Evening all,
Just as a bit of a back-story; I would say I am someone with very good hearing, who can notice small nuances that others may miss. I have been producing and mastering others music for about 7 years now, so audio quality is a must for me. I have owned lots of different pairs of headphones over the years. But my daily drivers have been a pair of QC35’s, I have always gone with Bose.
For the first time I decided I try out Sony, given all of the amazing reviews of the WH-1000XM5 I decided to try them out, and I was surprised. It seems like the right ear has way more bass (and therefore a higher volume) than the left ear. This is where I had this idea, given all of the great reviews, and the obscure nature of my issue, is it just my hearing going?
I suppose this is a double question, how do you guys and girls differentiate between your personal listening profile vs the response range of the headphones? And for people who have switched brands have you noticed changes in the sound profile that make a new pair of headphones sound ‘annoying’ or ‘unlistenable’?
If you don’t hear it on other headphones, it’s likely a channel imbalance that missed QC.
As far as personal preference vs. how headphones are tuned, I enjoy different headphones for their differences in tuning. The only EQ I do is add a bass shelf to most headphones, but other than that, I appreciate them for their unique sound signatures.
There is, occasionally, a headphone that is completely unlistenable and I don’t keep those.
That is the strange thing, if I close my eyes and really listen in to my other pair, the bias still seems to be there. What is even more strange is that my wife agrees that the Sony headphones do have a bais … none the less I am going to have the new ones sent back to Sony.
Good to hear that you will also go for headphones based on personal preference not just a neutral response range