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I definitely won't make friends with all my claims in that video, allegedly people are already talking about me, but actually that's the experience I made throughout all the years when I started to dig deeper into the headphone and IEM scene. I don't want to be contra anyone or try to make enemies, but I simply have the impression as if the whole audio business became a money making fraud.

I also had a discussion with Crinacle today regarding the discrepancy I am getting with IEC60318-4 measuring couplers vs real life perception, but he tried to prove me wrong:

Please let me know your thoughts about the experience you had so far in the Youtube comment section, I will publish it online tomorrow.

I tried to reproduce the effect you can hear from the HD800S when I move it around on my head with some measurements, the green one is the “normal” position you would usually get with more or less centered ear pads, the black one represents the position I found at the very end before taking them down:

There is a single position for me that I can achieve with the HD800S where it sounds really nice, it’s not easy to find though and I need to place my ears at the bottom front corner of the ear pads. Like this it is still quite treble heavy but at the same time not piercing or annoying and sounds quite detailed at the same time besides that hollow-like coloration from the mids becomes better as well. I will try to mimic that kind of response in one of my upcoming tunings for the Free Pro, which I overlaid compensated for the Harman target in blue. You can see that it would just need some slight mid reduction and some stronger treble boost maybe even simulating the same peaks:

In this video it is also the first time I was trying to use my couplers for creating audio samples of an IEM and to my surprise the result became quite convincing, unfortunately the couplers have some resonance in the bass region, which also shows up in most measurments, you can hear it from the samples as well, the bass is not clean but has some artefact which of course you usually won't get in real life. I may try to try out and order other Chinese replicas maybe even together with some real ear simulator and check if they could give me better results, but I simply cannot afford buying original ones that cost several thousand dollars, I am not supported by Headphones.com, Linsoul or others. 

YOU are the only ones who are allowing me to do all this, please keep that in mind.

Files

The truth about high-end headphones, IEMs, burn-in, sound quality and $$$

Comments

Malcolm Herron

Love this. Thanks for your hard work Oluv. What is crinacle saying, that since you’re not collaborating with a university then what you’re doing must be invalid? It’s pretty obvious to anyone that you’ve replicated the original recording. This is the peer review. Don’t be discouraged by this nonsense. Looking forward to the Earfun free pro 2

Simon Hibbert

In the 1980s n 90s these pricier and usually style over sound quality headphones were impressive but today its flipped on its head... these highend headphones still mostly average to decent but their main problem is companies can produce high end sound with comfort at the cheapest price points ever. An audiophile can be so pretentious and possibly annoyed that something can be beautiful sounding at an extremely low price... then you have phones with decent dacs and apps with eqs that can make "your sound choice" to perfection on a 40 dollar headphone.

Kairo

I think a paramedic eq is a feature of the Shure AONIC Free True Wireless in the ShurePlus Play iOS app too.

oluvsgadgets

Are they better in some way? They cost 3 times as much. I want to offer the best possible sound for as little as possible.

oluvsgadgets

It’s a weird type of thinking. I am actually so stunned what I can achieve out of these cheap things and somehow manage to transfer this experience to someone else.

markus intimidantus

Parametric EQ is in the Shure "play" app, but not adjustable in the LDAC-codec mode on the aonic 50

oluvsgadgets

Is the Aonic worth having a look at? It was one is the best in that store although with additional EQ it could sound pretty decent

markus intimidantus

I noticed you mentioned the aonic 50 in the store.. I enjoy the aonic 50 sound... Its worth taking a look at... These have all codecs and, with the latest firmware, parametric EQ upload on the device itself on aptx etc, not in ldac mode... Cant say if custom parametric EQ on aptx will be used in the ldac mode, cos you cant change any EQ or presets directly in the ldac codec..... The ldac sound is somehow close to your "fun" panda parametric EQ settings in the soundID app. Tuning the aonic to the harman curve (oratory1990 preset) in the wavelet app sounds way of. Resulting in piercing highs..

Indranil Mitra

I own the Aonic 50 and it sounds nothing like what you heard in store. It was probably already EQd by someone before you. In stock form it's a bit thin sounding with upper mid lower treble emphasis but the EQ inside the app is very decent. With EQ it sounds quite decent. I hope you're reading this Oluv, cheers 🥂.

Indranil Mitra

Oh okay. But the demo sounded very bassy and boomy for some reason. I am allergic to boosted bass and I can tell you in stock form it actually is bass shy and needs a bass boost (I use hd600 and 650 for reference). It's a good wireless headphone. It's built very well, feels premium, the sound doesn't change through transparancy and ANC modes and sounds decent with EQ. I hope you can get one for evaluation. If you do, I can't wait for your EQ correction. Thanks and love your work Oluv. 😁

Indranil Mitra

Meanwhile, shure released the Aonic Free TWS as well. That might also be worth checking out if you can. I am saying this because the app has a nice EQ. It has 2 shelf filters and 2 parametric filters (frequency and BW can be adjusted for each). Maybe with EQ you can get it to sound nice as well.

oluvsgadgets

Actually I remember having noticed some difference between all modes and set it to normal before shooting the video but I was so in hurry that I didn’t have enough time to deal with it more. The sound demo represents exactly the shown response it was just pink noise I played afterwards with all headphones and let it FF analyse with REW so the response you see is 1:1 the response you hear in the video. It sounds probably boomy because of boosted mid bass but scooped out mids it’s not the absolute values that count but the ratios of all frequencies to each other if it will be perceived bassy or not.

Indranil Mitra

Well there might be minimal difference between the modes, not a deal breaker. The ANC is also not on par with the other commercial offerings from Sony but soundwise it's much better.

AlpineAries

Hi Oluv, hast du schon mal die Audio Technica ATH M50xBT2 gehört/getestet? Es sind Over Ear Bluetooth Kopfhörer mit einem Parametric-EQ über die Audio Technica App. Vielleicht wäre das ja was für dich. Auch würde mich deine Meinung im Vergleich zu den Anker Q30 interessieren. Die Audio Technica kosten ca. 200€. Liebe Grüße

oluvsgadgets

Wusste nicht dass die auch einen parametrischen EQ haben, müsste mal zusammen mit dem Aonic bestellen, mal gucken wie es sich finanziell ausgeht will mir auch Studio Monitore kaufen

AlpineAries

Ich finde sie klanglich für Bluetooth echt okay, vorallem nach Anpassung im EQ. Werde sie aber trotzdem retournieren müssen, da ich sie einfach nicht lange tragen kann. Es liegt an den Ohrmuscheln, sind für mich zu klein und zu flach gepolstert. Ich warte nun auf die Q30 die ich für 45€ geschossen habe, zu dem Kurs können sie ja fast nicht enttäuschen.

H Sieben

Ich liebe auch meinen Audio-Technica ATH-SR 50 BT, für den ich mich entschieden habe im Vergleich zum Shure Aonic 50. Wunderbar neutraler Klang, der dem des getunten Earfun gar nicht mal so unähnlich ist.

oluvsgadgets

Hab jetzt einen um 99$ bestellt selbst mit Zoll ist er noch billiger so. Den Aonic lege ich mal zurück der kostet fast doppelt so viel

H Sieben

Ja, meinen habe ich über ebay direkt bei Audio Technica für 90€ ergattert, das bieten die aber leider nicht mehr an.

oluvsgadgets

Ich bin schon gespannt darauf der parametrische EQ ist natürlich eine Ansage bei dem Preis.

Nemanja

You are an absolute legend, keep up the good work! About the music business being a money machine - isn't this the case with almost every aspect of consumerism? A stupid comparison I make every time is between old and new kitchen appliances - the ones from the 60s still work, and the new ones tend to need servicing way more often. Things are made today in a way that you are encouraged to change them frequently. It is just the way it is, and it is hard to find some brands/manufacturers who actually do a good job today, and that is why we are all on a constant hunt for products which are "best value" or "good bang for a buck". Regarding headphones and speakers, everybody hears a sound a little bit different (or simply has different preferences), so everyone is entitled to their opinion, but keep in mind that in every field where you have enthusiasts you WILL get bad comments if you trash a well known or higher-end brand. It is just the way it is. Having said all that, I wouldn't be bothered too much with what anyone says. You do your thing, and the support and acknowledgment will come (if it hasn't already).

H Sieben

Mit EQ bei dem Modell habe ich mich bisher nicht beschäftigt, die Audio Technica App bietet jedenfalls keine Einstellung dafür. Der Hinweis von AlpineAries bezog sich auf den ATH M50xBT2. Sorry, wenn da was durcheinander kam.

Heaby

While I think you're right that expensive headphones, dac, amps, cables etc is mostly bullshit and hype, I do think there's value in other technical aspects of headphones in particular. What you've done with the Earfun Free Pro is great but it has questionable qualities. For example it has quite bad bluetooth range (i've experienced scrambled audio and complete cutouts after only roughly 10 meters), one or sometimes both earbuds losing connection & interference from other loud noises. Having said that I'm not at all disappointed and appreciate all the work you've done and continue to do.

oluvsgadgets

The Free Pro 2 has improved an all aspects it’s basically the same just better and I managed to make it sound even better than before although i was in doubt because the raw tuning was so horrid

Heaby

That's good to hear.