Listen to any of George Martin’s recordings with The Beatles and listen to any Oasis album from the 90s, and you’ll instantly notice the loudness wars that infected studios starting in the 1990s wrecked a lot of recorded music.
Sadly, the loudness wars continue today …
I became a start-from-the-source convert several years ago. It’s not just the drivers, but the source, DAC, and amp too. I’ve chosen completely different headphones based on the upstream gear profile.
My answer is “synergy” – avoidance synergy. What is the flaw? Which setup would mitigate the issues? We are not talking about authenticity and adherence to the source, rather, we are talking about transformations and avoidance.
If dead and flat one may go with overdriven tubes (e.g., Lyr on high gain), EQ, and Focal products. If too bright and harsh…EQ and paper filters in the cups come first. If vocals are the focus, I’d mess around with my Beyer DT 880 600 ohm because nothing compares to 600 ohm drivers. While I’m no fan of the overly smoothed stereotypical audiophile sound (e.g., Susvara), that may float your boat.
Many old original recordings were meant to be played on weak car or desktop radios. They were produced quickly on primitive equipment with no consideration of audiophile potential or qualities. Just the main melody, vocals, and rhythm. As such, I’ve even downgraded quality by (1) using small speakers rather than headphones for distant background listening or (2) placed headphones far away from my ears for distant background listening.
This has literally no value. Armchair reasoning does not apply. Structured trial-and-error testing with 30 to 60 minute listening sessions actually works.
