Submitted by Then-Effective5434 t3_ydamru in headphones
SupOrSalad t1_itr101e wrote
This gets really deep and there's been a lot of research on it. In short, Yes if two pairs of headphones had an identical Frequency response at your eardrum they would sound the same (ignoring factors like comfort, ambient noise, how the pads feel on your ears which all affect how we perceive sound).
The thing is, it's virtually impossible to make two pairs of headphones have the exact same Frequency response at your ear. Even from two models of the same headphones there will be differences you can't EQ in.
The frequency response graph you see from measurments is best used for comparisons, but it doesn't represent the frequency response it will have in your own head, and even headphones that measure very close on a rig, can have large differences in the frequency response when it's on your head due to difference acoustic impedance.
The best way to look at it is, yes everything does come back to frequency response in headphones, but it's just the end result and not something you can EQ one pair of headphones to match another. So in a way, "Technicalities" does exist as a part of frequency response, and you need to listen to them to get the full picture.
ResolveReviews t1_itrsi5f wrote
This right here is the best answer so far. In a way I think 'technicalities' is the wrong word, with all apologies to my good friend Crin on this topic. It should probably be something anchored more to just the subjective or unidentifiable aspects in FR on a graph.
Wellhellob t1_itryl6f wrote
Pushing for thinner diaphragm, better material and stronger magnet, lighter and efficient overall design shouldn't be underestimated. Not every 20khz capable driver is same. I find ''technicalities'' proper term.
How much of Susvara's, LCD5's, electrostat's qualities come from acoustic design vs technology ? Susvara doesn't even have fancy CSD plot so i don't know how much acoustic treatment it got. We know how Audeze tried hard to get consistency with their thin planar development. A big headache for them, must yield some results in terms of ''technicalities''.
Wellhellob t1_itrx92o wrote
Hifiman have almost identical tuning in most of their headphones but they sound quite different. Graph reading is just not the full picture as you said. It's a low resolution reading with a lot of cues we don't understand/interpret.
AnOldMoth t1_itsian1 wrote
> Hifiman have almost identical tuning in most of their headphones
I think what's being said here is that they don't actually have the same tuning. They have the same general TREND of FR, but if you were able to get a good, accurate reading of them, there'd be a ton of differences that change the sound quite a bit.
Plus, our measurements past I think 10 khz aren't very accurate, if I recall. So it gets even worse once you start reaching the treble, which is where a LOT of detail is.
Wellhellob t1_itsrg61 wrote
True. I said the same thing.
Then-Effective5434 OP t1_itr2ze6 wrote
Very interesting, 2 models of the same headphone have different FR, I heard about this, but isn't it so small, that one person can't distinguish by his ears? About pads and comfort I agree, all this affect Frequency Response, but for example we have Focal open-back headphones that already have so much similarities between each other, can you take Clear pads(housing is basically 99.9% the same) and use some EQ to get actually sound like Clear? With this I don't know <0.1% of difference that can be even between two models of the same headphone
Btw, what about IEMs? Here fit, comfort and eartips usually are very close to be the same
Egoexpo t1_itr6e5w wrote
>2 models of the same headphone have different FR, I heard about this, but isn't it so small, that one person can't distinguish by his ears?
Yes, but this is difficult.
>what about IEMs?
In the IEM world this is more easy, you can EQ a 7Hz Salnotes Zero to be really similar to a Thieaudio Monarch MKII or a UM Mest MKII (I tested both IEMs, it's not the same because of the differences in your own ear, but it's very similar), yes. In the headphone world, because of the pinna interaction, it is very difficult to make one headphone sound similar to another headphone.
You can improve the EQ using a sine sweep, this can improve things like "imaging" or "detail" because you are reducing some peaks and dips that happen with ear interaction, this makes the headphones clearer without auditory masking or "veils", but it's very boring to do the process.
Then-Effective5434 OP t1_itr774b wrote
Thank you for explaining about IEMs, because there are some IEMs that I am interested in and would like to use EQ to try their frequency response with my Variations. I can do this easily by software on my Mac, or do I need Quedelix 5K with it's parametric EQ?
Egoexpo t1_itr81xb wrote
I don't know, sorry, I don't use Mac. A Qudelix is āāa very good thing, I recommend it.
GimmickMusik1 t1_itt07v6 wrote
Please correct me if Iām wrong, but FR graphs are also not pinpoint representations, correct? My understanding is that they smooth out the sample data.
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