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.