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I shall have to try the K371- It may be the most cost effective way to find out how badly messed up any of my "EQ to taste" settings are- or at least how far my preferences are away from something resembling the norm.
It's a pretty good deal for the price. Alex Rowe called it "The new gold standard for affordable accuracy" it's received excellent reviews from nearly everyone. I have a pair I use at home.
It's a pretty good deal for the price. Alex Rowe called it "The new gold standard for affordable accuracy" it's received excellent reviews from nearly everyone. I have a pair I use at home.
Maybe not direct sales, but I reckon if the company brings home the bacon the boys and girls in white coats get a couple of shiny badges and platinum pens for their top pockets.
I've not seen the measurements but often the mechanical design gets affected by the addition of the amplifier, BT chip.etc. that was not in the passive version.
The air volume in one the ear cups that holds the components changes. Leaks can occur, etc. In theory, these active components should allow equalization to fix some of the issues , but in practice, this doesn't always occur. Curious to know how they differ.
Maybe not direct sales, but I reckon if the company brings home the bacon the boys and girls in white coats get a couple of shiny badges and platinum pens for their top pockets.
It can vary from company to company but researchers get bonuses based on how many of the targets they meet: research projects that are on time, patents (inventions), publications, etc.
If you meet 100% of the targets set at the beginning of the year, you get 100% of the bonus as long as the company meets its financial targets. In the year of COVID I suspect there will not be many bonuses for anyone.
It can vary from company to company but researchers get bonuses based on how many of the targets they meet: research projects that are on time, patents (inventions), publications, etc.
If you meet 100% of the targets set at the beginning of the year, you get 100% of the bonus as long as the company meets its financial targets. In the year of COVID I suspect there will not be many bonuses for anyone.
Further reading suggests maybe not that big an issue- though its oddly old (read less bitrate) codec based- SBC/AAC and APT X (nothing anywhere near lossless)- but you get better battery. More 4 star reviews than 3! (subjective reviews of course)
The reviews I'm looking at seem positive -- or if they're negative, they dislike things they dislike on the corded version, too (e.g. comfort, folding).
The reviews I'm looking at seem positive -- or if they're negative, they dislike things they dislike on the corded version, too (e.g. comfort, folding).
Those two models of headphones did not follow our research guidelines. The latest AKG K371 Pro ($149) does try to follow it Below is the average left/right frequency response curve plotted against the Target (green) along with the Error Curve (red) and the Slope of the Error Curve (dotted).View attachment 84138
Do you know if the ~4 kHz dip is intentional? It's also present on the K361, and a few headphones from other manufacturers I've seen. I was thinking maybe it's there to reduce the possibility of sibilance, or to create a more realistic sense of depth in the soundstage by slightly pushing back lead vocals/instruments in the mix, possibly because they have strong harmonics in that range, or our brain judges distance partially by the level of these frequencies, as our ears are most sensitive there. I find headphones with a moderate dip around this lower treble range enhance the listening experience somewhat by adding that more realistic depth to the soundstage and get closer to sounding like a speaker. Maybe this is due to room absorption effects naturally attenuating that range in a normal room with speaker playback? (All just wild guesses here.) As most music was mastered using and for speakers, maybe this actually gets the sound closer to the artist's intent.
Do you know if the ~4 kHz dip is intentional? It's also present on the K361, and a few headphones from other manufacturers I've seen. I was thinking maybe it's there to reduce the possibility of sibilance, or to create a more realistic sense of depth in the soundstage by slightly pushing back lead vocals/instruments in the mix, possibly because they have strong harmonics in that range, or our brain judges distance partially by the level of these frequencies, as our ears are most sensitive there. I find headphones with a moderate dip around this lower treble range enhance the listening experience somewhat by adding that more realistic depth to the soundstage and get closer to sounding like a speaker. Maybe this is due to room absorption effects naturally attenuating that range in a normal room with speaker playback? (All just wild guesses here.) As most music was mastered using and for speakers, maybe this actually gets the sound closer to the artist's intent.
Same effect with the CA Andromeda IEM that I use. The 4KHz dip on its tuning pretty much describes the effect you noted. Kinda opposite of Harman IEM target preference but the opposite Harman tuning works for many people subjectively who have demoed the Andromeda as well
Do you know if the ~4 kHz dip is intentional? It's also present on the K361, and a few headphones from other manufacturers I've seen. I was thinking maybe it's there to reduce the possibility of sibilance, or to create a more realistic sense of depth in the soundstage by slightly pushing back lead vocals/instruments in the mix, possibly because they have strong harmonics in that range, or our brain judges distance partially by the level of these frequencies, as our ears are most sensitive there. I find headphones with a moderate dip around this lower treble range enhance the listening experience somewhat by adding that more realistic depth to the soundstage and get closer to sounding like a speaker. Maybe this is due to room absorption effects naturally attenuating that range in a normal room with speaker playback? (All just wild guesses here.) As most music was mastered using and for speakers, maybe this actually gets the sound closer to the artist's intent.
It could be intentional -- or not. Some people prefer a headphone with less treble although we find it is dependent on program, age (hearing loss) and listening experience.
Another headphone that comes even closer to the target is the AKG N700, which has ANC and BT.
These are the headphones I use when I travel on planes, which means I haven't worn them since COVID.
