Comments on Profile Post by ColdsnapBry

The main difference I hear between headphones and setups is clarity, timbe and transients. Which most setups get madly wrong.

Good for you.

I respectfully disagree :)

I can hear a pretty clear difference between what the HD800 and Utopia can resolve, so also disagree. Respectfully!

I love my Porta Pros but detail retrieval is not their strength.

Just curious though, can any of you point to a song and a time in a song where a sound happens that lesser drivers won't resolve? I'll try on my KSC75 and lsn800/Utopia. Because I can't think of one solid example. @nishan99 @rhythmdevils @wbass @Merrick

Brad Mehldau Trio, Blues and Ballads, the first two tracks, the first 20-30 sec of each. There's some subtle lefthand stuff that, to my ears, even lesser streamers blob a bit. (This is very fine-grain detail, as these are tracks I used to A-B streamers.) I'm sure there are less subtle examples. This was just ready to hand.

@wbass Cool, I'll check it out!

Another time I can very clearly hear resolve is the ability to resolve notes played simultaneously. Very apparent with piano chords and vocal harmonies.

@Riotvan unfortunately losing your drivers license in the US doesn't deter the troublemakers from driving. They do it anyway.

Resolving ability adds texture to notes across the spectrum. Less resolving headphones like the KCS-75 play a note with little texture. As headphones have more resolution you can hear mote texture added on top of these notes. This texture is what identifies instruments for what they are. For instance a violin has a very different texture than a trumpet or a drum set.

Resolving ability also just adds subtle nuances that add realism that make it feel more like you are actually there.

@rhythmdevils I do agree with the texture bit. It's very subtle though and also most headphones I have don't get the texture quiet right. I'd say 650 or HD800 do. ZMFs are too dampened to carry the texture. Focals have a metalic decay. Planars have zero texture.

"The ability to resolve notes played simultaneously" is literally just ear training. Go take musicianship classes if you want to be able to hear inner voices in music better, you don't need to spend money on gear to be able to do this.

@animus I agree to an extent (for reference I've been a musician for most of my life and taken many classes). However I've also heard gear where things will sound smeared or overly blended together so I wouldn't say that it's not reliant to an extent on better gear.

That being said this is one aspect of resolve and tbh I still don't think I quite understand resolving ability.

Bad separation in gear doesn't affect harmony unless there is a ton of inharmonic distortion (which is quite frankly most popular music) blurring things to begin with. Otherwise, if I were to write a simple 4 part chorale, there really shouldn't be any difference in my ability to differentiate between all 4 voices between a KSC75 or a Susvara.

On the other hand, if I were to introduce counterpoint, then yes, there is very smeary and homogenous sounding gear that can blur voice leading by ruining transient attacks. There are a ton of much more expensive headphones than the KSC75 that are far more guilty of that though :)

@ColdsnapBry orthos have zero texture? You’ve been listening to some crappy orthos!!! They are full of texture.

Now a thread. Discuss!!

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/what-is-detail-retrieval.12579/