So....this is irritating.

[yepimonfire]

lately i've been getting more into headphones and one thing i'm finding that really, really, irritates me is a large amount of headphones are colored! and not because they are lacking good engineering, many of them are built this way intentionally out of about 100 different headphones ive looked into only about 3 of them are actually neutral and accurate. i understand making a headphone with a flat response is impractical due to HRTF and due to the proximity the drivers are to the ears the highs must be attentuated but even that considered many headphones are purposely created to have accentuated mids, highs, or lows. i just don't understand why. adding intentional distortion to a signal is most certainly not hi-fi at all and yes, coloration is linear distortion...

if i want colored headphones all i have to do is pick up some crappy earbuds at walmart....not drop 300 on a pair of headphones from some so called "hi-fi" headphone manufacturer....... *facepalm*

EDIT: a few of the guys at head-fi i have been recommending this headphone for rock, this headphone for jazz, this headphone for classical, and they all seem to come to the conclusion (and probably rightly so) that a headphone that sounds good with rock will sound bad with anything else, heres my complaint.... my speakers sound good no matter what i play on them they make every genre of music shine being that they are (atleast reasonably close to) accurate.

all i have to say is why?????

 

[TLS Guy]

lately i've been getting more into headphones and one thing i'm finding that really, really, irritates me is a large amount of headphones are colored! and not because they are lacking good engineering, many of them are built this way intentionally out of about 100 different headphones ive looked into only about 3 of them are actually neutral and accurate. i understand making a headphone with a flat response is impractical due to HRTF and due to the proximity the drivers are to the ears the highs must be attentuated but even that considered many headphones are purposely created to have accentuated mids, highs, or lows. i just don't understand why. adding intentional distortion to a signal is most certainly not hi-fi at all and yes, coloration is linear distortion...

if i want colored headphones all i have to do is pick up some crappy earbuds at walmart....not drop 300 on a pair of headphones from some so called "hi-fi" headphone manufacturer....... *facepalm*

EDIT: a few of the guys at head-fi i have been recommending this headphone for rock, this headphone for jazz, this headphone for classical, and they all seem to come to the conclusion (and probably rightly so) that a headphone that sounds good with rock will sound bad with anything else, heres my complaint.... my speakers sound good no matter what i play on them they make every genre of music shine being that they are (atleast reasonably close to) accurate.

all i have to say is why?????

Well headphones are like speakers and microphones, with most being not much good.

I have always had best luck with Sennheisser phones. The very high end Grados seem to be OK also.

 

[yepimonfire]

grados have colored mids. according to someone at headroom the AKG phones are pretty flat sounding. (wonder if them being owned by harman has anything to do with this?) ive found a few more accurate phones. but in all reality most speakers arent as accurate as they claim to be either, however, i recently acquired a pair of ATH AD 700's and i will say they sound pretty good, even if they are bright as hell. ive noticed headphones tend to sound more accurate then speakers because no room acoustics are involved.

 

[MinusTheBear]

The AD700's are not a bright headphone. In fact one of the few I do not experience listener fatigue with at higher volumes. They actually have the appropriate taper (maybe even too much if you are picky with the sound of triangles, cymbals) in the upper midrange and treble which headphones should have. Grado's and its family I would consider bright sounding headphones.

The thing about the AD700's which makes them different sounding is their MASSIVE soundstage and the rolled off bass (its not exaggerated like a lot of headphones). I find that with a lot of rock recordings that exhibit a very narrow soundstage in the recording itself can sound "thin" sounding through these headphones, perhaps many think it is bright but its not fatiguing. AD700's really shine with orchestral/classical recordings.

 

[yepimonfire]

they sound pretty good with rock and metal which is pretty much all i listen to. IMO classical music sounds good on equipment that can hit the lowest lows because there is just so much LF information in it. I found these headphones to be brighter then my polk speakers, which are pretty bright to begin with. and you're right, i do not experience any fatigue with these phones, i've found myself listening WAY too loud with them without it actually causing me discomfort. (that is until i take them off and experience a temporary phase shift from the high volume ) the coolest thing i like about these is the incredible transient response and just overall the resolution it brings out in things.

 

[MinusTheBear]

Yeah, they have A TON of clarity without being fatiguing. They are not perfect but if you factor in overall sound quality, comfort (extremely comfortable) and build (good build quality at its price point with a very nice cable) they are one of the best bargains going. The only thing I don't really like is the color of them.

 

[yepimonfire]

me either. i could never wear these out in public.

 

[MinusTheBear]

me either. i could never wear these out in public.

Even if they looked nice I still wouldn't wear them out in public. They are HUGE headphones and don't exhibit the clamping force of closed headphones so they will not be as secure on your head walking around.

 

[yepimonfire]

i ended up having to exchange mine due to one side being about 4dB louder, i'm guessing it was an impedance mismatch, a fairly common defect in headphones.

 

[MinusTheBear]

Not sure. Although I have never experienced that problem either.

 

[zhimbo]

one thing i'm finding that really, really, irritates me is a large amount of headphones are colored!

Please. The preferred phrasing is "headphones of color".

 

[yepimonfire]

lolwut???????

 

[its phillip]

it's a joke

 

[strube]

I haven't used my AKG K271 MKII for a couple of years, but I shopped around and returned a few (the Denon ones were the worst!) and ended up with these because they were the most neutral-sounding to me of the ones I tried in my price range, despite being slightly uncomfortable to wear for a long time because my ears are enormous dumbo ears.