solderdude
Grand Contributor
Surely you have to conclude from this that either:
-a newer and more expensive flagship distorts (significantly) more than the older flagship, or
- by "different distortion measurement method" you mean one is less accurate?
I would conclude the drivers are very different and cannot be compared. In the reviews done here flagship and improved technical performance/competence do not go hand in hand. There really is no relation at all.
- by "different distortion measurement method" I mean different HATS, different analyzer, different methodologies used, very different compensation, very different target curves. They are incomparable but both will show some similarities overall when 2 similar brand/type headphones are measured.
Even the same headphone models can differ beyond measurement errors due to manufacturing tolerances.
It is obvious the 2000 driver performs technically 'better' but it does not mean most people will prefer a not EQ'ed (or EQ'ed but based on what ?) 2000 over the 5000.
This too depends on too many factors.
As an example. Take the HD600 or HD650 and look at the measurements objectively and it is very clear the HD600/650 measure clearly better in certain aspects compared to the HD800.
Some will claim the HD600/650 sounds better than the HD800 'abomination' as well.
Yet others who own them (like me) find the HD800 (granted with EQ) much better than the HD600/650 (even with EQ) on several aspects but on some niggles find the HD600/650 is superior. In this case it becomes a matter what folks find important.
In the case of the 5000 I would be highly surprised if the distortions above 1kHz will be audible in practice under normal music listening experience.
I don't KNOW this, I assume because I heard nor measured it. An educated guess. Simply because those distortion peaks are very narrow and few and you would have to play VERY loud in which case masking becomes more of a thing (that's how the hearing works which is not seen in the plots).
So some things may look bad on paper and do show issues with the headphone (regardless what causes it) but they may not be obvious listening to music.
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