Uniti Atom vs Atom HE - Headphone and TV usage

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 ‘warm’, then it would mean that the bass response of the headphones would be relatively prominent?

This I agree with. But nevertheless, an amp sounding “warm” or “crispy” 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

I don’t agree. :wink: I think the response curve is the only thing of influence when it comes to a ‘warm’ or ‘cool’ sound.

Yeah, I believe you are wrong.

NAP 300 DR:

NAD M22:

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 “warmth”/“cleanliness” because our vocabulary for these things is limited

Most power amps are designed to be (relatively) neutral, since it’s not a good thing ofcourse if the output stage colours the sounds.

So most of the frequency response is determined by the pre-amp, rather than the power amp


And yet if you just change the power amp in the otherwise same chain, they sound completely different (and the M22 sucks FWIW :wink: )

I’m 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. :slight_smile:

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 :slight_smile:

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.

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Ohh i so much don’t agree with that!

Let’s agree to disagree, having to work as well :wink:

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.

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Hi @Litemotiv,

I have a RME (not sure keeping it) and if it’s quite tweakable, with tangible results, it’s not possible to get it sound signature (neutral and « cold ») completing shifting to « warm ». I am not an expert, but it’s the Dac that is tweakable and perhaps the headphone AMP have an influence on the sound Signature and while it’s 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 don’t have another headphone amp).

Yes it’s possible that the analog output stage of the RME can’t give you the type of sound that you are looking for. Doesn’t hurt to experiment with the EQ and filters, but if it doesn’t work out it’s time to try out another piece of gear. :slight_smile:

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@Suedkiez

Do you think that adding a Violecttic to the RME is a good idea or it’s better to go with another AMP ?

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 :wink:

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