[Redcarmoose]

i remember few years back when i decided to buy my first audeze lcd2 headphone, the main intention was yeah i will pay for these to enjoy an amazing experience listening to bands like michael jackson, depeche mode, eurthymics, new order, so i rushed unpacking them and hooked those to my headphone amp/dac and fired up my playlist anticipating to hear something out of this world, but what came through was just mediocore, i thought maybe something is wrong with my headphones, so i went to the read more in forums, and started to learn more and more. Long story short no matter what money on earth u spend there will be never a great experience listening to those recordings. `and now after owning tons of totl flagships, i just know such records will not be suitable to listen to with those totl headphones, and that is why my question in the thread started to maybe i need one of those more consumer headphones for such recordings. Talk bout flagships from lcd mx4, lcd4z, meze empyrean, hifinan he1000, etc, non will give any satisfaction with the above mentioned recordings, but u know my cheap hifiman edition s sounds better than all these with those bad recordings, go figure, the irony is great recorded songs will sound good on all headphones , and here was the point which keeps me wondering if it was really worth it to get into this audiophile scene or not

and for metal music man that genre all of it mostly is not listenable at all with totl flagships, even great indie bands like coldplay whom i adore but simply non of his albums are a great experience to listen with totl flagships, what baffles me is i see youngsters wearing their beats headphones and they rock on

bands I used to love listening to before I got to head fi which were my all time favourites and i was like in joy listening to, are now out of my playlist completely

Much of the time the headphone determines the genre of music played. If we are open minded, we have a history of different music and it simply turns out it’s easer to find one or two headphones which do a specific style of music amazingly well. “Oh, I’m going to enjoy this headphone for a couple days.” “Probably be listing to classic rock for three days.”

When this happens, due to being audiophiles, we lock on and continue down that genre rabbit hole. It’s completely normal to do the opposite. I suggest getting way out of your normal routine. Instead of TOTL full-size flagships maybe concentrate on mid-level IEMs? I say this because there can be a different presentation which places the sound elements into a different perspective. Your never going to be able to like those genres with a musical microscope and that is what TOTL flagships are most of the time. Much of the time this phenomena is like make-up. We need to cover the loss of detail with something else that makes eveything musical.

Much of the time folks at Head-Fi can actually work themselves into a really expensive corner. More and more money gets spent and the clarity and neutrality gets increased exponentially. Still that process at times can leave musicality behind. You just end up with a clear but lifeless sound reproduction.

In my experience this result has come from flat reference sound which though clear is missing bass. A change could be a very musical and tonally accurate bass elevated IEM.

The Sony N3.

It comes a couple ways, one model with a mic, one without. It can come with a 4.4mm Pentaconn cable or standard 3.5 single ended cable. It comes with a spectacular selection of tips offering both the Triple Comfort Tips and Sony Hybrid Tips.

And while it’s not the star of the show for relaying lush smooth female vocals it does pretty much everything else. The vocals normally are not going to be front and center, still the N3 offers prefect integration of vocals with the music; making it all work. The end result here is your going to find musicality in not having to hear as much information. Still what is offered is correct on a multitude of levels.

The N3 is not really expensive so it’s an easy test. If your not used to the signature or IEMs for that matter the N3 will come off incredibly non-exciting at the start. They will sound not only dark but also lacking detail. This change takes effort to the point of maybe listening for 6 to 20 hours before being able to adjust to how the sound is and allow your brain to tune in to the subtle things that are actually there. It’s a sleeper IEM at first with nothing really exciting at first listen. Not the fastest bass, nor totally excellent at anyone genre, though it’s charm is doing everything well and covering up recording issues.
https://www.amazon.com/Sealed-inner-receiver-XBA-N3-Warranty/dp/B01LWT2XXX

 

[nicholars]

I would have to say with bad recordings, high quality headphones can sound pretty much worse, they are more detailed / higher resolution, all that does is make the flaws in the recording sound worse. For bad recording you would actually be better with some low-medium resolution and dark sounding headphones. main issues with bad recordings are in the upper mid and treble area, so look for some headphones which are rolled off in this area. Something like the Sennheiser momentum would be decent for badly recorded music, from what I remember of them.

You would probably think "wow I will get some good headphones and this will make everything sound amazing", well this is not the case, they will make good recordings sound amazing, and bad recordings sound arguably worse than lower resolution or darker headphones.

 

[441879]

My favorite 80’s music headphone is my Aeon Flow Open with just the black foam filter. It’s not neutral or super detailed but it’s musical and pretty forgiving of badly done recordings. It’s probable that other cheaper headphones would sound better, but it’s the best of my collection.

 

[Anaz]

I listen to 80's pop through CA Cascade with no tuning pads which supersizes the lower frequencies. Maybe something with a v-shaped sound signature like a V-Moda Crossfade M-100 would be good.

 

[Richtofen]

Hi everyone

This maybe the worst question to ask, but today I just started to remember those 80s songs the poppy songs, that were in my teenage years a joy to listen to, so I fired up Michael Jackson album on tidal, the BAD album, the song dirty diana,

the Koss stuff like everyone's saying is a great option, actually some grados maybe with their... Old tuning

 

[SilverEars]

Hi everyone

This maybe the worst question to ask, but today I just started to remember those 80s songs the poppy songs, that were in my teenage years a joy to listen to, so I fired up Michael Jackson album on tidal, the BAD album, the song dirty diana, and smooth criminal, and boy listening to those on tidal using my audeze lcd4z and ifi ican pro and chord qutest, just was a miserable experience, tried to listen to depeche mode black celebration song it was awful, tried pet shops boys, the song suburbia and it was just bad. I could not continue listening to those at all, then I continued the downhill journey on tidal, and I wanted to get more cheesy and dive downhill as much as I can and typed in Modern Talking, the song brother louie, and it was a disaster on earth , yeah don't laugh on me trying to play such song that I used to like 30 years ago, it was just a test. Thanks god my tastes changed to dire straits and pink floyd.

But then I started to ask myself, that before I became an audiophile, i was using cheap headphones, which I do not remember their names, I used to play on cassette or later on mp3 rips, and get joy, now 30 years later those same songs are now a punishment if I listen to them

This is where the question above started to come to my mind, which is the best headphone to enjoy those bad recorded songs

Maybe its time to get a Beats headphone

I got the right headphone recommendation for you. HE500. For some reason, it brings out the best of electronic music, like newwave Brit music like New Order, etc.. Same for modern pop which are mastered with electronic sounds as well. Electronic music sounds 'right' out of the HE500.

Although I wouldn't say HD6XX fits well for pop, it does smoothen out the unpleasant treble. It's mid focused so it brings out the music for certain recordings, particularly classic rock which otherwise can sound a bit flat. I listened to 80's rock like Van Halen and Guns and Roses, and found it a good headphone for those types of music. I think though Sennheisers sounds best with natural string instruments. Also, the vocal are forward (forward mids), which can work well for pop since there's a bit of a vocal focus as well.

 

[H T T]

The V-Moda XS, the Sennheiser Momentum, and the Thinksound On2 are quite forgiving for “bad” recordings.

 

[wilard2]

Superlux 681 EVO. They sound good, are a little bass heavy, but are nothing exceptional. They are usually about $40 on Amazon.