Gee, that's a hard one. I'd say that if we're just talking bass, out of the pairs I've owned, I like the Moondrop Variations the most. They have bass quantity, and sufficiently detailed enough.

Close second, to me, is the 64 Audio Duo, which has absurd bass quantity (my smallest bass shelf added, in any device), but not as detailed as the Variations. It's a pleasing bass, for sure, but the rest of the FR is not very likeable without messing with EQ, and is pretty costly (would never buy at full price).

I usually use Replay Gain to match the album gain, so generally, the volume issue is sorted out. Using a baffle + SPL meter, I've measured my headphones as being ~65dB for moderato, and try to adjust volumes to stay below an absolute 75dB max at full orchestral "fff". Hurts my ears way too much past that. In my chain, that's ~25% on the amp knobs.

Of course, there are some orchestral recordings that kill both bass AND treble, and I have Equalizer APO config files I can click on that adds in +3/5/7dB treble high shelves as needed for an album.

I don't listen to much rock/metal/pop, and it's only my daughter that brings EDM, so I suppose that makes a big diff.

I do tend to adjust the upper treble quite a bit, and it greatly enhances my experience. I'm treble sensitive (e.g., Philips Fidelio X2HR treble kills my ears), and many Harman tuning presets have some spikes that fatigue my ears. I turn 40 next month, and my hearing is typically goes up to 15.5kHz to 16.3kHz, depending on my health. Harman tuning presets "feel" way louder past 8kHz than the 3kHz peak the charts suggest. I will often get rid of the preset's treble entries, and replace with a -2 to -4dB high shelf around 8-12kHz, and add back in whatever dips I hear in MathAudio EQ.

Thanks for the data point!

I do have some Beats Studio3 and I do find those "okay" as far as the bass is concerned. The rest of the FR on them are not to my liking, and the audible distortion after EQing the rest of the spectrum closer to "normal" makes them a poor listening choice unless I want ANC (my only ANC headset).

But yeah, I suppose if I'm not in disagreement with the bass quantity of Beats, I might be in bass-head territory. Good point, thanks!

I don't have long hair, but do wear glasses that do get in the way. I did consider this after posting, and will need to experiment. Thanks!

When I listen to older recordings from lesser known orchestras, it's a total crapshoot how the mastering is done. Many of them hardly have any bass to speak of, and to bring it back up to normal levels requires quite the shelf. I guess if I end up using these same presets to pop and rock, it does hurt my ears, so perhaps I'm somewhere in the middle. Thanks!

Yeah, this is very true. A cello, for example, has their 4 strings at 65Hz, 98Hz, 147Hz, and 220Hz. If I'm listening to something that rolls off the bass in comparison to mid/trebles, cellos sound muted and downright wrong compared to real life. Obviously, many other bass-centric instruments out there.

Now that is an angle I had not considered. Very interesting thought that I’ll have to look into. Thanks!

Thanks for the great answer! Appreciate it.

I'm using MathAudio Headphone EQ to use a user-controllable sine sweep to go and map out my EQ's.

Maybe I worded my post wrong. I've targeted my headphones to sound good to me, so I'm not looking to improve my EQ. All I wanted to know was if the amount of bass shelf I'm using is abnormal compared to others.

It just depends on the headphones/pads. Maybe it's the way it sits on my glasses (lack of good seal?), but I seriously have a big dip if I don't have my shelves go up that high on some cans.

That's what I usually do start with, but my ears are odd enough that I have pretty wild peaks and dips that I don't see on others' measurements and charts. I can live just fine on AutoEQ/Crinacle's PEQ files on IEMs, though, so my ear canals must be okay.

I don't know if it's specific to my ears/HRTF (I don't have this issue with IEMs), but unless I have it extend to 200Hz-ish, I have a huge dip around that region. I understand that I'm playing in regions where it's generally known to muddy, but that's not something I experience with headphones and my numbers.

Of course, I'm also taking whatever peak amplification, and adding a negative pre-amp value accordingly, so there is no clipping going on.