Testing audiophile claims and myths

[BGSS]

Funny how everything is supposed to sound the same, yet at meets, the same headphones always seem to sound different. What’s up with that?

 

[mrhenu]

Funny how everything is supposed to sound the same, yet at meets, the same headphones always seem to sound different. What’s up with that?

If you're talking about amps and dacs:

• In some cases, output impedance can change the headphones' FR
• Poor volume matching
• Expectations - If you go in expecting an improved sound, you can hear it even if it's not there

It's not a Blind ABX test you're doing at meets.

Edit: Also, why is your profile picture AI slop lol

 

[gregorio]

Funny how everything is supposed to sound the same, yet at meets, the same headphones always seem to sound different. What’s up with that?

Who says “everything is supposed to sound the same”? In addition to what @mrhenu stated there are additional potential reasons why the “the same headphones always seem to sound different” at meets:

A. At a meet the background noise is constantly varying and therefore what you’re hearing will obviously vary too.
B. Each time you put on your headphones the sound hitting your ear drum will indeed be different unless you place them in exactly the same position and maybe at a meet when you are specifically focused on trying different gear and identifying differences you are more aware of the different sound from small positioning differences than when you’re just listening at home.
C. If you focus on different things then what you perceive will be different. Even if you’re listening to the exact same track, with the exact same gear at the exact same volume but one time you focus on listening to say the bass guitar and the next time on say the cymbals, then these two identical playbacks will sound different.

G

 

[VNandor]

In addition to that, even high quality headphones with top tier quality control still have a dB or 2 unit to unit variation. DACs, amps, cables, DDCs, network switches, contact cleaners, ground boxes, PSUs, audiophile crystals and so on either don't change the sound or change the sound by fractions of dB. It almost makes sense that a person claiming they hear a difference between cables also claim they hear differences between the same model of headphones.

 

[2leftears]

Funny how everything is supposed to sound the same, yet at meets, the same headphones always seem to sound different. What’s up with that?

In addition to all of the above, in my experience headphones sound different depending on whether I'm sitting, lying down, standing, walking etc.

In fact every day my headphones sound a little different to me, yet is the exact same pair every day. For starters, every day my mood and physical condition is a bit different, which affects my sound perception whether I like it or not. Also every time I put them on they sit on my head just a little different, with different cushion contouring and seal. It should be noted that some model headphones are more critical than others in that respect; some sound fairly similar regardless of the exact position, others need a big of wiggling to get them just right, but 'just right' today won't be the same as 'just right' tomorrow.
But I also know that after a few minutes my brain adapts anyway, and I simply don't notice them sounding 'off' at all unless I accidentally put them on left-right reversed, or I have a cold or allergic reaction or something which gives me swollen Eustachian tubes or swollen sinuses in which case everything sounds 'off' anyway.

Listening to your headphones at a meet is not the same as listening to them at home for a whole range of reasons as mentioned already in the posts above.

And no-one I know of here has ever suggested everything sounds the same; some audio components sound the same, but many don't, notably speakers and headphones.