[grndslm]

I don't have a clue as to what you guys are talking about when ya use 90% of the words that ya do. Maybe you could help me out and add more to this list!!

Dynamics - Change in volume, from loud to soft.
Airy -
Punchy -
Warm -
Cold -
Colored ?

 

[jkm]

Warm is a headphone that will make the music you are listening to feel good to listen too. A bad explaination but thats all I can say. A cold headphone is less enjoyable but often the details are a little clearer than a warm headphone. Example would be Sony v6 vs any Sennheiser.

Colored refers to a headphone that changes the sound of the music to make it more bassy, bright,bring out the highs or make some part of the overall sound standout or be more recessed rather than have a flat reasponse with no alteration of the sound. Now don't quote me but I believe that Bose Triports and k81 dj are two examples of really colored headphones. Not bad (well, the dj's) but not perfect for studio montioring.

Airy? You got me there. Perhaps better separation of the instruments compared to other headphones.

Puncy- Headphones that are brighter and hit you with the sound. Grado's and Alessandros are well known for having this trait. Its why they are so recommended for harder styles of rock and music.

 

[feh1325]

i think punchy has to do more with bass and mids

 

[jkm]

Yeah. You're probably right.

 

[Duggeh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jkm /img/forum/go_quote.gif Warm is a headphone that will make the music you are listening to feel good to listen too. A bad explaination but thats all I can say. A cold headphone is less enjoyable but often the details are a little clearer than a warm headphone. Example would be Sony v6 vs any Sennheiser. Colored refers to a headphone that changes the sound of the music to make it more bassy, bright,bring out the highs or make some part of the overall sound standout or be more recessed rather than have a flat reasponse with no alteration of the sound. Now don't quote me but I believe that Bose Triports and k81 dj are two examples of really colored headphones. Not bad (well, the dj's) but not perfect for studio montioring. Airy? You got me there. Perhaps better separation of the instruments compared to other headphones. Puncy- Headphones that are brighter and hit you with the sound. Grado's and Alessandros are well known for having this trait. Its why they are so recommended for harder styles of rock and music.

I respectfully disagree.


Warm: more prominence to the lower midrange and or the bass. May also be used to describe although not necessarily at the same time, for a headphone which lacks accuracy in these frequencies compared to one with similar prominence in tonality.

Coloured: A word which like NEUTRAL and NATURAL shoud be banned utterly from descriptions of sound altogether. A woolly term which means NOTHING out of a separate descriptive context.

Airy: Most often used to describe a sound which is thin, has a treble spike or is lacking in bass, but in a complimentary way. Should really be used to describe a very clear and clean non-resonant non-edgy upper frequency register. Should be utterly incompatible in any description with the word sibilance.

Punchy: Has a bass and lower midrange presentation which has a slam in the physical sense upon ghr ear as well as a tonal impact.

 

[M0T0XGUY]

No offense, but this sort of guide has been created many times, I'm sure if someone searched for it you'd find something similar. It's a good idea, its just been done before.

 

[Duggeh]

It can never be set into stone anyway. The entire mass-subjectivity of sound and vocabulary to the individual makes it an ultimately pointless exercise. That's why whenever I try to articulate a sounds I try also to explain what I mean by the terms I use.

 

[unclejr]

Not that it's definitive, but I found this reference to be kind of a nice (tangible, less sifting required) guide to all the terms:

Robert Harley's High Performance Audio Systems

 

[grndslm]

I certainly wasn't looking to pay for a guide just for the most commonly used terms of head-fi users.

After a bit of searching, I did find this guide: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=223116

That should be a sticky, no?

 

[lamb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grndslm /img/forum/go_quote.gif I certainly wasn't looking to pay for a guide just for the most commonly used terms of head-fi users. After a bit of searching, I did find this guide: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=223116 That should be a sticky, no?

Agree!

 

[qazwsx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jkm /img/forum/go_quote.gif Warm is a headphone that will make the music you are listening to feel good to listen too. A bad explaination but thats all I can say. A cold headphone is less enjoyable but often the details are a little clearer than a warm headphone. Example would be Sony v6 vs any Sennheiser. Colored refers to a headphone that changes the sound of the music to make it more bassy, bright,bring out the highs or make some part of the overall sound standout or be more recessed rather than have a flat reasponse with no alteration of the sound. Now don't quote me but I believe that Bose Triports and k81 dj are two examples of really colored headphones. Not bad (well, the dj's) but not perfect for studio montioring. Airy? You got me there. Perhaps better separation of the instruments compared to other headphones. Puncy- Headphones that are brighter and hit you with the sound. Grado's and Alessandros are well known for having this trait. Its why they are so recommended for harder styles of rock and music.

Airy has a lot to do with soundstage and lower mids.

And punchy has NOTHING to do with treble. Punchy is how well-maintained the bass is. The opposite of punchy would be boomy.

And not every Sennheiser is warm.