Headphone Frequency Response Curves

[ITHertz]

Hi All,

I'm finding myself mixing more and more on headphones these days. Currently I'm using HD650s and DT770s.

I tend to find it hard to judge the low end using the HD650s. I also find the DT770s very bright. So I've been doing some homework with the aim of getting some new headphones. One thing that interests me is how different headphones are voiced - Free Field, Diffuse Field, Harman. From what I've read, the idea of the Harman voicing makes sense so I was wondering what current headphones use this voicing?

Cheers,

Chris

[tea for two]

Hi All,

I'm finding myself mixing more and more on headphones these days. Currently I'm using HD650s and DT770s.
I tend to find it hard to judge the low end using the HD650s. I also find the DT770s very bright.

Harman voicing makes sense so I was wondering what current headphones use this voicing?

Cheers,

Chris

Making Bass heevee stuff I've also found it tricky to get the Bass level right in a mix on AKG K712, Audio Technica Ath R70x open backs.
I found them darned accurate for shaping sound of heevee Bass with eq comp also for mixing anything not Bass heevee I found these worked rather well.
It could be the shape of my ears my head as these play a role in how we are able to hear from headphones : SoS had an article from Professor Susan Rogers regarding this in September SoS magazine 2023.

For me the answer was is a sub and satellites even an elcheapo desktop pc set just to get the balance of the heevee Bass right in a mix.
I have elcheapo Harman Kardon Soundsticks pc desktop satellite and sub : they are not clear they are somewhat muddy as regards the sound butt what they do is by comparing to commercially released big hits with heevee Bass I can get heevee Bass level better in a mix.
As they are for desktop pc they work well enuff for me in my acoustically untreated room.
A proper set of monitoring sub and satellites would have required a properly acoustically treated room.
I don't need to raise the volume of the Harman Kardon's as I have neighbours up down left right, just sufficient volume for a minute or so to hear the levels.

Harman voicing : IEM's earbuds tend to have these.

[Bob Bickerton]

Not sure how accurate it is, but this site at least gives comparisons between different headphones and the frequency response plots show exactly what you're talking about: https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tools ... shold=0.10

I currently use Beyer DT900s, but if I was in the market for new mixing cans, I'd be considering one of the Neumann options. Haven't heard them, but would be keen to try them out.

Bob

[Tomás Mulcahy]

Sonarworks blog is very very useful too. Here is their latest report:
https://www.sonarworks.com/blog/researc ... eport-2023

[Wonks]

Note that as there is no international standard test rig for headphones, each test rig can provide slightly different results. So it's best to compare results from the same site, and not between different sites.

And as people don't have an international standard head and ear shapes, the actual results will vary from person to person. With ear sizes varying from 'lugless Douglas' to 'King Charles', you can't expect that headphones will sound the same for everyone, which is why one person's 'brilliant' is often another person's 'meh'.

As for voicings, they may be fine for listening for enjoyment, but when you're recording, you don't want to use monitors with a big smiley curve, you want a flat response. So why would you want 'voiced' headphones for recording and mixing? OK, very few headphones are particularly flat, but that's why correction software exits. Or else you get used to what your reference mixes sound like on your chosen headphones and you try and achieve the same sounds as those, not what you think it should sound like if you were using flat response cans.

[Andy McBain]

Hi All,

I'm finding myself mixing more and more on headphones these days. Currently I'm using HD650s and DT770s.

I tend to find it hard to judge the low end using the HD650s. I also find the DT770s very bright. So I've been doing some homework with the aim of getting some new headphones. One thing that interests me is how different headphones are voiced - Free Field, Diffuse Field, Harman. From what I've read, the idea of the Harman voicing makes sense so I was wondering what current headphones use this voicing?

Cheers,

Chris

In ASR’s review of the HD650 it was found to be pretty close to the Harman target curve, albeit lacking in bass -

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/foru ... one.18774/