Keith_W
Major Contributor
meaning: headphone measurements say very little ?
I did not say that. They do say a lot, but outside the <300Hz and >3000Hz range where most variability is demonstrated, the measurement may not correspond with what you actually hear. I am advocating caution when reading these headphone measurements, something a lot of people on ASR seem to forget. Amir reminds everyone not to read too much into headphone measurements in every headphone review, in bold type: "Headphone measurements by definition are approximate and variable so don't be surprised if other measurements even if performed with the same fixtures as mine, differ in end results." but ASR members keep forgetting that. Many think that what is measured is exactly what they will hear. As the above graph published by Olive shows, this may not be the case.
As an example, I found those Truthear x Crinacle Zeros to be bright and I had to EQ to tone them down. I know my experience is not generalizable because a lot of people here report that they like it. I also own a pair of DCA Stealths, which I bought after reading this review. My subjective impression is that they sound dull, even though it again complies to the Harman curve. Once again, it was probably variability between measurement and my head, nothing a bit of EQ to my taste can not fix. With my new target curve loaded into JRiver, the DCA Stealths sound wonderful.
BTW, I have performed hundreds of sine wave sweeps on my loudspeakers and I am pretty adept at predicting peaks (but not narrow Q nulls) just from hearing the sine wave sweep alone. I hear the sweep, estimate the peak to be around xxx Hz, and then look at the tracing. I also know my hearing is most sensitive within a certain range and my hearing can not reliably predict even a large deviation from target above 10-12kHz. My mic is much better than that for loudspeakers. For headphones, I play a sine wave sweep on my headphones and use that to help identify and cut down problem peaks. Of course, this is nowhere as good as a microphone, but then I don't own a headphone mic.
So - I have personally experienced two headphones that measurements assert compliance to the Harman curve, but one subjectively sounds bright, and the other sounds dull. I also know that this is a sample size of one, and you have no obligation to believe what I say (we are all good scientists here). I also know from reading a lot of subjective assessments of both headphones that many on ASR find no issue with brightness or dullness with either product. I do not discount any of those reports.
Given that my preference does not seem to match the published measurements, what could be the issue? Could it be that the measurements have limited generalizability between test fixtures and between heads? Was there a problem with the measurement, e.g. the method or the fixture? If the measurement is accurate and generalizable, then maybe I am the problem - could I be an outlier in that my personal preference does not match the Harman curve? Maybe I have some hearing loss with my advancing age? Is there a manufacturing defect with my sample? Is there some other reason, e.g. the equipment I am using or my level of intoxication? Of course, the honest answer is that all of the above are possible. Except the intoxication bit, because I have quit drinking In the end, I don't know the answer. Because I just EQ it to my preference, and if I am happy, that is all that matters.