thefitz
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- May 22, 2015
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This is a great example of how simply staring at a specs sheet doesn't tell us much.
Those measurements are compensated along the Harman target curve, I believe. So, the 'bass emphasis' is that there's more bass content relative to the Harman target curve (which has a marked 3-4kHz treble lift). The HE-400's 'dip' is the headphones staying relatively flat where the Harman curve is expecting a boost. The HE-400s are much, much harder to drive, which may contribute to the fact that the entire HE-400 curve "lies below" the NAD VISO. Don't quote me on that second bit.
The single biggest issue when comparing the two graphs is that the HE-400 is known for a crispy ~10kHz spike and some ringing in that area. By that diagram, the NAD VISO appears to have "more of a spike" there too. Frequency response graphs don't do a whole lot to indicate slam and impact, which aren't even comparable between the two sets IMO.
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/HiFiMANHE400.pdf
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/NADVISOHP50.pdf
The grey lines are the ones the actual frequency response. The HE-400 "rolloff" is below 30Hz, so that's hardly indicative of anything.
Those measurements are compensated along the Harman target curve, I believe. So, the 'bass emphasis' is that there's more bass content relative to the Harman target curve (which has a marked 3-4kHz treble lift). The HE-400's 'dip' is the headphones staying relatively flat where the Harman curve is expecting a boost. The HE-400s are much, much harder to drive, which may contribute to the fact that the entire HE-400 curve "lies below" the NAD VISO. Don't quote me on that second bit.
The single biggest issue when comparing the two graphs is that the HE-400 is known for a crispy ~10kHz spike and some ringing in that area. By that diagram, the NAD VISO appears to have "more of a spike" there too. Frequency response graphs don't do a whole lot to indicate slam and impact, which aren't even comparable between the two sets IMO.
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/HiFiMANHE400.pdf
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/NADVISOHP50.pdf
The grey lines are the ones the actual frequency response. The HE-400 "rolloff" is below 30Hz, so that's hardly indicative of anything.