Headphone Heights

Avoid anything that sounds too bright...

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This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

In Reply to: RE: Best headphones for classical music posted by merlinus on February 28, 2014 at 15:14:49

Avoid headphones (or loudspeakers for that matter) that might accentuate the upper frequencies too much. Compared to smaller venues (jazz clubs, etc..,), the sheer size of symphonic halls tend to suppress the higher frequencies a bit. Headphones that image really well or seem to throw a huge soundstage might seem to be the proper choice at first, but unless they have the type of frequency response that allows symphonic music recordings to sound as if I am sitting in a good seat in the symphony hall. Massed strings that sound too steely, horn sections with too much bite, etc.., cymbals with too much splash will sound fatiguing and unnatural with overly bright headphones.
So, what I am listening for (in classical music headphones) is not simply a feeling of space or distance between myself and the performance but also a feeling that the recording venue is large and that the air is dense. Bright headphones might be OK if was going to listen to Mariachi music that was recorded inside of a bar somewhere in Tijuana, but they would not be my first choice in headphones for classical music.
Classical chamber music might be better served by a brighter sounding headphone but even then I would not want to be continually distracted by too much high-frequency detail - unless the recording is supposed to sound that way, of course.
Many seem to prefer some of the the "dark sounding", older model headphones from Audeze or Sennheiser for classical music and I would tend to agree with them.

Edits: 03/10/14 03/10/14 03/10/14

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