Audio myths that need to die

[aerius]

Or the myths which people like to parrot to the point where they've become accepted "fact".

1) Grados don't really need an amp and don't benefit all that much from one. While it's true that Grados will sound pretty decent straight out of a PCDP or iPod, they improve a hell of a lot when driven off a good amp. A 225 is pretty listenable out of my Walkman, but gets a fair bit better out of my Gilmore Lite, and it's better still on Biggie's pimped out tube amp. I'd argue that a Grado will scale as nicely as any other headphone.

2) The "tube sound" myth. Tube amps have rolled off highs & lows, rounded off transients, lacking dynamics, fuzzy imaging, but great midrange. Congratulations, you've described the typical shitty design of 95% of production tube amps. I can't blame people too much though, since not too many have heard a properly designed tube amp. Like the one I have which is +/-0.5dB from 10Hz-40kHz, and which has all the best attributes of tube & solidstate.

3) It'll be better once it's broken in. Maybe, maybe not. I never tire of bringing up the Senn 650 case, where people complained that the damn thing got worse after it was broken in.

So what are your favourite myths, favourite as in everytime you hear someone say it you feel like beating some sense into them with a ball bat.

[Iron_Dreamer]

Your #2 is only so widely accepted exactly because of what you state; that it's true of 95% of tube amps. Sure, there are ones that break the mold (Zana Deux comes to mind), but those are certainly the exception rather than the rule. I'd agree that #2 should not be blindly accepted as fact, however, I'd hardly call it a myth, which implies there is no truth to it at all, when, in fact, it's true in most cases. At worst I'd call it a stereotype, just like the stereotype that solid state amps typically sound cold, harsh, etc.

[Mister X]

Not just Grados.... the entire myth that low impedance headphones are easy to drive getting real old.

[en480c4]

• Blanket Statements... Senns can't rock, Grados are the only rock can, and so on. There are so many subtleties in music that blanket statements border on ridiculous. I understand that some cans aren't for everyone, and that only proves that such blanket statements are hilarious.
  
• Headphone reviews are worth a damn... Sure, you can get a general idea, but you certainly should be surprised if you buy something without listening to it and are disappointed. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that synergy between components is key, and nothing can replace hearing something with your own rig.

[Dusty Chalk]

My personal favourite is that if a particular piece of gear is not good for a certain type of music (techno, rock), then it can still be good for another (chamber music, vocals). If a headphone (or amp or source or speakers) are only good for a certain type of music, then they are not good.

I also agree with a lot of those previously mentioned. Tube amps rock!

[Grand Enigma]

Oh I have a good one.

1) Headphones are just as good or better than a nice speaker rig

[grawk]

At any pricerange I shop at, headphones are better than comparably priced speaker rigs.

[Grand Enigma]

stop being poor day

[tiberian]

My personal favourite is that if a particular piece of gear is not good for a certain type of music (techno, rock), then it can still be good for another (chamber music, vocals). If a headphone (or amp or source or speakers) are only good for a certain type of music, then they are not good.

I also agree with a lot of those previously mentioned. Tube amps rock!

hear, hear!

[tiberian]

burn-in in general is snake oil to me.

[Dusty Chalk]

Oh I have a good one.

1) Headphones are just as good or better than a nice speaker rig

Hey now! They are better. For certain things.

[TheSloth]

Cold/Lean/Thin/Hyper-Detailed = neutral.

[Iron_Dreamer]

Or

warm/fat/thick/dull = natural

[xand1x]

Generalizations about solid state and tube gear.

ss = cold, analytical, dry.

tube = warm, lush, rolled off, less detailed.

[Chrysanthemum]

Truse me! This Mustang was owned by a grandma in Sarasota and only driven to church on Sundays.

[Chrysanthemum]

Yes dear! You are the only person I have ever had sex with. ....................................Opps! Audio only.

[justin]

My list is too long...but here's one

- Battery powered equipment has a lower noise floor

[TheSloth]

A transducer is no less appropriate for reproducing classical music due to strongly rolled off bass response...

[Chrysanthemum]

RSA makes great amps with bullit proof power supplies. :

[Dusty Chalk]

That one should spend most of one's money on the speakers &&/|| headphones for best results. I think markl is the biggest purveyor of this myth, but he ain't alone.

[aerius]

If your amp has limited power, you should get these dinky little mediocre efficiency bookshelf speakers which have no bass.

I've struggled for years to figure that one out, and still can't. Small bookshelf speakers tend to have mediocre to half-decent efficiency which doesn't really help if the amp has limited power. I don't know about you but if I got stuck with a 10W amp I'm getting a big pair of horn speakers so I can fill my room with big badass sound.

[Dusty Chalk]

Headphones (other than the K1000) have a soundstage on normal, non-binaural music.

[Tachikoma]

Stax headphones are worthless for rock/trance

[bhd812]

At any pricerange I shop at, headphones are better than comparably priced speaker rigs.

Its not your price range, its your room acoustics...

when I picked up my room tunes stuff from the Chicago dealer's apartment I listened to his rig (or should I say room?). he had a cheap ass dvd player probably $50-$60,cheap ass solid state no name amp for $200,$6 in cables and he had a set of floorstanders the company he sells for makes (think they were $3,500..but they were truely nothing but wood and one driver) in this meduim sized room with about $1000 in treatments..

I sat down and to be honest, I have heard setups costing shit loads more then the building he was in let alone the rig...wait to be honest I never heard anything like it. it was so 3-d I felt I was in a magic show instead of listening to a 2 channel setup..

room acoustics don't care how much money you put in your rig..

[grawk]

And I'm not gonna spend thousands changing how rooms sound, so there we have it.