Lately I’m using my ZMF Atrium with a tube amplifier whenever I shuffle my favorite tunes over the decades or want to listen to good music recorded badly (I’m looking at you, Audioslave).
What about y’all? What’s your favorite headphone for making the worst sound its best?
I don’t really think I’ve found a headphone that makes a dreadful recording sound good. I personally just can’t hear past a really terrible recording anymore.
Luckily when I say terrible I really do mean atrocious, I have fond memories of Bat out of hell, from my University years, and even the remaster is dire IMO, so I rarely listen to it. But there isn’t much else that I actively avoid.
The 1266 actually does a decent job of masking the worst in some recordings if they have enough Bass, but I usually just listen with what I have out at the moment.
Hey, here’s some good news for people who love bad news.
Making bad recordings tolerable has been a goal with most of my gear purchases over the years. I chose the trashy content of my evaluation playlist expressly to evaluate uneven source quality. While I find many recordings are indeed bad, I also sometimes…enjoy…noise rock, distortion, loudness war victims, and amateur productions.
My main findings and strategies:
Treble is the worst offender. Start with a warmer or neutral DAC with a pure and inoffensive high end. Choose an amp with rolled off treble. I’ve sometimes swapped technically superior tubes for those with a mid-range focus (or even bloat), and sacrificed air and soundstage to make recordings bearable.
Albums such as the RHCPs Californication have fatal dynamic compression. Anything you can do to increase the dynamic range and thereby reduce the average volume will help. Still, with my evaluation playlist it always stands out versus other vocals as much louder and one dimensional.
Some aging artists seem to not be able to hear artifacts (e.g., going deaf or mastered on a HD 600). This is not treble per se or even what I’d consider musical intent, just weird random static or scratchy stuff. I’ve used EQ to cut the highs sharply, as the rest of the track may be fine.
For whatever reason, I find the OG Focal Clear to have inoffensive treble (vs. all other Focal product I’ve heard). Given its relatively punchy character, it can substantially transform bad recordings in a good way. I’m not saying the change is accurate, but its limits and quirks cancel out some problems.
Not headphones, but I find the Shure SE846 IEM is really good for that, since it kills most of the upper treble.
I personally wouldn’t change headphones in order to accomplish this. I’d instead utilize EQ or tubes to attempt to make bad recordings more enjoyable.
Koss Porta-Pro. I love these headphones for crap recordings. When I put them on, I don’t expect TOTL treble or bass extension. If the bass is muddy on the recording, the smallish driver of the Porta-Pro won’t add bloat. A fair amount of bad stuff was recorded that way because the target was mid-fi at best (and 7 transistor Silvertone AM radio at the beach) at worst. Plus they are COMFORTABLE. And I have a pair of them at work. And at home, in two places.
I haven’t found a good catch-all for something like this, other than to use a neutral tuning, and volume control. And if necessary, some EQ/tonal adjustment.
More noise, distortion, and coloration generally won’t help matters, and will probably only make em worse. So the more transparent your gear is, the better imo.
Alot of the music I listen to is on the brighter side though. And might sound a little better on headphones with a somewhat warmer tuning. The same effect can be achieved with an EQ/tone control though.
Something warm with good dynamics but not a ton of treble extension will mask crap recordings.
The ZMF Aeolus and Audeze LCD-2C come to mind immediately among headphones I’ve owned that fit this bill …
Agree. I think having less ear gain helps too.
I may have inadvertently exaggerated how bad the recordings I’m thinking of are. Now I’m thinking “unremarkable recordings” is a better fit than “bad recordings”. For example most '70s and '80s era popular music.
I was talking with another enthusiast yesterday about this. He used the term “forgiving” headphones, and also agreed about the Atrium.
That was the norm back in the pre-quality home recording, pre-internet era (before the mid 1990s). The top studios and producers charged an arm and a leg, so many second tier and speculative or budget-minded artists went with cheaper and lower quality productions. The industry ran on hit singles, so one song received attention while rest of the album may be repetitive and cheap.
Good choice. Basically with smashed, ear-bleeding pop, you want something with a lot of bass and mids and rolled treble. The highly controversial Audioquest Nighthawk is a terrific choice for too-loud pop music.
Alot of recordings from the 70’s and 80’s have probably been re-mastered though. So it’s still a crapshoot imo. And the gear that might have been used by listeners back then may, or may not have any relevance. (It might have some relevance for LPs or tapes produced in that era or earlier, for example.)
Neutral, transparent, low noise, and low distortion is still the safest bet though imo, at least as a starting point. And if necessary, you can adjust from there.
“Forgiving” is a term I’ve heard used for the HD650. So perhaps that’s the kind of thing you might be after. There are some noteworthy headphone users who prefer less treble or more rolloff in the higher frequencies though.
I am not one of them however, and still view this as a form of coloration/tonal distortion.
For those who don’t know what I mean by “neutral”, “transparent”, or “colored”, this video might be a good watch. It’s really about speakers, but many of the same principles Toole discusses here (and in his books and articles) will also apply to headphones.
I think there is DSP that can do this. Though have not used any myself. And don’t know how well it works.
Simply playing the recording on a higher dynamic range system probably won’t help though, because it won’t change the average levels of the recording. And you will still probably need to dial back the volume (as I often do when listening to most pop music). I assume most here understand this.
No, that’s exactly what I’m saying. Using a system with greater dynamics can mitigate compression but surely doesn’t fix it. One must still turn the volume down, yes. I’ve used that test track with dozens of different system configurations – some indeed work better than others. None of them absolutely fix the issue.
Test. Always test.
If you’re turning the volume down, then you’re effectively reducing the audio system’s dynamic range. So I don’t see how simply playing the DRC’d recording back on a higher dynamic range system (with no dynamic range expander) helps all that much.
Imo, the only way to get back some of the dynamic range that’s lost in a DRC’d recording is to use some type of an expander.
IMO. As I said test for yourself and see my post on perception directed at you a couple weeks ago. Perception is not measurements.
You are entitled to your opinion. But that doesn’t mean it has merit in this case, generic.
I will have another look at your comments in the other topic though. Work, company, and other priorities have been taking up alot of my time lately. So I apologize for not getting back to that sooner.
Everyone has an opinion. Not everyone has direct experience.
Ok so what’s your favorite headphone for unremarkable recordings?
I am currently looking for a new open back. And have not listened to alot of the newer or more expensive gear that is currently out now.
I have listened to and used a number of lower cost closed-backs though. And can give you my conjectural opinions on some other recent headphones (incl. open ones) based on the available reviews/measurements. And I can also suggest some tweaks to try on your own headphones. Or I can do all the above (though that’ll take a little time).
All of the closed-backs I’ve used have needed some EQ/tonal tweaks, and in some cases physical mods. Or have had other issues (poor symmetry, distortion, etc.). So none really checked off all the boxes. But I can give you my thoughts on them too. It is your choice.
I can also wait and give you my opinion after listening to some new open-backs. Though that will probably also take some time.
Some of the open headphones that are probably uppermost on my “to-try” list are things like the Sennheiser HD490 Pro and FiiO FT1 Pro. Others I’ve been considering include the Senn HD6XX, HFM Edition XS and 2020 Sundara, Focal Hadenys, Beyer DT 900 Pro X, and the new AudioTechnica R70XA and Senn HD550. I am looking for a neutral tuning though, with decent bass (and treble) extension, and low distortion. And some fit that criteria better than others.