[Pepper]

Analytical in my mind is kind of cold, highly articulate and bright. It lacks oomph and character. Usually not a "full" sound. Sometimes what you're listening to sounds disconnected... Sounds like a bunch of instruments playing to you, instead of a song. It's more about the parts of the whole, than the whole itself.

 

[barid]

red is superior to blue.  but green is superior to purple.

 

[Kib]

Quote:

red is superior to blue.  but green is superior to purple.

Reminds me of a Vespa scooter forum I used to follow where fights would erupt over which color bike was the fastest.
(BTW - Black is the correct answer)

 

[BackwardPawn]

Any chance you all could give example of headphones you find analytical vs. headphones you find fun?  I have a DT880 and am planning on building or buying a tube amp for them.  But I do find them a little analytical.  I've been thinking my next headphones would be something like the DT990 to add a bit of bass and because I like these Beyers, but I'm open to other suggestions.  Thanks.
 
Not trying to hijack the thread, but when we get to the point of analyzing color, I think its time to start turning to the practical side of the argument.

 

[Lorspeaker]

if u want to stick to beyer..i recommend a dt770/600ohms..
its analytical and has a kick in the bass..
i can feel the drivers in mine physically rocking on my ears when i play some bigpounding music.
Get a hybrid tube amp...like a LYR...and u are ready for a showdown.
 
i wont recommend the circumaural tesla/s ....

 

[money4me247]

  red is superior to blue.  but green is superior to purple.

I kindly disagree. blue is the best!!!

 

[Sylaw]

and Black is superior to White .. dont judge me 

 

[Sylaw]

Honestly although i say i love a perfectly flat fQ response ( nothing like that exist in IEM world) , I still prefer a slight Emphasis towards mid's :3.... 

 

[ubs28]

Analytical headphones have no real weaknesses, since all the frequencies are in balance. And they are very detailed with great imaging and soundstage. On badly recorded music, all flaws will be exposed though. 
 
Fun headphones can sound fatter than analytical headphones since they got stronger low frequencies at the expense of other frequencies. This will make them sound more impressive when doing an A/B comparison. However it sounds very unrealistic and they don't work well on all types of music like analytical headphones can. 

 

[Spyro]

  Just a side note, I've read from somewhere that speakers are aimed to, or at least always advertised to be able to reproduce music neutrally. The main reason is that before coming into contact with your eardrums, the sound coming from the speakers will first interact with the environments, thus changing its nature. So basically the coloration occurs naturally, and what you might be hearing is pretty much colored to some extent.
 
For IEMs, that's a different story altogether. Since the IEMs are placed directly against your eardrums with nothing between, the sound reproduced by them is hardly affected by anything, so there is a need for IEM producers to create some kind of coloration to make the music sound "neutral", based on the standard of natural sound that you're hearing from speakers. This is probably also the reason why having different tips might change the sound signature dramatically, because they also play an important part in creating the "inside head" environment.

 
BINGO!!!
 
Excellent post.  This describes exactly why Etymotics sound so un-natural in relation to live music and speaker acoustics in general.  Ety adds nothing explaining why it sounds so far off from "natural."  I have always said I have never heard any music played either live or in a studio that sounded like anything what I hear from an Ety and this post explains why that is.

 

[money4me247]

  and Black is superior to White .. dont judge me 

your color preference reveals your burnt black heart 

 *judgy-eye glare*
 

  Analytical headphones have no real weaknesses, since all the frequencies are in balance. And they are very detailed with great imaging and soundstage. On badly recorded music, all flaws will be exposed though. 
 
Fun headphones can sound fatter than analytical headphones since they got stronger low frequencies at the expense of other frequencies. This will make them sound more impressive when doing an A/B comparison. However it sounds very unrealistic and they don't work well on all types of music like analytical headphones can. 

I was told there was no correlation between analytical & neutral/balanced frequencies. I was under the impression that analytical simply means extremely detailed. A lot of treble-emphasizing headphones are not technically balanced, but are very analytical.
 
Fun/colored headphones also don't need to be only boosted at the lower frequencies. Bass-boosted headphones are great for bass heavy music (edm, hip hop, r&b) but worse for guitars & vocals. Treble/mid-focused headphones can be great for vocals/guitars, but can't get you to dance to the beat of techno. I think colored headphones naturally are more suited towards specific genres, but there are a lot more colored headphones out there than just bass-boost.
 
Sound stage & imaging is completely independent & unrelated to coloration or detail, though you'll find that most great hi-end headphones have all neutral frequency response w/ expansive sound stage/imaging + amazing detail =P You can have colored headphones with great soundstage/detail OR neutral headphones w/ horrible soundstage/detail

 

[Sylaw]

  your color preference reveals your burnt black heart 

 *judgy-eye glare*
 
 

 Muhahahahaha ( evil Laugh fading slowly) 

 

[higbvuyb]

   
BINGO!!!
 
Excellent post.  This describes exactly why Etymotics sound so un-natural in relation to live music and speaker acoustics in general.

This is not correct. Etymotic earphones are not flat, they are compensated to match a diffuse-field response with a slight treble reduction.

 

[ubs28]

  your color preference reveals your burnt black heart 

 *judgy-eye glare*
 
I was told there was no correlation between analytical & neutral/balanced frequencies. I was under the impression that analytical simply means extremely detailed. A lot of treble-emphasizing headphones are not technically balanced, but are very analytical.
 
Fun/colored headphones also don't need to be only boosted at the lower frequencies. Bass-boosted headphones are great for bass heavy music (edm, hip hop, r&b) but worse for guitars & vocals. Treble/mid-focused headphones can be great for vocals/guitars, but can't get you to dance to the beat of techno. I think colored headphones naturally are more suited towards specific genres, but there are a lot more colored headphones out there than just bass-boost.
 
Sound stage & imaging is completely independent & unrelated to coloration or detail, though you'll find that most great hi-end headphones have all neutral frequency response w/ expansive sound stage/imaging + amazing detail =P You can have colored headphones with great soundstage/detail OR neutral headphones w/ horrible soundstage/detail

 
To me analytical headphones are headphones for analyzing music, so for mixing and mastering. They sound like studio reference monitors. Example of such headphones are the Shure SRH 1840.
 
Neutrality is very important for an analytical headphone because boosts in certain frequencies will mask other frequencies (so also no boost in treble). Hence why studio monitors are aiming for a neutral sound. 
 
I don't think a headphone that is coloured, with a small soundstage, poor imaging and lacking details would be good for professional mixing and mastering.

 

[money4me247]

  To me analytical headphones are headphones for analyzing music, so for mixing and mastering. They sound like studio reference monitors. Example of such headphones are the Shure SRH 1840.
 
Neutrality is very important for an analytical headphone because boosts in certain frequencies will mask other frequencies (so also no boost in treble). Hence why studio monitors are aiming for a neutral sound. 
 
I don't think a headphone that is coloured, with a small soundstage, poor imaging and lacking details would be good for professional mixing and mastering.

hahah you shld talk to @Sil3nce (http://www.head-fi.org/t/695635/looking-for-new-full-sized-headphones/30#post_10082854)
 
totally got into sidetracked by the word analytical in that discussion. turns out the audiophile definition of analytical is simply excessively detailed. this is even often accomplished w/ a treble boost, so neutrality =/= analytical. yes, lacking details = non analytical, but coloration, sound stage/imaging are separate from analytical.
 
you'll find audiophiles here often get onto you about words being used incorrectly. =P just a word of warning.