- Joined
- Jun 18, 2024
- Messages
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First off, a heartfelt THANK YOU to this forum and it's members.
I came into ASR thinking I knew something about Audio fidelity (Classic Golden Ears type). It turned out, I had so much more to learn and had only scratched the surface
Since I've joined, I've dug as far and wide into this new Audiophile world as I can with only having 24 hours in a day to do it and still maintaining some sort of a life outside of researching. It astounded me at every turn and more than occasionally frustrated me as I realized new layers about what was causing me to misjudge audio fidelity.
It became more and more evident that I was missing some huge pieces of knowledge (and appropriate hardware) as I learned and researched things like the Harmon curve, and watched and re-watched videos on how to interpret the reviews. I had trained my ears to a very imperfect tonal balance coming out of my speakers, and headphones especially due to issues with impedance mismatching and harmonic distortion.
What I have has still managed to serve me well, because I've learned to compensate for the shortcomings of my gear. But it's not the specific kind of quality that I need for audiophile-level listening and critical listening.
So I have a ways to go, but I've learned an incredible amount about fidelity and what makes a piece of hardware acceptable for use in critical, and audiophile listening. A lot of this learning has come through difficult conversations, being called out on misunderstandings and misinformation, followed by me going back to the drawing board and reading (and re-reading) the in-depth technical reviews here at ASR, as well as listening on my own, re-listening and then considering what in my chain is colouring sound.
Since joining, I've upgraded my studio from a UAD Apollo Solo to an Apollo Twin X Quad. I'm also on the hunt for a hi-fi DAC and Headphone Amp to compliment the Twin X. Although, I'm not completely sure if this is necessary since the Twin X does come recommended. The one thing I wonder about is the flag on the Twin X: the dreaded ESS hump in the headphone amp. I haven't found a major difference in listening at different levels, and I suspect that the noise hump will be masked by louder signals as it doesn't appear until louder listening levels. Still, since it seems to be an easy fix, I agree with the reviews that this should be fixed in the next generation of chips by the manufacturer.
When I did a bit of basic, subjective testing, I could hear a change after about 1/4 volume that I heard toward the upper end of the audio spectrum, but I'd describe it almost as a pressure change for lack of better words, which tells me there could be low-level frequencies there too - and it's slight. But it's there.
Does anyone know what the frequency of the ESS hump is? Is it full-spectrum noise?
Anyway ... Key things I am learning, growing in and happily exploring:
I came into ASR thinking I knew something about Audio fidelity (Classic Golden Ears type). It turned out, I had so much more to learn and had only scratched the surface
Since I've joined, I've dug as far and wide into this new Audiophile world as I can with only having 24 hours in a day to do it and still maintaining some sort of a life outside of researching. It astounded me at every turn and more than occasionally frustrated me as I realized new layers about what was causing me to misjudge audio fidelity.
It became more and more evident that I was missing some huge pieces of knowledge (and appropriate hardware) as I learned and researched things like the Harmon curve, and watched and re-watched videos on how to interpret the reviews. I had trained my ears to a very imperfect tonal balance coming out of my speakers, and headphones especially due to issues with impedance mismatching and harmonic distortion.
What I have has still managed to serve me well, because I've learned to compensate for the shortcomings of my gear. But it's not the specific kind of quality that I need for audiophile-level listening and critical listening.
So I have a ways to go, but I've learned an incredible amount about fidelity and what makes a piece of hardware acceptable for use in critical, and audiophile listening. A lot of this learning has come through difficult conversations, being called out on misunderstandings and misinformation, followed by me going back to the drawing board and reading (and re-reading) the in-depth technical reviews here at ASR, as well as listening on my own, re-listening and then considering what in my chain is colouring sound.
Since joining, I've upgraded my studio from a UAD Apollo Solo to an Apollo Twin X Quad. I'm also on the hunt for a hi-fi DAC and Headphone Amp to compliment the Twin X. Although, I'm not completely sure if this is necessary since the Twin X does come recommended. The one thing I wonder about is the flag on the Twin X: the dreaded ESS hump in the headphone amp. I haven't found a major difference in listening at different levels, and I suspect that the noise hump will be masked by louder signals as it doesn't appear until louder listening levels. Still, since it seems to be an easy fix, I agree with the reviews that this should be fixed in the next generation of chips by the manufacturer.
When I did a bit of basic, subjective testing, I could hear a change after about 1/4 volume that I heard toward the upper end of the audio spectrum, but I'd describe it almost as a pressure change for lack of better words, which tells me there could be low-level frequencies there too - and it's slight. But it's there.
Does anyone know what the frequency of the ESS hump is? Is it full-spectrum noise?
Anyway ... Key things I am learning, growing in and happily exploring:
- Sonarworks correction for headphones includes a bias that compensates for a proprietary Harmon-type curve.
- Correcting headphones is a funny thing. The IEMs that I corrected manually (7hz Zeros) with a combination of @amirm 's review and my own subjective decisions to account for not having a full graphic EQ to work with produced a better listening experience than my Pioneer custom-tuned Sonarworks headphones. Ironically, the experience between tuned 7hz Zeros and my Sonarworks average tuned Beyerdynamic DT990 Pros was a lot closer than I expected. The first time I compared them, I expected the Beyers to be noticeably worse, but to my suprise, they were pleasant in comparison to the Zeros - a little less congested perhaps, but not by a huge margin. The 7hzs had much better sub bass, and this I expected since the DT990s have pretty sub-par reproduction below 100hz.
- Perception of sound can be highly coloured by a poorly designed DAC, ACD, Headphones, Speakers, and/or Cables. It's a real problem that needs to be solved at the hardware level.
- No amount of critical listening on a poorly designed device can justify "just using your ears". In order to Just use your ears, all other factors need to be taken care of FIRST. This means hardware that has the best performance you can afford, headphones that comply as closely to the Harmon curve as possible without needing EQ, or Speakers that Measure Flat combined with room treatment ...THEN, use your ears because you will be receiving the best sound you can afford to make decisions with.
- The Harmon curve is king of Headphones. There are variations within this, but to ignore this is to ignore the very idea of fidelity in headphones.
- Compliance with the Harmon curve needs not be perfect to be considered excellent.
- Perfect compliance with a Harmon curve would be VERY interesting to hear.
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