Comment on above quotes:
One thing I've learned is that my preferences align more with some folks than others in the comparison threads. Doesn't mean anyone's wrong; we're either hearing a little differently or looking for something different in the sound signature. Once I do know that I have similar 'hearing' with another Head-Fier, it allows me to lean more on their opinions when evaluating options.
I say this having bought some 'Budget Kings' (DJ100) based on some great reviews in the appreciation/comparison threads and then being underwhelmed! Later I ended up getting the KRK8400s for a little less and like them a lot more.
A quote from Tyll's article, "Headphone Measurement Proceedures - Introduction and Equipment" on Innerfidelity.com
- "What I’m trying to get at here is that I’ve found the correlation between headphone measurements and the listening experience quite a bit stronger than with speaker or electronics measurements. Though this may simply be a result of my intimate familiarity with headphone measurements. At any rate, I think you’ll find this journey into objective headphone evaluation interesting and illuminating."
- Another interesting page on his site where he correlates square wave response to sound signatures - http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/headphone-measurements-explained-square-wave-response-page-2
FWIW, Tyll's take on headphones via listening and measurement have been pretty spot on for me and I find value in looking at the measurements as a starting point and then choosing what headphones I'd like to listen to...letting my ears be the final judge of course.