# All headphone reviews are wrong



## Ivan M. (Jan 4, 2021)

I've been researching a lot, watched a lot of reviews, frequency responses, harmonic distortion, square wave response etc, but after actually trying some headphones, I realize all reviews mean nothing.
*I've just bought headphones I thought I'd never buy. *
When they say bass rolloff, upper mid or treble boost - means nothing until you try them, they also might say certain phones are comfortable - nope some of them clamp like crazy.
Yes, all headphones sound wrong out of the box, but paired with eq correction, most work fine I guess.


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## michalioz (Jan 4, 2021)

I haven't bought many different headphones (I think I've recently owned 3), but they all sound massively different. It's important to ask yourself how are you going to use the headphones (i.e. listening to music, mixing, performing etc.) and take it from there. BTW you don't need to "correct" headphones with EQ to make them sound in a specific way. For example mixing headphones are supposed to sound flat and unimpressive, there is nothing "wrong" with them.


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## kC_ (Jan 4, 2021)

i get by with 3 pairs of headphones... happy with each for their purpose
Seinheisser HD280 pro for tracking (closed back) sound good/punchy/loud and not too much sound leakage
AKG K702 (more reference/mixing/listening) open back- very open and airy sounding/quite flat, great stereo image
BOMAKER Wireless Earbuds (in ear bluetooth buds for on the go)
​


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## X-Bassist (Jan 4, 2021)

Another factor is that, besides the fact that most speakers (including headphones) have a break in period (a time when the cones after enough movement settle in to their natural frequency response, often becoming less crispy then when first used out of the box), we as users also become accustomed to the sound and how it relates to a mix.

For instance most people would mix with pricier headphones than a pair of AT M150x’s ($150). But for me, mixing on them live and in studio for years, I know how they translate to a movie theater (set to dolby standards) or a phone or laptop. I prefer mixing to my studio monitors, but when in a pinch it’s good to know I can do it on any M150s and get it done. But this proves to me our ears (most likely our brains) adapt to speakers (to a limited amount, they still need to accurately depict most of the spectrum without major omissions) and allow us to mix in relative terms, not just absolute terms.

Which is why there is not usually a consensus on the best when talking about speakers or headphones. Find a comforable pair you can wear for long periods of time that give you enough info (bass, mid-range, highs) without overemphasizing any band, and your probably ok. Any pair will require time for them to break in (a week or two of regular listening) and time for your ears to get to know them (several mixes to several weeks).


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## Jeremy Spencer (Jan 4, 2021)

Ivan M. said:


> Yes, all headphones sound wrong out of the box, but paired with eq correction, most work fine I guess.


To me, my Seinheisser HD600's and Sonarworks software sounding totally wrong at first, I thought I was losing my mind after shelling out $$. However, the exact opposite was true, I just wasn't accustomed to hearing things the way they _should_ sound in my studio. And now, everything sounds wrong if I _don't_ use these tools! My mixes have now translated like never before.


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## pmcrockett (Jan 4, 2021)

This may sound weird, but for the next pair of mixing headphones I buy, construction complexity may be a factor in my decision making. I have a pair of K702s that's 10+ years old, and I've had to open them up twice to replace or resolder components. Taking them apart makes me mad, because they're so over-engineered that it's difficult to fix problems that ought to be extremely straight-forward, and disassembling also generally results in cosmetic damage to the headphones.


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## Ivan M. (Jan 4, 2021)

michalioz said:


> For example mixing headphones are supposed to sound flat and unimpressive, there is nothing "wrong" with them.


All headphones have issues, and every single one, including the most expensive ones, is actually wrong out of the box. Seems physically impossible to create neutral headphones


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## michalioz (Jan 4, 2021)

Ivan M. said:


> All headphones have issues, and every single one, including the most expensive ones, is actually wrong out of the box. Seems physically impossible to create neutral headphones


Sure. I would say that all headphones have their character which we either like or not. Of course some are superior to others and probably more expensive. My main point was that you don't need to fix them with EQ if you're using them as reference as it defeats the purpose anyway.

I recently purchased monitors and not going back to headphones unless I'm not mixing on my desk. Headphones are having some inherent limitations as reference points, which is what you're referring to perhaps when you're saying that "all headphones have issues".


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## vicontrolu (Jan 4, 2021)

I love HD600 but since sonarworks came in I use k270 mkii. If I have to buy new ones I'll pick the most confortable ones not very expensive-AT- and just slap Sonarworks in.


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## SupremeFist (Jan 4, 2021)

Slate VSX are the endgame solution for all this. (I speak as someone who also has k701, HD6XX, Ollo S4, MDR7506 etc.)


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## bill5 (Jan 5, 2021)

Ivan M. said:


> I've been researching a lot, watched a lot of reviews, frequency responses, harmonic distortion, square wave response etc, but after actually trying some headphones, I realize all reviews mean nothing.
> *I've just bought headphones I thought I'd never buy. *
> When they say bass rolloff, upper mid or treble boost - means nothing until you try them, they also might say certain phones are comfortable - nope some of them clamp like crazy.
> Yes, all headphones sound wrong out of the box, but paired with eq correction, most work fine I guess.


That doesn't mean all reviews are wrong, but I agree that they can't be trusted. The reviewers are sometimes paid by companies to pimp their stuff or they want to gain credibility by pimping ones they know are popular anyway. If you read these things it becomes obvious as they're all pimping the same ones (headphones or otherwise) and saying pretty much the same thing.


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## colony nofi (Jan 5, 2021)

Am I going to be that person? hm.... yeah... I am.



Ivan M. said:


> All headphones have issues, and every single one, including the most expensive ones, is actually wrong out of the box. Seems physically impossible to create neutral headphones


Nope. No. Nup. Negative. Disagree. But probably not why you think 

Sometimes these kinds of threads get to me enough to put a bit of time into a post. Mostly when I'm procrastinating needing to do some work with a looming deadline. Ha.

There is no audio equipment that is right or wrong. Nothing is pure. Its all subjective. Anything involving analog electronics will by its nature have distortions. It will be nonlinear. 

And all digital audio has its own issues - even if that only resides in the fact there is no "pure" D/A's or A/D's.

You can argue this stuff till you're blue in the face. It won't change reality. 

To what degree people are happy with the non-linearities / distortions etc etc will be discussed ad-infinitum. Because we feel stuff differently. We hear differently. We relate differently. We are our own unique thought machine with our own subjective views.

So knowing this - why would you say "All headphones have issues.... is actually wrong out of the box"

Yes, ALL audio equipment has issues. But what makes that wrong? 

Your idea of what a headphone should sound like is different to someone elses. 

For the audio purist - wanting a "true" representation of a recorded signal - I ask them what does true mean? We can of course aim for it, but for all sound reproduction technologies, there are going to be things that mean the result isn't "pure" or "true". Headphones, Speakers, whatever. Even listening to an object in a room isn't a "true" representation of the sound the object is making - it is that sound added with the sound of the room. Which is non-linear. (Even in an anechoic chamber...)

And what is "neutral" headphones anyway? 

Or neutral speakers for that matter? It seems a pretty meaningless construct to me. Maybe it means flat frequency response. Or quick transient response. Or no post ringing. Or whatever. 

How is what you are saying about headphones any different to speakers? And then - why say it at all? Is it not just chasing a dragon?

So we are left to accept the design considerations... the thought that has been placed into creating our audio equipment - that the constraints the designers are working within match the expectations / wants and needs of your use. 

After all this, I would argue strongly that no piece of audio equipment is ever truly broken (out of the box at least.). It may not do what you'd like it to do, but that isn't broken. It isn't even wrong. Its just not what YOU want it to be. 

From this thread, I take it that you don't believe that the frequency response of any set of headphones is good enough for you to use - not what YOU want to hear - and ALL headphones will be better by running them thru DSP correction. Sure - cool - you can argue that. I'd disagree - though I'm also open to hearing DSP that does elevate the headphones I use. And it might. But nothing has yet which makes my use / experience any better in the long run.

And by better - I mean better for me. What I need headphones to be. 

Which seems to be different to you.

And thus the whole thread becomes a little odd / self serving / strange in my book.

So I'll throw my definitely not linear K271's back on and mix a piece that'll be used tomorrow on TV knowing I can use the headphones for what I need to use them for, and make the decisions I need to make well. Would I rather use my LCD X's? For sure. But I don't have them with me right now, so the 271's will do the job nicely. They're not wrong. They're not linear. But its all just different degree's of "right" - and "right for you". 

Embrace tech not being always exactly right. And embrace the creative ideas more.

/rant off


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## Ivan M. (Jan 6, 2021)

colony nofi said:


> Am I going to be that person? hm.... yeah... I am.
> 
> 
> Nope. No. Nup. Negative. Disagree. But probably not why you think
> ...



I believe there IS an objective truth. Not everything is relative.

You could argue taste when it comes to simply enjoying music, however for monitoring purposes you do need neutral (boring) phones/monitors.

If there's a dip in the frequency response - there's a dip, no rationalization will remove the fact that it will influence mixing decisions. Harman curve is a good curve


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## colony nofi (Jan 6, 2021)

Ivan M. said:


> I believe there IS an objective truth. Not everything is relative.
> 
> You could argue taste when it comes to simply enjoying music, however for monitoring purposes you do need neutral (boring) phones/monitors.
> 
> If there's a dip in the frequency response - there's a dip, no rationalization will remove the fact that it will influence mixing decisions. Harman curve is a good curve


I'm not arguing that its good to aim for flat response. But I'm saying its not possible so whats the point in arguing about it


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## bill5 (Jan 6, 2021)

I think this is getting into semantic nit-picking. For ex. a 100% flat response isn't realistically possible, but you can get close enough that for all intents and purposes it is flat, i.e. very close to it.

But I think the OP's takeaway is that articles should be taken with a large grain of salt!


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## Trash Panda (Jan 6, 2021)

Frequency response is not the end all be all of headphones or speakers.


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## Jdiggity1 (Jan 6, 2021)

Out of curiosity, OP, what are the 'best' headphones you have owned/tried? The most expensive?


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## el-bo (Jan 6, 2021)

colony nofi said:


> To what degree people are happy with the non-linearities / distortions etc etc will be discussed ad-infinitum. Because we feel stuff differently. We hear differently. We relate differently. We are our own unique thought machine with our own subjective views.


This, this...and more this!

But also, there are so many differences in the size and shape of our heads, size and shape of ears, as well as age, state and condition of our sinuses (ent etc.) and health history of ears etc. will all have an influence on our ability to hear, and to discern any accurate differences in quality.


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