You mentioned the price the exact same number of times as I did. It's nice that we're clarifying the bracket they're competing in - the Chu most certainly didn't have a shot of competing with more expensive IEMs, and I very much doubt the Quarks DSP does. Hell, the Chu is quite far from my preferred $20 IEMs, even.
There's just a limit to how much you can do at this price point, the significantly better technicalities in more expensive earphones are related to their better drivers.

As others have pointed out, we do it because it lets us hear things better. What I haven't seen pointed out (could have missed it) is that as musicians we generally don't hear what you think we hear. Either in the studio or on stage, each of us wants a unique mix. For example, I play keys (a percussive instrument) so I generally want more drums and bass, with less rhythm guitar and even less lead guitar. I want to be able to hear them for cues, but they're super quiet in my mix. The only way to do this for every musician is for every musician to ONLY be able to hear their own mix, so you use headphones (studio) or IEM's (stage). If the audience heard what I heard, they'd probably think the band sounded awful, but that's what I need to be tight - especially during improvisation or complex segments that require syncopation / doubling / whatever other fancy stuff my guitar player is addicted to that day.

The alternative, if you're wondering, is that everyone's mix on stage bleeds into the other mixes - which leads to a lot of noise competition as the night goes on and hearing goes out.

I’ve noticed with max volume gunshots sounds really loud. Maybe even a bit harsh. Maybe that’s distortion creeping in. The max volume is to loud for me for sure. If Xbox only has a smoother volume adjustment I’d be all set. I’m going to try messing with more settings tonight. I’ve been using Dolby Atmos maybe I’ll try uncompressed stereo instead.

I have the HD599SE - the only differences are the colour and the packaging. They are all black and the packaging is plain cardboard. In November Amazon UK sold them for £70 (US$86.) The best value for money EVER! So comfortable and I love the sound.

Welcome to the Senny 599 club :)

Room correction is equalization for a case where it’s actually required, because sound does bounce off walls and the designer of the amp and speakers can’t be expected to know where your walls are in relation to the speakers.

Wouldn’t that show a positive for both reasons why an audible difference would exist? Either a different master or a difference due to format would be audible via a null test.

This.

Also, let’s not forget decent drivers for my usb boys out there. Software can make or break a system in my experience

No

Edit: We're at a point where we achieved a really good driver, but there's a massive step between having that done and getting a finished product to market. So there are still videos and articles in the works on what we've learned from all of this, and where things can potentially go with this in the future. But I'm not going to promise anything too far in advance at the moment.

Because nothing you said has anything to do with whether or not EQ can damage a headphone, for one. But even if we answered the question that no one was asking "Should you EQ," nothing you said, once again, is a reason to not use EQ. You even mentioned Dirac room correction, which is a form of EQ, so... You pretty much just shot yourself in the foot there.

> EQ is viable when the source is a PC, Mac or Android phone, or an iOS device

This is also ridiculous. You just described 99% of what audiophiles listen on, which means yes, it's definitely viable. The extreme majority of people are not sitting around near a turn-table or old CD/Cassette player.

Also, something being massively expensive has nothing to do with whether or not something is viable. I've seen million dollar cars lack pretty basic features, doesn't mean those features aren't worthwhile. It's a nonsense argument.

I hope that explanation makes sense.

There's no reason not to EQ headphones though? Phase shift is less of an issue because headphones aren't "real" stereo (ie no crossfeed). On top of that most of us are using the aforementioned PC, Mac, or Android phone to drive our devices, so EQ is usually viable.

But where's the part where you buy things, I like buying things

Sorry I wasn’t clear. This should help clear up your confusion: if you imagine that you need to EQ your headphones, something between the source and your ears is junk, and it’s probably the headphones.

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I love the idea of someone doing that rather than, ya know…..just closing your eyes

I tried all that and it didn’t work. So I bought a new head with better ears, definite improvement

Then explain why I’m mistaken instead of just asserting that I am.

When your response is an insult but not a substantive correction, you might be the one who isn’t thinking clearly.

Came here to say this but I would leave noise canceling off the list because that is completely subjective and in its current state goes the opposite direction. Sure if I’m on a plane it would make things better but in my quite listening room forget about it. That is probably what you meant but I just wanted to clarify.

damn that shuffle looks cute. i had an ipod nano back then. no everything is just saved on my phone.

Yeah, it’s a shame. Heck, even a DIY “solder this here” thing would help if that was technically possible. Most people have bought theirs directly from the company so they have our mailing addresses.

The original poster was worrying that EQ’ing his headphones might damage them. The answer is, “don’t bother: you’re not supposed to EQ headphones”

Headphones? I mean they mostly use In Ear Monitors now but it's mostly to track a click track because listening to the speakers in the room can fuck your timing up. reverb, echos and all

Exactly what I said it is: EQ for the interaction between speakers and walls, which is real.

Rip then :( I used to have the hesh3 for the same reason, if they got stolen or damaged wouldn't be that bad, I gave them away to my mom since I don't need them anymore and even tho they half sound like crap I still have good memories with them.

To each their own i guess