Neutral(ish) headphones [Continuous poll]

Not sure I understand why you would use a single frequency sine, and randomly (?) pick 40 Hz.

 

40 Hz wasn't random, at least from Jude's perspective. Tyll used a 40 Hz tone for comparing them too, whether Tyll's choice was based on something else or was just where the S variant exhibited this increased 2nd harmonic is another story.

Tyll's measurement from his review:

 

This might just be me, but I actually think the HD580 is more neutral than the HD600. Much better bass response and doesn't have the shout the HD600 has. Though, it also isn't exactly in production and can be sorta-hardish to find at times. I agree with Marv that the Auteur needs to be added (as it is one of the most neutral headphones I've ever heard) and...honestly, neither the HD800S or HD800 are neutral to my ears. Too...sucked out in the upper-mids, slightly light on the bass, and (pre-modded) the emphasis on the 6khz region is just too much on the HD800. I actually find the Auteur more neutral than the HD800 (despite me liking the HD800 a touch more overall.)

 

Adding this here, my brief impressions on the Auteur:

I am completely content with the Autuer as my sole headphoone if need be. It's much more natural sounding to me compared to HD650 (slight 3-5kHz emphasis, wooly bass, lacks extension), HD800 (good bass quality, sucked out lower treble, and tizzy upper treble makes them unnatural sounding).

 

Auteur w Eikon pads vs HD650


Bass extends lower and has greater quantity and quality than measurements show with Auteur vs HD650.

 

@Marvey your HD800 thread saved me a lot of time, aggravation and money. The sound signature of Focal phones does not agree with me while HD800S does. An inexpensive Vali 2 amp worked just fine until Justin got my Kenzie built. I took the Elears out of their box last night and could not handle listening to them for even 15 minutes had to switch back to the Senns.

 

Can't speak for the Clear, but I find the HD650 to be the most neutral of this bunch, including HD600 (on a solid state amp.)

HD600 is shout city.

 

Are IEM's allowed on this list?

 

That might get too exhaustive. Maybe have a similar thread in the IEM section instead?

 

You already added them to the poll. As per the defined procedure for this thread, I have now also added impressions from you and cskippy to the second post.

HD800S were added to the poll as per defined rules for this thread - a SBAF member nominated the headphone with his impressions written down in a way valid enough to qualify. The list states 'HEADPHONES NOMINATED BY SBAF MEMBERS' and the poll states 'Which of these headphones can be considered neutral(ish) sounding?', therefore HD800S do not violate the rules. HD800S even received two votes by now and therefore some SBAF folks actually think the headphone is neutral. (Even though I do not agree with that myself.)

That being said...

... I am not saying the rules are setup perfectly at this point. What would you suggest? I am thinking about various different approaches to pick from:

1. Remove the headphone from the poll as long as more negative impressions are submitted in this thread over positive ones in 7 days and/or the headphone does not receive certain amount of votes during the same time period. (Negative = somebody thinks the phone is not neutral enough to be a part of this thread and clearly states why.) This approach is only possible if somebody can actually remove the phone from the poll, or if we can create an exact copy of this thread including votes sans the HD800S in the voting poll. (I am not able to perform any of the two actions, maybe some admin could?)
2. Similar approach would be to simply include nominated headphones to the poll after a certain period of time in order to let others react, say after 7 days. That way we would be able to disqualify non-valid submissions before actually posting them to the poll.
3. Limit nominations to Friends. Also a possible approach but it would not only discriminate other members of SBAF but also kind disqualify my personal participation altogether. (Since I created this thread including the original nominations, being a Rando.)

Back to the HD800S - those are really a special case as I already stated. I know quite a lot of people in Europe who think the headphone actually is neutral, therefore am curious about how many votes it could receive on SBAF. Anyway, if somebody can actually remove HD800S from the poll, I would give it a greenlight as long as we are able to agree on unified approach for the future to come. (See my three different suggestions above.)

Is HD580 actually any different soundwise from HD600, could anybody else confirm? Is so, I would add the headphone as well but always thought the two are pretty much identical except for different looks.

What is the limit of the voting poll, how many entries? I originally counted with IEMs as well but if we are going to keep this thread over the long term, we may indeed reach the poll limit. Apart from that, I do not think it is a problem to include IEMs.

 

I have to ask, what the ever-loving f**k is this "in Europe" trope that randos try use to win arguments? You do realise that it's not all baby-eating Yankee devils here, right?

 

Not sure what exactly I should be trying to win on SBAF or on internet in general. I am just explaining my point of view apart from stating the fact that HD800S do not violate current rules of this thread.

 

It's the HD600 so none of this matters. Everyone knows this!

 

I have a much easier time identifying cans that are not neutral, rather than those that are (if there is such a thing). Since my hearing is not, and has not been for a long, long time, neutral, not sure such a thing would even be desirable, at least as it relates to my own listening pleasure.

 

No one expects you to "solve all the mysteries and scientific challenges associated with..." but this is too big and bland.
I'm not sure who will benefit from this thread. Who might come here and discover something new.

Oversimplification is a curse.

This looks like some kind of census for the sake of doing it.
Hopefully not for using the unprecise information this might yield.

What's neutralish for SBAF?
I think that's already written somewhere.

What's neutralish for people on SBAF?
You'll find all sorts of people here, most of them have a different understanding of what the word neutralish means. So what's the point?

"Sounding good with whatever music you through at them..." is more a sign of colouration than a sign of neutrality. Give a slight boost to the bass and lower the treble in the sibilance region to compensate for the vast majority of low quality/consumer grade/poorly mastered/compressed recordings and you'll get the one that sounds good with whatever music you through at it.

Neutralish is the one that make the highest quality recordings sound more realistic. After all these are the recordings made carefully enough to be considered a proper reference. These are the ones that preserve the properties of the original sound.