[Sonic Atrocity]

So, yesterday I decided to take the afternoon and visit Headfone Shop in Toronto. Charles was really helpful, friendly, and informative. I checked out the Q701 (clipzip (rockboxed)>>fiio 12>>>AKG Q701) and they blew me away. Way better than my KRK KNS 8400 (as much as I love them). Afterwards, I headed to Moog Audio on Queen St. They didn't have any amps, so I couldn't test anything out. But, the guy working there (who I must admit was really, really rude - but that's beside the point) told me that you can't use open headphones properly unless you are in a treated room. He claimed that the sound waves moving outside the headphones are in a sense unaccounted for, and that if someone were to open the door to the room I'm sitting in the frequency response would be changed. As a neutrality freak I was really disturbed by this claim. 
 
TLDR: Do you need a treated room to listen to open headphones properly? Or is such a claim bogus? 
 
 
PS: I live in a small bachelor apartment, and where I sit at my desk there is a wall directly to my right. Should I be worried about the frequency response of my open headphones (which I am interested in purchasing) being affected by that wall, or even just the room itself? 
 
I'd really appreciate responses on this. Thanks for taking the time to view my thread. 
 
Happy listening, fellow head-fiers

 

[wnmnkh]

Unless headphone type is earspeaker (i.e old AKG K1000), the effect from room response is just too small to sense anything, unless your listening volume is very high that which can make any person to deaf in 10 minutes of listening.
 
 
AKG K1000 was actually very good headphones if used with subwoofer nearby.

 

[Sonic Atrocity]

  Unless headphone type is earspeaker (i.e old AKG K1000), the effect from room response is just too small to sense anything, unless your listening volume is very high that which can make any person to deaf in 10 minutes of listening.
 
 
AKG K1000 was actually very good headphones if used with subwoofer nearby.

 
Hahaha, headphones that came with a sub? That's hilarious

 

[wnmnkh]

   
Hahaha, headphones that came with a sub? That's hilarious

 
No, originally it's just headphones alone. Some people tried it with subwoofer, and with right level, it sounded great since K1000 lacked lowbass.

 

[elbastardo]

Did he also tell you that headphone cables need cable bridges to neutralize the resonance? LOL! 

 

[Mad Max]

We don't do bridges here, just crossovers with Blackgates capacitors.