The four types of sound signature

[ZeNmAc]

Quote:

 
I think it isn't hard to tell the difference between 3dB tilted to the bass and 3dB tilted to the treble, and I think most head-fiers would agree with me. I think if you played around with an eq you could hear it too.

 
My reason for using 3dB is because it's kind of an established way of measuring 'acceptable'.  For example, most people measure where the bass response starts to roll off by the -3dB point.  I'm sure you can hear a 3dB difference fairly easily, but if it's a very narrow peak in a place with little musical content you may not notice.  +-3dB could most the response is -1dB over one region, +2db in another but at most there is a tiny 3dB peak at 20kHz or something

.  Less than 3dB is ideal, but that's almost nitpicking especially considering some headphones that have the entire bass/mid/treble region boosted by 6-10dB and another region recessed by almost as much

.

 

[Germancub]

I also agree that balanced would not mean a recessed midrange. Shures SRH line is what I would call balanced and the midrange is nice and warm. Nothing about the spectrum sticks out really and that's pretty balanced to me.

Off topic: cactus farmer, your screen name is awesome, I want to move to the valley... Love it there!