All headphones, iems and portable audio sounds bad or even painful to me.

Submitted by jinx-s t3_yzrj30 in headphones

For context, I have tried around a dozen different iems, flatheads and headphones in the past year but all of them have a frequency response that is painful to listen to without equalisation, struggling to make it palatable even with, and I have even tried opening some up or stuffing them with dampening materials, even making some of my own flatheads and I cannot get anything to sound good enough to listen to. I have thought of getting my hrtf measured but I do not know how without spending money to get my own diy measurement setup.

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GamePro201X t1_ix1njyc wrote

Well what have you tried listening to? When you use an equalizer, what frequencies do you typically adjust to make something sound good to your ears?

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jinx-s OP t1_ix3d6yo wrote

Typically looks like this ish, massive dip in 3k, if it isn't dipped it sounds static-y and wrong
https://imgur.com/a/ry3g0NK

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No-Context5479 t1_ix53rpq wrote

Have you tried using a tone generator to note the specific frequencies that sound screechy to you on the audio devices you have. Cos peaks in the upper midrange, lower Treble regions can vary by small kHz differences... So maybe on a GRAS or an IEM coupler a peak maybe registered at 3.2 kHz for a certain IEM measured but your ears will notice the peak at maybe 3.5 kHz or even lower at 2.9 kHz

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jinx-s OP t1_ix5cz8z wrote

By time generator I assume you mean a tone generator, I have, I've been using them to eq too

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No-Context5479 t1_ix5deuw wrote

Lol yes I meant tone (silly autocomplete algorithm when using a slide keyboard😅)

Ah that's good to hear... Then you may have a peculiar case of upper midrange detest

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jinx-s OP t1_ix5myaz wrote

Well documented in discord channels I rant in trying to figure something out.

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No-Context5479 t1_ix5qdh7 wrote

Then you may want an IEM with enough recession from 3kHz to 8 kHz that it doesn't sound blunted but doesn't sound shrill too The only ones that come to mind are the:

Sennheiser IE40 Pro

Final Audio E4000

Final Audio E5000

Thieaudio Legacy 5 are the one I remember have good recession in the midrange to not be shouty but at the same time have good treble extension to not be hot and screechy

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dongas420 t1_ix1p5ze wrote

The Sonarworks sound preference test is kind of unreliable if you don't have a supported headphone, but if you try the vocal tracks with all your gear, you might be able to find a common factor. One thing to watch for is whether it consistently shows you a large dip at ~3 kHz, as human hearing can vary a lot around there.

Other potential causes are a broken/defective DAC or amp or simply listening too loud. Try switching out other parts of your audio chain or lowering the volume.

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jinx-s OP t1_ix32ny3 wrote

It isn't the DAC (listened to other people's, including tws, have listened off motherboard, phone too), amp or listening too loud, I've measured my listening volume and it hangs around 55 to 65dB but the timbre of everything I listen to is just hugely off, (i do have speakers to compare to too but outside noise doesn't sound similar either) my ears are also miniscule at around 4.5cm tall, and I do have a jank although somewhat accurate sounding measurement rig for flatheads and they all show high 3kHz (pinna gain) and sound like they have high pinna gain.

I'm going to try sonarworks
edit: never mind i can't select music i listen to and click off the box, even if i could iem response would be better and it only has headphones which do not directly equate to each other.

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