Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

When does a headphone sound better than another one? (Patreon)

Published:
2022-05-13 10:04:56
Edited:
2022-05-13 11:28:31
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

Just trying to explain my personal experience I made during the last years when one product starts sounding better than another one. 

Discount code for the Free Pro 2 is active again: EFP2OLUV3Amazon DE: https://amzn.to/3me4xQmAmazon US: https://amzn.to/3k9Gp09

Files

When does one headphone/IEM sound better than another one?

Featured IEMs: Apple Airpods Pro, AKG N400CN, Anker SoundCore Liberty 3 Pro, Nura NuraTrue, Nothing Ear 1, Earfun Free Pro 2 with discount code (thank me later): EFP2OLUV3 Amazon DE: https://amzn.to/3me4xQm Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3k9Gp09 Earfun Free Pro 2 - Oluv’s audiophile reference playlist: https://music.apple.com/at/playlist/earfun-free-pro-2-oluvs-audiophile-reference-playlist/pl.u-e98l189Fzobpj7 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/65SGaQWilnYvjJqJIE6AfA?si=yzLtHt87TyGm0tHtE5gL-g

Comments

Nico Löser

Hi Oluv, sehr sehr gutes und aufschlussreiches Video aus meiner Sicht. Danke dafür! Ich Sehe das genauso wie du. Viele Leute kommen einfach nicht aus ihrer Bubble heraus. Für mich kann es auch nur einen korrekten Frequenzgang geben, welcher alles so wiedergibt wie es sein muss. Musikmaterial wird zunehmend schlechter und man versucht mit unterschiedlichsten Frequenzgängen einen „Klang“ vorzugaukeln. Wenigstens gibt es so jemanden wie dich, welcher das wahre Problem erkennt und angeht. Großes Dank auch dafür! Gibt es eigentlich die Möglichkeit bei dir die Earfun Free Pro 2 getestet zu kaufen? Habe leider keine Möglichkeit dazu und ich meine mich daran zu erinnern, dass du mal in einem Beitrag erwähnt hast, dass diese teilweise starken Chargenschwankungen unterliegen. 😎😊

Kevin M George

Thank you for the video Oluv. I guess it really shouldn't be a surprise as to the results, although it was interesting seeing how the other IEMs measured in comparison to frequency response of the EQ'ed Earfun free pro 2. If you had time it would be interesting understanding the results of what some of those IEMs sounded like after some EQ to match the free pro 2 FR. If the frequency response of the EQ'ed Earfun free pro 2 is going to be used as a 'target curve' then what would other things sound like as their FR curve approaches the target curve. I don't believe I've checked it out yet, but I think you did a similar study previously with headphones all EQ'ed to Harman. Would that translate to IEMs and your target curve ...? I think it would be fun to try a Moondrop Chu (as mentinoed in the video) that has been EQ'ed to match the FR of the free pro 2.

D. Oeltermann

FreePro2 - highly recommended. I use it every day and just love the soundstage and details of those IEM. Only thing is, you need the adjustment one time. This takes some time unfortunately. But once you managed to tweak the firmware it is gorgious. Original sound signature is too much colored and simply off.

oluvsgadgets

In theory they should sound the same, but actually I think there is some limitation of how couplers differ from an actual human ear. When I tried to eq the Free Pro 2 to the response I achieved with the Free Pro, the result was crappy, although both measured exactly the same. It would seem to me that there is some perception difference of a real human ear compared to what a coupler measures. I didn’t manage to get the Nothing Ear 1 to sound correct from my samples, it just didn’t sound the same I hear them in real life. The same goes for the Apple AirPods Pro which I had to correct slightly afterwards to make them more similar to how I perceive them but the Apple may be just a result of the adaptive EQ which inside a coupler can react differently than it would in a human ear. It’s actually a complex topic and I would like to dig deeper into it when time allows it. I just have so much other stuff right now.

oluvsgadgets

Klar aber es kostet halt Zeit, ich müsste falls er abweicht einen eigenen EQ nur für dein Exemplar erstellen, außerdem das hin- und verschicken. Da wäre es wohl günstiger wenn ich einen bestelle, den EQ entsprechend auf das Exemplar hin optimiere und dir dann schicke.

Vin

Where can we find the latest EQ settings for the EP2 and HD600 mentioned in this video? Thanks!

Kevin M George

It took a couple hours, but I think I was successful in re-creating the frequency response of the Earfun free pro 2 using 63 data points to build this curve (from this video here at a time stamp of ~6:30). I also used Frequency response data from Crinacle's database for the moondrop chu and moondrop variations (as well as JVC FDX1 and TRN V90) - I acknowledge that differences in equipment between Oluv and Crinacle may have skewed with the results. And there are a lot of other things that are compounding to not be ‘ideal’. With that there are still a couple things I think are worth mentioning: - I might be a little crazy (its 1am here - I am actually losing sleep over this) - Equalizer APO can utilize graphic eq's and that's what I used instead of parametric eq values in this case. - I'm noticing that with the FR of the Earfun free pro 2 the 'peak' is closer to 4000 Hz where it seems like most other things (moondrop chu and TRN V90) seem to have their 'peak' closer to 3000Hz instead. (The JVC FDX1 peak does extent out to 4000 Hz - more on this later). I’m not really noticing a big difference in female vocals but maybe other instruments. - The bass increase between the free pro 2 and default MD Chu tuning is noticeable when going back and forth (as expected). Where while listing to the earfun free pro 2 (with the EQ) I don’t remember the bass being this forward (but that’s audio memory). - (just an observation – I don’t yet know the effect of this) it seems like the relationship between 1000Hz and the peak at 4000Hz is ~12db difference where other IEMs and even Crinacle’s “neutral target” has only a 7db difference between peak (or max db reading) and the value at 1000Hz. Your post EQ curve does work well as a target curve, especially for things like the FDX1 that have their peaks pushed out to 4000Hz. Where things like the moondrop Chu need to have more gain added in the 4000-5000Hz range which is audible with pink noise – there is more information that is being pushed out in this area (not sure if good or bad). This seems to emphasize piano and electronic keyboard sounds versus if the extra EQ or gain wasn’t applied. Where the dip/recession at 11000Hz of the Chu may not make it the best candidate to try and EQ to this target - I see a 11db boost at 11000Hz and it tends to be extra forward when listing to pink noise (not as bad with actual music). If possible I would like to talk about this further – I’m not sure how much of the ‘netural-ness’ it retains when that frequency response gets applied to other IEMs. That said it was an interesting result that I could see coming back to and listening to more often vs EQ-ing a pair of IEMs to a different IEMs frequency response (probably a lot of wrong in doing that too).

KlarkKentThe3rd

Yay, a headphone video! I don't buy expensive headphones often, so I cannot compare as much as you. I will say that the old Senn 558 with old earpads still sounds better than the new Koss KPH30, even if 558 employs extra foam to control the bass which leads to muffled sound. This is because KPH30 is missing some important parts of upper mids and treble, leading to a weird result with the model sounding less fresh/airy.

Wim De Bom

Currently unavaileble☹️ On Amazon

ed non

I would also like to know where I can get the latest EQ settings for the EP2... Vin were you able to find out? thanks!

Dennis Bokov

AKG n400nc seems to have a better driver than Earfun free pro 2. The high-frequency peaks in AKG can be smoothed out/lowered by applying a dampening mesh filter to the nozzle. I used the filters included with Tanchjim Tanya iem. With Tanya filters, AKG is my go to wireless iem now. The bass is a bit too much but can be easily corrected with EQ in the AKG app. AKG has a faster bass, sounds more detailed overall and presents a wider soundstage compared to earfun pro 2.

oluvsgadgets

I couldn’t manage anything usable out of it. How are your settings?

shyonetwo

Discount code seems to have expired. On Amazon Germany you still get 15% off, that's ca. 59.49€