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knvngy t1_itrx4nb wrote

> that usually audiophiles love to describe it as: punch, slam, soundstage, resolution, separation, imaging, speed, decay, much more other.

That understanding of "technicalities" is very poorly defined and do not seem to have any correlation whatsoever with any measurable characteristic of the headphones. Chances are those are just figments of their imagination. Which is why nobody should take into account that kind of nebulous claims to make any purchase decision

> As I read again in comments somewhere, that usually impossible to recreate identical tuning, but I don't why and what science are behind it

The problem with headphones is that they sometimes create resonances (standing waves) that are very difficult to recreate with equalization and it would be futile to do so. Nevertheless, with the right measurement you can actually recreate the sound signature of any headphone, even if not identical.

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Then-Effective5434 OP t1_itrzwl7 wrote

What about IEMs? They are I suppose free from this resonances, so it's much easier to recreate identical tuning between similar sized/shaped IEM?

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knvngy t1_its311j wrote

IEMs are not free from resonances but they are less prone to some resonances than most headphones.

Headphones create multiple sources of sound between the ear and the can, which can create more standing waves, out of phase cancelations and additions, etc. Some very sophisticated headphones got rid of this using acoustic meta-materials.

A good evidence of this is that the group delay for iems are usually much cleaner compared to headphones.

But resonances still exist with iems particularly at higher frequencies where the wave length is comparable to the length of the ear canal.

Nevertheless , if the measurement device is fairly accurate at higher frequencies then it would be easier replicate at least most of the sound signature, as long non-linear distortions are not significant.

Sadly, most measurements you find of the web were done with inferior couplers that make this task more difficult to do.

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