This is why I don’t touch the cables on my HD800S with a 10 feet pole.. :)

As long as you buy from reputable and transparent companies you’ll get products that are designed to perform very closely to the Harman curve and minimal distortion/modulation whether that’s the “ideal” curve is debatable ofcourse.

People often argue with “oh but you can EQ other non-professional brands to the harman curve at well”, but you’ll need to take in account the sudden cup resonances and driver limits and air pressure (think lower frequencies) issues you’ll be inevitably running into.

In the end graphs aren’t everything as seal, materials, drivers, angles, damping, pressures, air dissipation, resonances etc. all play a part in it, don’t even get me started on how complex good speakers can be.

Did you try the Oratory1990’s EQ with the NDH 30, it supposedly fixes some minor dips and makes the treble more prominent? I haven’t tried it myself as the headphone sounds great as is to me.

I did try Oratory1990’s EQ for the HD800S since it can sound so unnatural at times, but it kinda sucks out the sound for my pair, making it kinda muffled and weird sounding in most tracks. A little bass boost and a taming the treble a bit with the stock EQ helps a lot without impacting the overall sound or soundstage.

Damn, and here I am considering the opposite. Selling my HD800S in favour of the NDH 30, crazy how subjective audio can be, though I’ve been listening to professional gear for years now so I’m probably partial to it.

Do listen for hidden resonances in your man cave?