This is helpful. I now have the correct context to understand your views on various cans. We don’t like the same thing at all
I didn't actually have a problem with the tuning of the MA900, I think the fatigue (as well as it's lack of scaling) may of been related to the impedance resistor it had but never heard one with that modded out. I tend to lean more towards warm to neutral in my headphones. There are some brighter headphones I like, but those are few.
Yes, I've read about the resistor - I got mine used, so don't know if there's been any work on it. And I certainly wouldn't hold it out as the world's best transducer. But it's cheap and more interesting than many I think - with great imaging. I really didn't mean to turn this into a mini-thread about the Sony - so I'll stop there.
I personally would generally prefer bass light to bass heavy headphones as well (the NDH 20 BE is an exemption to that rule, but the bass is so clean and undistorted, as is the whole frequency spectrum, that I accept it for what it is and use the headphone for it’s intended purpose), but the NDH 30 is certainly not bass light! For me the ideal is a headphone where the entire frequency range is represented correctly. The NDH 30 is the closest headphone I have heard to that ideal (although I don’t have any headphones that cost over 1K being more of a speaker/monitor guy). How do you find the bass on the NDH 30? Is it too much for you?
No, the NDH30 seems very linear to me through the lower frequencies - and seems to have good low frequency extension too - which appeals to me. I would say the same thing as you re frequency range ideal (as someone who listens to classical music and is looking for something that seems life-like). In talking to others who share my interest in this hobby (and interest in classical music), however, I find the performance of phones in the low end and handing over to the mids one of the most personal things. Many phones others (whose opinion I respect) find just right in this area seem not quite right to me (and vice versa). And this quality - where I hear it - invariably undermines the rest of the presentation for me - weighs it down. I think a pleasing transition here is one of the rarest qualities in even good phones - so I think I often err on the side of 'bass-lite' to avoid this (and must confess I've never been much interested below about 50-60 hz). Actually, the quality of this transition aspect of the NDH30 is what immediately marked it out to me as unusual.
I think our tastes are probably quite similar. You might recall, as I have said it before, that I am a classically trained musician. I’m a bassoon player but very early on started playing a lot of saxophone and then flute and clarinet, so I mostly do orchestral work and also woodwind doubling in shows. Ive also been interested in hi-fi since my early teens and have always had a good speaker based system. I totally understand you when you say you’re not much interested in anything below 50 to 60 Hz. The truth is that most full range speakers have hardly anything below 40 Hz and start to drop off quite fast below 60 Hz. That’s just a sound that I have got used to and accept. It’s also perfectly fine for almost any acoustic music. I’ve never once been tempted to add a subwoofer to my system. Subwoofer implementation is very tricky. It can be done well, but more often than not just adds muddiness and excessive sub bass frequencies, which simply don’t exist in much acoustic music, and which don’t integrate with the rest of the frequency spectrum. One of the potential advantages of course of headphone listening is that all of the frequencies can be presented correctly, not least because they are not affected by listening room acoustics. However, open back headphones rarely do much better than speaker systems in the lowest frequencies. I think the NDH 30 is something of an exception to that rule, and I agree with you that the transition from the bass to the mids is exceptional.
Yes! To all of the above. I’m sure peoples ideas of how reproduced music should sound would often be better informed if, like you, they went to more live acoustic events.
This is very normal. I typically test over the span of at least a week (if not longer). If I get lucky I will get a rainy day, which tends to result in the best ac power performance due to better grounding of the neighborhood electronics.
Full range is generally considered to cover 32 Hz and above (if not 20 Hz). Between the difficulty of having rooms behave at 20 Hz, and the strain on woofers (IM in upper bass/mids), and amps, Under 32 isn't a pursuit unless you listen to EDM type music.
Yes, you might well be right about tastes - and that might have something to do with the fact that I've also played classical music (cello, guitar - chamber music, some orchestral - but not seriously for some time). I also studied as a luthier and made and repaired stringed instruments. It was then, actually, that I started to make acoustic measurements of materials I was using and instruments I was making (and made by others). I've been involved in recording (being recorded and recording others) and have always been interested in playback as a field separate from recording - the move to digital from analogue was an interesting time. I guess all of these things inevitably merge in the judgements I make now about what I like, and why that might be so. Re speakers and lower frequencies, I guess it's really only modern concert grand pianos and double bass that dip seriously into the 30 hz range - even the lowest of other 'low' (classical) instruments tend to bottom out in the 50 hz range. Interestingly, the piccolo and the grand both run highest I think - into the 4k range on fundamentals! The piccolo's also one of the loudest instruments too - believe it or not - a beast to record! I find it often jumps out in otherwise well recorded music. I moved away from speakers some time ago, when I felt I couldn't match the quality I could get with phones. In addition to your point about room and other open field effects, I'm inclined to think it comes down to brute physics - loudspeakers require huge power to deliver transient information - more really than can usually be supplied domestically I think (I guess some in high efficiency full-range driver brigade might differ). But it really is possible to drive headphones adequately - and some of the more esoteric amps around now are wonders of engineering I think (like some of the phones). Like you, I think the Neumann is unusually satisfying - a great piece of engineering.
I didn't say that my monitors had nothing below 40 Hz. I have some ATC100ALS in my main system, and have had them for years.
