Can anyone here explain headphone speed and why it wouldn't be affected by digital equalization?

[maverickronin]

Oh very interesting! You're talking about the HEQ profile that targets a harman-like response? Do you know where I could find Marv's work product (presumably somewhere on SBAF?)

Here

Most people there think Harman's bass boost is BS (and I agree with them on that) so their compensation curve is focused on the mids and treble.

Go to SBAF for the headphone measurement and discussion.

Keep your mouth shut or get the the hell out when someone starts rambling on about how many rows forward or back a particular DAC moves your seating position.

 

[solderdude]

Marv is anti-Harman... so his plots make it seem like bass-lacking headphones have tons of subbass and he perceives it that way as well.
It looks like his preference is not having some bass boost.
I guess I am somewhere just below Harman's bass preference but I do like some small boost in the lows compared to 'measurement' flat in the lows.
Maybe my listening levels are lower and thus need more bass relative to the mids and the SPL the music is mixed at.
Marv is doing a good job with the EARS. Better than what the manufacturer is doing in any case.
Personally I would not EQ any headphone to the EARS compensation myself it is way off here and there.

By the way... freeware oscilloscope programs exist that turn soundcards into a scope. There are limits though and when using real squarewaves you will get some ringing which scopes don't do.

 

[Blumlein 88]

This correlates with polar pattern- you can't EQ that out.

I had not considered that though I knew you couldn't EQ polar patterns. One which was like this is the Audio Technica AT4033. They sound rough and bright. You can tone it down, but they never get exactly right. I think they are either a 3/4 inch or .8 inch diaphragm so normally it wouldn't have an odd polar pattern until above 10 khz just from the size. The AT 4040 seems improved in this regard.

 

[SIY]

As soon as you get past 1/2" or so, especially with plastic diaphragms, the polar patterns can look unexpectedly lobey. I *think* it's because of departure from pistonic behavior, but I don't have any laser interferometry data to back up that hypothesis.

I bite the bullet on noise floor and use smaller diameter condensors because I perceive less coloration of the sort you describe. Of course, I still favor ribbons where possible... If some kind US-based person would deign to loan me an AT4033, I can measure it to see if lobing is the cause of what you're hearing.

 

[Blumlein 88]

As soon as you get past 1/2" or so, especially with plastic diaphragms, the polar patterns can look unexpectedly lobey. I *think* it's because of departure from pistonic behavior, but I don't have any laser interferometry data to back up that hypothesis.

I bite the bullet on noise floor and use smaller diameter condensors because I perceive less coloration of the sort you describe. Of course, I still favor ribbons where possible... If some kind US-based person would deign to loan me an AT4033, I can measure it to see if lobing is the cause of what you're hearing.

Well, I sold the three AT4033s that I had. Looking just now it looks like it actually had a .45 inch diaphragm. The 4040 has .8 inches.

The KSM32s I have are .75 inches and they don't have the problem. They are rather calm and easy to EQ. If Shure is to be believed they are very smooth with no lobing off axis at least until past 10 khz.

Do you think the dual diaphragm large condensers with multiple patterns would suffer less from this? Even the inexpensive CAD M179 doesn't seem too bad in this regard.

I do notice the Shure's have some fabric inside the metal screen presumably to reduce popping P's. Maybe it does other good things. Should have tried a little fabric inside the 4033.

 

[Grave]

"Speed" means absolutely nothing to me. It's a hilarious term.

Harman bass bad.

 

[SIY]

Do you think the dual diaphragm large condensers with multiple patterns would suffer less from this? Even the inexpensive CAD M179 doesn't seem too bad in this regard.

I do notice the Shure's have some fabric inside the metal screen presumably to reduce popping P's. Maybe it does other good things. Should have tried a little fabric inside the 4033.

Purely a guess, but yes- anything which provides a mechanical resistance to non-pistonic would tend to minimize the unwanted lobing. And in measurement, rather than use a program of normal fixed frequencies, this stuff often shows up where you see peakiness in the on-axis measurement. It's not a perfect 1:1 (for example, I'm just finishing a review of a performance mike that has a rather fierce peak in the upper midrange, but the polars look fine and it EQs out very well), but if a mike doesn't respond well to EQ, it's the first thing I look for.

 

[Samudra1825]

Ah but the LCD2 (with its huge linear dynamic range) isn't a turd.

headphones have dynamic range?

 

[solderdude]

Yes.
Some headphones can only reach 90dB (without getting non-linear) and others can reach 120dB or maybe even higher.

 

[Samudra1825]

"Speed" is not a proper term for anything in audio. Most of the time they use it to talk about bass but bass frequencies are very low and last thing they can have is speed.

Where it is sort of valid is in ringing in low frequencies. There, notes can elongate. Fortunately DSP absolutely fixes that. You just pull down the offending frequency or frequencies.

any more information about ringing in headphone? when I google all I get is tinnitus and noise floor