Please walk us through how you did this comparison with Stealth. What music you played, how you did your AB, how you dealt with frequency response differences, levels, etc.I think a lot of the time people simply haven't had the chance to do those types of comparisons,
It is not Ok. In your forum folks wrote off this headphone based on your comments and I saw no outrage from you. Just continued faint praise and qualifications. This is fine if anything negative was backed by something reliable. But facts when they exist point to the opposite.To be clear, I think the DCA Stealth is a great sounding headphone haha. It's kind of crazy to me that folks took that stuff to mean something else, but okay
I think there is only frequency response and distortion as "measured"/experienced by your own eardrum, but this is different to frequency response measured on a GRAS (or any other unit). For instance I notice quite a lot of variation between different models of headphones that have been EQ'd to the same target curve, which is explained by a number of factors:I think certain people here like to criticize or dismiss my reviews as 'subjective nonsense' because they do include a subjective aspect to the review. But what these people miss is the fact that this is just one part - the other part is heavily measurements focused in the 'objective' portion. So if you don't like all the audiophile terms, people can just ignore the section of the review where I report my experiences with a thing. People are welcome to have whatever opinions they like about this stuff and I won't go after folks for thinking FR is all there is as far as the experience is concerned (it truly might be). With that said, I do try to connect the dots as much as I can between the two - or where I'm able to, and then report whatever findings show up.
So by all means... cringe away haha.
Please walk us through how you did this comparison with Stealth. What music you played, how you did your AB, how you dealt with frequency response differences, levels, etc.
In your forum folks wrote off this headphone based on your comments and I saw no outrage from you.
If there was a way to perfectly capture frequency response at your own eardrum when wearing pairs of different models of headphones that had been EQ'd to the same curve on a GRAS unit
In regards to the Stealth, since Resolve's measurements suggest that, if one doesn't get an optimal seal, FR can be quite a bit affected,
Can someone explain what other measurements are generally provided after the initial review in these threads?
For example :
https://forum.headphones.com/t/dan-clark-audio-stealth-flagship-closed-back-headphones/14072/80
VERY important information right there.
Headphonetestlab or DIYaudio routinely test FR vs. seal as well.
Like to see that EQ. That aside, in your review you referenced other headphones. Here is what you said: "Detail - good but not like… Abyss or Susvara level. "Then in this particular case, yesterday I took an original HE-6 and EQ'd it to roughly the same tuning as the Stealth to ensure things were reasonably equal.
Here ya go, of course you have to read them yourself: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?forums/headphone-reviews-discussions.58/You're pointing to a different forum. I'm looking for what else is provided here.
You're pointing to a different forum. I'm looking for what else is provided here.
I think there is only frequency response and distortion as "measured"/experienced by your own eardrum, but this is different to frequency response measured on a GRAS (or any other unit). For instance I notice quite a lot of variation between different models of headphones that have been EQ'd to the same target curve, which is explained by a number of factors:
If there was a way to perfectly capture frequency response at your own eardrum when wearing pairs of different models of headphones that had been EQ'd to the same curve on a GRAS unit, then maybe that might clear up some of the descriptive differences you typically see/experience of certain headphone designs even if they have been EQ'd to the same curve on a GRAS. I can't know this for sure, it's just a theory of mine, but it is clear to me that there's definite differences between headphones that have been EQ'd to the same curve on a GRAS unit.
- Variation in the measurement procedure. How was the measurement done, was it an average, was it the same methodology between each headphone to arrive at the measurement/average to use for EQ. Ultimately leading to frequency response differences at the eardrum.
- Unit to Unit variation if not comparing actual units that have been measured. Ultimately leading to frequency response differences at the eardrum.
- Lastly I think that different models of headphones just react differently (in comparison with eachother) with a persons anatomy in terms of frequency response received at the eardrum, even if you eliminated all the variables in the previous two points and were able to EQ two units of different headphones totally perfectly to the same curve using a GRAS unit.
Like to see that EQ. That aside, in your review you referenced other headphones. Here is what you said: "Detail - good but not like… Abyss or Susvara level. "
How did you do the comparison to Abyss and Susvara.
Detail retrieval is a made up word by reviewers. It has no proper definition so there can't be any measurement to back it. I would ignore all such references.Especially those related to detail retrieval/resolution, soundstage (or spatial qualities), and what constitutes dynamic sound.
Come on now. I am asking specifics here. What did you do to compare these headphones. How much time you spent on it. What tracks you played. What EQ you used. How you matched levels. Did you ask opinion of anyone else. etc.By listening to them. Susvara is my favorite headphone at the moment, even though it's also not great for that same 'contrast' quality. And I'm actually working on an AB1266 Phi TC review right now. Quick spoiler on that: it's pretty weird haha.
Yes, I've seen your comparisons of headphones measured on your own head before, that had been EQ'd to Oratory.....there is value in the differences you saw, some of those differences are gonna come down to the points I brought up in my previous post.I wouldn't quite call it "perfect", but if you're comparing passive headphones that have a sufficiently low seatings to seatings variation on your own head, I think that it's quite an approachable and easy to learn practice below 1kHz or so with mics like these :
https://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-TFB-2
https://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-EAR-MIC
For DIYers with a soldering iron the bill can be even lower.
Main problem being that your subjective impressions of a pair of HPs are unlikely to be tied only to what happens below 1kHz or so - and I think that it's the case as well for one's subjective assessment of the bass "sound quality" (well at least it is for me).
In regards to the Stealth, since Resolve's measurements suggest that, if one doesn't get an optimal seal, FR can be quite a bit affected, this could be a pretty good way to measure how they exactly behave at lower frequencies on your own head and use that to fine tune their response to match your preferences better than what a preset might be able to do.
Above 1kHz or for active headphones... it's not quite as straightforward I think.