Headphones to keep you honest

@cindyment ,

"Headphones are rarely ever flat. Not even close."

I've sometimes wondered why this was. Is there some kind of anomaly in the space/time continuum that prevents a truly flat pair from ever being built?  Even after a century? Not even one.

You know with speakers some designers argue that most listening rooms aren't particularly flat so their speakers don't need to be either. Hence it's a case of finding the placement you prefer, often by trial and error.

Ideally a speaker should be flat on axis, with most people preferring a slowly declining output from bass to high frequencies when you look at room response. The so-called Harman curve, which is a suggestion, not absolute. With speakers, it was not extensively tested, but seems to work well.

This is the crux of using DSP room correction. Do you correct the room response or the frequency response? No simple answer. Ideally you have a flat speaker response and correct the room response with acoustics. Few audiophiles do either of course. As a speaker MFR you can attempt to control disperion.

With headphones, even if you made a flat response for one person, it would not be perfectly flat for another. You would think it would at least be flat for a head model?  ... but the reality it is not easy, and often they are going to a house sound, but mainly I find most headphones unequalized pretty nasty, even expensive ones.

I don't have a problem with using EQ as long as I don't need a lot and the headphone is low distortion. I am using Dan Clark AEON. Very low distortion, so it EQ's with no issue. I asked for the Stealth for Christmas, but the Grinch, otherwise known as the Wife and CFO, says maybe once things are less crazy after Covid. That is one headphone that could be near perfect without EQ. There is a drop on the Aeon right now, $499 USD. Highly recommend them.

@cindyment ,

"Headphones are rarely ever flat. Not even close."

I've sometimes wondered why this was. Is there some kind of anomaly in the space/time continuum that prevents a truly flat pair from ever being built?  Even after a century? Not even one.

You know with speakers some designers argue that most listening rooms aren't particularly flat so their speakers don't need to be either. Hence it's a case of finding the placement you prefer, often by trial and error.

I haven't yet heard a good explanation as to why headphones aren't flat.

Not even with professional mixing and mastering cans.

The reason usually given there is that a little lift in the upper mids allows you to more easily hear recording defects as for example in the industry standard Sony 7506s.

However, how can it be that even an established company such as Beyerdyamic can have such differences in frequency response throughout their range? The DT880s look about as comfortable as a pair of headphones can be, but I've yet to hear a pair.

And why are Grados such a like them or loathe them design?

I haven't heard a pair of Sennheiser HD600s but I suspect these might be the phones for me. Recently the price has really shot up and I wish I'd picked up a pair of Amazon when they were going cheap

And of course there is always the old worry with Sennheiser of picking up a fake pair etc. There are sites detailing how to identify a genuine pair but I don't really want that hassle.

Perhaps it's not the headphones, perhaps it's us, the listeners? Folks seem to have arguing about the so-called Sennheiser HD600 veil for a very long very long time.

Is this destined to remain a perennial problem with all high resolution transducers? The more you can hear, the more you can hear that's wrong?

Anyway, I did get to hear some briefly at a show a few months back. They were expensive, they were large and heavy, but they sounded otherworldly in a way I've not yet heard any speakers sound.

Looking back I think I should have spent more time in that room but it was a good show, and in a good show there's never enough time.

I use headphones as a reference all the time FWIW.  Sound approach!

I use both headphones and speakers; as I live in an apartment and cannot listen at concert levels, I get a much more visceral experience with headphones than with speakers - goes right down from the skull through the bones. And no, I don't use 'Beats'. Great headphones with the right gear is a superb experience.

'Often seen as a luxury item' is a 'problem with headphones'? 🤣🤣🤣🤣 And this was said on an audiophile forum!!! 😂😂😂 Thanks, I needed a good laugh today...

Headphones are rarely ever flat. Not even close.

Pretty sure the term for this is called begging the question. Your approach only seems to make sense because you first assume the headphones are somehow better. This even in spite of listing a whole bunch of ways they are not. Nevertheless, somehow, they are better. Headphones are the standard. We should evaluate speakers using headphones as the reference.

Okay. 

But I have to then ask, what's your reference for headphones?

😂😂🤣🤣

My headphones are as good as my excellent 2 channel system. As of today, my headphone system consists of the following:

- a perfect room (that is no room)

- RAAL SR1a earphones + RAAL silver headphone cable

- CODA 07x preamp

- CODA #8 amp

- Audience FrontRow speaker cables to the amp/headphone interface box

I also listen to the same headphones in my bedroom with the KRELL K-300i Integrated amp with Audience Conducter SE speaker cable. This is also a great system. I would like to upgrade the speaker cable in the long term.

I have improved my 2-channel system by using the RAAL earphones to hear how changes to cables and DACs sounded. There are not many things able to retrieve detail like the SR1a.  

For me, it’s the other way ‘round. Especially for imaging/soundstage headphones are just poor relative to a good home stereo. There’s just something a little unnatural about having sound pumped tight into my ears versus it having time to express itself in time and space. I still enjoy my HeadFi rig a lot, but to me it’s just an approximation of the full expression I get from my “big rig.” Put another way, I find it much more useful to let my home system let me know which headphones are doing a respectable job. Similarly, I’d trust someone well versed in home audio to assess headphones, but not so much a headphone listener to assess a home system. Just my $0.02.

No.

You're right, headphones can expose loudspeaker issues rather e   asily. Especially those to do with transient response!

However, there are certain problems with headphones.

They might need a special amp.

Finding one with a flat frequency response is not easy. Frequency anomalies seem far easier to identify with headphones.

Headphones just don't have the same visual appeal that loudspeakers can have. 

Headphones  also don't really work well in family environments where headphones might be seen as a particularly selfish indulgence?

They're often also seen as a luxury item.

Whilst they can remove possible room issues there might be problems with finding a good fit for every head etc.

For some, the lack of tweaking options might be an issue.

For me, it's one of comfort. I guess I'm rather fidgety and don't like being tied down in one place for too long.

I agree. Not many do so.

why not use a good pair of headphones as a tool to identify both the strong and the weak elements in one’s speaker-driven system?

I disagree on what is highlighted below, since many headphones are "tuned," most in significant ways ...which necessitates being extremely careful and selective with the headphones chosen for the purposes you state.

But: we also know that headphones solve many of the problems we throw a lot of money at to address in our systems: ...frequency response is flat...