EDM has made modulated sound a signature characteristic. The throbbing boom-BOOM-boom-BOOM may be great on the dance floor, but is hands down the most fatiguing intentional aspect of music. While syncopation is pretty harmless on acoustic instruments, DJs program in ridiculous gain changes.
Anything with a lot of rapid volume changes can be bothersome, so I avoid orchestral, jazz, and heavy metal when I need to focus. This isn’t fatigue per se – it’s more about divided attention.
I can relate to this for sure…fatigue to me is definitley related to the source material…I can listen to a tune I like or relate to on an AM radio and not get “fatigued”! But put some “boom-boom” “music” and I am out out of there…
Lots of factors cause fatigue for me.
With closed backs, and some IEMs a trace of some echo.
Any headphone that makes my ears hot after some use. Summer heat is why the deity gave us speakers.
As a Grado user, I don’t mind somewhat bright treble, if it’s clean. But so many recordings get treble wrong, and this is fatiguing. I’m thinking of cymbals that get sandpapery from either bad tracking or oversaturation on a master.
Muddy bass. Ugh. It’s a fatiguing as walking through a muddy field.
Bad pop production. With drum machines. And a chorus that repeats and repeats every few lines.
Great music can overcome fatigue of bad recordings and reproduction.
This is very true. Some very fine music has been recorded poorly, either due to technologies just emerging, or poor choices by engineers.
Caruso comes to mind.
The stuff I find fatiguing… Hmmm…
Beyerdynamic treble. HD800 peakyness.
Zeos’ voice.
The synthetically in your face detail of the Utopia driven from a thx789 / topping POS DAC.
The thought that someone would spend $4,000 on a headphone.
The thought that someone would spend $4,000 on a headphone and drive it with a $400 amp.
The thought that someone would spend $4,000 on a headphone and drive it with a $400 amp and a $90 DAC.
Being called an audio snob for being fatigued from the thought that someone would spend $4,000 on a headphone and drive it with a $400 amp and a $90 DAC.
My Aunt Sandy.
Heavy exercise. Moderate exercise. Pretty much any exercise.
Listening to a friend’s new audio setup and not hearing details I know exist.
… And having to tell them “Oh yeah, it sounds great”.
Clowns.
Fcuk clowns!!
I know, right?
Uhhhggg… This has made me tired. I’m going to go nap.
This is the funniest thing I’ve read all day. Bravo, Sir. Bravo. 
Great list. Sandy lives in Throop,PA, right? I think I know her.
The thought of a dusty, new age, (sun)Burning Man festival is fatiguing.
Dude you crack me up! 
Burning Man festival is very fatiguing, lol I went 10 years in a row, went back last year and I thought to myself, I would rather be on a beach in Costa Rica!
would rather be on a beach in costa rica could fit to most situations and places on the planet
Yup!!
@Torq’s list is epic/comprehensive.
I would add a meta-comment that primarily concerns tonality…a thing I noticed first in big 2-channel audiophile stuff decades ago, and continue to see in headphone/desktop gear today:
Some amp designers endeavor to design “flat” circuits. The goal is usually neutrality & (at least on paper) ruler-flat frequency response
This gear typically sounds quite brutal to me: bright, etched, edgy, non-musical
The reason is that realworld live music is never “flat.” The sonic world is not flat as it reaches our ears. Different frequencies resound & decay very differently in real-world settings.
I find in particular that live music has a more low end weight (starting in low mids on down) & a less in-your-face upper midrange/low treble than many amps, for reasons given above.
My experience (which of course many be very different from others’) is that amps that are voiced with realworld music as a sonic reference tend to sound more pleasing and musical.
This list made me laugh!!
How about a $50 headphone being driven my a $4000 amp and a $4000 dac!!
:>)
Alex
Uneven frequency response -> turn up volume to compensate -> fatigue from listening too loud.
If bass is recessed, I turn up the volume to get weight and impact, but then the treble is too loud.
If mids are recessed, I turn up the volume to get details, but then the bass and/or treble end up too loud.
If treble is recessed, I turn up the volume to get clarity and sparkle, but then the mids become shouty and/or the bass becomes too loud.
Long story short, I’m happiest when the tonal balance is such that I can listen at relatively low volumes while still getting some bass impact and warmth, midrange details and treble clarity and sparkle. When I first got my HE4XX I was listening at around 75dB and found even that a bit much. I’ve got the EQ to a point now where I can listen happily at 65dB and there’s no fatigue.
I had my Koss Porta Pros connected to my Eddie Current ZDS for a while.
They scale, but not that much.
…
Well there ya go!!!
:>)
I laughed hard when you first posted this! 