Not that they don’t exist but it’s absurd how few DACs have a parametric EQ built in.

Audiophilia nervosa.

Something seems screwy. Assuming Philips's sensitivity spec is accurate and the input signal to the amp is enough to get it near the limits of its power capabilities at low gain, 150mW should be sufficient for hearing damage inducing SPLs.

Ah well, if low gain is busted, new amp solves the problem.

as a rule, open back headphones deliver, at most, a flat bass response. most have rolloff in the bass. if you're a basshead and want some 12db bass shelf, open backs are probably not for you (ones with better natural bass extension will probably EQ better to your liking, but why torture the poor drivers?)

utopias are a probably a little less peaky in the mids but similar character. I don't find them "shouty" but the timbre is a bit off, I EQ them.

The Schiit Magni has has plenty of power/current/voltage for 99.9% of the conventional headphones (ie not estat or something with similarly exotic amplification requirements) out there. There are corner cases where that might not be enough to drive them loud and have headroom left, like the insanely inefficient Hifiman Susvara, but I'm guessing you're not pairing $6000 cans with a $100 amp.

did you test them blind?

I can throw my HD600s on the floor and they'll hold up just fine.

the build is not very "premium" but they are not delicate or fragile.

The problem is that since no one has yet figured out how to do a frequency sweep measured at my eardrum, measured FR also doesn't exist in the "real" world.

Only cosmetic differences. Obviously pad wear will change the sound a bit and individual units vary slightly so you can find plenty of people saying "hey this sounds different" but I've seen no evidence there's systematic sound quality differences between them beyond wear/unit variation factors.

actually I'd say that's quite easy to judge from an FR plot, "harsh" and "sharp" are words that usually map to frequencies well below where measurements get shaky. of course, knowing how FRs maps to what you hear subjectively takes some experience.

The XM4s haven't been out that long, they only launched in June.

I'd expect you'd still be waiting ~half a year for retail availability, assuming Sony maintains its annual release schedule, but I haven't heard anything about a new model yet.

My impression is that it's basically "things that are hard/impossible to EQ"

No, it just sounds like some weird EQ preset.
Apple’s head tracking implementation adds more value, at least theoretically, but I’m still not fond of what it does to the sound quality.

I’m ok fine-tuning imperfections, but all the “technicalities” in the world aren’t going to make me love some overpriced headphone that needs major EQing just to not sound like total ass tonality/timbre wise. Some very expensive headphones get away with murder in this department.

Because impedance is just one part of what determines a headphone's amplifier needs.

https://www.audeze.com/products/cyber-friday-black-monday-promo-2022

Anyone have impressions of the quality of Audeze B-stock stuff? Anything more amiss than you expected?

i don't know what kind of weird-ass ears y'all have but mine fit nicely inside a sufficiently large oval?

No

Sounds like a great way to destroy a pair of IEMs

> Those whose hearing is good enough to hear that high up in the frequency range will definitely notice it.

lol, being able to hear 2.4GHz is an interesting idea.

If you’re of the opinion that an amplifier should not color the sound, them lower output impedance is better. Ideally close to zero ohms. It means your amp can drive more current without the voltage sagging, which is a good thing.

If you like how the amplifier colors the sound, that’s also fine, but its the mark of an objectively “worse” amp.

the HD650s are not the most sensitive headphones, so they will quite likely be quieter than whatever you're comparing them to at the same output level, but the magni has way more than enough power to drive them. check all the volume settings along your signal path. the magni also has a gain switch on the back, though I doubt you would need high gain.

I think much like speakers vs. headphones, they're just somewhat different animals.

I'm not a fancy IEM guy but I listened to someone else's Blessing2 the other day, and it still sounds like a thing you stick in your ear canal... soundstage, tactility, just not quite the same as a good $300 headphone (even as limited as that is with headphones).