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Posted: |
Jun 26, 2015 - 4:00 PM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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Hello again,
I'll get down to the nitty-gritty, because you don't REALLY want to hear, yet again, that I am a caveman. So -
Story goes, I've been listening for a long time on cheap headphones. I don't want to annoy the neighbours (although they annoyed me with their loud bonking, so I broke my hand punching the wall, remember?) and I've been fine and dandy listening to my soundtracks on the cheapo earpieces. Well, I got used to it. I can't afford a house with thick walls.
So, the story goes that I've spent years listening to all my music on cheapo headphones. Sounded fine to me. Then suddenly today somebody gave me a set of "expensive high-quality phones", which are really quite good... but I'm not entirely convinced about the difference, so I'll give you some examples...
I got La-La's MAGIC (Goldsmith score) recently, and it was bloody good stuff. "But" (in "inverted commas", see?) there was a lot of surface noise on some tracks, and even odd clickings which in some cases was I think just chairs being sat on awkwardly at the wrong moment. On the new "expensive" phones most of that extraneous noise has gone.... but I found it a more "bassy" sound which softened some of the admittedly harsh nuances that I'd heard on the cheapophones. So the expensive ones seem to iron out the defects. That should be fine.
BUT - I kind of missed my old cheapos, and in fact might listen to MAGIC again on them, just to hear the noise.
So I gets to thinkin' (Hey, when did you turn into a Brooklyn gorilla?) that I have to yet try out the CDs I have with imperfect sound, but through the "perfect" headphones. I got Lalo's THE PRESIDENT'S ANALYST recently. Some serious dialogue bleedthrough on some tracks, on my cheap phones. Do I want to eliminate that with my new ones? I'm losing something surely, maybe clarity of recording... you tell me. Warts n' all means and ALL.
So that's it then. Thanks!
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Please allow me to contribute with my 2 cents...
The correct way to listen to any kind of music is using the equalizer (if any) on FLAT mode. High end gear does not even feature that kind of stuff. The reason is simple: the sound engineer or the person who mastered the CD/LP/Digital or whatever knows best! ;-)
If you really want the tiniest details present, the best way to achieve it would be to invest in high quality hi-end gear, which is often very expensive but WILL produce very rewarding results if you have proper guidance.
Audiophiles are usually "difficult" people to talk when you say you wish to use hi-end gear to listen to film scores... That's because they tend to listen to audiophile-grade recordings most of the time... Anyway, if you'd like some advice, please drop me a line at bob.anest27@gmail.com
By the way, a thread about what we are using as gear to listen to our collections would be most welcome, I suppose. We could help each other to get the most of our CDs!
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Anyway, if you'd like some advice, please drop me a line at bob.anest27 @ gmail.com
You should probably put some spaces in your e-mail address to avoid most automatic spambots from munging you.
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Posted: |
Jun 26, 2015 - 8:40 PM
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By: |
Octoberman
(Member)
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Please allow me to contribute with my 2 cents...
The correct way to listen to any kind of music is using the equalizer (if any) on FLAT mode. High end gear does not even feature that kind of stuff. The reason is simple: the sound engineer or the person who mastered the CD/LP/Digital or whatever knows best! ;-)
If you really want the tiniest details present, the best way to achieve it would be to invest in high quality hi-end gear, which is often very expensive but WILL produce very rewarding results if you have proper guidance.
Audiophiles are usually "difficult" people to talk when you say you wish to use hi-end gear to listen to film scores... That's because they tend to listen to audiophile-grade recordings most of the time... Anyway, if you'd like some advice, please drop me a line at bob.anest27@gmail.com
By the way, a thread about what we are using as gear to listen to our collections would be most welcome, I suppose. We could help each other to get the most of our CDs!
I respectfully beg to differ, Robert.
"Correct" is a vague term at best when it comes to personal artistic perceptions.
Most people know what they like and there are many perfectly valid reasons a person may not want a flat signal. A purely dogmatic approach is too restrictive.
Dumping ridiculous amounts of cash into high end gear is pointless if an individual doesn't personally perceive the improvements that the gear allows.
Because of the winkie, I'm not sure if you were serious about your engineer-knows-best remark. But most folks here know that if that were the case, there would be no such thing as the remastering biz.
Additionally, comparing gear usually ends up in listeners telling other listeners that they are hearing "wrong" and before you know it, snobbish elitism has set in.
The Steve Hoffman Forums already exist for exactly the purpose you describe.
(Edited to add: Of course, there's no one saying you can't start such a thread.
Who knows? It may go off like gangbusters.)
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Posted: |
Jun 27, 2015 - 7:11 AM
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By: |
MusicMad
(Member)
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...
Questions -
1) Are these "expensive" headphones designed to iron out "flaws" in the way I explained?
2) If so, is it logical to assume that the smoothing-over will result in the loss of some detail in the music itself?
3) Personal question - Which would you prefer? People might call me nuts for veering back towards the cheapophones, but I've been called that before, so fire away.
...
And I am not an audiophile. I don't want to go and change settings for every CD, because for one reason I'd spend the rest of my life worrying if I've got the right balance for each recording, and for another reason my equipment has no settings to twiddle with.
I'll be happy with any response which a caveman can assimilate. AKEEETA!
I've commented on numerous occasions how I think/believe fellow forum members would/should benefit from improved sound quality.* I bought into (low-end of) high-end hi-fi a decade or so ago and haven't looked back. My bank balance (i.e. pension fund) has taken a hit but I'd prefer to enjoy my music now ...
I'm no audiophile - nor an expert - but I assume that your long-owned cheapo headphones pick up/reproduce the treble sounds far more than the bass and hence you hear a lot more of that sound scale. The better quality ones are not muffling such sounds but they are giving more emphasis to the richer, deeper sounds that, to date, have eluded you.
Any sound change will be strange to your ears but it won't take much listening to adjust. A cousin who has had various hi-fi set-ups over a number of years commented once to me that the problem with upgrading is that you soon get used to it and hence where's the benefit? Perhaps he didn't upgrade sufficiently high! 
In answer to your queries, I would suggest:
1). No ... they simply reproduce a better, truer sound as opposed to the sound you are used to
2). Far from it ... once you have adjusted to the new sound you will hear - and continue to discover - far more detail in the music
3). Don't go down the road of upgrading if you're not willing to spend a bit of money.
* In more recent posts I've changed my comments: each and all should stay with what they have, provided they're happy with the sound quality ... but don't for a moment believe you can't get better sound quality.
Mitch
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Posted: |
Jun 27, 2015 - 7:22 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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Terra - I think we're getting nearer to hitting the nail on the head. Thanks. I didn't even think about certain types of phones having different ranges... But I'm getting the impression that the "new, expensive ones" are for young people who like the bass at 100%. I got them from a younger chap who likes his music that way.
Urs - The cheapophones are not entirely ear-covering. They fit comfortably over the earhole región and a bit more, but they don't isolate me from the outside world. I'll hear if the phone rings and stuff like that. The expensophones DO cover the ears entirely and isolate me from outside noise. That's why I was surprised that they didn't actually ACCENTUATE the imperfections, in fact the opposite was true.
I think my brain is moving onto the next level of evolution. A fish or something.
Meanwhile, thanks! Keep the observations coming!
//ADDED TO ACCOMODATE MUSICMAD'S POST//---------------------
Thanks MusicMad. Good comments there. No, I've never spent vast amounts of money on anything! It's true that my cheapos do sound more trebley. My expensivos are like I'm hearing the music in a cave.
I know I'm harping on here about the same thing, but on those "imperfect" recordings with dialogue bleedthrough for example, do you actually WANT equipment that kills those voices? I'm such a caveman that I think that if it's on the original recording, any home-dabbling will not fix it, and you must end up affecting one range of the music itself. But I'm repeating myself, and I think you (MM) have answered that.
Still interested in more comments. Cheers!
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Posted: |
Jun 27, 2015 - 10:15 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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Yeah, I'm beginning to think the same, Urs...
Anyway, that was a quick few days! The results of the experiment so far -
The recent Quartet release of THE PRESIDENT'S ANALYST really benefitted from the expensophones experience. I still heard the dialogue bleedthrough a lot, but it's an extreme case anyway. The lengthy opening track has good sound and a variety of Schifrin themes, modernistic, jazz, pop.
I also played the second track of Intrada's DUEL, very avant-garde, and it too sounded great on the expensophones, really picking up on all the outlandish Goldenberg effects.
Then I went back to LLL's MAGIC, Track 3, "Corky's Retreat"... and it's much better on the cheapophones! The cheapos display a much better balance there, and I could really hear the wheezy "Fats" motif doing its stuff behind the orchestra. On the expensophones all of that is lost in a cavernous wash of strings.
So my (premature) conclusion takes me back to what was implied by Terra earlier in the thread - that the new ones are good for unconventional or jazzy/ modernistic scores, but wrong for more traditional orchestral scores. I really hate the idea of having to decide which ones to use for whatever score. Selfish git, spoiled for choice, I know.
The laborious and stressful experiment shall continue for a while however, until it sucks all the enjoyment out of listening to music. Tee hee.
AKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETA!
//IMPORTANT INFORMATION UPDATE! FUNDAMENTAL! FUNDAMENTAL!//----------------------------
As all cavemen do, I forgot to look at what these bloody new phones actually are... "Sennheiser HD 202"... so I searched for info. And they're actually only 26 pounds. Nevertheless.........
"For the price they are fantastic..."; "...Just what any DJ needs..."; "...Brillliant for electronica..."; "...Super-potent bass reverb...!" Etcetera.
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