Massdrop "x" & Drop (Audiophile) - Official Thread

Well, much as I like the MiniDSP HEARS I feel comparing it to Tyll’s old rig is a bit optimistic :wink:

Haha, but joking around aside, while I do call this SBAF compensation (because it started out as that comp before I started tweaking it), this is really more my own compensation and is a work in progress. The bass is the way it is and will likely stay that way because that’s how I hear these headphones’ lower ends— sub-bass heavy before a lower mid scoop on the TH-X00 that makes it great for horror flicks and a gradual low-midbass hump on the HP-3 that adds body to instruments and male vocals.

Everything >5kHz is somewhat suspect though, mostly because I don’t hear the TH-X00 and HP-3 as having that much lower treble and there seems to be a few dB too little in the ~11kHz region v. my ears (3-4kHz is definitely off because silicone pinnae and weird ear tubes that don’t deserve to be called canals).

The main reason it’s still a WIP is that every single headphone I have at home at the moment either has very fluffy pads or is worn down to the point where they sound very different from stock. Pending borrowing a friend’s HD6XX that’s basically NIB, I plan to leave the comp with the slight imbalance as is. Also, I have never claimed to be an authority on measurements— these are to be taken relative to one another; had I something more useful as a baseline like the aforementioned new-in-box HD6XX to compare (it’ll happen eventually) then there’d be less guesswork on my part involved.

I did check out the HPN compensation when I was setting up. I don’t hear it as particularly neutral myself, but agree to disagree there— these are all relative, and I’ve never claimed to have perfect hearing.

EDIT: This is really rather off-topic. Let’s just agree I use a weird comp curve that’s not useful on its own without subjective impressions plus maybe other, better-known headphones to compare to :stuck_out_tongue:

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