Love these examples of terminology. I’ve always wondered why more people don’t explain with examples. Seems like the most straightforward way ti get their meaning across.
I really love this series! It would be nice to get a sounddemo for the following terms I find really hard to comprehend: Honk, ringing and fast versus slow transient response. Also showing the change in frequency response is a great help for EQ'ing. Keep it up! :)
Reminds me when I was a younger. I emailed Tyll about the terms he used in his articles. He actually emailed me back with this response: Tonal neutrality= an even response; not too much or too little bass or treble. bloated and loose (bass)= bass that is not tight and punchy when needed over-emphatic= over emphasized, too much of some frequency ranges laid back= Usually means mildly less treble than neutral, a relaxed sound accentuated= see over-emphatic rolled-off= usually similar to laid back, but may also apply to a loss of bass response at very low frequencies. bass extension= how well bass extends to very low frequencies without rolling off.
Excellent video! Please demonstrate "shout" "airy" "warm" "cold" etc. This kind of audio demonstration is much better than trying to describe it in words. It's like trying to describe taste... you just have to taste it. Here, you just have to hear it to understand.
you have to understand the frequency spectrum to understand these kinds of terms. "air" is the upper end of the midrange that makes things sound more clear and present...so roughly 2kHz. "Warm" is generally around the low-mid range that gives body to the sound, so you're talking 150-300Hz area. Too much can sound boxy. "Cold" would likely be an abundance of high frequencies...probably 6kHz or so, and too big of a dip of the "Nasal" frequencies, that 500k-800Hz area. Generally 500k is the ugly end of the midrange, but if you scoop too much of it, it's even worse....things will sound anemic, distant and harsh.
I think you could do a whole video on dynamics vs punch/slam vs measured base FR / bass shelf. How do you define each, segregate their meaning, how each effect the sound, and maybe examples. Fostex 900mk2, clear og, lcdx, and he6 sev2 all have very different bass qualities and measurements but it gets lost in the shuffle. Perhaps a discuss on dynamics vs treble region as well and include airy frequencies.
We need more videos like that, It took 3 years for me to understand terms like soundstage, dark, sibilant, bloomy etc etc, and also to read frequency response.
Damn you're good at explaining all this mumbo-jumbo. Never knew how much I hated 'muddy' sound until you played an example of it! I just thought my hearing was messed up. DMS, coffee's on me if you ever get to the Philippines. Peace.
I'd like to know what terms like "jitter" or "pre-echo" actually sound like. Are these just audiophile gobbledygook, or do they actually have a noticeable impact on the replication of sound? By the way, I think this is a FANTASTIC series. Thanks for taking the time to offer these short primers WITH examples!
As a newbie to the hobby, muddy is the sony wireless headphones. The sundaras have a small amount of mud but most people love that small amount. Nasaly is just all cheap headphones, most cheap headphones are muddy nostrils. A sibilance problem is a higher end headphone problem. Most headphones under 400 are going to be muddy nasal.
Really a required content for newbies like me😅. Also can u consider making videos on terms like soundstage, imaging, dynamics etc. With a playlist of test track😉
I found the exemple of muddy to be least obvious of the three. I did not find it unpleasant either as it sounded like an artistic choice, with the music being more diffuse and giving an ambiant. It may have something to do with my gears, tastes, or the fact my eyes were closed.
If you could nail metallic with an EQ graph like these, that would be great. It's the only buzzword I haven't been able to fully grasp, and the only thing keeping me from snagging Clear OGs up.
Clear ogs d have a metallic timbre off analytic dacs mostly topping smsl delta sigma dacs. If you feed it an r2r + class A headphone amp it sounds awesome.
But then there’s the 64 Audio Nio M15 that SHOULD be incredibly muddy with its insane bass shelf that ends at 1khz,… but isn’t anymore than my MEST MKII. Anything below 1khz is louder than neutral but not muddy, still just as clear and well defined as the MEST MKII (the definition of “muddy” I’m using is where the boast talked about in this video makes something sound unclear and un-well defined, like mud v. clear water). My point being is that while frequency response graphs/tuning do give a good indication of whether or not something will sound muddy etc. the quality of drivers and their implementation can outweigh frequency response, within reason. If everything is done properly. Frequency response is just easier to measure than how well the acoustic waves match the electrical signal received, adjusted for amplitude. Which would also account for distortion.
How about grainy treble? The Audio Technica AD700 and Philips X2HR come to mind for me. Grainy treble sounds diffuse, less resolving, and actually kind of airy- Probably why some grainy headphones sound very spacious. And how about shouty? Like Grados, where the singer is SHOUTING IN YOUR FACE? Shouty hit the floor...Sorry. And there is also analytical, where specific frequencies are emphasized to give the impression of greater detail or sound localization, as with the AKG K701. And on the opposite side of the spectrum is dull, also known as laid-back, where everything is smooth and de-emphasized, and the soundstage is rather intimate. Kind of like the Sennheiser HD650 and vmoda headphones.
I like Woofy, Nasally, Tinny(how do you spell [Tin E]), and Shouty. As they describe what the sound sounds like, both in how the words sound when said and in the description of the words.
Detail, separation, airy, shouty, fast/slow bass. Using DT770 250 ohm with apple dongle on a laptop. not very loud listening volume The audio demos didn't really hit right for me. Muddy: didn't really sound how I would think muddy would sound. felt more like an extra organ instrument was added. Nasal: Noticed it Sibilance. Didn't really notice it cuz the vocals got drowned out. I've definitely noticed sibilance with female dialogue in tv shows.
Crin actually has a fairly comprehensive article on that, since he's certainly the one who popularized the term. It's worth checking out if you haven't.
will a warm or bright headphone sound signature make music sound artificially warm or bright? will that warmth or brightness sound as if the music was originally recorded that way, or will it sound processed/artificial?
I fear, I´ve used Beyerdynamic headphones for too long, that I actually couldn´t understand what´s the problem on the "sibilance" part in this example.^^ I was like, that still sounds pretty good.
After seeing the idiocy of bone conductors, when I read your title, I visualized phones you stick into your nose...booger drivers, I guess. Elevated is actually one of the few terms audiophiles tend to use that actually makes perfect quantitative sense, because it relates to localized excursion above flatness in the frequency response curves, something that is FULLY measurable, unlike say, airy, and like, as one example, distortion. All clipping is distortion, a very BAD type of distortion, because it induces unwanted frequencies all over the spectrum, but all distortion is not always clipping, not remotely.
I've been in this hobby logger than I care to admit🍊🍊Still don't understand what is "audio grain". If you can, please explain in a video what grainy headphones sound like.
If your preowned headphones sound strange to you and you have ruled out all other possible explanations then maybe your headphones are truly haunted by the previous owner. Worse still, if you can still hear content even when they are unplugged, this may be a sign that they are truly wireless. 🤔
V shaped, U shaped, W shaped, Harsh, piercing, hollow, shallow, relaxing, smooth, punchy, impact, body, metallic, shout.........Got some idea of the most, but needs to deep dive.
Highly appreciate videos like these! They explain these terms to newbies better than I could.
Compressed sound, Micro and Macro dynamics, grain? Great stuff so far!
Love these examples of terminology. I’ve always wondered why more people don’t explain with examples. Seems like the most straightforward way ti get their meaning across.
The Diana TCs and the V2s are the most nasal sounding headphones I have ever heard. The spike in the midrange murders my ears.
I really love this series! It would be nice to get a sounddemo for the following terms I find really hard to comprehend:
Honk, ringing and fast versus slow transient response.
Also showing the change in frequency response is a great help for EQ'ing.
Keep it up! :)
Reminds me when I was a younger. I emailed Tyll about the terms he used in his articles. He actually emailed me back with this response:
Tonal neutrality= an even response; not too much or too little bass or treble.
bloated and loose (bass)= bass that is not tight and punchy when needed
over-emphatic= over emphasized, too much of some frequency ranges
laid back= Usually means mildly less treble than neutral, a relaxed sound
accentuated= see over-emphatic
rolled-off= usually similar to laid back, but may also apply to a loss of bass response at very low frequencies.
bass extension= how well bass extends to very low frequencies without rolling off.
Best series on the Headphones Show
Oh yeah, the masterclass is on! Thank you DMS, keep this up, these explainers are gold.
Excellent video! Please demonstrate "shout" "airy" "warm" "cold" etc. This kind of audio demonstration is much better than trying to describe it in words. It's like trying to describe taste... you just have to taste it. Here, you just have to hear it to understand.
you have to understand the frequency spectrum to understand these kinds of terms. "air" is the upper end of the midrange that makes things sound more clear and present...so roughly 2kHz. "Warm" is generally around the low-mid range that gives body to the sound, so you're talking 150-300Hz area. Too much can sound boxy. "Cold" would likely be an abundance of high frequencies...probably 6kHz or so, and too big of a dip of the "Nasal" frequencies, that 500k-800Hz area. Generally 500k is the ugly end of the midrange, but if you scoop too much of it, it's even worse....things will sound anemic, distant and harsh.
I think you could do a whole video on dynamics vs punch/slam vs measured base FR / bass shelf. How do you define each, segregate their meaning, how each effect the sound, and maybe examples. Fostex 900mk2, clear og, lcdx, and he6 sev2 all have very different bass qualities and measurements but it gets lost in the shuffle. Perhaps a discuss on dynamics vs treble region as well and include airy frequencies.
Your description is super helpful. Some other reviewers need to watch this video. Fast and resolving would be cool too.
Absolutely amazing video! The examples are just what we need 👌
Timbre and dynamics would be a great video. I feel like people don't talk about it enough and I would like to understand it better.
Would love to learn more about timbre and characteristics of a fast vs slow driver
Maybe you should ask Resolve. I understand there's lots of timbre in Canada.
@@kyron42 lol, i guess that kind of “timber” would describe a warm sound.
We need more videos like that, It took 3 years for me to understand terms like soundstage, dark, sibilant, bloomy etc etc, and also to read frequency response.
Educate the masses! Train your ears! The more you notice and know the more you will enjoy it all!
love this series, super useful.
Another great video as many newbies probably don't understand all the terminology used by audiophiles!
Punch, slam, shouty , air, reference, and details vs resolution, please. Thanks! I love this series so far!
Damn you're good at explaining all this mumbo-jumbo. Never knew how much I hated 'muddy' sound until you played an example of it! I just thought my hearing was messed up. DMS, coffee's on me if you ever get to the Philippines. Peace.
Easy to understand and to the point. Great Video!
This video was fun to watch. Please keep making more like it.
Great video! Looking forward to watching more of this series 👍
I'd like to know what terms like "jitter" or "pre-echo" actually sound like. Are these just audiophile gobbledygook, or do they actually have a noticeable impact on the replication of sound?
By the way, I think this is a FANTASTIC series. Thanks for taking the time to offer these short primers WITH examples!
Nicely Done.
Just scratching the surface are you. I think It's about time.
Hopefully this is just the beginning of the series :)
"leading and trailing edge of tones"
macro and micro dynamics
This is super helpful thanks a lot!
I wish reviewers were more technical and actually stated the frequencies they're talking about. In any case, good video.
I loved the sound examples.
Great series DMS! Would love you to cover U shaped tuning
Hi excellent video.. I wish you make another video & explained sound signature too
Please keep my audiophile education coming at me DMS. Loving the content mate!
THIS IS A GREAT SERIES! THANKS
Nice! I got some demos of how a bass tuck impacts vocals and bass guitar. I love these sort of videos :)
As a newbie to the hobby, muddy is the sony wireless headphones. The sundaras have a small amount of mud but most people love that small amount. Nasaly is just all cheap headphones, most cheap headphones are muddy nostrils. A sibilance problem is a higher end headphone problem. Most headphones under 400 are going to be muddy nasal.
I was waiting for this!!
Really a required content for newbies like me😅. Also can u consider making videos on terms like soundstage, imaging, dynamics etc. With a playlist of test track😉
These are my favorite videos.
Amazing demonstration ! GG
Excellent video, thank you :)
Excellent video. Great information.
What is speed?
A good video would be to play instruments and singer (male and female) and see where they sound on the Hz graph. Thanks for the informative video.
I found the exemple of muddy to be least obvious of the three. I did not find it unpleasant either as it sounded like an artistic choice, with the music being more diffuse and giving an ambiant. It may have something to do with my gears, tastes, or the fact my eyes were closed.
ngl i kind of liked the "muddy" bass line on the first song. Sounded like a completely different instrument/source.
Actually love how the muddy one sounds like a background music you hear in a small drinking bar at night
I would like to see a video about details and resolution and the difference between them
The first time I understood a term defining a headphones sound was with the 650/6XX saying they were veiled. They are
If you could nail metallic with an EQ graph like these, that would be great. It's the only buzzword I haven't been able to fully grasp, and the only thing keeping me from snagging Clear OGs up.
Clear ogs d have a metallic timbre off analytic dacs mostly topping smsl delta sigma dacs. If you feed it an r2r + class A headphone amp it sounds awesome.
Good job, DMS.
Listened to this on my DT 990, the double down on that sibilance part was pure pain 😖
This just happened to me, and even mentally preparing for it wasn't enough to ease my suffering. 💀
But then there’s the 64 Audio Nio M15 that SHOULD be incredibly muddy with its insane bass shelf that ends at 1khz,… but isn’t anymore than my MEST MKII. Anything below 1khz is louder than neutral but not muddy, still just as clear and well defined as the MEST MKII (the definition of “muddy” I’m using is where the boast talked about in this video makes something sound unclear and un-well defined, like mud v. clear water).
My point being is that while frequency response graphs/tuning do give a good indication of whether or not something will sound muddy etc. the quality of drivers and their implementation can outweigh frequency response, within reason. If everything is done properly. Frequency response is just easier to measure than how well the acoustic waves match the electrical signal received, adjusted for amplitude. Which would also account for distortion.
I've always called sibilant sounding audio tinny. I never knew of this word sibilant before until this video.
OK, Warm and Muddy scares the hell out of me.
What is Speed? And the difference between instrument separation and imaging.
Would love to hear about clipping?
What is veil? what is hazy? whats the difference between technicality and tonality?
Excellent video..
How about grainy treble? The Audio Technica AD700 and Philips X2HR come to mind for me. Grainy treble sounds diffuse, less resolving, and actually kind of airy- Probably why some grainy headphones sound very spacious.
And how about shouty? Like Grados, where the singer is SHOUTING IN YOUR FACE? Shouty hit the floor...Sorry.
And there is also analytical, where specific frequencies are emphasized to give the impression of greater detail or sound localization, as with the AKG K701.
And on the opposite side of the spectrum is dull, also known as laid-back, where everything is smooth and de-emphasized, and the soundstage is rather intimate. Kind of like the Sennheiser HD650 and vmoda headphones.
What brand is that cool light in the background?
How do you tame sibilance? If EQ, what frequencies? What if EQ is not an option?
I like Woofy, Nasally, Tinny(how do you spell [Tin E]), and Shouty. As they describe what the sound sounds like, both in how the words sound when said and in the description of the words.
Resolve always goes on about trialling ends of tones. Can you give examples of good v bad.
What is a FAST headphone???
i have always described "Sibilant" as sharp or ear piercing... My TH900 does that
Detail, separation, airy, shouty, fast/slow bass.
Using DT770 250 ohm with apple dongle on a laptop. not very loud listening volume
The audio demos didn't really hit right for me.
Muddy: didn't really sound how I would think muddy would sound. felt more like an extra organ instrument was added.
Nasal: Noticed it
Sibilance. Didn't really notice it cuz the vocals got drowned out. I've definitely noticed sibilance with female dialogue in tv shows.
I think that it would be beneficial to go over what the word, “technicalities” covers.
Crin actually has a fairly comprehensive article on that, since he's certainly the one who popularized the term. It's worth checking out if you haven't.
Hey, a fellow Destiny fan!
will a warm or bright headphone sound signature make music sound artificially warm or bright? will that warmth or brightness sound as if the music was originally recorded that way, or will it sound processed/artificial?
how do you perceive detail? like what is technicality?
Great! More! :)
Please explain what organic means.
If you guys ever decide to do a take on the basic ones, please consider throwing in NATURAL and ANALYTICAL along with the v-shaped!
yea what is timbre and dynamics?
I fear, I´ve used Beyerdynamic headphones for too long, that I actually couldn´t understand what´s the problem on the "sibilance" part in this example.^^ I was like, that still sounds pretty good.
Yesss what is v shaped headphones?
After seeing the idiocy of bone conductors, when I read your title, I visualized phones you stick into your nose...booger drivers, I guess. Elevated is actually one of the few terms audiophiles tend to use that actually makes perfect quantitative sense, because it relates to localized excursion above flatness in the frequency response curves, something that is FULLY measurable, unlike say, airy, and like, as one example, distortion. All clipping is distortion, a very BAD type of distortion, because it induces unwanted frequencies all over the spectrum, but all distortion is not always clipping, not remotely.
What makes a headphone "musical"?
This sibilant demo hurts!
I've been in this hobby logger than I care to admit🍊🍊Still don't understand what is "audio grain". If you can, please explain in a video what grainy headphones sound like.
What are the last 2 songs used?
I like my bass the same way I like my women. Deep and tight. Definitely not sloppy, congested or muddy.
This is the material we need for EQ indoctrination. Some people need to get it before trying it themselves.
please explain about honky
What I would like to hear would be an example of 'shouty'.
If your preowned headphones sound strange to you and you have ruled out all other possible explanations then maybe your headphones are truly haunted by the previous owner. Worse still, if you can still hear content even when they are unplugged, this may be a sign that they are truly wireless. 🤔
B Real front Cypress Hill would sound good with nasal headphones...lol
Education
Digital "glare" or "grainyness" please.
grainy treble?
I can't stand sibilance. Learned about it after buying yamaha rx-v385 receiver. Ireturned it but scared of buying another receiver.
Can anyone explain honky sound? Still don't get it
V shaped, U shaped, W shaped, Harsh, piercing, hollow, shallow, relaxing, smooth, punchy, impact, body, metallic, shout.........Got some idea of the most, but needs to deep dive.
For one second i thought there are new in-nose headphone technologies 😭
Micro and macrodynamics?
Honk vs shout
u shaped vs v shaped
only 1 'S' in Sibilance... not many.
nasal is simply lack in clarity, combining mud and nasal you have nightmare xD
Honky next