Has the meta on IEMs moved away from Harman's "pinna gain"?

[muza_1]

Do you listen to metal and avant-prog?

Yup metalhead here.

Most IEMs are painful for me with those genres in a way speakers aren't.

For me some are and some aren't, ear canal shape? I'm thinking while typing it might have to do with tinnitus and/or resonances caused by fitting, some similar sounding sets can cause fatigue or tinnitus and some don't and I can't figure out why or which frequency bothers me hence the need to try myself but man it is frustrating and tiring I think I'm going to stop for a while... well maybe after a planar.

 

[Chromatischism]

Is "pinna gain" a thing of the past? Or this new trend is just an effect of our addiction to IEMs and our constant search for something new and fresh?

I never got to try the Explorer, but I lower that region quite a bit and, for the first time, I don't get sibilances and fatigue listening to music for very long times.

Like, this is what I do to the Delci:

View attachment 378440

I wonder what would happen if I tune my IEMs to this :

View attachment 378441

I've never heard an IEM sound like the above or my neutral home theater system until I equalized the Truthear Zero (blue) to what's in my signature. That is now loaded on my Qudelix 5K and is the only thing stopping me from buying more IEMs to try.

 

[markanini]

Do you listen to metal and avant-prog?

Most IEMs are painful for me with those genres in a way speakers aren't.

Because of the density of content in upper mids. That's why a majority of my evaluation tracks are 2000s and onward hard rock and metal. Classical/acoustic music doesn't come as close to revealing tonal issues frankly. That's why listeners into softer genres tolerate wonky FR of planars for instance.

 

[Mr Swing King]

Maybe?
It’d make sense in that fans of planars and other midrange-shy tunings often ask for iem recs…and up until now there hasn’t been much of a choice.
I personally know quite a few old school Audeze fans who have been looking high and low for something similar in a portable design. They currently have quite a few options.

This is not really my cup of tea though, but I have also accustomed myself to a natural sounding midrange. Peeps into the above laidback tuning will most likely find natural vocals to be forward.
I guess we’re used to what we’re used to…

 

[InfiniteJester]

Stax Spirit S5, a headphone that seems aligned to my unserious prediction that flat FRs are the new Harman.

But probably is just the insane scale, which goes beyond +-130 dB.

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

I’ll just throw this out there.

We all insert IEMs then fiddle its them until e get the fit right. By much we mean get the sound right.

I wonder if IEMs measuring differently will sound more or less the same if fitted differently.

Okay, I’ll get me coat…

 

[InfiniteJester]

Another incredibly hyped IEM, the Juzear Butterfly 61T, which has been praised for its incredible tuning, also has lover ear-gain.

It surprises me that the iBasso SR3, which is a headphone that also has been praised for being fatigue-free, shows a flat frequency response:

I see headphones and IEMs converging to the same target, and it is a flat one with lowered treble and, in the case of IEMs, a bass boost.

 

[sq225917]

I never liked Harmen curve, I tune everything in my music room by playing on my speakers and dap, and adjusting iems via peq until they sound like my speakers.

It's usually a dB or two up broadly across the mids with correction in the hf to flatten out peaks.

 

[Human Bass]

Yes and Im happy for that. The Zero Red is has been a way bigger success than the Zero Blue (very harman)

 

[InfiniteJester]

Yes and Im happy for that. The Zero Red is has been a way bigger success than the Zero Blue (very harman)

Emm... Do you mean this?

 

[markanini]

Emm... Do you mean this?View attachment 385312

I think normalized at 500Hz is closer to how Red is perceived related to ~4kHz.

 

[InfiniteJester]

I think normalized at 500Hz is closer to how Red is perceived related to ~4kHz.
View attachment 385313

Fair enough, I usually normalize at 440 Hz to evaluate things that deviate a lot, for obvious reasons, but I forgot here.

 

[InfiniteJester]

Simgot allegedly hopping into the new meta with a mini-DaVinci for $79:

 

[InfiniteJester]

And another one:

 

[phoenixdogfan]

I had the Blues and gave them away b/c I liked the Reds so much better. And it was because of the Harman curve pinna gain. It just seemed too much and, even more importantly, it cut the cajones off the male vocalists. Now when I use the Reds, I pretty much leave its mids alone and add a 2db bass shelf starting at 200 hz, and another 1 db additional shelf starting at 50 hz. Even at that, I'm pretty far from making them a bass head set.

To my perceptions, the pinna gain on 2019 Harman is 3-5 db too much, and I'm 71 YO, so I know the younger audience who have not severely damaged their hearing have to be thinking the same. I believe that's why we're seeing this wave of offerings with lower pinna gain. I currently have the Dusk as my new favorite. To the stock DSP tuning I add the same bass shelf I did for the Reds and I shelve down everything for 400 hz onward by .5 db. To me that sounds just about perfect.

I personally don't think I would ever again buy a set with highly compliant Harman 2019 tuning because I think it washes out the lower mids-upper bass to an unacceptable degree, robbing the music of its tonal richness. It just sounds bleached out to me.

 

[InfiniteJester]

I had the Blues and gave them away b/c I liked the Reds so much better. And it was because of the Harman curve pinna gain. It just seemed too much and, even more importantly, it cut the cajones off the male vocalists. Now when I use the Reds, I pretty much leave its mids alone and add a 2db bass shelf starting at 200 hz, and another 1 db additional shelf starting at 50 hz. Even at that, I'm pretty far from making them a bass head set.

To my perceptions, the pinna gain on 2019 Harman is 3-5 db too much, and I'm 71 YO, so I know the younger audience who have not severely damaged their hearing have to be thinking the same. I believe that's why we're seeing this wave of offerings with lower pinna gain. I currently have the Dusk as my new favorite. To the stock DSP tuning I add the same bass shelf I did for the Reds and I shelve down everything for 400 hz onward by .5 db. To me that sounds just about perfect.

I personally don't think I would ever again buy a set with highly compliant Harman 2019 tuning because I think it washes out the lower mids-upper bass to an unacceptable degree, robbing the music of its tonal richness. It just sounds bleached out to me.

I think that Harman is what sound best during the first 10-15 seconds. After half an album you are completely fatigued and in pain.

This new tuning is much better for longer sessions.

I'm 31 and my hearing has already declined, but Harman ear-gain is just painful to me.

 

[markanini]

For all we know Meta tuning could be a bit of a trendy sound profile at this time, which may one day could be superseded by something different again. It doesn't invalidate Harman 2019 in a formal way, just is one guys idea of a reasonable IEM target curve. Perfectly fine that it exists and getting traction by me.

It just a question if we will see history repeating itself. Let me explain. Strict Harman 2019 tuning is not my favorite personally. But if you take Harman 2019 and reduced the excess bass and excess 3kHz energy you do achieve a balanced tuning, just with a sloped feature to the mids which many may perceive as dynamic and engaging. But IEM manufactures would too often choose to be literal and not tweak the curve tastefully. The same thing seems to be happening with Meta tuning now, chasing a literal curve, leaving nothing for tweaks that may improve the subjective qualities. The fate of Harman 2019 waits for Meta tuning if that's how it will be.

 

[anaveragebear]

I had the Blues and gave them away b/c I liked the Reds so much better. And it was because of the Harman curve pinna gain. It just seemed too much and, even more importantly, it cut the cajones off the male vocalists. Now when I use the Reds, I pretty much leave its mids alone and add a 2db bass shelf starting at 200 hz, and another 1 db additional shelf starting at 50 hz. Even at that, I'm pretty far from making them a bass head set.

To my perceptions, the pinna gain on 2019 Harman is 3-5 db too much, and I'm 71 YO, so I know the younger audience who have not severely damaged their hearing have to be thinking the same. I believe that's why we're seeing this wave of offerings with lower pinna gain. I currently have the Dusk as my new favorite. To the stock DSP tuning I add the same bass shelf I did for the Reds and I shelve down everything for 400 hz onward by .5 db. To me that sounds just about perfect.

I personally don't think I would ever again buy a set with highly compliant Harman 2019 tuning because I think it washes out the lower mids-upper bass to an unacceptable degree, robbing the music of its tonal richness. It just sounds bleached out to me.

25 year old here...I agree with you. For me specifically it's the 4-7kHz range that generally is too spicy with Harman, although the "tilted DF" meta that headphones.com are pushing has too much lower mids to me in comparison to speakers. In general my ideal preference curve seems to be something starting with the diffuse field with no tilt, add a linear rise from 150Hz or so down to around +10 at 20Hz, reduce the 4-7kHz range by 3-4dB, and boost upper treble by a little bit to taste, maybe around 2dB with a shelf at 12 kHz. Gotta enjoy that last octave of hearing while I still have it!

 

[InfiniteJester]

For all we know Meta tuning could be a bit of a trendy sound profile at this time, which may one day could be superseded by something different again. It doesn't invalidate Harman 2019 in a formal way, just is one guys idea of a reasonable IEM target curve. Perfectly fine that it exists and getting traction by me.

It just a question if we will see history repeating itself. Let me explain. Strict Harman 2019 tuning is not my favorite personally. But if you take Harman 2019 and reduced the excess bass and excess 3kHz energy you do achieve a balanced tuning, just with a sloped feature to the mids which many may perceive as dynamic and engaging. But IEM manufactures would too often choose to be literal and not tweak the curve tastefully. The same thing seems to be happening with Meta tuning now, chasing a literal curve, leaving nothing for tweaks that may improve the subjective qualities. The fate of Harman 2019 waits for Meta tuning if that's how it will be.

Tuning nozzles are a must for IEMs, in my opinion.

Having many EQ profiles when you have a huge collection of IEMs becomes cumbersome.

The MP145 offers many different experiences with its nozzles. You can get closer to Harman or further from it very easily.

 

[muza_1]

Tuning nozzles are a must for IEMs, in my opinion.

Also tuning switches work when are well implemented, I have some IEMs with them, all work as intended and make a difference and because the way they are implemented you can set them once to your preference and forget about them without fear of changing them by accident.