What is the point of buying expensive headphones if you can just use an equalizer to get the same frequency response on cheap ones?

[Yorkshire Mouth]

I’ve had a look, and I’m not sure the RT is closer than the K371.

Not much in it.

The same can be said of absolute distortion in the audible range.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

Even the Aeon RT which is the most highly acclaimed headphone so far on this website does not follow the target curve in the treble and has weird right and left channel matching. Issues that Amir scrubbed under the rug subjectively.

to say that he can get all of the things he mentioned without EQ under 400$ is very very far fetched.

Can you get them all for over $400?

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

Besides the physical aspects, which have already been mentioned (build quality, materials, fit, etc), I do believe there's a big part of the sound presentation on headphones and speakers that cannot be measured. For example, I own to open back headphones: Audio Technica ATH-AD900 and Grado SR60e. Both are equalized. The presentation of the music is completely different: the AD900 is a lot more spacious, with a way bigger soundstage, compared to the Grado.

This may have something to do with the size and positioning of the drivers relative to my head, the shape of my ears, etc. but the differences are there, and they're very noticeable. It's probably akin to the effects of a room's shape, size and furnishing in a speaker system.

Measurements are great, as the establish a basis for comparison and, in the case of amps/DACs, they may be able to tell 99% of the story (maybe, maybe not? Maybe someday we'll discover new testing methods, gotta keep an open mind), but in the case of speakers and headphones, there are many other factors.

The "story" that measurements tell us is that price does not determine much of anything.

 

[weasels]

where? lmao.

AKG K371 pretty much fit the bill, depending on how you interpret "basically follows the harman curve"

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

AKG K371 pretty much fit the bill, depending on how you interpret "basically follows the harman curve"

I think the good thing here is that almost all criticisms of Harman are that it’s ‘a bit bassy/boomy’.

You can EQ that out, or even just reduce the bass a little, if that’s the case - reducing the bass/sub-bass frequencies won’t introduce distortion.

But we’ve seen with other, ‘brighter’ headphones that increasing bass can introduce distortion.

The fact that they can play a relatively flat curve without distortion is as big a bonus as the curve itself, for me.

 

[aandres_gm]

The "story" that measurements tell us is that price does not determine much of anything.

It does, at least when it comes to the physical aspects of a headphone.

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

It does, at least when it comes to the physical aspects of a headphone.

As I said earlier, for all its other faults, the Beyerdynamic DT990 Edition is extremely well-built and very comfortable indeed, and for less than £140.

 

[abdo123]

Can you get them all for over $400?

From what is measured on the forum, the Sennheiser HD 650 with the bass adjusted to personal preference.

Also the Hifiman HE-6 and Sennheiser HD 800S

 

[mhardy6647]

What would be the audible characteristics of the driver and build "producing the frequency response" in a different way?

I think we're assuming here that we aren't talking about some $40 Walmart no name headphones turning into a set of HD800s or something. But a good pair of $200 cans is going to be able to get you awfully close to where you want to be...even without EQ you can find less expensive headphones that measure every bit as well as much more expensive cans. You can also find extremely expensive sets that have pretty awful measurements.

When I saw the title of this thread, I explicitly thought of this review/these headphones.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/9-headphone-review-sony-mdr-zx110.19484/

 

[mhardy6647]

The thing many people seem to forget is that the drivers in the higher end headphones are usually technically more capable combined with extensive tuning and optimisation.

Technically more capable of what, exactly?
And what is the quantitatively superior part of all of this expensive, I mean extensive tuning and optimisation?

Sorry - I don't usually get all ASR-engineer-y, but phraseology as above kind of sets me off. Just because something is more expensive does not make it better a priori, I would (vigorously) argue. There is ample evidence peppering this website. I - sometimes - kind of think that's the point of this website.

 

[Longshan]

headphones are effectively items of clothing, so it says a lot about your lifestyle to even ask such a question.

As for other aspects of performance, the comments on this reddit thread sums it up nicely.

https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/myczkw

"headphones are effectively items of clothing, so it says a lot about your lifestyle to even ask such a question. "

This says more about you than anyone else.

 

[Thomas_A]

So my two cents
if you don’t mind so much bass range. Get the HD600
If you don’t mind old claasy looks: Get the DT-150 and replace pads with DT100 pads
If you need noise cancelling. Get the BOSE QC25/35
If you need portable. Get the Apple Airpods Pro

or just get anything comfy that pleases your mind.

 

[Robin L]

The AKG K 371 hits most of my targets. The Drop 6XX hits a few more but requires eq and amplification to get there. With the sources I've got, I'm covered for the most part. My DAP doesn't have enough power to drive the Drop 6XX effectively, though if I'm willing to play without eq, they are okay up to a moderate volume. If I want volume and bass with my tiny Fiio M3K, the the AKG K 371 does the trick, There's an eq in that DAP, but it doesn't do all that much compared to the APO EQ.

Someone mentioned earlier that headphones are effectively clothing. There can be different uses for different headphones, one is not forced to have one set of headphones and leave it at that. I'm glad to have eq to fix and flavor the sound, but I'm even happier to have a headphone that doesn't need eq and doesn't require a lot of power to sound right. The fact that the K 371 'phones are relatively inexpensive seals the deal for me.

 

[aandres_gm]

As I said earlier, for all its other faults, the Beyerdynamic DT990 Edition is extremely well-built and very comfortable indeed, and for less than £140.

Sure. It's meant for professional use, so I'd expect it to be sturdy. Still, it lacks detachable cables, it's made out of plastic, etc. Toyotas are great cars, but the materials used in a Mercedes are often different and better, as is the build quality.

Whether that's worth paying money for or not, is a different matter

 

[devopsprodude]

You can't improve soundstage/imaging with equalization. Not all headphones improve to great sound with EQ. Comfort. Style. Active noise canceling. All things that can't be improved with EQ.

Having said that, there's not a high degree of correlation between price and sound quality. Plenty of expensive headphones that don't sound good. Plenty of $150 headphones that do.

Also, most headphones REQUIRE EQ to sound their best. Very few headphones sound good without EQ. So pretty much regardless which headphones you buy, you should be using EQ profiles to improve their sound.

 

[devopsprodude]

But like no amount of EQ will make Sony WH-1000XM* cans sound good.

 

[H-713]

Not everyone is using them in a situation where EQ is practical. If you aren't dealing with a digital source, "just using EQ" isn't quite so trivial.

 

[aandres_gm]

Not everyone is using them in a situation where EQ is practical. If you aren't dealing with a digital source, "just using EQ" isn't quite so trivial.

That's true, especially on analogue sources (vinyl).

 

[Nango]

FR is only one side of the coin, it is the transients which make the music sound like music.

 

[H-713]

That's true, especially on analogue sources (vinyl).

Also true if you're using said headphones in a studio environment. In all cases, there are ways to do it, but it adds quite a bit of complexity.