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Mission impossible: finding a neutral sounding headphone!
🕑 Added 2023-03-31 21:42:05 +0000 UTCMy original goal was to create a flat sounding compensation for my binaural sound samples which turned out to become a nightmare, as no headphone could render those precisely equalised samples correctly. I had to find a headphone target which would allow for my sound samples to be rendered as faithfully as possible and at the same time sound neutral on it's own, which became some kind of mission impossible. A properly equalised headphone to render my flat equalised samples won't sound neutral, while a neutral sounding headphone won't playback binaural sound samples that were equalizsed to flat properly.
In the meantime I made some changes and decided to dump the "precise" target I am talking about in this video to make everything more simple. I already had to depart from strictly neutral for my sound samples to be rendered faithfully with common headphones at all, therefore I will simply apply the necessary compensation to my recordings so that a headphone follwoing my "neutral" target will be neutral on its own and will also render my samples as lifelike as possible making the "precise" target simply obsolete.
Here you can see the delta between my neutral and precise target:
All my upcoming audio recordings will be compensated properly including this delta and playing them back over a headphone following my "neutral target" you should get the most lifelike possible result, which should give you an even better idea about the sound of all that audio gear out there. I am quite baffled on my own how realistic the results turned out thanks to all the effort I invested into this.
Instead of music I included some pink noise samples which you can check if my EQ for the Sennheiser HD600 works for you. With music it's hard to judge the coloration if you don't know the recording well, therefore judging natural sounds or pink noise like in this case should give you a better idea of all the EQs demonstrated. You need to use a Sennheiser HD600 for these to check if my target will work for you. This won't work with any other headphone of course.
I am planning to create profiles for additional headphones every month, which will be available to every Patreon subscribing to the enthusiast level. These headphone profiles will be only available for this given month but can be also purchased separately afterwards. I am planning to cover most popular headphones, but I am not sure how long I can do this, as proper equalising needs endless hours of listening and tweaking, you just cannot expect great results by simple graph matching. Any support from you is welcome to also encourage me putting my entire energy into this. I am of course very curious about the results you will be getting, if my sound profiles can also give you some significant improvement, otherwise all this simply makes no sense, just like buying different headphones every month thinking the next one will be "better"....
Thanks for all the support I got from my trusty followers since the very beginning I started this!
Comments
KSo
The Harman tuning is derived from questioning listener which is their prefered tuning and not "does this tuning sounds most natrual". So Harman is a preference curve of a specific tuning of the majority of listerner in this study. It is not an absolute reference, nor is it right, or wrong, its just what a majority prefers/like. So why do you not like the Harman Curve? Because your preference seems to differ from this majority (obviously you prefer something which is more comparable to what you hear through your loudspeakers). Is your preference more "correct"? Only if you define the goal of listening to music with headphones. Your goal is to listen to music the way it was generated (played and recorded). Thats a fair goal. For other people their goal is maybe to enjoy the way they like it, may be this means with a phat bass or maybe with piercing heights. Is their goal more wrong than your goal? (With TVs and photograpy it's the same, some like the natural look and do a lot of calibrations and what not and others simply crank up color and contrast because they like it that way). Who is to say what is right and what is wrong in the context of listening to music as a hobby?
KlarkKentThe3rd
That..... is not a bad position. One thing I forgot to mention is that I am using 3rd party medium size memory foam eartips form Comply, and that was the only way to ensure a perfect seal without hurting my ears. With THESE tips (everything included in the box is bad) what I hear sounds like the Crinacle measurement. Basically nothing in my vast music collection sounds overrepresented, and orchestral sounds super smooth.
Oluv'Sone
Actually I wouldn’t recommend a single IEM if it’s not adjusted towards a listeners ear. Everyone will hear something completely different.
KlarkKentThe3rd
Find a better IEM with removable cable and same level of detail at the same price.
Oluv'Sone
The T2 is horrid, I wonder why you think it’s neutral
KlarkKentThe3rd
If money was not an issue, I would just get HD800s or Focal Clear, and the budget option would be a HD560s revision without the peak in the highs. For some reason Sennheiser is very slow to address that in any way. As for the time being, I somehow found a budget IEM that is actually very neutral (not just promises), and it's a model Z reviews praised, Tin Hifi T2. Add 3rd party eartips, and yo uget 60 dollar perfection.
Oluv'Sone
I think not even any speaker can be perfectly neutral, but finding the best compromise is the goal here
KlarkKentThe3rd
I said it before, and I will keep saying it. It is impossible to have a """perfectly""" neutral headphone. Settle for "close enough to perfection for the price" and extend your lifespan.
