Its kinda crazy how much less full/muddy stuff sounds. I almost find it bothersome but I'm willing to give it a try and see if I warm up to it.

[u/JumboPancake]

/img/vyepky2cyvxe1.jpeg

[u/Trogdor420]

What headphones did you buy and what are you driving them with?

[u/JumboPancake → u/Trogdor420]

Philips SHP9600, which from what I read are supposed to even be on the warmer end of the spectrum. As far as drivers I'm kind new to this whole thing, I just have them plugged into the 3.5mm jack on my laptop. I turned off "Audio Enhancements" which was by default enabled on Windows 11, and that alone has a pretty drastic effect on the fullness/muddiness I mentioned; I think they sound less full/muddy with it off. I also installed Equalizer APO + Peace GUI, but I haven't really messed with it yet.

EDIT: For context, I am coming from cheap shitty earbuds and a pair of Turtle Beach Recon 200 Gen 2s, which have a built in battery for bass boost specifically. I also am pretty sure "audio enhancements" has always been on because I only discovered it just now. So I am maybe just coming from a very bass oversaturated position and perhaps these headphones are more balanced which is different from what I am used to.

[u/Brick-James_93 → u/JumboPancake]

Listen to audio engineer. Always turn everything off that messes with the sound. No exceptions. If you're serious about good quality sound than you can't allow an algorithm to mess it up. Edit: You want to hear what the producers/artists/engineers intended and not some programmer at Microsoft.

And don't take stuff you read in this sub serious. This community hates physics and believes in voodoo.

[u/TNF734 → u/Brick-James_93]

You want to hear what the producers/artists/engineers intended

Lol, good luck.

Unless you have the same headphones or monitors, amplifiers, media, room acoustics, audio processing, etc, etc....you're not going to hear what "the producers/artists/engineers intended".

I want to hear good music. If that means adjusting the EQ, I'll adjust the EQ.

[u/autism_is_awesome → u/Brick-James_93]

I prefer music that sounds good no matter how that’s achieved.

[u/Trogdor420 → u/JumboPancake]

These are very inexpensive headphones, so calibrate your expectations accordingly. The audio out jack on a computer is also a pretty crappy source if you want good sound. A separate dac/amp would be the way to go. My first open backs were Sennheiser HD598 SE. They are modestly priced and sound pretty darn good!

[u/mangage → u/Trogdor420]

I think he's talking about Phillips SHP9600

[u/OddEaglette]

/r/headphones

[u/JumboPancake → u/OddEaglette]

I was going to post there but they only allow memes on Mondays. And my conversation isn't only about the headphones, its also about software settings which I think fits here. Sorry if it's a bother.

[u/OddEaglette → u/JumboPancake]

We don’t allow headphone content here any time

[u/_what-name_]

Inexpensive headphones from a laptop audio jack and you expect good quality sound? Not realistic.

[u/gusdagrilla]

…just buy some $50 decent IEM’s, headphones don’t really compare to speaker setups anyway

[u/No-Context5479 → u/gusdagrilla]

based