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An alternate way of Headphone evaluation..Pinewood Derby-type double -elimination

Cahudson42

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Amir's HP objective measurements are really easy to understand.. But how these measurements correlate with actual listening enjoyment is an endless debate.

Subjective evaluations, imo, are much worse. I think a good case can be made that they are essentially meaningless . What does any subjective term not only mean, but how is it experienced? Is yours anyway near mine?

How can you ever correlate any of this verbiage without some 'baseline' HP system you have heard to compare against? There is no 'anchor' to compare against.

So - let's look at it solely from Your personal experience of any and all headphones, with the music you listen to, with the support equipment you use. Like a Pinewood derby double-elimination race.

Let's say we start with one car..er Headphone system . We don't know if it's 'fast' (enjoyable) or not. So we put it on the track Then alongside it, another unknown car. The race is run. There is a winner, and a loser.

Now you can't just put the loser aside forever. He 'could' have had the misfortune to run against the fastest car in the race, and actually be 2nd fastest. (My son had this experience - 30 years ago. Eliminated first round in single-elimination Pinewood Derby. Found he was actually 2nd in subsequent after - race heats... Was 'hard' - impossible - to explain. :() This is why you need double -elimination, second races loser against loser. (More: see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-elimination_tournament)

Now for Headphones, I will start with my car #1. This consists of a LG Rebel TracFone driving a Qudelix 5k - with a K371 (with PEQ applied that you find best). I listen to my favorite music. I may write down some notes with meaning to me (but not necessarily to anyone else).

Now I try car #2. This is the same, except the HP is an HE400i running balanced (with PEQ I find best). I listen again to my favorite music.. Maybe make some notes.

Now, unfortunately, there is no race timer that shows which is 'fastest'. I must choose one - and only one - as the 'fastest' (best). And call it the Winner. The other, is the Loser. Back and forth if necessary.. until decision.

I proceed with all my other 'cars' (including HP which may have totally different support equipment/capabilities - like my N90Q) per double-elimination tournament. At the end, I have my ultimate 'winner'. The fastest (most enjoyable) HP...to me!

What does this approach do? It evaluates HP solely on your own unique personal preferences.

Sensitive to distortion peaks at 5k? That one will lose. Can't hear anything above 8k where Amir has shown a horrible db peak at 10k? That will stay.. Dislike 'boomy' bass (whatever that is - you don't have to debate it), that one will probably also lose along the way. You don't need to be 'trained' either. As you are simply liking - or not liking - and not trying to identify anything.

Can't imagine a single HP system configuration is good for everything? Rank by genre music selection. Like Bach organ music? That's your test music. Female vocalists? That's your test music. etc

Your thoughts?

Edit: You might note that if you are only interested in finding #1, double-elimination is not necessary. Yet it seems to me, given the variability of how you might weigh things, knowing #1, #2, and #3 may be useful enough to make double -elimination worth the effort. Particularly given the forced 'either/or' ' black and white' of this approach - when we all know everything is really a 'shade of gray'...:)
 
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