Headphones that acoustically „disappear“?

Submitted by wonko1980 t3_zyh9dk in headphones

I like open back headphones and classic (flat) earbuds, because somehow I don’t like the feeling of IEMs.

A week ago I got the Fiio FF5 and experienced something fascinating and new to me: Those earbuds seem to disappear when listening to certain tracks … there’s a feeling / sound impression of almost not wearing any headphones.

Are there usual open back headphones that can provide this kind of “magic”?

I own a few Koss KPH30i, KSC75, AKG K702 … all great sounding, but I’m still aware of wearing them (speaking about acoustics).

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Stormycloaks t1_j25w26b wrote

Sounds like you want some speakers lol

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wonko1980 OP t1_j25wdj5 wrote

Oh, indeed I do! But I heard about this effect for speakers first and couldn’t really believe it: usually I can hear where speakers are placed (… not the subwoofer), but there are speakers that acoustically are able to disappear as I read…. Can’t really believe, but had to learn with my earbuds that it’s possible

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InFortunaWeLust t1_j25zbx5 wrote

I've walked off my desk a few times with HD-8XX's on cause of how open and big sounding the soundstage was (+ being intoxicated also didn't help)

I did the same with KSC75 with Yaxipad/headband. they are just so light on the head and soft that i sometimes forget i have them on.

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Doccks71 t1_j26op88 wrote

The HD8 (HD800, HD800s and HD8XX) with EQ and a lighter, less thick cable.. is wonderful and disappears on the head

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watmough t1_j26g04k wrote

ksc75 are really good that way, light and airy and very much have the feeling the sound is in the room with you.

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Gofa_Kirselph t1_j26v49t wrote

Planars do that for me. It feels like removing cotton balls out of my ears. Even the Hifiman HE 560 does that for me, although the mids are a bit dry for my taste. But that’s not to say that only planars do that. The Sennheiser HD 700 also does that even though it has dynamic drivers. And as others have mentioned, the HD 800 also does that.

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klogg4 t1_j287l78 wrote

Equalize K702 to oratory1990 preset and you will be close to that feeling.

Actually no stock headphones give that feeling to me. Including planars.

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wonko1980 OP t1_j28adxb wrote

How can I do this using Mac?

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Ready-Sand6917 t1_j2atjhj wrote

SoundSource is probably the easiest / cheapest (there is a free trial for SoundSource but there might be other freeware. I haven't looked into this in a while). It has a built-in 10 band EQ and support for AU plugins. It's useful for more than just EQ as well.

You can also use Loopback (more expensive than SoundSource) and route it through a DAW, standalone VST, etc.

There are also hardware solutions for this such as a DAC with DSP chips (Apollo Twin for example), and plenty of other ways via hardware.

There's also Roon which has built-in DSP functionality which includes an EQ though that would only apply to audio played through Roon.

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Aracari_LoA t1_j2a02l0 wrote

I find this happens when you get a headphone with good enough acoustics that once you EQ it to your ears it disappears. The JM modded HE R9 does that for me.

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RayceManyon t1_j260peg wrote

What tracks were you listing to?

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