[ADUHF]

Carefully controlled comparisons are the best way to judge sound quality. (blind, level matched, direct A/B switched) Measurements are the best way to measure fidelity. We can measure everything we hear, but we can't hear everything we measure. So, past the point of transparency, it's pointless to spend more on measurable sound you can't hear. Some comparisons are advertisements too. Audiophile reviews are frequently nothing more than advertorial.

The big piece of advice that seems to never be mentioned in audiophile circles is ergonomics and usability. Convenience is MUCH more variable from one DAC or amp to another than sound quality. And comfort is of primary importance with headphones. It doesn't matter how good cans sound if they make your head hurt to wear them. I think reviews should spend more time on ergonomic issues than sound quality or fidelity.

I agree with most of this, bigshot.

But will add that I learned most of what I know about how headphones work and are measured from reviewers like Tyll Hertsens. And although we can measure everything we can hear, I think we still have a long way to go in understanding what alot of those measurements really mean, and how to best interpret them. And I think this is where the subjective impressions of different reviewers and users can also often be somewhat helpful.

Like you, I also wish that reviews spent a bit more time, and were a bit more critical on issues of fit, ergonomics, convenience, and also durability and construction. Some people are less sensitive to these things though. And there can also be a fair amount of variation in the way a pair of headphones, for example, can fit on different individuals as well, depending on the size and shape of their head. So what may be a good/comfortable fit for one reviewer may not be for another.

I probably pay more attention to a headphone's ergonomics, fit, comfort, durability and construction though than to most other factors. Though I'll also look at the FR, extension, distortion, driver symmetry and other sound quality characteristics as well. Because you can't really "fix" a headphone that has bad distortion. And there is also only so much correction that you can effectively do to a headphone's FR and symmetry, if those are also off.

I like hearing the reviewer's subjective impressions though as well, especially when they're compared to other headphones that I'm already familiar with... in addition to seeing all of the measurements.

These are the headphones that I've spent the most time with, and am probably most familiar with in terms of the sound, fit, and so forth, btw...

AKG K371 & K553 Pro
AudioTechnica M40x & M50x
Beats Solo 2 (wired version)
Beyerdynamic DT-770 (80 & 250 ohm)
Sennheiser HD 280 Pro & 380 Pro

All are closed over-ear headphones, except for the Beats which is on-ear. And the M40x and M50x, which are sort of in-between an on-ear and over-ear on my large ears. I don't currently use or own any IEMs or open over-ear headphones. Though I'm considering getting a pair of the latter.

 

[bigshot]

I find that audiophiles are well informed when it comes to technical minutia about one brand of product vs another. But they are often woefully ignorant when it comes to the fundamentals of sound reproduction and human ability to hear. It's like someone going out to buy a car who knows everything there is to know about carburetors and vehicle suspension, but they've never driven a car in their life, so they don't know what it's like to drive a car on a road.

You'll notice that I don't list my equipment in my sig file. That isn't because I don't have equipment. It's because the equipment isn't why my systems sound so good. The application of the principles of sound reproduction are. I'm always impressed when someone can intelligently kludge together a really usable and great sounding system using equipment that is inexpensive and readily available. I'm not impressed at all at systems where people just go out and spend as much money as they can. I'm here to talk about the practical side of achieving great sound. I'm not particularly interested in pure theory or technical aspects that don't affect audibility. Maybe I'm not an audiophile because I have no interest in those things.

 

[ADUHF]

Several new videos that I thought might be of some interest here. I haven't listened to any of these yet, but wanted to post them anyway, so others could. These were all streamed within the last week btw.

First is THS's latest live stream with Resolve.

 

[ADUHF]

This is a panel of experts discussing some potential ways to improve loudspeaker specs. Sound power is supposed to be one of the topics of this discussion. So I'll be particularly interested to hear what's said on that.

 

[ADUHF]

Last video is Dr. Sean Olive discussing his headphone research for Harman, and the Harman curve. This was live streamed yesterday.

 

[ADUHF]

More Dr. Olive. I think this is mostly on speakers.

 

[bigshot]

You're going to have to put me on salary if you want me to watch all these videos!

 

[ADUHF]

You're going to have to put me on salary if you want me to watch all these videos!

I don't think there's enough money in the ADU coffers for that, bigshot!

 

[Paul Mohr]

I'm always impressed when someone can intelligently kludge together a really usable and great sounding system using equipment that is inexpensive and readily available. I'm not impressed at all at systems where people just go out and spend as much money as they can. I'm here to talk about the practical side of achieving great sound. I'm not particularly interested in pure theory or technical aspects that don't affect audibility. Maybe I'm not an audiophile because I have no interest in those things.

Oh man this is something that drives me insane. I can't tell you how many systems I have seen both in person and in pictures that are so jacked up it makes me want to yell at them. Someone with 10's to hundreds of thousands of dollar worth of a equipment. Hi end speakers, transports, pre amps and amps, fancy cable, cable lifters, isolation and dampening disks and whatever other kind of garbage someone conned them into buying. Then they just plunk it down haphazardly in sparse room with 14 foot ceilings, hardwood floors and one whole wall of glass or windows. With speakers pointing in the wrong directions and right next to a reflective wall. Its nothing more than furniture, decoration or art to them. Then they want to make fun of or put down a system you cobbled together from Best Buy. Well I can assure you my cobbled together budget system sounds better than your expensive tragic mess. And that is because I took the time and effort to make it sound good. Could their system sound better than mine? Sure it could if they were not idiots and spent a 1/10 of that budget on hiring someone to set it up properly for them.

I remember years ago back in the 80's when I was 18 or 19 I went to Paragon Sound in Toledo Ohio which is a hi end dealer. I wanted to look at and maybe hear some fancy equipment like I saw in the magazines I liked to read. They were very kind and showed me around and let me listen to a lot of stuff fully knowing I couldn't afford any of it. I listened to a basic set up that probably cost a couple thousand dollars or so. Some affordable B&W towers with a cd player, a pre amp and an amp. I forget the brands but nothing crazy. Maybe arcam or something, where they a thing in the 80's? Why nicer than anything I had but nothing crazy. It sounded great. I was very impressed. I loved those speakers and have always wanted some. Then we listened to other things that were more expensive and eventually their large reference system that cost more than a house. He asked what I thought after listening to it and I said "Eh, it sounds good but honestly not that much better than the system I have at home with a sharp cd player, a sansui amp and speaker I built myself." He freaked out, got upset and told me I was crazy lol. I told him I didn't say it didn't sound good, or that it wasn't better. Obviously it was. It just wasn't a 1,000 times better. I told him honestly I liked the first 3,000 dollar system I listened to. It was set up better, sounded fantastic and the average human could afford it. If I really saved up and wanted it I could have bought it. I also listened to some expensive grado headphones on and expensive amp too. I said "ya, sounds like headphones to me, not impressed" lol. Then they were talking about cables and all that other stuff too. They even conned me into taking a pair of speaker cables home to demo. I had to put a deposit down and if I liked them it went towards the purchase and if I didn't I got the money back. I tried them, no difference and I took them back. There excuse was of course my system wasn't good enough to the tell the difference. Or I didn't know what to listen for.

 

[bigshot]

I was in a store to audition speakers one day and I was ready to buy. The salesman took me to the speaker demo room and I would point at a set of speakers and he would switch to them for me so I could listen and make notes on a yellow pad. I noticed when I went back to one set of speakers, they sounded different than just a few minutes before, then boop! they sounded the same again. I happened to be looking at the salesman. He was standing in front of the equipment with his hands behind his back and I saw a movement in his shoulder. I asked him if he could come over for a sec and he did. When he stepped away from the blocking the equipment, I noticed that the bass control had been turned up. It was at the detent when we started. I told him that if he kept tweaking the tone controls like that, we would be here all night. He got mad. I told him I was perfectly capable of running a switcher myself if he wanted to go. He stomped off in a huff and I figured out what I wanted and bought them from a different salesman.

 

[Blackwoof]

I remember their guest who had a massive hate for anything Grado labs based. It weird how they're saying THD doesn't affect sound quality but if you were to bring up the SR325e or GS2000e, Suddenly 10% bass THD & 0.8% mids/treble despite that being the common range for Speakers?.

 

[ADUHF]

New livestream with Dr. Olive and Mad Economist.

 

[ADUHF]

Finished listening to this. And I found some of the questions/comments toward the beginning re whether the Harman headphone curve was based more on preferences, or more on measurements particularly interesting. I think Dr. Olive's answers on this might surprise a few folks. The discussion on this specific point begins at around 6:20 in the video.

 

[ADUHF]

I remember their guest who had a massive hate for anything Grado labs based. It weird how they're saying THD doesn't affect sound quality but if you were to bring up the SR325e or GS2000e, Suddenly 10% bass THD & 0.8% mids/treble despite that being the common range for Speakers?.

Thanks for the reply, Blackwoof. And my apologies for not responding to your post sooner.

I'd have to go back and look at the research again on distortion. But Dr. Olive made an interesting comment that sort of stuck in my head in his presentation on this subject with Steve Temme. And it was something to the effect that while he was able to distinguish some differences in sound qualities between the (virtual) headphones with different types of distortion. He was not able to form really strong opinions about which ones he preferred.

If he could hear the differences, then perhaps with a bit more training of his own ears and perceptions he might be able to identify which types and amounts of distortion could potentially have a more noticeable or detrimental effect on the fidelity of recording. And then maybe be able to rank them based on that?

 

[castleofargh]

Finished listening to this. And I found some of the questions/comments toward the beginning re whether the Harman headphone curve was based more on preferences, or more on measurements particularly interesting. I think Dr. Olive's answers on this might surprise a few folks. The discussion on this specific point begins at around 6:20 in the video.

Good job on the click bait, but I honestly don’t see what could be surprising at this point(assuming people still following this have at the very least watched some previous vids with Olive, and hopefully read at least some of the papers mentioned).
It’s an interesting vid for sure as it contains a lot of relevant info. But most stuff are in the papers or previous vids, or could reasonably be inferred from them.

For those who won’t spend 2h30 on this, Olive is an audio noob like me who doesn’t know much about headphone soundstage, microdynamic, or grain. Chance are he also never used ”plankton” to describe sound.