I don't want more bass on my HD800s. On some select tracks, I think the brightness of the song itself on top of the brightness of the HD800s can get a little much.  So... I'm guessing there's a way to load EQ presets per song on Foobar?

Do people use the EQ sliders that go with Foobar or is that no good?

BTW, Sennheiser's own HDVD800 has 43 ohms of output impedance.

They said this value had been preferred over 0 ohms in listening tests. Looks like a number of people do prefer their HD800s with just a hint more oomph.

With the HD800 this amount of output impedance causes ~0.5 dB more bass.

It is partly due to many people not being entirely satisfied with the frequency response of these headphones (treble emphasis with slightly recessed upper midrange - this also makes modern heavily compressed, clipped, and treble boosted recordings sound even worse) and try to use amplifiers as equalizers, and partly due to OCD: since the HD800 is a "flagship" product, by audiophile logic, one can only do justice to it by making everything else - amplifier, DAC, cables, etc. - similarly expensive.

There is a grain of truth behind the myth, as the HD800, like other mid to high end Sennheiser dynamic headphones, has significantly varying impedance over the audio frequency range. Therefore, an amplifier with an output impedance of >100 ohms adds some slight bass boost and "warmness" (although probably also increased distortion) that many prefer. However, the same applies even more to the cheaper HD5xx series, which are some of the most reactive dynamic headphones, yet one rarely hears about these being "picky".

The three bad things are the two kinds of distortion plus irrelevant noises. Hiss and hum are two common examples of irrelevant noises that end up in audio signals.

Linear distortion is distortion that changes the relationship between the sounds that make up the music, either timing or relative strength or loudness, but does not add any new sounds.

A good equalizer only adds linear distortion.

Nonlinear distortion is distortion that adds new sounds. As a consequence nonlinear distortion may also change the relationships between the sounds that make up the music.

The sources of these three kinds of bad things are at their core different and distinct from each other, so categorizing them this way can help with the process of correcting them.

All known audible bad things that happen to audio signals fit into the three categories above. There can not and are not any others. Anybody who says otherwise is talking trash or showing off their ignorance.

All these headphones play on a fairly high level, so I wouldn't go through the trouble buying possibly more expensive headphones because of some measurements just to EQ them to sound like the other headphones.

(Also I do believe that IF's THD+N measurements are dominated by noise sometimes i.e. inaccurate, but that's another topic.)

However, if EQ could do everything a tube-amp could do (sound-wise), there would be zero justification to getting a tube amp for sound because it can be done via EQ. So if that were the case, the distortion a person wants from a tube amp is no longer a valid reason for buying a tube amp.

Quote from: Dark_wizzie on 2014-10-01 07:55:22

However, if EQ could do everything a tube-amp could do (sound-wise), there would be zero justification to getting a tube amp for sound because it can be done via EQ. So if that were the case, the distortion a person wants from a tube amp is no longer a valid reason for buying a tube amp.

What in the world is it that you imagine a tube amp could 'do'? And why do you imagine that any given tube amp would 'do' it to your satisfaction, compared to another tube amp? Aren't you then consigning yourself to trying out endless tube amps until you find the one that 'does' it the best for you?  Otherwise known as:

audiophile syndrome

For nonlinear effects google (harmonic) exciter or tube simulation plugins.

I still think that adding distortion is a bad idea for audio reproduction.

Arguably it makes much more sense price/performance wise to get HD600 or 650. But I believe in terms of distortion and other measurements, HD800 is superior... it's just that the sound signature is different. So then, would it make sense for somebody to get HD800 even though they like say, HD650 sound signature, because you can EQ HD800s to something similar to HD650 while keeping the higher technical performance?

I believe these measurements are more often than not dominated by noise. For every measurement, where I believe this to be the case, you can see lower THD+N at those frequencies where the headphone produces higher SPL (=> increases SNR, noise still dominates THD), higher THD+N where the SPL goes down (=> lower SNR), except for <200 Hz where THD usually starts to dominate.

That's also why the 100 dB curves beat the 90 dB curves. 10 dB higher SNR.

I still think that adding distortion is a bad idea for audio reproduction.

What distortion are you talking about?

What are you restoring?

There's virtually no such thing as distortion-free reproduction

Well you are talking about the medium, the format.

That's not the kind of distortion I was talking about.

Adding some image filters to a Mona Lisa might make it appear more "real", or preferable, but then you aren't looking at the (original) Mona Lisa anymore.

Yes, reproduction distortion of a distorted capture.

Visual and audio perception not analogous.
Tell us what your Mona Lisa original actually sounds like and how you have compared your reproduction of it.

But at the point of reproduction you have a finished, downmixed recording.

I am assuming that the artist was able to listen to that recording on an adequate stereo system, as was the mastering engineer.

Similar to above, I assume that the painting was not drawn to be looked at through distorting, colored glasses in poor lighting.

I'll add my own distortions, thanks (like DPL II..or room EQ).

And I can turn them off if I want to.

Buying an amp that bakes in one 'flavor' of distortion is dumb. 

IMHO.