sebaz
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2011
- Posts
- 59
- Likes
- 19
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I see a lot of people here talking about the sound quality of the headphones, but I don't see a small list of CDs to be used as reference for better judging. Since the beginning of the 70s until now there have been thousands of recordings that go from absolute perfection to absolute crap. There are several 70s recordings that sound amazing, such as Yes' Fragile and Relayer, and there are some from the last few years that sound absolutely horrible. I'm a huge fan of Foo Fighters, but all their records sound like crap. It seems to be that with each record their quality goes down more and more. In "One By One" there are songs that even distort, and of course I'm not talking about electric guitar distortion, I'm talking about the sound engineer applying so much dynamic range compression without caring that some parts of the song actually distort and sound like crap.
I read many people here saying that a specific model of headphones is better for metal, other model for jazz, and so on, but to me it's not so much about the genre as it is about the quality of the recording.
As I write this I'm listening to Pat Metheny's "Still Life Talking", from 1987, and even though most recordings from the 80s sound awful, this one could be used as a starting point for comparison. On the JVC HA-RX700 ($36) this recording sounds excellent. There's perfect stereo imaging and all the instruments sound the way they should.
Another excellent recording to be used as a benchmark is Dave Matthews Band's "Behind These Crowded Streets" (1998). Not only it's his best album, but the sound is just superb. I'm not an engineer and I can't give you the educated reason why these sound so great, but I have been in concerts and smaller shows and I know what instruments sound like live, and any recording that sounds as close as possible to the real instrument is excellent to me.
My point is, you can buy a $1000 pair of headphones and if what you play sounds like crap, if the sound engineer did a poor job at the recording, mixing and/or mastering stage, it's going to sound like crap. So it would be good if everybody who buys headphones would have a set of CDs that are recognized as excellent sound by the audiophile community, to judge headphones and speakers with the proper source. If not, many people can play Dire Straits' "Brothers In Arms" with their horrible 80's style snare drum and most 80's rock and pop albums that sound the same and wrongly conclude that the headphones have a boost in the 4 to 8 kHz range. Or, they may also listen to one of many rock albums from the past few years and think that the headphones distort, when in reality it's the ridiculous amount of dynamic range compression applied by the sound engineer.
And, of course, what you connect the headphones to makes a huge difference. I hope nobody judges big headphones by connecting them straight to the computer or MP3 player, although probably some do. I laugh at the number of people that in their Amazon review of the RX700 or RX900 say they're not comfortable for using outdoors. Well, duh, moron, huge around the ear headphones are for the home, not to exercise with them. That's what little headphones are for.
[/size]I read many people here saying that a specific model of headphones is better for metal, other model for jazz, and so on, but to me it's not so much about the genre as it is about the quality of the recording.
As I write this I'm listening to Pat Metheny's "Still Life Talking", from 1987, and even though most recordings from the 80s sound awful, this one could be used as a starting point for comparison. On the JVC HA-RX700 ($36) this recording sounds excellent. There's perfect stereo imaging and all the instruments sound the way they should.
Another excellent recording to be used as a benchmark is Dave Matthews Band's "Behind These Crowded Streets" (1998). Not only it's his best album, but the sound is just superb. I'm not an engineer and I can't give you the educated reason why these sound so great, but I have been in concerts and smaller shows and I know what instruments sound like live, and any recording that sounds as close as possible to the real instrument is excellent to me.
My point is, you can buy a $1000 pair of headphones and if what you play sounds like crap, if the sound engineer did a poor job at the recording, mixing and/or mastering stage, it's going to sound like crap. So it would be good if everybody who buys headphones would have a set of CDs that are recognized as excellent sound by the audiophile community, to judge headphones and speakers with the proper source. If not, many people can play Dire Straits' "Brothers In Arms" with their horrible 80's style snare drum and most 80's rock and pop albums that sound the same and wrongly conclude that the headphones have a boost in the 4 to 8 kHz range. Or, they may also listen to one of many rock albums from the past few years and think that the headphones distort, when in reality it's the ridiculous amount of dynamic range compression applied by the sound engineer.
And, of course, what you connect the headphones to makes a huge difference. I hope nobody judges big headphones by connecting them straight to the computer or MP3 player, although probably some do. I laugh at the number of people that in their Amazon review of the RX700 or RX900 say they're not comfortable for using outdoors. Well, duh, moron, huge around the ear headphones are for the home, not to exercise with them. That's what little headphones are for.