Frequency Response Comparisons

Frequency response is only part of the whole story; headphone fit, construction, phase response, moving mass, impulse response etc etc all have importance in its overall ability. Then there is that the human ear does not have equal sensitivity to all the audible frequencies.

Ultimately, it is best to find a centre ground between being educated/informed and perpetuating the same dogma of limited truth.

I think this is because it is difficult to find "real" reviews that provide a good balance of objectivity and subjectivity. Journalism tends to take over and sometimes makes a simple judgement convoluted, unnecessary and unhelpful to those that ideally wish to reach a simplified and logical conclusion.

I guess you can draw comparison with politics again and ask "what makes a fair society?" and everyone gives a different answer. ....

Going back to when I bought up a load of HD540II to sell on, part of the reason I did that was that I wanted to bring some common sense back to the way people view hi-fi. Could I even recognise high fidelity if it was right in front of me, slapping me in the face or was I as clueless as a layman? Did my customers have the same expectations of "high fidelity"? Was a flat frequency response appreciated as a prerequisite for high fidelity reproduction? My 540II were a bit of a test of that, of whether my choice was a sensible choice that did what I said it would do. Feedback was generally positive so I guess I had the right idea. I guess preference of headphone sound characteristic was ultimately decided by the mixing/mastering of the preferred listening material.

Adding a gentle boost to mid-low frequencies sounds far more engaging and realistic without losing impact or cleanness of the bass. Although the change is quite subtle, the difference in musicality and enjoyment is significant (even though a purist would say this has added some colouration).

Therefore I believe that reviews & measurements are only pointers towards decisions that need to be made by demoing and listening, preferably in the setup that's going to be used.