Of course the cans have a very uneven response curve. I was talking about the amp. Please see the curve for the 281 that I edited into my post, measuring the amp itself, not the cans.
Of course you can EQ the amp output and this can be helpful. But not my point.
Well if an amplifier measures completely flat / neutral, but the result through a specific pair of headphones sounds âwarmâ, then it would mean that the bass response of the headphones would be relatively prominent?
This I agree with. But nevertheless, an amp sounding âwarmâ or âcrispyâ is a much more complex thing than just its basic frequency response curve. My point was that 2 amps can both have a flat curve and yet they can sound different, one being perceived as warmer and the other as cleaner, and so on, and may have a different perceived fit with the same cans
The 300 has a 1 dB roll-off from 10 kHz to 20 kHz and the M22 has less, but this difference does not account for them being totally different amps with very different perceived sound, including what we call âwarmthâ/âcleanlinessâ because our vocabulary for these things is limited
Iâm sure they sound different, but nonetheless i can find no references online about warm or cool sounding meaning anything other than increased bass response and/or treble attenuation.
If you have any information at hand that explains how something could sound warmer without increased bass response or a decreased treble response, i would be very interested in that.
The information I have is that I experienced the Vio 280 as warm-sounding despite its flat response, and the M22 as cold also despite its flat response
My point is that our audio-physiological responses, the perceptions they cause, and the words that we use to describe these perceptions are way more complex than the very basic information that is measured by a frequency response diagram.
A complex topic and in the end all that matters is that the user of the amp and headphone likes the sound that is generated. Which is quite subjective. But interesting to read your thoughts.
I have a RME (not sure keeping it) and if itâs quite tweakable, with tangible results, itâs not possible to get it sound signature (neutral and « cold ») completing shifting to « warm ». I am not an expert, but itâs the Dac that is tweakable and perhaps the headphone AMP have an influence on the sound Signature and while itâs not customizable, the impact of EQ is still limited. The only way to figure out how it works is to plug the RME on an external amp (unfortunately I donât have another headphone amp).
Yes itâs possible that the analog output stage of the RME canât give you the type of sound that you are looking for. Doesnât hurt to experiment with the EQ and filters, but if it doesnât work out itâs time to try out another piece of gear.
I am the wrong person to ask. I tried various headphones and amps a few months ago and the Violectric/Sennheiser stuck in my mind, but after this I decided not to be a headphone person after all and poured my money into a Naim system