How to interpret Dan's Audio Reviews sound demos?

If we assume that the demo was recorded as-real-as-possible from a technical standpoint, then we listen back to the track on the same headphones, we should hear the same sound if we play the original track?

Assuming the answer is yes, if now we listen on a different pair of headphones and the sound is still the same then it means that the two headphones share the same frequency response for that specific track, and should, for the most part, sound the same while listening that track?

Then if we listen on a different headphones and the sound does not sound the same that means that the headphones have a different frequency response and the sound that is hear from them is not a good indicative of the real-world performance of the headphones and they will sound totally different?

The reason that I’m asking is when listening to the this demo recording on my headphones, the MELE parts is a bit bassy, little flat, all the instruments are squished together, its like listening from far away from another room. Meanwhile, MEST has less bass than the original track, but the instrument separation is a bit clearer. The vocals are the same between MELE and MEST.

Knowing my headphone frequency response, what can I conclude, if anything, from listening the demo tracks?

NOTE: I know frequency response is not the only factor but from what I’ve read that it is, at least, an indicative of how the headphones will sound.

I think the best way to form a picture from his demos is to see what he says after each song that he tests because if what he says seems to correlate with what you perceived from the recording, then you can trust that the recording gear at least captured a something of the IEM’s character. If that is the case, then you can compare the different IEM’s that he tests with one another if you agree with what he hears when he listens to the gear.

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The answer to your first question is “no”. If the track is recorded through the iem, then you would need to play the recording back through some kind of neutral transducer, like studio monitor speakers, to hear the dame FR as when playing the track through the iem directly.

If you listen to the iem-recorded playback through the same iem, then elevated areas of the FR will now be doubly elevated. Even more, you’re going to lose resolution at each step as well, so details will suffer. I would say you would want to listen to the sound demos on your gear that is best combo of most resolving and neutral.

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You won’t really hear how the iem sounds but more the differences between different iems and I think he said so himself
But that’s for most sound demos the case and for HP like mest you’ll also have to factor in that it’s a bone conductor iem and that should explain the lacking base
Otherwise you’ll also have to be aware that the magnets in planar HP can also negatively influence the mic

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