aerius
Banned
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2002
- Posts
- 2,365
- Likes
- 26
I've been thinking about this for a while and tomek's thread on upgradeitis gave me the final push to put it into words. As the title says, what kind of sound do you want from a headphone system? Do you want detail? Warmth? Accuracy? Good frequency balance? And more importantly, which one of them is more important to you?
The reason I've been thinking about this is that I see so many conflicting opinions on the same headphones, sure human hearing varies a lot from person to person, but I know that can't be the whole story. I believe it was in one of ServinginEcuador's articles where he mentioned the need to identify one's main goal in audio, in his case I believe it was detail. By knowing your preferences & priorities, I you'll be able to get more out of the reviews, and to better understand the reviewer's viewpoints.
So with that out of the way, this is what I look for in a headphone or other music system. Above all else I want a decent frequency balance, if it has a chopped off treble, boomy bass, or sucked out midrange it's gone. I don't care if it's so detailed that I can tell what brand of sticks the drummer is using, if the frequency balance ain't right it's gone. The next thing I look for which relates the above is tone, is it warm sounding, neutral, whatever. Even though it's not "accurate", I prefer a warmer sound, maybe it's because I have a thing for nice old concert halls but that's the sound I like, something on the warm side. I don't mind if it sounds dead neutral like a Stax headphone for instance, but all else being equal I want something warmer sounding.
Now if the headphone's gotten this far the next thing I check for is harsh highs. You don't need excessive treble to have harsh highs, a Senn 580 with the foam removed can do this. If the highs hurt my ears it goes bye-bye. Next, my precious female vocals, some headphones do funny things to them, the Stax 2020 system comes to mind. Screw that up and the 'phone goes in the trashcan.
After all that I start listening for things like detail, soundstage, dynamics, and all those other audiophile things. Detail & dynamics are more important, soundstage isn't as big a deal. Instrument placement up & down and side to side is more important than the depth & size of the soundstage. I don't need a perfect true to life soundstage, as long as the sound doesn't sound like it's coming from a pair of drivers on my ears it's good enough.
And here's where the balancing act comes into play, I'll gladly tradeoff any or all of the things I listed in the previous paragraph for any of the things in the 2 paragraphs previous to it. For instance, I'd be willing to trade a bit of detail for a bit more warmth in the sound, I can live with a smaller soundstage if it means my female vocals sound better.
So what would my ideal headphone sound like? It would have the frequency & tonal balance and fun punchy sound of my Grado 225s, the detail of a Stax 4040 or better system, and the soundstage & comfort of my Senn 580s. Such a system does not exist as far as I know, and I haven't heard one that sounds like that.
The reason I've been thinking about this is that I see so many conflicting opinions on the same headphones, sure human hearing varies a lot from person to person, but I know that can't be the whole story. I believe it was in one of ServinginEcuador's articles where he mentioned the need to identify one's main goal in audio, in his case I believe it was detail. By knowing your preferences & priorities, I you'll be able to get more out of the reviews, and to better understand the reviewer's viewpoints.
So with that out of the way, this is what I look for in a headphone or other music system. Above all else I want a decent frequency balance, if it has a chopped off treble, boomy bass, or sucked out midrange it's gone. I don't care if it's so detailed that I can tell what brand of sticks the drummer is using, if the frequency balance ain't right it's gone. The next thing I look for which relates the above is tone, is it warm sounding, neutral, whatever. Even though it's not "accurate", I prefer a warmer sound, maybe it's because I have a thing for nice old concert halls but that's the sound I like, something on the warm side. I don't mind if it sounds dead neutral like a Stax headphone for instance, but all else being equal I want something warmer sounding.
Now if the headphone's gotten this far the next thing I check for is harsh highs. You don't need excessive treble to have harsh highs, a Senn 580 with the foam removed can do this. If the highs hurt my ears it goes bye-bye. Next, my precious female vocals, some headphones do funny things to them, the Stax 2020 system comes to mind. Screw that up and the 'phone goes in the trashcan.
After all that I start listening for things like detail, soundstage, dynamics, and all those other audiophile things. Detail & dynamics are more important, soundstage isn't as big a deal. Instrument placement up & down and side to side is more important than the depth & size of the soundstage. I don't need a perfect true to life soundstage, as long as the sound doesn't sound like it's coming from a pair of drivers on my ears it's good enough.
And here's where the balancing act comes into play, I'll gladly tradeoff any or all of the things I listed in the previous paragraph for any of the things in the 2 paragraphs previous to it. For instance, I'd be willing to trade a bit of detail for a bit more warmth in the sound, I can live with a smaller soundstage if it means my female vocals sound better.
So what would my ideal headphone sound like? It would have the frequency & tonal balance and fun punchy sound of my Grado 225s, the detail of a Stax 4040 or better system, and the soundstage & comfort of my Senn 580s. Such a system does not exist as far as I know, and I haven't heard one that sounds like that.
