Ah yes, the Harman curve, which apparently at this point does signify the objectively best sound signature.
Iāve come across some resistance to the Harman target, and I was initially skeptical as wellā¦ until I read through the research at the source. Iām not suggesting you havenāt, just that often times the skepticism comes from misconceptions or mischaracterizations about what the target is. Thatās a topic that maybe belongs in a different thread - but essentially yes, at least when it comes to over-ear headphones, we should be evaluating their tonal balance in reference to Harman.
If anyone wants to understand why this target is so important, here are some of the foundational studies to check out:
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Iāll come back to this when i have ~200$ around lying which i wouldnāt rather spend on other things, but the abstracts seem to confirm what is my understanding so far, that the Harman curve is kind of the lowest common denominator for tuning preference and as such can at best useful to determine the safest tuning nit something like an āobjectively correct tuningā.
This is kind of what I mean when I say itās often mischaracterized, maybe the abstracts donāt do it justice haha. But in general, while itās correct to say that listener preference plays a role, thatās only for bass and treble. The target is anchored to flat-measuring speakers in a room, effectively giving you a baseline for what neutral ear-gain should be (and thatās corroborated by subsequent studies as well). And this is also why ear gain is essential in a headphone. This stuff isnāt based on the lowest common denominator, but rather flat-measuring speakers, which is once again whatās often missed when it comes to the targetās foundation. So this criticism really only applies to certain defining characteristics of what Group 1 (in the cluster analysis) preferred - in particular bass level and bass-to-treble delta. You may fall outside of that group, but that just says something about your preferences when it comes to these aspects.
People sometimes have what could be called the āI know betterā complex or they think āwhy should I care about average listener preference when the unwashed masses have poor taste anywayā. Itās honestly not an unreasonable concern to have, since things that are of the highest quality in other areas arenāt necessarily the things that have mass appeal. But when you do controlled testing on those same people, more often than not theyāll actually prefer this target, even without realizing it. This is because there are certain facts about human hearing - we all have ears for example (generally). This alone means that sound preference, while seemingly a subjective thing, is only subjective up to a point, and the Harman research is massively helpful for navigating that.
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Wellā¦ I know how it is, to have a HP you like, being completely thrashed by a reviewer. But we have different ears, is what I tell myself, so at the end of the day Iām good.
Insinuating that DMS made this review for clicks and then trying to be coy about him working for Abyss, is to go too far. Accept not all hear what your hear and then move on; behaving like a sulking kid, is not the way ahead.
That is what reviewers doā¦ food critics, music reviewers, HP reviewers etc., etc. They share their opinion, good or bad, and if that is too much, then maybe stay away from reviews you disagree with.
But that his review is laughable and bad form, because he send some tough love to a HPā¦ No, not so much.
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Thank you for taking the time for the explanation. Iām still rather sceptical about the roundabout way you and other reviewers have condemned the Peacock - not least for the reason that quite a lot of people who actually get listen to them love them - but i can accept that they may still not be recommendable for the majority (whose taste of course is valid by definition).
Well, I should clarify that my issue with the Peacock has more to do with the heavy driver damping, front damping, and lack of bass extension it has. So while I donāt think Iād be quite as critical as DMS was, in the Peacockās case, these design decisions resulted in a sound thatās just not very detailed or competitive at the asking price. So itās less to do with the fact that it doesnāt adhere to the target - Iāve often stated that what matters more is the balance between fundamental and harmonic - while the Peacock doesnāt do so great there, the bigger issue for me (because I EQ anyway) is that it tends to lop off the trailing ends of tones, causing a kind of blunted effect.
Now, some people donāt interpret this as negative the way I do, and indeed there was a time when I didnāt experience it as negative either. But when you get to do all these comparisons with a wide range of headphones, you start to realize that thereās information thatās just missing or indistinct (like small gradations of volume) on headphones like the Peacock, or the Drop Panda, or Aeon Open X with the tuning inserts for example.
So yeah for me itās really more certain acoustic design choices that lead to sound attributes and qualities I personally find less desirable or competitive than other headphones at its asking price - the front-damping on the Peacock is particularly aggressive, and you can hear the effects.
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Really interesting, not that those effects would impede my enjoyment of the Peacock so far, but your knowledge is rather impressive and itās certainly valid reasoning.
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just gonna leave this here, i bought a GL2000 based off of Zeos recommendation and now its $600 of deadweight as other headphones like sundara or he6sev2 are vastly better. I saw @ResolveReviews and @DMS video on it and I probably should of just canceled my drop order back then - Ryan Ho
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Thatās of course unfortunate, but the peacock to me luckily isnāt deadweight at all. Thankfully, DMS didnāt make me miss this experience.
Why the Hell would I do that? What a cowardly thing to say. āoooh, the reviewer said something that I disagree withā¦ RUN!!ā Gimme a break. And donāt get me wrong, I have no skin in this game. I donāt own a pair, and at that price most likely never will. But Iām not going to throw hate all over them either like that little shit did. I donāt care what his credentials are, you donāt have to be a dick. Just say you donāt like it and that you would not recommend them and be on your way. That is all.
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DMSās explanation of the sound is his subjective observation about what he heard, which I donāt doubt is actually what he observed with his personal unit. He even mentioned it could be a QC issue and thatās just the problems he had with the unit he received. Regardless, DMS has always been critical of excessive dampening to the point he explains it as being muffled or far too rolled off. I absolutely do not think critical reviews of a product should be condemned, rather they should be commonplace to point consumers in a good direction rather than playing marketer for corporations selling the product. You should be watching several reviews of the product to begin with, gather their objective observations and subjective ones and compare and contrast and then make the financial decision to buy the item or not.
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I agree.
I mean, he did did give fair reasoning as to why he doesnāt like it. Yes, he generalized some very bold claims like he usually does, but at least he went into more depth than usual as to why he doesnāt like it that much. He did do a good job explaining his perception of it and how it sounds to him.
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Also, I fully understand everyone being offended by his review. I know I felt the same when he released his amateur-approached Ollo Audio S4X review. However, I disagreed with him because it didnāt appear as though he invested any time into researchā¦ whereas I spent weeks researching to compose my review for the S4X. Thatās one of the cases where I just thought that his review is misleading. Once I went to the comment section of that vid, you could just see the fan-boys who bought everything he said and repeated it. In regards to that, you can get toxic vibes from his fans/him. I understand that.
With the Peacock, I donāt have it, so I canāt say how it sounds. All I know is that some people really, really love it, and the others really, really hate it.
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I think at the end of the day, if something is drawing a strong divide Itās probably best to skip it. And I mean like I said before the price just confuses me. At this price point you can get some very competitive headphones that are tried and true with less of a contentious divide in regards to the overall package you get. But I mean you have to make that decision for yourself if itās worth it, your own ears are the decision makers in the end.
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I think at the end of the day, if something is drawing a strong divide Itās probably best to skip it.
Iād generally agree, I have been burned by this advice before.
When it comes to IEMs for example I have both the FiiO FH7 and the Ikko OH10 and while the general agreement is that the FH7 are a class or two above the OH10 but to my ears the OH10 sound way more enjoyable.
I admit the FH7 have bigger soundstage and are more neutral sounding but I just donāt enjoy listening to music on them as much as the much cheaper OH10s.
For this reason, Iād recommend actually trying out a demo pair for yourself and deciding for yourself - with a divisive set of cans you may avoid a disaster or you may miss a gem.
well guys, i hate to say it, noā¦ i really like to say it: donāt buy headphones based on internet or youtube reviews. Everyone has different ears and youāre trying to buy audio gear based on a verbal description of how it sounds to someone else. If you donāt want to be disappointed or getting ripped of or you donāt want to send back stuff: Donāt do that.
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While I do understand your point, Iām not exactly sure I can agree with it. In a perfect world, sure. But I live in the middle of no-where Kentucky. There isnāt a place that I can go to to try out gear before I buy anywhere in a reasonable distance. So looking to online reviews, and places like this, is my only recourse outside of buying completely blindly.
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This is the case with most.
Iām pretty sure weād all be more than happy to go out and give something a listen. Most of the time we have no access to listen before a purchase, so online reviews is the only thing we can rely on.
The person reading/watching reviews is the one who should make the judgment whether a reviewer is honest or does it purely as a job.
The person reading/watching reviews is the one who should make the judgment whether a reviewer is honest
I donāt think itās a question of honestly in most cases, more a question of the reviewer having a personal taste and the viewer being familiar enough with the reviewer to be able to judge the sound not only based on what the reviewer says but also based on personal preferences and what the reviewer doesnāt say perhaps.
This is multiple levels of filtering and bias the viewer has to be aware of, which seems almost Herculean a task if you ask me.
Granted, I donāt have the opportunity to evaluate equipment in person most of the time anyways, but at least where am from thereās a mandate by law 14 day return period for a full refund / no questions asked. Most specialised shops are more than happy for you to evaluate equipment that way as long as you donāt abuse it.
The risk is imo that YT reviewers tend to pretty much all lean neutral which means youāre getting little deviation in terms of opinion most of the time, which makes it hard to discover things you may like but donāt know you would yet.
Itās like asking a person who likes story driven games their opinion on multiplayer FPS games, hardly going to get an accurate picture, however valid it may be to consider as a point of reference.
More notes on these:
Iāve tested them now on the xDuoo TA-20 and they definitely benefit from tubes despite their warmth, even tube rolling; JJs sound best overall, whereas EHs can sound a bit too warm for my liking on some tracks, but then outshine JJs on others - so Iād say if you have these give tube-rolling a try.
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