you're looking for tre neutrality, maybe an Etymotic would work well for you.

+1