.Most of Beats' or Apple's recent audio products seem to adhere rather well to the various frequency response curves that Sean Olive's research at Harman tends to demonstrate are favoured by most consumers (look up Harman curves on the web). Here's Rting's measurements (their own targets are a slight modification relative to Harman's targets) : https://www.rtings.com/headphones/graph#1626/4011/1625
So I'm quite hopeful that Apple's (or Beats') upcoming over-ear headphones won't stray too far off these targets and will be decently well tuned.
That's very much unlike most over-ear or on-ear ANC BT headphones on the market today, none of which I've truly enjoyed so far. They all have a bloated bass response or significant and wild peaks and dips in the upper mids / lower trebles (Here's the B&W PX7, a total mess : https://www.rtings.com/headphones/graph#1619/4011), none of which can be effectively solved by the built in EQ if available given its limitations.
What I'd love to see is the introduction of sufficiently high resolution sensors to make a rough 3D map of the listener's ear (think Face ID but for your ears) and adjust the HP's frequency response to tailor that listener's specific ear shape (as our ears have a different shape they modify the frequency response depending on the sound source location differently). This could be used in combination with the user's Face ID data to create somewhat convincing personalised HRTF profiles. That could possibly help making spatial audio a lot more convincing than with generic HRTF profiles (I'm not expecting it to be convincing with the AirPods Pro).
That being said most of Apple's most detailed patents propose using lower resolution capacitance sensors for ergonomics reasons to detect left vs. right ear and the ear's orientation, so my guess is that the upcoming over-ear headphones will use sensors only for operational qualities and we'll have to wait for another or a few other generations to have higher resolution sensors for personalised sound quality enhancements.
If the HP can detect left vs. right ear and can be put on in both orientations this has a very profound impact on design as they will have to be mostly symmetrical, not just on the left / right axis, but also front / back, unlike most headphones on the market today. This may have posed an additional challenge in regard to SQ (no angled drivers and front/back asymmetrical ear cups), operational qualities, ergonomics / comfort, etc.
I would also expect Apple to propose something a bit more clever than a plain port for charging purposes.
And for the earpads to be stupidly glued and not user-replaceable, because, well... Apple / Beats
After I posted here last night I decided to go look at the latest from other brands— the H95 are $800! They’d have to really be something special. (They are brand new... I’ll keep An eye out for reviews, for sure. Price may come down later on those.) A lot of people who like the H6 have said positive things about the sound of the H9i and the H9 3rd gen... I guess we’ll see what apple’s offering sounds like. There are definitely things, as an iOS / Apple user, that any Apple product will have an advantage with in terms of features. Question may just be SQ.
Maybe it’s just the demographic of this forum, but I haven’t seen a lot of excitement about these, which makes me think Apple *could* get away with a release outside of a big event. Also, since everything is “virtual” these days anyways, they could do like the Magic Keyboard release and have a slick produced video to introduce these.
I tend to agree— I thought $350 sounded low for what Apple would likely position as their high end headphones. It’s always possible that they start in that ballpark and then go up based on whatever finish or options you might order (think Apple Watch, since the rumors say there will be magnetically attaching parts—ear pads and headband padding the report said, I think?— to enable customization, ie a way to make even more $$ off a device
). Rumors also suggested more of a “sport” finish for exercise and more refined materials for a more upscale version... I guess we’ll see. But yeah. I still figured their most premium version would probably be around $400.yeah I foolishly was hoping they'd do a press release-release in June for the AirPods Studio, haha. I am being tempted by some other brands wireless over-ear headphones, for sure. I do already have the AirPods Pro--which have been my first and only experience with ANC-- but want something that *doesn't* go in my ears.
Would You Be So Kind, Share More About XM4's. I'm Confused, When You Praise Them, @ The End You Say They Are Still Crap... Thx.. M
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I tend to agree— I thought $350 sounded low for what Apple would likely position as their high end headphones. It’s always possible that they start in that ballpark and then go up based on whatever finish or options you might order (think Apple Watch, since the rumors say there will be magnetically attaching parts—ear pads and headband padding the report said, I think?— to enable customization, ie a way to make even more $$ off a device
I do not think there will be much of an issue with eating into AirPods Pro sales, though...
I’m kinda hoping we see these announced next week myself. I’ve been using the AirPods Pro a lot for WFH and my ears are getting a bit fatigued from having them in so much.
For some reason I’ve been wondering about the charging port. Do we figure Lightning port? (Do Beats really still use micro USB?)
