I am a headphone freak, I have several pairs that I bought for their various technical and tuning characteristics, or just plain curiosity to hear a new technology (AMT) . My favourite is the Sennheiser HD850S closely followed by the Heddphone 2GT. Sometimes I dig out the Beyerdynamic T1 ver 2, for bass.
OK so I plugged the first two into my HP amp with two outputs and did some A/B “testing” . TheHD800S sounded really horrible if swapped directly from the 2GT. But the HD850S is my favourite set of cans.
What is going on? I believe our ears adjust to give us what we want to hear, and also our hearing gets used to a HP or speaker tuning over time.
You either believe in AB comparisons or you don’t.
I find they have drawbacks as many are drawn to the obvious differences in the sound making a more holistic evaluation of performance quite challenging.
They can be useful for shortlisting but on their own AB is as flawed as the person listening.
I also have multiple headphones that I swap regularly. I let my ears, mood and whatever other black magic is going on decide. Sometimes, I prefer the HD800S, sometimes the HiFiMan Arya, sometimes the Focal Elears etc. etc (I have seven over-ear headphones). A/B testing doesn’t work for me, because it is a non-repeatable test. The outcome may be different the next day or with a different track. I can’t even explain to myself why I regularly buy new headphones. Strange man with a strange hobby.
When I compare two things with A-B testing it is with multiple tracks of different music, multiple times back and forth, and if considering anything having a major cost (or major saving) if at all possible I verify blind, getting someone else to do the swapping, randomly including not swapping, and sometimes one played louder sometimes the other. It is time consuming but effective. I don’t find it enjoyable, but based on all I have learned it is unreliable to trust in human hearing with a simple comparison, so much influencing us as the OP has found. And before I get to the auditioning, at least with speakers and amps, I will have assessed specifications and studied reviews before shortlisting. I have never yet been disappointed in any purchase made that way.
When I get to try to find decent headphones I expect to do the same as with speakers, except that with headphones there is the complicating factor of deliberately non-linear frequency response notably the Harman Curve and its varying implementations,
The different tunings and factors like detail retrieval lead us to buying multiple headphones.
But it was the instant swap between cans on the same track which threw me. The tuning of one headphone made the other sound awful.
My point is that our hearing can be pretty unreliable if we go to a dealer and try multiple headphones or speakers in one session.
The reviews of the Beyerdynamic T1 ver 3 have been pretty negative, as they pump up the bass. One reviewer said he grew to like them over time as his ears got used to the tuning.
Yes, HP designers play with the lower frequencies and maybe boost them. They also play with the higher frequencies to give an impression of detail. It is all about the upsides and downsides of particular tuning choices. I presume speaker designers do much the same thing. Harman were investigating speaker design, when they devised the curve.
Like you I do a lot of background research before I buy something to build a picture of how a piece of kit will sound. Studio gear is slanted towards neutral. Even when I cannot trail a piece of equipment, I have always been pleased with my choices. My OP example gives a hint about why trailing several pieces of equipment at a dealers in a short space of time might be counterproductive.
If that were true - and I really wish it was - then we would all be using dirt cheap systems and having absolutely no desire to get anything better.
Certainly. We become accustomed to a particular presentation over time and changing to something different, even if it’s superior, can actually be quite jarring and may require a period of readjustment.
The problem with quick A/B testing I’ve found is that it tends to focus attention on more obvious differences as opposed to true musical satisfaction. So things like tonal accuracy, bass response, forward or laid back characteristic and so on. IMO the true merit of any piece of equipment only becomes clear with extended listening, ideally over weeks or months. Quick A/B comparisons can easily lead to wrong conclusions about real ability.
Having multiple systems that sound radically different but are both enjoyable can certainly help train the ear away from a preset expectation of correctness.
When one focuses on building a single system, often upgrades are appraised in how much of the “same but better” they can deliver. Massive deviations in character are usually rejected by the brain during AB tests.
If one is approaching a new change from a very broad spectrum of what is considered acceptable and correct, the results can be more illuminating. Though at the same time more arduous as a quick conclusion won’t be as forthcoming.
Auditioning and selecting components is possibly one of the least enjoyable things about hifi. As it isn’t cheap, you have a responsibility to make a good decision. It is a total boring slog though.
I guess that when listening to music in my car with pretty low grade speakers and all the background noise, my senses are adapting and compensating in some way. My wife is happy to listen to music on her phone with low grade buds.
I found this quote concerning headphones and burn in, which applies to all audio:
Another aspect, which I like to call ‘brain-in ‘, is often labeled as ‘burn-in/break-in’. A brain simply ‘calibrates’ itself to the presentation of a headphone and ‘compares’ the sound to your (stored) experiences with sounds/music around you. When you listen exclusively to one headphone for a while, eventually, some flaws that you may have heard initially you simply won’t hear any more or do not find as objectionable. Some flaws may not even have been very obvious and may just have been ‘filled-in’ by the brain to begin with. Only after comparing directly to (an)other headphone(s) you hear the flaws (again)… briefly… in most cases, as the brain adapts pretty fast when one is familiar with the ‘presentation’ of a familiar headphone. How the brain knows what headphone you are listening to ? Well you KNOW because you see and/or feel which headphone is on your head.
I find this sort of thing about how our brain works alongside our senses pretty fascinating.
You are correct, we need to live with a piece of HiFi gear for a good while, to see if it is satisfying. Some defects or tunings are to big for us to accept, for critical listening.
(Sorry about using quotes. I am never quite sure about which links are acceptable here.)
The problem is that there is no “best headphone”. My Sennheiser HD800S is “best” for bringing out the subtleties acoustic Jazz, but does not have the low bass punch of my Beyerdynamic T1, which is less detailed overall.
Compared to the often mouth watering prices of speakers and other HiFi gear €1500-€2000 will buy you a very high end set of cans, (even if there is a trend toward exaggerated pricing here too) owning multiple sets of high end headphones is within reach of the common mortal. They also take up very little space.
I have three pair that I use with my headphone amplifier. Each pair (Focal Elear, Sennheiser HD800S and Hifiman Arya) have their own characteristics. I have two pair that I use with my mobile phone (Sennheiser HD600, Hifiman Sundara). These are all open back headphones. I also have 1 closed back headphone (Byerdynamic DT 1770). And finally I have 1 pair that I actually do not use (FiiO F7). I collected these headphones over the years and these are all used differently. So, maybe I should get rid of the FiiO’s.
Even modestly priced headphones can give SQ only a much more costly speaker system would. Individual taste dictates what that may be.
Imho, anyone denying themselves the opportunity to have a HP system is loosing out on an important and occasionally eye opening way of accessing music.
Too many compare it directly to a speaker system (and because it is different, state they do not like it).
Well HP listening is always a bit like listening to music under a microscope. You have incredible detail extracted. But it’s also true that I don’t look at the paintings on my wall under a microscope.
The presentation is very different and certainly isn’t going to appeal to anyone who craves the live in the room illusion. But it has it’s charms. I’m quite fond of my HD800 but usually I don’t want to see the bristles on the brush but the picture as a whole.
