|
Post by gregdunn on Jan 1, 2020 15:17:22 GMT
Hi, all. Long time reader, first time poster. I have a handful of headphones / IEMs that will be used primarily at a fixed location for critical listening / recording / mixing duties. I'm not overly fussed about the sonic character of the phones, but I'm aware that they differ and I'd like to have the response fairly flat just so they'll be less fatiguing and more accurate for long term sessions. I have a couple of spare miniDSP units which seem like they'd be ideal for generating the complementary filter curves needed to do this. Not having (yet) a dummy head to measure the phones with, is it unreasonable to use the more trusted response measurements online (such as the ones solderdude recommends in his Kameleon write-up) to come up with approximate correction filters? If so, I assume the best approach is to correct major deviations and not to try to get rid of all the small peaks and dips, for obvious reasons. Are there any pitfalls to be aware of when using published curves such as the ones at InnerFidelity as a starting point? FYI, I'm an EE with lots of work experience in signal processing, though I unfortunately wasn't able to work in the audio field as I'd wanted, so audio is just an all-consuming hobby - albeit one where I've spent decades trying to understand the details better.
|
|
solderdude
Administrator
measureutternutter
Posts: 4,881
|
Post by solderdude on Jan 1, 2020 15:58:34 GMT
The Innerfidelity plots can only be used to compare amongst other plots. They are too 'wrong' above 1kHz to be usable.
Sonarworks, Oratory and Rtings (as well as mine) plots can be used as a strating point.
|
|
|
Post by gregdunn on Jan 1, 2020 16:48:24 GMT
Many thanks for the info. I'll look at those.
One of my phones is the Sony MDR-V6, and I can't really find any response graphs for them - all the searches keep coming back with reviews/measurements of the MDR-7506. Many people seem to feel that they're functionally the same, while others claim they're radically different. Are you (or anyone else reading this) familiar enough with them to comment?
|
|
solderdude
Administrator
measureutternutter
Posts: 4,881
|
Post by solderdude on Jan 1, 2020 18:12:39 GMT
|
|
Rabbit
Administrator
Posts: 7,087
|
Post by Rabbit on Jan 2, 2020 14:24:29 GMT
Are you (or anyone else reading this) familiar enough with them to comment? I had both at the same time and differences were really small. Perhaps in the treble region but not a lot to shout about. I have had to replace my Sony pads (again) and this time, I put on some plusher, sheep skin ones. They actually improved them in the treble! Depends what you want to monitor as well. These days, I’m doing a lot of video monitoring with regard to sound and actually, I find the 7506 really useful for this. There’s no bloom and a very analytical sound in the top end, which many music listeners might find cold, but for picking out audio problems, they are excellent. I’m not too worried about the top end, but for a closed headphone, they sound very open and fantastic in the mids which is great for speech monitoring. They pick out recording faults like a laser. That’s why I like them. I sometimes also use a Beyer DT770 pro (250 ohms) they have a very big bass which is good for monitoring music (especially under speech) if there’s any bloat in the music to compete with speech, the dt770 shows it. So I use that one to monitor speech with music underneath on video. For music listening, whee I want it to sound more ‘comfortable’ and ‘warmer’, I use a Beyer DT1990. (Also very good for video monitoring) Or for a big sound, Fostex TH900 or Denon D2000, both with sheep skin, really plush pads. All three have a tendency to show sibilance clearly if the recordings are too bright. They also probably make up for my top end hearing. All three are great choices for monitoring work. Out of the three, the Sony is really open sounding and to me sounds less coloured although the other two are excellent as well to be honest. If you want a clear idea of how they might sound, it might be a good idea to look at a graph for a headphone that you have and on the same site, look at a graph for the Sony. This will give you a comparative idea of what the Sonys will do compared to what you already have. You probably already know this .... be careful about just looking at graphs.
|
|
|
Post by gregdunn on Jan 2, 2020 18:19:40 GMT
That's helpful also, thanks. I have rather a motley collection of phones, but as you suggest there's something useful about all of them. My ATH-M50x are probably about the best for enjoying the music, while the AT-705 electrostatics are just so clean and transparent for spotting flaws (though very thin on the low end). The Sonys are nice and analytical while having solid low end. I have a Koss ESP-9 which needs repairs on the power supply, but it doesn't get much use anyway because it weighs about 10 pounds. Well, it feels like it anyway. I have a pair of Sennheiser 58x on order which I've not heard - I loved the Sennheiser sound back in the 70s and these are highly recommended so I thought they'd be good to round out my collection.
I have put the miniDSP in the system and worked up some basic correction curves for the Sony and the 2 A-T sets based on the recommended reviews. It's fascinating how similar they can sound when you fix the response anomalies, even without accounting for preferences. I was even able to restore some bass to the 'stats without overdriving them; I do wish someone had a measured response for them but all I've ever seen is the little graph in the manual...
|
|