Lots of talk on Head-fi about bass, mids and highs,
Over the years I have noticed some headphones make understanding what the words of a song actually are (instead of just humming the tune I know the words because the words are ****clearly*** audible )
Often the vocals are smeared or lost behind the music, Im reasonably confident when music is recorded (with vocals) the vocals are 'typically layered on top' of everything else.
So a headphone that makes the vocals of a song 'intelligible' *might be a better headphone then a set with "great soundstage" *but you can't quite tell what the words are ?
seems to me like an overly specific approach. some reasons why on the top of my head :
- some albums are definitely trying to blend everything into one piece of music, other will be mixed to have very clear vocals well isolated from the rest. not sure we should assume that music in general aims at having vocals as clear and isolated as possible. minimum intelligibility is probably a target for most sound engineers, but I have some rap and metal albums discarding that requirement very clearly ^_^.
- voice recognition is improved when the frequency response in that range corresponds to what we're used to hear. so instead of quality, it could sometimes be a sign that the headphone is nicely tuned for you specifically(blablablah HRTF). which could make intelligibility(in some aspects at least) a fairly subjective notion, instead of a general concept of quality or being "better" than another headphone.
- a headphone with super rolled off frequencies outside the human vocal range would make voices easier to understand than a better headphone covering properly a broader range of frequencies. because with more of the audible range, you get more occasions where an instrument could mask part of the voice(mask as in auditory masking).
so although intelligibility might help pick up on chaotic frequency response and/or very high distortion levels from time to time, I don't think it should be used alone to assess headphone quality.
I'm talking about songs I have heard 100s of times specifically, songs i have hummed for years because I had not yet heard the lyric clearly enough to know What was said
Lots of talk on Head-fi about bass, mids and highs,
Over the years I have noticed some headphones make understanding what the words of a song actually are (instead of just humming the tune I know the words because the words are ****clearly*** audible )
Often the vocals are smeared or lost behind the music, Im reasonably confident when music is recorded (with vocals) the vocals are 'typically layered on top' of everything else.
So a headphone that makes the vocals of a song 'intelligible' *might be a better headphone then a set with "great soundstage" *but you can't quite tell what the words are ?
I think the level of vocal clarity and just overall clarity of everything, is very dependent on the quality of the amp you have your headphones connected to. An inexpensive/average amp compared to a really well thought-out, well designed one can be the difference between being able to hear a conglomeration of noise to being able to distinguish each and every single instrument apart from each other, and clearer vocals that just flows with the recording. Of course there are some headphones that sound clearer than others, but if you want to take it to an extreme level a really good amp is a must have.
I think the level of vocal clarity and just overall clarity of everything, is very dependent on the quality of the amp you have your headphones connected to. An inexpensive/average amp compared to a really well thought-out, well designed one can be the difference between being able to hear a conglomeration of noise to being able to distinguish each and every single instrument apart from each other, and clearer vocals that just flows with the recording.
It’s always a mixture of good and bad with a headphone. As listening to k701 full-size headphones, if driven correctly they can show a bunch of vocal detail. Also the Noble K 10 Encore IEM can do vocals well. The Noble K10 Encore is revered to be much like the HD800.
So the above somehow just push detail to a point that you can hear everything that’s going on with the vocals. They could even be thought of as vocal centric.
And yes, a whole system clarity is the result of the whole system not just a part of the whole system. This shows how expensive equipment can not sound optimal if mismatched. Detail comes from all three; headphones, amps and source.
Still at times I would rather have music which sounds more natural as the k701.............the Encore or HD800 can sound plasticky. So enjoying vocals for me is not just having them be delineated in the sound signature but fully placed like you would maybe hear them live in a good live setting. At this final point everything comes together if you have bass but the vocals don’t actually sit farther back but stay out front. Where every thing is detailed, everything integrates together and everything sounds natural.
Once that comes together, there may still be a vocal tone in some random song which does not sound as forward as expected but it is few and far between. Nothing is totally perfect, still in the end you become suspect of replay where everything has been pushed back except the vocals. Meaning vocal-centric is wrong, there should be no good vocal centric replay, that’s not how music in life is.
Beyond the high, medium and low is timbre and the ability to distinguish actual character of instruments. And.......they can be just slighly exaggerated but just slighly. Think of seeing a photograph which has been just slighly processed. It’s just slighly more clear than life, but not unnatural. But each instrument including the vocals must have their character and the delay or reverb which was recorded into the song.
The above can be written and strived for still most of the time it’s still an a illusion. Meaning it’s an illusion anyway due to the music not really being played in front of you. So with that in mind even speakers in a room add the room responce. There will be artifacts all over anyway. IEMs may depreciate the importance of certain frequencies in attempt to create what the mind thinks is real musical replay. It’s what is acceptable to the listener and what is correct sounding to the listener.
Do you honestly think I would post what I just posted, if I hadn't heard such a significant difference myself?!
That statement is simply not true.
When I had my Cyrus/Linn system, I heard the difference every time I used it. Are you gonna tell me I was having some sort of auditory hallucination or something? pfft!
There are significant differences between mid-fi and high-end amps. The circuitry in high-end amps is usually better thought-out and better designed, which contributes to the sound, obviously. Not all amps sound the same, many have colorations to their sound.
I guess you believe its a good idea to take a million dollar violin, put it in the hands of someone who has made their fingers bleed for decades learning how to create the -
*exact tone and sound they desire*
record that ^ performance using the best recording equipment and techniques,
and then play all that back through an amplifier/HP that changes the sound ?
That approach seems foolish to me,
I prefer to try and re-create the original sound as accurately as possible.
Yes, some high-end gear has coloration, but that coloration is deliberate. Equipment such as a high-end solid state power amp, is designed to be so accurate and true to a recording, that it is as if it leaves just the recording, without the gear.
Lots of talk on Head-fi about bass, mids and highs,
Over the years I have noticed some headphones make understanding what the words of a song actually are (instead of just humming the tune I know the words because the words are ****clearly*** audible )
Often the vocals are smeared or lost behind the music, Im reasonably confident when music is recorded (with vocals) the vocals are 'typically layered on top' of everything else.
So a headphone that makes the vocals of a song 'intelligible' *might be a better headphone then a set with "great soundstage" *but you can't quite tell what the words are ?
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