I've had that same experience, so the way I discuss detail is more in terms of mental effort. Highly detailed headphones allow me to perceive small details and textures in the music with less mental effort needed than with less detailed headphones. If the headphone is less detailed, then I have to know that a detail is there and focus on it to perceive it. If a headphone is more detailed, then that sound jumps out at me even when I'm not focused on the music. Hence, different headphones can be more detailed in some areas than others, and a "less detailed" headphone can in some frequency regions be perceived as more detailed than a "more detailed" headphone by having an FR that emphasizes the details in that region.

Another term that I've seen in place of detail that I find really helpful is "tonal contrast". I first saw the term used by reviewer Marcus at Headfonics, but the term probably goes further back than that. Tonal contrast is the contrast (think visual contrast) between different tones, like between fundamental and the overtones. Higher tonal contrast makes the differences between similar pitches on different instruments be more pronounced, which sounds like more detail. Human vision, object recognition in particular, is more dependent on contrast and silhouette than color. That's how optical camouflage works, not by making an object impossible to see with the eye, but harder for the brain to recognize as a given object. To me, detail is music is similar. You're always hearing that sound that comprises a detail, but your brain didn't recognize it as an instrument or whatever, until you heard it on a headphone with higher tonal contrast in the relevant frequency bands.

All of this should just be encapsulated in the FR (plus psychoacoustics), but it's a very fine-grained and multi-band look at FR that we currently don't know how to do accurately or reliably. It's not just more treble, as I've heard very treble-heavy headphones that masked detail due to having too much treble. And it's not just having an even or neutral frequency response either, as an unbalanced FR can highlight certain parts of sound, which can make them sound more detailed than a headphone with a balanced FR. Then there's also distortion; sometimes distortion can improve clarity by boosting relevant overtones and thus increasing tonal contrast. So yeah, it's not something that's easy to recognize from just a graph.

glue or tape

Super glue, baking soda, some kind of non stretching fabric or 550 cord innards. Glue the joint, give it like 2 min, very light coat of glue over an inch on both sides of the joint, wrap it in the fabric, soak the fabric in glue. Let it dry a bit, then coat in baking soda. Sprinkle that on till its coated. Pray lol

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Hi and thanks for any advice. I ordered a pair of DT 1990 Pro. I planned on listening through my Scarlett 2i2. Should this be ok?

Also, I currently have Sennheiser 560s and 599se.

Do you think I will notice a significant upgrade?

As you can tell I’m not an audiophile but really love music and want to experience it better.

Thanks, added question, what other things should I be listening for other than FR (assuming a decent enough set can just be EQ'ed to your liking)?

Fair enough, it is a term I hear reviewers like Crin and Resolve use often so I do wonder what they're referring to

I see. According to their impedence I didnt think they are more demanding then 250 Ohm Beyerdynamic headphones.

Hm. Tough decision

I recommend the MeeNova OTG cable. Works on my 5K and BTR 5 DAC’s.

Beat me to it

Wanting to try out some entry level IEMs for gaming. Mostly for Discord or gaming while my wife watches TV next to me. I've gotten to where earphones hurt my eat after awhile, just wanting something to pop in and get clear sounds.

Prefer something under the $100 mark, but willing to spend a bit more if necessary. Right now I'm debating between Moondrop Aria or Shure Aonic 215. Any advice on which are better or recommendations? Thanks in advance!

Depends on your wallet and patience.

It's a low efficiency headphone. It might not be loud enough or distort when used with some lower quality source gear.

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I had a gf who collected earrings ask me why I collected headphones. we came to the agreement of "one for each occasion" since, now I can live with myself owning more than five headphones lol

You don't. "Detail", among others, is a made up term by audiophiles, to justify paying unreasonable sums for a headphone (with often horrid FR).

Just enjoy music without worrying about that nonsense.

I bought it to use with a tubes preamp and that's my main gripe with the adi-2. If it had an external input to the amp one could connect the line out to a tube preamp and then back to the ADI-2's own amp. But besides that specific case, I agree it doesn't need an amp.

I define detail as small things in songs that literally disappear when going back to worse transducers. I have a reference track that only the better transducer can reproduce:

The intro lyrics from The Chainsmokers - Closer has buried detail that a decent headphone (at least a Drop DCA Aeon X Open or maybe even HD6XX) or a decent IEM (IEM that don't come as a freebie) can easily reproduce

Here's the lyrics with the extra detail:

>Hey *hey*, I was doing just fine before I met you
>
>I drink too much and that's an issue but I'm okay *okay, I'm okay*

​

the ones with the * are the extra detail. The *okay, I'm okay* part will be easier to hear than the *hey*

Try with any inferior headphones first as a baseline then try again with the best headphone in your collection

the mx40x are as good as the m50x, trust me on this one bro.

also never buy no iem from audio Technica, yours zero will be better.

I just use Velcro to stick the Qudelix to the back of my phone

I’m in the camp that believes it’s all or almost all just part of frequency response.

I use the Qudelix 5K and an iPhone 13Pro with the lightning to usbc cable from Cayin that’s meant for the RU6. No camera cable.

I also have part of a MagSafe sticker stuck to the 5K so it sticks to the back of my phone. I use this setup every single day.

Depends on what you want to do, those are like 30$ right? It's totally understandable that some people don't have that much to spare, I certainly remember when I didn't have 20$ in my pocket, but the best option would just be to buy something else, even something like a Samson sr850 or any other chear over-ear like that would not only be a massive improvement in sound but not break the bank at 50-60$(cad)

If you were to fix it though, I'd recommend going out and getting super glue, some rubber bands to hold it and some clips to to the same while it's drying and then just lather it in glue and hope it sticks

All in all for the price of super clue and tape and clips though you could probably just get a set of headphones that matches the quality of your current pair at least

Normal cable retails for $30. But this is an audiophile grade for only $79.98.

Water

Whenever I've bought new headphones, even lower-quality ones, I've discovered new things in songs that I had never consciously noticed before. I'm pretty sure it's because I listen more intently for a while after getting new cans. As you've discovered, all those details are audible on any decent pair of headphones. You don't need to spend $1,000 to hear them.

There's a lot of utter nonsense that gets passed around as conventional wisdom in the audiophile world.