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[Dear reader: The musical Giant played an extended run at the Public Theater from October 26th to December 16th, 2012. I saw the show twice, once in previews and once after it opened. Then I got caught up in the end of the semester at the Boston Conservatory, and blogging took a backseat to grading. Although Giant has closed, I'm publishing this belated review in anticipation of any future productions of the show, as well as the upcoming cast recording. --C.C.]
Periodically, I will see a show and have a negative reaction to it, only to discover that, when the reviews come out, my views on the show are at significant odds with the critical consensus. Now, I'm perfectly fine being the cheese that stands alone, but depending on the particular critical voices involved, I may decide to give the show a second chance.
This happened last year with A Minister's Wife, a show that left me cold upon first viewing. But some of my critical mentors and colleagues were far more positive about the show in their reviews, and these were people whose opinions I respect greatly. So I saw A Minister's Wife again, and developed a significant fondness for the show upon seeing it a second time. The cast recording has since become one of my favorites, and the score just keeps getting richer every time I listen to it.
Well, darned if something sort of similar didn't happen with Giant, the new Michael John LaChiusa musical that just finished an extended run at The Public Theater. The musical is based on the Edna Ferber novel of the same name (which was also made into the 1956 motion picture starring Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean.) I've never been much of a fan of LaChiusa. I generally find his shows intellectually admirable but sorely lacking in genuine human feeling. (Queen of the Mist being only the most recent example.)
I was encouraged when I heard that LaChiusa was working with a separate librettist on Giant, namely Sybille Pearson. (LaChiusa normally writes his own libretti.) Pearson did an admirable job on Baby, making what could have been a series of character types into sympathetic people. I thought perhaps that LaChiusa's artistic ambitions combined with Pearson's human touch might finally make for a LaChiusa musical that I could genuinely enjoy rather than merely admire.
Well, the first time I saw Giant, the show felt like your typical LaChiusa musical: too much ambition, not enough heart. It seemed as though LaChiusa and Pearson were trying to tell too much of the story from the original novel, and as a result the characters felt thin, the story attenuated. By the time I had a chance to start caring about a particular character, the book would introduce what seemed like an entirely new set of people, and the process would begin again. I left the theater resolved to write a review that essentially said that LaChiusa had failed me yet again.
Then the reviews came out, and I found that I was in a fairly significant minority in this respect. Many of my critical colleagues saw tremendous merit in Giant (including Terry Teachout, Steven Suskin, and Andy Propst), one of them even calling it a "masterpiece." Plus, my friend Geoff, one of my favorite people whom I've had the pleasure of meeting through my blogging experience, and whose opinion I also greatly prize, was similarly rhapsodic about the show.
So, I saw Giant again, a couple of weeks later, just to see if maybe I was missing something. However, I did not experience a change of heart about the show. I saw more to admire in terms of the craft, but I didn't become enamored of any of these people on stage, nor did I particularly care about their trials and travails. I did find myself with a greater appreciation of what LaChiusa and Pearson were trying to do with the show, but I was never transported, nor even fully diverted.
Giant covers a lot of chronological territory: from 1925 to 1952. The story involves a Texas ranch owner who impetuously marries an Eastern girl who has trouble fitting into his world. The rest of the show follows 27 years of their marriage, during which time the rancher feels pressure from various angles to allow oil companies to drill on his his land. There's also a significant subplot regarding racism toward the Mexicans that work and live on the ranch.
Clearly, Giant has Show Boat ambitions, which seems fitting, as Show Boat is also based on an Edna Ferber novel. But whereas Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern found ways of making the people real and the sweeping story comprehensible, LaChiusa and Pearson haven't achieved either. Apparently, the authors had major challenges getting the show down to three hours. (It was four hours in previous incarnations). But there are still too many characters, too many story lines, and not enough palpable human emotion.
Along the way, we're subjected to some rather stilted, purple dialog. At one point Bick (Brian d'Arcy James), the head rancher, says to Leslie, his soon-to-be wife (Kate Baldwin), "There's a stillness about you like the stillness in the Rockies." I mean, who talks like that? It's possible that line came straight from the book, but that doesn't mean it sounds realistic on stage. Later, during a moment of conflict, we hear the following interchange between the two:Leslie: That is an unreachable horizon. I've never seen such emptiness.
Bick: That's genuine freedom out there.
Again, not exactly a free-flowing, natural interchange. And later in the show, one of the characters spouts the following line: "The easier things get, the harder it is to be a good steward to the land." Yeesh.
Again, all of this may have come from Ferber, but as I say numerous times to my students, accuracy to one's source is neither desirable nor necessary. My Fair Lady changed George Bernard Shaw. West Side Story changed Shakespeare. What matters is what's right for the piece at hand, and too often, the dialog to Giant sounds like something out of a dime novel or a spaghetti western. Perhaps director Michael Greif could have infused the show with a bit more life, but the production as a whole felt like a series of static stage pictures and vistas rather than credible human interactions.
As for LaChiusa's score, I have to say that it seemed a lot more tuneful and purposeful the second time around, not unlike what happens with your typical Sondheim score. The show starts with a rather generic opening number: "Did Spring Come to Texas?" Yes, the song serves a purpose: it both establishes time and place and reveals character, specifically that of Bick. But really all we learn about Bick here is that he loves Texas. Later, Bick sings "Heartbreak Country," in which we're supposed to understand that Bick's love for his land has been causing the tension between him and his new wife, but it really felt more like a manufactured complication. (I mean, can't he love both his land and his wife? What's the big deal here?)
LaChiusa has more success later in the show crafting character numbers, particularly those for Bick's Uncle Bawley, played here with tremendous heart and passion by John Dossett. Bawley helps Bick reach two important epiphanies over the course of the show, and LaChiusa and Dossett came together to create two of the most moving and memorable moments in Giant: "Look Back/Look Ahead" and "A Place in the World."
What's more, LaChiusa sporadically reveals himself as a deft descendant of Rodgers and Hammerstein in crafting a "Soliloquy"-like number for Bick at the top of act two, and an ambitious musical confrontation scene between Bick and Leslie for the 11 o'clock position in the show. Both numbers show the promise of what Giant could have been, or perhaps could be some day, if the level of characterization and complexity of human emotion that both of these sequences evince could be sustained throughout the show.
The cast, for me, was a bit spotty. Brian d'Arcy James was rather stiff as Bick, and his line delivery felt forced, as if somehow through sheer vocal projection he was going to make his character epic. The lovely Kate Baldwin is still in fine, crystalline voice, and both times I saw the show, she exhibited laser-sharp acting choices. Michelle Pawk as Bick's sister, Luz, gave a disappointingly one-note performance, spewing each line as though she were aiming for a spittoon. As I also mentioned, John Dossett was far more effective here than when I last saw him on stage in...yeesh...Mamma Mia. And, to give you a sense of how over-populated Giant is with characters, how often does the wonderful Bobby Steggert get lost in the crowd? This is hardly Steggart's fault: his character (Bick and Leslie's son) is woefully underwritten. But, I ask you, to cast Bobby Steggart in a musical and then only give him a fraction of a song at the very end of the show? Criminal.
So, I'm genuinely glad that I gave Giant another chance, even if my second viewing only reaffirmed my resolve. Michael John LaChiusa remains for me a composer/lyricist of irreproachable ambition, and I genuinely look forward to the day when I see a show of his that matches that ambition with the execution that his ideas deserve.


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When director Darren Aronofsky introduced a packed-house advance screening of "The Wrestler" at the Toronto International Film Festival a few months ago, he seemed a little shell-shocked when he referred to it as "a gentle, small film."
When director Darren Aronofsky introduced a packed-house advance screening of "The Wrestler" at the Toronto International Film Festival a few months ago, he seemed a little shell-shocked when he referred to it as "a gentle, small film."
This happened to be a couple of days after "The Wrestler" took the grand prize — the Golden Lion — at the Venice International Film Festival.
Even now, Aronofsky hasn't quite gotten over that event. During a recent publicity stop in Boston, the Harvard graduate says, "It's great that people are really enjoying the film — that's why we do it. But it's way beyond our expectations. I fantasized about Mickey Rourke winning an award for his performance, but I never thought it was in any way possible to win a Golden Lion. That was the lesson. You never know what you're making. You can never ever tell."
It really is a small film, a character study about Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a former wrestling star who could fill Madison Square Garden. Now, 20 years later, he's a broken shell of a man, reduced to wrestling in front of 200 people … on a good night.
Aronofsky, who is known for eye-popping effects-filled films, including "Requiem for a Dream" and "The Fountain," started working seriously on the script for "The Wrestler" in 2005, but he'd been carrying around the idea since his film school days.
"When I graduated, I made a list of ideas that were possible for feature films, and one of them was for 'The Wrestler.' It came from the observation that there are so many boxing movies, and every other type of sports movies, but no one's ever looked at wrestling. I think that's because most people think it's fake, and they write it off as a joke. But is it fake when you jump off the top rope down onto the concrete, and you're 250 pounds?"
The story ended up being a three-way project with his producing partner, Scott Franklin, and scriptwriter Rob Siegel.
"Rob ended up doing about 25 drafts over the past couple of years to get us there," says Aronofsky, then adds, "You've got to make it work."
The original idea for the film was simply about a wrestler, not specifically an older one. But Aronofsky had no desire to work with World Wrestling Entertainment honcho Vince McMahon, who he felt would have tried to wrestle control away from him. He then thought of doing a period piece, set in the 1970s, before wrestling had grown into "sports entertainment." But he didn't have a big enough budget to go that route properly.
"So that's when we started to go to these independent shows, and saw some of the old-timers — Nikolai Volkov and Jimmy Superfly Snuka and Rocky Johnson," recalls Aronofsky. "Then I went to a few autograph signings and saw kind of how desperate that world was. There was a lot of sadness but there was also a lot of humor among these guys. They were great characters with great personalities. And the camaraderie was endless. Wrestling is theatrical. These guys would see each other every week, and they'd hang out and drink together and have fun — there's a whole family feel to it."
He knew he wanted Mickey Rourke as "The Ram" from the start, although there was a brief flirtation with Nic Cage in the role.
"I'd been a big fan of Mickey," says Aronofsky. "I love actors that are surprising. So when the idea of Mickey popped up in our heads, I thought it was interesting. But I didn't know if he could do the physicality. I had to get someone who could convincingly play a pro wrestler. I wanted someone who weighed 230, but Mickey was 190. But he said he'd put on 30 or 40 pounds of muscle, and he did it: 5,000 calories a day for six months, and lifting twice a day."
Rourke also went through a rigorous training regimen under the direction of former Wild Samoan Afa, and got so into the part, he insisted on actually cutting his forehead with a razor blade — a routine known in the wrestling word as gigging — on camera.
"I had heard about it, but didn't know exactly how they did it till I started doing the research," says Aronofsky. "I knew it would be dramatic so I was excited to photograph it. But I wish Mickey told me he was going to do it. We had spent a lot of money on a prosthetic to figure out how to do it, then Mickey said, 'No way. I'm gonna do it.' That's the type of actor he is."
But Aronofsky got a bigger surprise from a very different artist. At the end, just after the film's big fight finale, the song accompanying the closing credits is an original, written and sung by Bruce Springsteen, called "The Wrestler."
"I had absolutely nothing to do with it," admits Aronofsky. "He did it for Mickey. He's a big fan of Mickey's and he was hoping that Mickey would get an opportunity like this. When he heard about it, he just wanted to help him in any way he could. He was on tour in Europe, and Mickey wrote him a letter and sent him the script. Bruce read it and really liked the material. And while he was on tour, he wrote it and gave it to us for free."
"The Wrestler" opens on Christmas Day.
Ed Symkus can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.

subset: commoncrawl


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Mid-Week Links: Spin Cycle
September 29, 2011 Leave a comment
Marin has one of the best recreational cycling cultures in the country and a burgeoning commuter cycling culture, but everyday travel is typically done by car – you can blame our beautiful and formidable geography for that. Cycling For Everyone from Dutch Cycling Embassy gives a vision of how Marin could look if we embraced the bike in Terra Linda as much as we do on Mount Tam. The Pacific Sun has an excellent rundown on the political debate so far, from the Capitol to the Alto Tunnel.
The Greater Marin
It's so easy to focus on Marin and its foibles that sometimes we forget that other places are doing awesome things. Take Norfolk, VA, an active but small city of 242,000 people and one light rail that goes by the name of The Tide. The Tide is brand-spanking new and underwent the same issues SMART is dealing with today: cost overruns, plans cut short, and political opposition. After surviving that gauntlet, The Tide opened to great fanfare this past August. One month in, the Richmond Times-Dispatch examined how the city feels about it now. In a word, they're proud.
Marin County
- Of course, if RepealSMART gets its way, SMART will just be a failed dream. The anti-rail organization started gathering signatures for its repeal measure this week.
- In good news, MTC approved its $33.1 million SMART bailout (PDF) and recommended to the Federal Department of Transportation that it receive another $18 million (PDF) in federal funding for the accompanying bike/pedestrian path.
- The IJ has profiles on Town Council candidates for Corte Madera and San Anselmo, and Patch will host a candidate debate for San Anselmo on October 5.
- Tensions in Sausalito came to light when Councilmember Carolyn Ford filed battery charges against Vice-Mayor Mike Kelly for hitting her hand (rather hard) during a council meeting. Video at the link. Kelly has since apologized, but no word on whether the charges will be dropped.
- The empty seat left by Joan Lundstrom's retirement from the Larkspur City Council must be filled, either by a special election after the current election is over or by an appointment.
- Speaking of Larkspur, Piper Park is due for a makeover.
- San Rafael's Design Review Board approved the Fenix Live music venue for the heart of Fourth Street. You can hear the Board's deliberations here.
- Novato wants to sprawl, and, as much as it hates density, it loves its sprawl. Planners just approved a 3-unit-per-acre subdivision. Larkspur isn't much better after the sale of a pre-approved 5-unit-per-acre development. That one is just one block from downtown in a prime walkable development location. You can check out a possible site plan for Larkspur here (PDF, p. 13), although it may not be accurate because of the change in ownership.
- Ever wondered what the deal is with that empty commercial building at 520 Red Hill Avenue? Now you can find out.
The Golden Gate
Golden Gate issues deserve their own section this week because the sheer number of news items cries for special attention. It cries, we answer.
- Golden Gate Transit will install WiFi on all its buses, making it an even more attractive transit service. Cost is cheap, too: only $610,000 for the final cost. Take that, BART.
- Marin Transit wants to reopen their $15 million/year contract with Golden Gate Transit to provide local bus service in Marin. Marin Transit argues that GGT is overcharging by about 23%, while GGT argues the extra cost is due to regularly scheduled overtime. Sounds like GGT has a staffing problem.
- The Golden Gate National Recreation Area will be reconfigured under a preliminary general management plan with the aim of "connecting people with parks."


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In the bulk of literature about terrorism in India, one vital aspect has seldom been studied or researched - money behind terrorism. However, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, commonly known as '26/11' changed this to a great extent. In the immediate aftermath of the 26/11 attacks, the Indian government commissioned specialised agencies and enacted legislations in order to curb the money flow to terrorist and insurgent groups like LeT, IM, Maoists, and the ULFA.
eBook Edition also available


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Indiana's attorney general said Monday that he will work with his Illinois counterpart to investigate what he called the "grisly discovery" of more than 2,000 medically preserved fetal remains at the Illinois home of a late doctor who performed abortions in Indiana.
The first sexual experience for 1 in 16 U.S. women was forced or coerced intercourse in their early teens, encounters that for some may have had lasting health repercussions, a study suggests.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is making her first endorsement of a liberal challenger to an incumbent House Democrat, backing Marie Newman in the primary against eight-term Rep. Daniel Lipinski in Illinois.
Cokie Roberts, the daughter of politicians who grew up to cover the family business in Washington for ABC News and NPR over several decades, died Tuesday in Washington of complications from breast cancer. She was 75.
Watch the Sept. 17, 2019 full episode of "Chicago Tonight."
Pat Lohenry has loved miniatures for as long as she can remember. And as a teenager, she went from playing with them to making them. Today, her basement is full of her creations.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago has paid $80 million to victims of sexual abuse by clergy represented by a single law firm alone since 2000, the Minnesota-based attorney who heads the firm told reporters.
In 2010, Cheryl Strayed rather reluctantly agreed to write an unpaid online advice column under the name of "Dear Sugar." Those columns come to life in this beauty of a show, artfully adapted for the stage by Nia Vardalos ("My Big Fat Greek Wedding").
A new partnership between the Cook County State's Attorney's Office and a nonprofit could help clear tens of thousands of low-level marijuana convictions from Cook County records. State's Attorney Kim Foxx explains.
At a City Council hearing on Tuesday, committee members discussed a proposal to raise the city's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2021. Activists say it's long overdue. But could it hurt small businesses? We debate the issue.
The Lightfoot administration makes its first moves to regulate the recreational marijuana industry, releasing guidelines on where the new businesses can locate. And here's the catch: they're all outside the city's central business district.
Water line repairs can be a costly mess. But what if there was a way to fix old water mains without tearing up streets, and old trees? There actually is, and Chicago is dipping into the waters of this technology with a pilot program.
As Ken Burns' latest series "Country Music" airs on PBS, a look at Chicago's role in the history of country music with local band Big Sadie.
How some West Side residents are hoping to change the narrative of their community with a new safe space in the form of a museum.


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Carbon monoxide alarms are a good idea
I like to think of carbon monoxide alarms as seat belts in cars. You may never need it, but when you do, it may save your life.
Now the North Carolina Residential Building Code requires carbon monoxide alarms to be installed in all new homes. The inclusion of all homes ensures that if a family installs a gas appliance or attaches a garage at a later date, their family will already be better protected with a carbon monoxide alarm. When power outages occur, people occasionally make dangerous decisions by using a camp stove inside or locating a generator too close to a window.
Most people know carbon monoxide as the "silent killer." It is an odorless, colorless, tasteless gas that is produced when fuel burns. That is only part of the story. Anytime gasoline, kerosene, oil, propane, wood, coal or natural gas burns to produce power or heat, carbon monoxide is created. Examples that may be around your home include: the water heater, furnace, clothes dryer, space heater, grill or your car's exhaust. Think about fuel-burning equipment as a lung. A gas water heater has to inhale fresh air for combustion to occur, and then it exhales the gases that are produced, including carbon monoxide. The exhale is typically through a chimney, flue or exhaust pipe. Your home gets dangerous when the appliance or car exhales a little bit or a lot into your house.
What blows my mind is that for years I didn't realize that carbon monoxide can cause a number of health problems including headaches, dizziness, weakness, nausea, vomiting, chest pain and confusion. Often it will cause flu-like symptoms that clear up after you leave the site. I had always blamed those symptoms on something else and had never considered carbon monoxide as a possibility.
Most carbon monoxide alarms don't sound when there are low levels of carbon monoxide in your home. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that every year in the U.S., more than 20,000 people visit the emergency room for symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning.
I encourage family and friends to purchase a carbon monoxide alarm with a digital display. These types of alarms can be found in home improvement stores and cost about $40. The digital screen indicates the carbon monoxide concentration, but this will only be effective if you pay attention to it. Put it somewhere where you can see the display. If the display shows anything other than 0, something is putting carbon monoxide into your home and you'll need to figure out what. Perhaps your furnace needs to be serviced, or you forgot to turn on the exhaust fan while you were cooking on your gas stove. At the very least, you'll know there is a problem in your home that needs to be solved.
Whether you purchase a fancy monitor or a simple alarm, everyone should have a carbon monoxide alarm in his or her home.
Follow these tips from the CDC to stay safe:
Do have your heating system, water heater and any other gas, oil or coal burning appliances serviced by a qualified technician every year.
Do install a battery-operated CO detector in your home and check or replace the battery when you change the time on your clocks each spring and fall. If the detector sounds, leave your home immediately and call 911.
Do go to an outdoor fresh air space and seek prompt medical attention if you suspect CO poisoning and are feeling dizzy, light-headed or nauseous.
Don't use a generator, charcoal grill, camp stove or other gasoline or charcoal-burning device inside your home, basement or garage or near a window.
Don't run a car or truck inside of a garage attached to your house, even if you leave the door open.
Don't burn anything in a stove or fireplace that isn't vented.
Don't heat your house with a gas oven.


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Even Jude's measurements show a spike at 10kHz, but none of them (except maybe the last one) show a spike that's like 6db higher than the 3kHz spike. In fact, in most graphs, the 10kHz spike is a db or two lower than the 3kHz one.
Head-Fi Contradicts InnerFidelity Sony MDR-Z1R Measurements
Out on my morning web surf and I stumble onto a bombshell on the front page of Head-Fi:
"Sony MDR-Z1R Measurements: Head-Fi HQ's compared to InnerFidelity's"
That article links to a much more comprehensive post in the Z1R thread by Jude Mansilla, Head-Fi's Founder. It seems Jude's measurements are somewhat different than mine, particularly in terms of the peak in response around 10kHz. Here are the two plots in question:
InnerFidelity Frequency Response
Head-Fi's Frequency Response
It's important to note here that the Head-Fi plots are compensated plots and are best compared with the top blue and red traces in the InnerFidelity plot. It's also important to note that it is somewhat unwise to compare plots between different systems as they will vary. And lastly it's also worth noting that Head-Fi's system is of excellent quality. There's a description in the linked post above and I'm jealous...very nice gear.
In Jude's post he concludes:
What's our conclusion? Right now, we'll assume that perhaps Tyll has an outlier Sony MDR-Z1R. n=3 across two different measurement setups isn't enough to come to a conclusion. If Tyll will allow us to measure the MDR-Z1R he has, that would certainly be helpful. We'll also be receiving at least one other production MDR-Z1R, and we'll measure that, too. Based on what we've heard here (and also on hearing other MDR-Z1R's)--and based on many reviews/impressions that predated the publishing of Tyll's measurements--we'll also assume for the moment that our impressions and measurements are more representative of the MDR-Z1R's that are out in the wild.
Bit by bit:
"Right now, we'll assume that perhaps Tyll has an outlier Sony MDR-Z1R."
I've found assuming a poor idea. Usually I'll try to think of a number of possibilities and then move toward gathering evidence that points towards a conclusion. It could be that I have an outlier, but it might be that Jude's compensation curve has a big bump at or near 10kHz. I'd certainly like to see the compensation curve used, and I'd really like to see the raw measurements from his HATS (head and torso simulator).
"If Tyll will allow us to measure the MDR-Z1R he has, that would certainly be helpful."
Absolutely, and back attcha. Let's trade headphones and re-measure. I'll shoot Jude an email.
"...we'll also assume for the moment that our impressions and measurements are more representative of the MDR-Z1R's that are out in the wild."
Yeah...that assume stuff. Given other measurements available on the web, I think there is a significant peak at 10kHz. Let's take a look:
From Speakerphone:
Raw Frequency Response Measurements
Cumulative Spectral Decay
From PMR Reviews:
Frequency Response
From Superbestaudiofriends.org:
Frequency Response
CSD Left
CSD Right
CSD Foam Coupler
From SBAF Member spawth:
Frequency Response
Again, comparing measurements from a number of rigs is rife with potential miss-assumptions, but it does look like there is a significant feature at 10kHz in all of them.
Since Jude has measured three Z1R headphones on his system that measure similar to each other and without such a feature, I'm lead to believe his system is measuring repeatably. Possible sources of this error might be (in order of likelyhood from my experience):
- The geometry of his head may be different than mine and may not measure the 10kHz area the same as mine. It's clear from Audeze's comments about measurements on various systems that this might be the case.
- His compensation curve has a feature at 10kHz that is reducing the peak in the headphones. Peaks at or around 10kHz are common in these curves. Here are commonly used DF and FF curves, both show elevated high frequency energy or peaks:
- Frequency response repeatability at high frequencies is know to be riddled with error. Small differences in headphone position can make all the difference. It's possible that Head-Fi's method for positioning the headphone on the head for measurement is generally different than mine and may result in differences in high frequency measurements.
- The headphones that i have are indeed not representative of currently produced product.
Personally, I'm inclined to believe #1 above, but I'd really need to see the raw data to move forward on that thought. Jude willing, I'd be very happy to pursue this further.
I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
The Speakerphone graph is uncompensated. Diffuse-field compensated it shows quite a peak at 10kHz.
See: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-tviKM8RJVsY/WKm3RCV4M8I/AAAAAAAAFh4/H...
I'd say this specific measurement is the most comparable to Tyll's and Jude's setup, as the others are all flat plate couplers whereas Speakerphone uses a Cheek and Pinna Simulator.
Additionally the CSD plots suggest ringing at that frequency across all the systems.
I made the last measurement. That spike is much bigger than others. I would not necessarily trust mine completely. My measurement rig is a piece of leather and some felt tapped to a broken lamp. But it does seem relatively accurate for most measurements.
... as evidenced by being so insecure that his mods remove references to SBAF. I mean, that's insane.
I think all of us would just like some consistency in Measurement AND Production. These TOTL hp's cost waaaay too much money for these differences to show up.
It's will interesting to discover where the inconsistencies lay....maybe they are in both Production and Measurement???
I don't think there is a consistency problem with these headphones.
Every measurement rig will have discrepancies when compared to another measurement rig. But several headphones of the same make and model should measure very similar in the same rig.
Based on what we are seeing from even different measurement setups, I think it's clear that the headphones Tyll has do represent the product well, and Jude's measurement rig paints a better picture than most every other measurement rig from a variety of different sites.
I can't agree simply because we have a distinct lack of hard data to support things either way. I would guess things have improved, especially in the past just few years it seems like there's been a movement towards tangible objective improvements across the industry, and I'd be willing to bet that has helped improve quality consistency. There's likely to be outliers though, and some of these companies treat things more like a boutique production, where variability almost seems to be a desired trait.
I really liked how the HD-800 came with frequency response plot of each individual pair for the owner. I wondered how many pairs were tested and compared to the Sennheiser measurements.
Plenty of HD800s have been tested. The HD800 in particular is a very consistent headphone across samples when measured.
Same could be said about HD6x0, PortaPros, KSC75s, HD202, Beyerdynamic classic line, ...
Measurement setup variation can be dramatic however. Specially when using a body and head model and when lacking experience, which unfortunately I think is Jude's case.
How well did they matchup with the Sennheiser provided plots?
Definitely there have been some that are the model of consistency, which is why I don't know that it is a big issue, although in this sorta odd high end boutique niche they've always seemed a bit...off. Some definitely were better (one reason why the HD-800 is so lauded even though plenty of people say it isn't quite to their liking) than others.
They do match up with regards to peak locations and general tilt.
There is a plenty of high frequency magnitude variability due to pads being "broken in" or not as well.
All of the above is why I personally measure the headphones by ear as a check and recommend everyone to do that. It's a reasonably quick process involving sine sweeps and results often match ones from good measurement rigs almost to a point. With minor wideband differences in compensation. (Less than 3 dB.)
and results beyond 8K are infamously prone to small adjustments and changes from HATS, mic positioning, etc.
They might be all right.
The final proof is in the (eating of the) pudding.
Do note my measurements are of the same pair as the SBAF pair, but different measurement rig
Do take into account of the graph scaling which obviously has a great effect on how the graph looks. It's not a very good idea to compare graphs that's scaled differently.
IMO the best way to show off a new measuring rig is comparing it to standard used by most enthusiasts, in this case Innerfidelity.
Jude needed something to call attention to his new fancy rig and that's about it.
Anyway lets asume I'm biased because I don't really like or want to like Jude and what Head-Fi represents, glad at least Sony is not their sponsor, some companies don't really need all that hype train.
This will end with something a long the lines of "Oh we made a little mistake and we are sorry for all the commotion but look we promise we will use our new rig better next time"...
Jude says he's a fan of the Sony.
I'd say he's a big fan of everything, he only uses superlatives.
Tyll & Co. are the Scientists in the Room.
Has Sony Hi-Fi ever been anything more than Mid-Fi?
Sony's A7 Camera is quite good by Canon 5d Standards, their Pro Video stuff is pretty good ( not quite a RED ).
People buy Sony because they want Sony, they've never heard of Audeze or Focal or probably Stax for god's sake.
I'll bet these Sonys are better than those pretty Beats.
Tony in Michigan
Sony has made some pretty boutique audio gear over the years. Sure a lot of their stuff is fairly generic consumer stuff and I've found it to be somewhat lacking.
But even in headphones the R10s and Qualias have legendary status. Something interesting to note is that there was even talk about bass light/heavy versions of I think the R10s, so it seems that there were production differences. I always found it odd that people seemed ok with that, when to me it seemed to indicate an issue, and on such an expensive item.
I've hear a "legendary" R10. I have a lot of respect for the owner, but it was not just bass lite. It was a complete mess. I was told the driver degrades over time. If that is the case, it is likely that this was not a production difference issue. It was a production longevity issue.
I don't think that's the problem in the MRD-Z1R case discussed here. Those things just came out.
Again, I could be wrong but I don't think this is a Sony production variability problem. I think it's more likely that Jude lacks experience in audio characterization, and may lack some critical listening skills. He is pretty experienced in running audio forums for commercial purposes though.
Yup. I think R10's will be all over the place probably due to driver degradation. Here are my impressions when I heard them:
I didn't measure them, but it seems Bill-P did:
@Tony in Michigan,
I always enjoy reading your comments.
Wanted to clarify on the Sony comment. I do own stuff from Audeze, Hifiman, Sennheiser, JH Audio, Stax, Shure, Cypher Labs, Alo Audio, Chord and so on and the Z1Rs are my first Sony audio purchase in a long time. Yes they are largely a midfi company but from time to time companies do surprise with innovation (Focal was a surprise recently with their headphones while they have been good with larger drivers). While this thread is about measurements and the discussion is both good and important, I am curious where this topic goes because I am impressed with the Z1Rs. I enjoy listening to music on them and was surprised by how negatively they have been discussed here. This hasn't happened for the longish time I have been following this site. I think Sony has come up with a good product and feel sad about them getting this negative buzz.
I'm certain that most folks will be delighted with their Sony Gear, just like folks being satisfied with their Toyota cars. ( I've always wished that my GM could build as well as Toyota )
If I were Sony, I'd ignore the high end of headphones and push for a Global acceptance.
Measurement data is a wonderful catalyst for deep rooted argumentation that only more measurement will begin to resolve. I'll trust Tyll & JA when it comes to measurement but I'll buy on sound quality and probably ignore the graphs. ( kinda like Katz )
This topic goes to Insanity unless there is repeatable consistency which seems unlikely because these transducers are working with such low energy levels. ( just a tiny increase in energy will yield 3db difference).
I'll simply apply digital signal processing to accommodate my personal Ear's response characteristics and live happily ever after.
These latest high end headphones are secondary to the much larger Format change that we're about to embrace : "Streaming", we're about to have access to much higher quality sound sources.
Tony in Michigan
Hiya Tony in Michagan:
What about...
1) Sony MDR-R10 "King" Headphone
2) Sony MDR-7520 Headphone (and other Sony Pro headphones used is broadcast studios worldwide and headphone entusiasts also)
3) Sony SS-R10 Electrostatic Speakers
4) Sony SS-M9ED Loudspeakers
5) Sony TA-NR1 Power Amplifier
6) Sony TA-NR10 Power Amplifier
7) Sony SCD-1 SACD Player
8) Sony DAS-R10 DAC / Matching CD Drive
How's everything in Michegan?
I finally got round to looking up all these Sonys on Google images.
This is nice stuff, indeed.
But it's not High-End like the stuff you'd see at LAAS 2017!
True HighEnd stuff sits on the floor, not in Racks.
There are no $50,000 Sony interconnects or $25,000 to $125,000 Sony Reference Speaker Cables that need 300 to 400 hours of proper break-in. ( maybe considerably more )
I didn't see a Sony Record Player, hmm, can't quite be HighEnd without a proper Vinyl playback with $15,000 MC phono pick-up, can it?
To top it all off, Sony has way too much distribution, high-end stuff like darTZeel have only "One" dealer in the entire USA ( for gods sake ), it can't be high end if anyone can buy the stuff. (can it?)
Sony is nice stuff for "Everyman" not quite twitchy enough for true High-end believers.
Tony in Michigan
ps. Although, a person might get "special" dispensation if they happen to buy some of those Sony SSR-R10 Electrostatic Speakers.
next time get your fact right in first place..don't try to cover up like this.Or apologize perhaps??
what am I to apologize for ???
Tony in Michigan
"Mid" fi and is such a silly term. It is devoid of meaning because everyone moves the goalpoast.
There are no out of the box "hi-fi" headphones out there. They don't exist. Not even boutique top of the line stuff. (This includes Stax, ZMF, Audeze, Hifiman and top Sennheisers.)
Best ones can be made high fidelity either with a mod or equalizer or both - and then a spatial simulator on top.
In fact out of the box the closest seems to be Sennheiser HD 650/6xx or ZMF Eikon. Note few thousand dollar difference between these two, and neither are the most expensive.
The definition of high fidelity involves a played back recording being true to life. There are no tiers in it, only smooth comparisons.
MDR-Z1 are decent but definitely nowhere near the best bang for buck you can get in these terms. The resonance is audible but not getting to terrible levels. However, such issues are very hard to get rid of, even with mechanical modifications. The FR needs eq to sound lifelike.
About the only place they excel is at bass (except subbass) reproduction.
in my experience, having extensively tried almost every hp under 2500 bucks, i can certainly say that the akg models, from k712 to the new K872, are in another world in comparison
This (the Sony as well as the issues seen with the Audeze and Focal) might be just some fairly minor hiccups in early production runs or even fairly anomalous units, but I think this might be a symptom of an issue that seems like more and more people are starting to notice. Companies are definitely listening to feedback (and especially when it can be pointed to objectively, they know what to address), and often release products that "fix" the issue. But, that is becoming an issue itself, in that has consistently come with a substantial price increase. So its like they get to have people beta test a production run, tweak it, and then since they fixed some issue they can justify a price hike.
I think there is some evidence that Audeze had (and may continue to have) issues with their drivers.
I think Focal send a Utopia headphone to Tyll that was not very representative of the final production unit. But what is out there in the field does seem very consistent. I measured two Utopias, and both units measured remarkably the same. This BTW was repeated and shown by Tyll on a separate article in which he measured way more than two Utopia cans, and those measurements were fairly similar.
I don't think Sony had some hiccups though (aside from apparently producing an overpriced lack luster product).
We'll see how the measurements compare when Jude's headphone makes its way to IF (and visa versa).
However, does anybody else think it's a bit crappy how Tyll wasn't contacted about that article before it hit the front page of HF? Normally when you have a big discrepency like that and want to make a story about it, it's common courtesy to reach out beforehand to the person you're referencing and trade notes, or at least let them know what you're planning to. Not to mention, the article itself sounds vaguely accusatory and incredulous. It's as though Jude is questioning how Tyll could have come to the conclusions he did and is using his (Jude's) own measurements to prove a point, rather than highlighting a measurement and impressions discrepancy and suggesting possible causes, as Tyll has done in this article.
I agree with this comment. It's best to put everything out there to get to the bottom of things. Everybody learns more in the end.
I would definetly like to see a standard in the way Headphones are measured across the board. At the end is a good thing that Tyll and Jude collaborate on this issue. also sorry to say that I like the Z1r lol
Rather than Tyll and Jude exchanging headphones for measurements, I'd much prefer they listen to each one side by side and compare how they sound. In the end that's all that matters.
I like Head-Fi and I like Innerfidelity. I appreciate how you keep it professional and don't get trapped into what some people want to see (a bit of drama). If I read your you right through what you publish, you probably find this interesting and want to explore it to reach some better understanding for you and your audience. I'm sure Jude would find it equally beneficial for you two to work together on this. Looking forward to the process and I hope you both document your interactions, research and conclusions on this matter.
Despite not being a 100% reliable method, especially when ear simulators are involved, one can always compare the measurements of other (known to be consistent from pair to pair) headphones in both rigs (Innefidelity and HeadFi). If they differ similarly in the 9-10kHz region then the rigs/compensations are responsible for the exposed differences on Z1r measurements.
Here we have Innerfidelity (thicker trace) and HeadFi(thinner trace) measurements of Z1r scaled and overlapped so the difference is clearer:
Here we have measurements for the consistent HD650 on both rigs for the sake of comparison (IF:darkblue-red / HF:lighter blue): https://s23.postimg.org/nl0a6bfh7/hd650_Tyll_Jude.png
We can see a ~10dB difference in the 9kHz region here.
Here's also the same kind of graph comparing Utopia measurements on both rigs (IF:darkblue-red / HF:lighter blue):
We can see a ~10dB difference in the 9kHz region here as well.
Me x3
It comparatively shows how the different rigs produce different results in the absolute sense.
Not sure I agree with this.
I believe the plots being compared in me klasse's post above are both compensated/corrected.
To get a better feel for the difference in "absolute" measurements between the two rigs, I think you'd have to compare the raw _uncorrected_ FR plots of both systems. Or possibly FR plots corrected with the same _type_ of compensation curve.
Diffuse Field is the most common. But I believe Tyll still uses an Independent of Direction HRTF for all his compensated plots.
I don't know what Jude is using for his compensated plots, but I sort of doubt that it's an IoD function.
It has been stated here before that the Head Acoustics IoD correction curve (which is what Tyll uses) results in more prominent peaks in the 9 to 10 kHz range on compensated plots than the Diffuse Field curve. That's because the IoD curve has a "dip" in that frequency range, rather than a peak...
I don't think it's easy to compare results from two different measurement rigs.
I'd agree it's a difficult proposition under any circumstances, unless you really know your way around both systems. Using the same type of compensation curve should theoretically make it somewhat easier though.
I don't know what Jude is using for his compensated plots, but I sort of doubt that it's an IoD function.
After looking at the fine print in Jude's post, it appears that he is indeed using some sort of Diffuse Field compensation...
The frequency response measurements reflect diffuse field correction applied via the APx555's input EQ.
That may account for some of the difference, since Tyll is using a different type of compensation curve, namely the Independent of Direction HRTF, which is probably not as forgiving in the 9 kHz range as the DF curve.
Jude is also using a different head & torso simulator, the G.R.A.S. 45BB-12 KEMAR, while Tyll is using one by Head Acoustics. The differences between the two HATS systems could perhaps be somewhat mitigated though if they were both using comparable DF compensation curves appropriate to each system.
And as others have pointed out, it looks like Jude is probably using more smoothing on his compensated plots.
Since they're using different HATS systems (and probably also different smoothing), I would not expect Jude's raw/uncorrected plots to look the same in the treble as the raw Inner Fidelity plots. There could be more of peak at 9 to 10 KHz on Jude's raw G.R.A.S. plot than on his compensated plot. Or it could just be smoothed away.
Now, about those Audeze and Focal HPs... ; )
To get a better feel for the difference in "absolute" measurements between the two rigs, I think you'd have to compare the raw _uncorrected_ FR plots of both systems. Or possibly FR plots corrected with the same _type_ of compensation curve.
I need to correct my above statement.
If there's no difference in sound quality between the two headphones being measured, then the raw plots with no compensation should show the difference (if any) between the two HATS systems.
Performed correctly, Diffuse Field compensation should show the difference (if any) between the two headphones, irrespective of any differences between the two HATS systems.
Sorry for any confusion on this.
Diffuse field compensation is not quite a standard you make it. Unless you have the actual compensation curve, you're essentially guessing as to what it is.
.and post opinions...good and bad.
It appears there's a bit of a trend forming where folks get defensive when something critical is posted lately..especially involving waveforms..and then question the process to defend the gear they like, or perhaps have vested interest in.
Absolutely the science behind measurements..and methods used..should be examined and understood. And provide comparisons where/when possible.
However the reviewers that we seek input from...and I would consider Tyll and Jude tops on that list...should be able to post their: analysis, findings, data, review, suggestion, or criticism, without worrying about back-and-forth questioning of their review or stance.
The talkbacks on this site do a great job of both: agreeing with tyll in times that he's critical as well as offering differening opinions when folks own and love the gear that he didnt connect with.
Peace .n. Living in Stero
Let's look at that SBAF Graph.
From my eye, the frequency reponse (FR) looks ok, from 20 Hz to 70 Hz. (+/- 3dB, ok +/- 1). Then it begins to fall off rapidly until 2K.
From 60 to 10 kHz there seems to be a major suck-out, and the 10K I see as a recovery in FR. Ok, there's a bigger suck out from 2K to 10K.
It reminds me of the frequency response of the Sure SM-58 Vocal Microphone.
Only the FR of the '58 is better!
What's up with headphones?
You wish an transducer quality that is at least equivalent to a microphone.
Let's look at a Earthworks M50 (not a great one but ok) :
3Hz to 50kHz ± 1/-3dB (Frequency Response)
140dB SPL (Max Acoustic Input / Playback SPL with low relevant THD) so you can do 24-bit (23.25)
you're really comparing apples and oranges here.
You can not - ABSOLUTELY NOT - compare frequency responses of microphones and loudspeakers, let a lone microphones and headphones.
They are not measured the same way, and represent very different qualities of the specimen.
The only thing they have in common is that they can accurately be called "frequency response".
But this term describes different things for headphones/speakers and microphones.
I do not agree with the statement at all.
Guess what you measure headphones or loudspeakers with? Is it perhaps a microphone?
In the olden days, the measurement rigs compensated their capsules more mechanically than digitally, but in the end, there's always a microphone.
Now headphones vs loudspeakers, we have additional variables, like the room, distance, positioning of the microphone and so on.
For comparison, let's look at the Magico M5 Loudsepaker:
Ok, it's got a bit of a bass suckout (+/- 2 dB) at around 40, which bass heads won't prefer.
But we're literally talking about deviations of about 1 dB (or at most 2.5 dB) from a reference line for the entire frequency spectrum (20 Hz to 20 kHz).
Let's look at the Magico Q5 Loudspeaker now:
The graphs are equivalent to Tyll's now, visually.
Shouldn't headphone FR be like this?
At least to sound representative of the recorded frequency spectrum.
Your graph shows a roughly linear frequency response in the audible band (20 Hz - 20 kHz).
This is roughly the target for loudspeakers, yes. (There's a bit more to it to make a speaker that sounds good in a room, but a linear frequency response as measured in an anechoic measuring chamber is a good starting point)
However the target for headphones is very, very different. Mostly because you can't really measure headphones the way you measure speakers - you measure headphones on artificial heads, and not with a measurement microphone in an anechoic chamber.
This means that the various resonances of the ear canal etc play a great role.
Long story short:
The target FR for headphones as measured on a dummy head (professionally called: coupler) is very much not linear.
For further research read up on Harman's latest research concerning this very topic (ideal frequency response for headphones, conducted by Dr. Sean Olive and Todd Welti)
There is no "target" for headphones, even if we're talking average HRTF over big populations which nobody has measured ever.
All alleged "targets" are guesswork by someone who thought "it sounds right" or more scientifically, derived by comparison with reference speakers in a reference room.
Unless you're talking IEC curves which are known to be a mediocre guess and there are a few revisions thereof for various measurements too.
Even then, the exact compensation curve and measurement technique has to be specified. There's an IEC standard for that!
Ok, I'll disagree with you on the first point ("you are really comparing") and take up your second.
Shouldn't there then be a frequency response chart that shows deviation?
I don't have a Neuman KU81i or KU 100, so I don't know how far down the microphone capsules go on a typical binaural head used for headphone measuring - the best I've got is a Sennheiser MKE 2002 which has the microphone capsules, externally.
It's a pretty shit device, but was a pretty fun toy.
Others might have much better binaural heads for headphone measuring : it's typically used for binaural enthusiast (re: nature) recording.
I gave a pretty shit microphone comparison.
For example, if you want to record 100K, you get something like a Sanken.
It's FR is pretty shit, like headphones, but you can at least digitally introduce a compensation (given you have a recorded reference).
It's got a wider FR than a Neuman, though.
Do you really want more than a +/- 0.5 dB variation?
I'm not sure I'm really into Harmans headphone response curve.
For playback their M2 Monitor, recommended by Franco Filipetti, is apparently a pretty decent bargain.
The reason I'm bringing up speakers and microphones on the topic of deviation is that I believe it brings something to offer to the conversation.
If the microphone capsule is not too deep on the binaural head (not a full represenation of a ear, full canal, drum, etc.) then you will at least get some direct recorded sound.
Then, like a loudspeaker played back in a room, you just have to deal with refelctions, etc.
Most Stereophile measurements you will find (I know this is InnerFidelity) are done in home garages and such (and not anechoic chambers) with microphones like the ol' DPA (now B&K) etc.
As a consumer, I don't expect a lot of variation, unit to unit (as do not most, here), and I would like a flat FR.
I am a big collector of headphones (as they're cheaper than speakers, and easier to store: less space), but was most disappointed when I heard the Focal Utopia headphones.
Actually, completely disappointed.
I was thinking of purchasing the Focal Grande Utopia III EM Loudpeakers for front and Focal Scala Utopia III 2's for rears for a home theatre, and couldn't believe how shitty the Utopia headphones sounded by comparison.
Perhaps that's why I got to comparing headphones and speakers. Same manufacturer, same product name. :)
As to headphone FR, in particular, a pair of Atomic Floyd Power Jax headpones which I purchased, which I found quite durably made - a great in-ear headphone feature - had absolutely magnificently poor FR, in terms of deviation.
Oh well, life is life.
Since microphones are used to record headphone FR, I think it is fair to compare microphone FR with headphone FR.
Since headphones are often touted as an inexpensive replacement (the same quality for less money) for speakers, I think it is fair to bring up speaker FR as opposed to headphone.
Sennheiser for example, made really wonderful microphones before making a decent consumer headphone.
Their MKH 800 48 is really nice, today.
I had some of their headphones like the 560 and 560 II Ovation, and while they were beautiful, and luxuriously comfortable: the sound was shit.
It wasn't really until their 580 that the sound of their headphones got good, and comparable to a Rotel / NHT (non Michi) system.
In terms of binaural playback their 800 is stunning!
The full 360 sphere is properly played back (from a recording with a Neuman KU81i or 100) unless every other headphone.
I love my stax, but I'll give it to Sennheiser for making both a great collection of microphones, and a decent headphone too.
Likely, I'll pick up this Sony, but I sure wish headphone FR with respect to flatness would be improved.
It's such a simple system. +/- 0.5 dB should be achievable.
You echo the frustrations of many of us.
With proper correction, I believe a flat frequency response target for headphones is possible. And it's one of the things I'm working toward for my equipment. But I'm an optimist. And only do this as a hobby.
To really be useful, a headphone target probably needs to be adaptable for different measurement systems (HATS), and also different designs (in-ear, on-ear, over-ear). And maybe also different room simulations.
Harman's headphone target is certainly a step in the right direction. But its application is limited, because it was only designed for one measurement system (G.R.A.S.). And some of us feel that its modeling of room FX is not accurate enough, and too subjective.
I haven't heard the new Focal Utopia btw. It employs a fairly radical new design though (based on what I've read here). And there are bound to be some growing pains associated with that.
Personally, I wouldn't model room effects at all (only keep partial HRTF), as this limits what headphones can reproduce - they are much worse for video games that use advanced sound positioning systems then while not being notably better for recordings mastered for speakers.
You will want a spatial simulator regardless for the latter.
We own a KU100 at the company.
The Neumann KU100 is a binaural microphone, but it is absolutely not usable for headphone measuring. It's ears are "hard" (they do not fold like real ears), which makes proper placement of the headphone impossible for all but the largest Over-Ear Headphones. You could maybe stick a HD800 on there, but not anything smaller.
Its microphones are located at the EEP (ear canal entrance point), meaning that while there is a proper concha ("ear"), there is no ear canal in this dummy head.
The purpose of the KU100 is to create dummy head recordings, and for this ear canals are not needed.
But they are necessary for proper headphone measurements, because the resonance inside the ear canal changes with the acoustical impedance (not the electrical impedance) of the headphone.
Also the ears of the KU100 are not airtight, so when you try to measure a headphone on it you will always find it lacking the proper seal to achieve linear bass. (Bass is inherently linear below the resonance frequency of the driver as long as the volume between ear and headphone is sufficiently sealed and smaller than the wavelength of the sound, this is called the "pressure chamber effect"). The KU100 does not have an airtight ear assembly, which makes it impossible to achieve any kind of seal with a headphone.
That's just because it is designed as a microphone, not a measurement rig.
The pressure chamber effect is also the reason for why you don't have to concern yourself with reflections - because the wavelengths are much longer than the volume you're working in, practically all of the audio spectrum (and in the case of in-ear monitors: ALL of the audio spectrum) is happening before the lowest "room mode", in other words before you have to consider sound as a wave, an not just a change in pressure.
Proper measurement rigs are something like the G.R.A.S. KEMAR, or Tyll's HATS. They have ear canals with the exact same acoustical impedance as an actual ear canal + ear drum has.
They are also specified in the IEC711 / IEC318 (and a few other norms).
The problem is that "Flat" FR is not the goal for headphones. A headphone that measures completely flat sounds absolutely wrong.
That is because when you listen to a linear speaker and would measure the FR that arrives INSIDE your ear, it's not linear anymore (due to a lot of effects).
The actual target for headphones is a matter of debate.
The discussion for the target FR for speakers has been settled ("linear on-axis FR in an anechoic chamber, controlled sound power"), but the discussion for headphones is ongoing.
Researchers have opted for a free-field compensation curve in the past, changed to a diffuse-field compensation curve in the 80s and 90s (if I remember correctly), and Sean Olive's current research has found different results.
Audeze has a different target curve, Bose uses a different target curve again. Sennheiser uses a modified diffuse-field curve as their target for the HD800, and other target curves for other headphones.
Since there is no general consensus about the target FR of headphones, I find it impossible to compare "compensated" frequency response charts, simply because the compensation itself is not agreed upon. And this is also the exact reason why Tyll's and Jude's measurements appear so very different - they are using different compensation curves.
I don't think Tyll's IoD-compensation is a good compensation curve, which is why I never look at his compensated plots but only at the actual uncompensated, "raw" measurements.
Hey Tyll, Looking your graphs and listening to your suggestion, i've bought my best audio equipment, and my liking are similar to yours, excepts for the highs quantity. I love bright headphones, but the problem in these hp is not only in that spike in the highs, but also (and for me this is the most important issue) that incredible amount of bass that orribly bleed into the Mids. That kind of meaty, slow timbre that suffocate every voices. We can speak about the evidences, but everybody knows that a Momentum is a brown coprolite, every beats model will never be a good choice for a music lover, and in the Sony lineup there's not a single masterpiece of a headphone like audeze can do. Jude is a sales man and sometime this isore evident. Sorry for my english.
I read once an observation on the evolution of an audio buff. It begins at the first stage of a hi-fi newbie : "Give me the bass !", then it evolves into more sophisticated "Give me the mids !" and it reaches peak with "Give me the treble" ! Some people never leave the launch pad of bass.
Review ORA GQ headphones https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/413314819/ora-the-worlds-first-grap...
The creators of these headphones made a design error. 40mm driver of ORA GQ is not large enough.
Did Tyll trashed headphones which you have and value ?
this will be good for everyone (including sony and consumers) if together jude and tyll can elucidate what's going on. I'm a little surprised given how well they know each other and given what tyll has done for the community that jude didn't go to tyll first. When I first read jude's post my impression was that it smacked of arrogance (look what i found that tyll didn't). maybe that's innacurate but that was my feeling. regardless, it might have been far more expedient had jude immediately just reached out to tyll before writing a lengthy and time and energy consuming "well, this is what i found" post. If he had gone to tyll first, then it would have politely given tyll a chance to correct his error, and jude wouldn't have had to lift a finger. But if it turns out tyll's findings are more accurate than jude's, then the onus is on jude. Either way, jude's approach was not one i would have taken. Tyll seems to have taken the higher road in the manner of his response. thanks for that, tyll.
This is still not an apples to apples comparison imo because Jude appears to be using more smoothing. But it's getting closer.
First Tyll's graph. For those who can't read, the raw/uncompensated plot is the gray curve...
Here's Jude's raw plot scaled to about the same dimensions...
And here's another higher resolution graph of Jude's raw plot...
So what say you all? Did one of these guys get a bad unit? Or is it differences in rigs, operators, smoothing, etc.?
There are obviously differences between the two in the treble. But we can't blame the compensation curves for that now, because both plots are uncompensated.
Am I missing something? Where did Jude publish his uncompensated curves?
Am I missing something? Where did Jude publish his uncompensated curves?
I found Jude's uncompensated plots here...
If you click on his thumbnails, it will display the larger graphs. These were posted in response to Tyll's comments here...
I'm still playing catch-up on this discussion as well btw. So I don't know if Jude has also posted _unsmoothed_ versions of his graphs yet.


text:
Promoting Designers
Are Design Competitions Effective Platforms to Promote Designers and Create Awareness? Depends On The Platform
Design competitions are very effective platforms to promote designers and create an awareness for good design, however like the power of the atom, when harnessed in the wrong way, and when falls into wrong hands, they can create more harm than good (of course they would not destroy the world, that was too dramatic, in reality I trust on average they actually do create good value please read on). Thus the question should not be about whether design competitions are effective platforms for promoting designers and creating awareness but how we can have the best design competitions that achieve these goals.First of all, we should focus on promotion of designers, and promotion of design, to create an awareness for good design. Promotion of designers is easy, and is achieved by publicity and advertisement. Creating an awareness for good design is also very easy, and is also possible by publicity and advertisement. Therefore, the design competitions who advertise award winning works the best, are indeed the best design awards to promote designers and create an awareness for good design. Here, we of course consider that this competition is fair and truly highlights good designs.So the question now should be, how do we advertise award winning works the best way possible? There are of course many methods, but we shall dig deep to see the actors behind the publicity to better to help the spread further, there are many actors in a design competition that advertise the winning works. First, there is the award organizer who sets up an advertising budget and provides tools for publicity. Second the award winner, who advertises the design award victory to friends. Then there is the design enthusiast who helps dissemination by promoting good design.A good design award, should therefore not only have a good advertising budget but most importantly an effective advertising strategy. From my experience, the best advertising strategy for design competitions is about building tools and services to help award winners disseminate their works better themselves, in addition to engaging in higher level advertising campaigns. The most basic tools of the trade are for example design award certificates which designers could hang to their walls, the trophies which designers could place in their cabinets of curiosities, and then there is the award winner logo which design award winner companies could integrate to their product packaging or service brochure or corporate communication.The trophy, certificate and logo are the base elements of publicity of a design competition. These elements also provide prestige to competition winners. Plus, good design awards could help the winners disseminate further by organizing design competition exhibitions, by publishing a yearbook of award winning design works, by organizing a gala night and award ceremony that brings together designers, press members and companies. The award ceremony, design award exhibition and the award yearbook are secondary level dissemination tools that are employed by better design competitions.Then smart design competitions also integrate digital tools as well as carefully designed processes to create publicity of winners further. A simple smart tool can allow the designer to quickly and effortlessly update all friends or customers about the design award victory, another simple tool could be an online design award gallery which could attract design enthusiasts and which could contribute to advertising efforts by generating organic design news shares, creating word of mouth and viral spread. These smart tools are perhaps only the third layer of services that design competitions could create.Advanced design competitions take the advertisement value proposal a step further by actively advertising the design award winners. For example they could organize an advertising campaign with a substantial budget that runs via different publishers to display the award winning works, or advanced design competitions could invite audiences to check the award winning designers in various events. The direct publicity by advanced design competitions mostly happen in the form of traditional placements but clever campaigns and happenings can also be seen.Then finally, the design competitions could go even further for their publicity efforts. For example, even higher level publicity possibilities would include announcement of a particular company or designer as company or designer of the year for an additional PR push, or publishing an index of best design companies, and publishing an index of award winning designers to make their work and profiles easier to be found, or giving the laureates certificates of exhibition and other explanatory documents such as design award supplements that help the winners explain their achievement better to others.So, the ultimate design competition has to go a step further, in addition to a yearbook, trophy, certificate, award logo, exhibition, gala-night, direct publicity and tools to disseminate winners, it could take the role of an international public relations agency. That means preparing individual press releases for award status announcement, translation of an excerpt of awarded works to many languages for global reach, conducting interviews with award winners, placing award winners works to syndicated or partnering publications, as well as preparing professional press kits which the award winners could send to their local contacts.Finally, the ideal design award does not only advertise design to its highest but should also create business opportunities for its winners. This could happen for example by organizing design meetings that bring together different industries and companies and matching them with designers or press members in favorable settings, forming or inviting design award winners to design consortium, incubators, association or clubs, of course covering up for their participation costs. Providing designers opportunities to sell their creations, or helping them protect their interests by teaching about intellectual properties and the business of design could be further value proposals of ideal competitions.What about A' Design Award? The A' Design Award goes beyond these five layers. The following is just a summary of the value proposal given to A' Design Award Winners: The Laureates of the A' Design Award & Competition get fame, prestige, recognition, credibility, publicity and international awareness, in addition to a comprehensive and extensive winners' kit which includes everything a designer or a design oriented company could potentially need to celebrate the success of winning the A' Design Award. The A' Design Award Winners' Kit is called the "A' Design Prize" and it includes the 3D Printed Metal A' Design Award trophy in Black Luxury Box, the annual yearbook which is available in both digital and hardcopy versions (winners get both), printed design excellence certificate in metal frame, award winners manual which helps you get more out of your award status, free gala-night invitation for two people to the award ceremony, free participation and space allocation in the winners' exhibition (both online gallery inclusions as well as physical exhibition in Italy), a certificate of design exhibition participation, free sales listing at SaloneDelDesigner, free utilization of DesignMediator services, access to design fees calculator, design cost calculator and design quote calculator, inclusion in BuySellDesign Network, proof of creation service, free subscription to List of Net service, free listing at DesignMegaStore, guaranteed publication through IDNN and DXGN Networks to 100+ magazines including Design Interviews & DM Design Magazine, press release preparation and distribution through DesignPRWire, publicity and visibility through DesignMedia communications, feedbacks, judging and evaluation of entries by a respected jury panel, lifelong licensing of the award winners logo, A2 poster design and printing for exhibition, and many others such as inclusion in the World Design Rankings, and translation of award winning works to 20+ languages as well as international PR Services. But this is of course only at A' Design Award, without any further fees or extra costs, you need to understand that other design awards not only do not provide the A' Design Prize, but they also asks substantial extra fees from winners, winners of other competitions can be asked contributions for publicity, extra fees or further fees, while there are no such fees at A' Design Award. Not having additional fees puts a financial burden for A' Design Awards, and that is why they have a tiered nomination fee structure, where large enterprises pay much more, and designers pay much less, not only solving finance issues but also creating equal opportunities via positive price and entry cost discrimination. Furthermore, A' Design Award invites winners to join prime clubs as well as initiatives such as the Design Legends platform.Today however a majority, about 99% percent of all design competitions are simpletons, most of the design competitions has single value propositions of only announcing winners and doing nothing else and actually, a significant amount of these competitions also get abandoned meaning even the results are not announced, of course these competitions do not create any value for professional designers but even the worst design competition will create positive value for young designers by giving them a reason to practice design.Not all design competitions are good at promoting design or creative awareness. There are many problems with design competitions organized everywhere and by everybody. The issues depend on the organizer and the structure, there could be issues by awards even organized by the most respectful entities as well as governments. Last, I would like to discuss some problems and issues that are worth consideration.Usually, design competitions organized and sponsored by the governments and design associations are expected to be the most fair and prestigious of all design award programs, as government sponsored events are mostly free to join (propose equal opportunity), and usually have a good prize (monetary rewards or titles of nobility) and design competitions organized by associations are usually well executed. However, nepotism, political discrimination as well as bad organization could equally make these design awards worthless. Furthermore, most government awards are not good at advertising the winner works and many design association competitions are won by top design association members or their friends.Design competitions and contests organized by companies for procurement of design purposes or for creating publicity using design as a tool are usually the worst kind of design competitions yet they could still benefit fresh graduates by teaching them the realities of life, as well as giving them opportunity to work on a real design brief. Problems with design contests organized by companies are: Legal theft of design ideas, improper and unfair judging, insignificant awards or compensation, nonexistent advertising or publicity opportunities, intellectual property and copyright infringements.Design competitions organized by specialized design competition organizer institutions and companies are usually better than any other competitions or contests organized by design associations, companies or governments. The professional design awards usually protect the intellectual properties of designers more, and are able to create better publicity as they usually have a higher brand value, however the further fees, fees for winners, publicity fees and other extra payments can put a heavy burden for designers and indeed most of these competitions are not suitable or targeted for designers but rather companies who propose good design as a value proposition and key sales elements.To repeat the question whether design competitions are effective platforms to promote designers and create awareness or not, we could definitely say that design competitions are creating an awareness for good design as well as promoting designers, but the way they are organized and the prize they offer matters significantly. If design competitions are organized in a way to create the highest dissemination, public relations and press feature as well as business opportunities for its laureates we can say that they are very effective tools for both creating awareness as well as publicity for award winners.To repeat once again, design competitions promote designers by advertising the award winning works and their designers, this advertisement is more efficient than advertising all designers because when good and award winning works are advertised, they have more viral reach; good design benefits more from advertisement than mediocre design, and award winning designs benefit the most from advertising, and the advertisement is amplified via design competition victory, thus, good design competitions where really good designs win do contribute to design industry by promoting the designs that are really worth attention and those same designs would also be the ones that would benefit most from the attention of the press.This article is not about the merits of design competitions, but just focusing on whether they are effective for promoting designers or creating an awareness for good design. While design competitions have many merits, design awards are actually great tools or platforms to celebrate, highlight, recognize and disseminate good design worldwide, especially considering that good design competitions do actively publish, promote and popularize good design.To wrap up once again, design competitions are efficient at promoting designers from an economic perspective; they advertise good designs, good designs benefit more from advertising than regular designs (good design spread better and faster by getting more press mentions and shares than regular design), good designs create a cultural taste of good design in society, promoting good design is good because good design is good (good design is long lasting, durable, environment friendly, aesthetic, user friendly, fault tolerant, safe, secure, economically efficient, fun, happier etc), and promoting good design benefits the society at all levels.Exerpt:Design competitions are very effective platforms to promote designers and create an awareness for good design, however like the power of the atom, when harnessed in the wrong way, and when falls into wrong hands, they can create more harm than good (of course they would not destroy the world, that was too dramatic, in reality I trust on average they actually do create good value please read on). Thus the question should not be about whether design competitions are effective platforms for promoti..
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The battle over the future of gun control in America fled Washington, D.C., this week for home states of Senators who voted against requiring background checks for firearm purchases at gun shows and over the Internet.
New Hampshire Republican Kelly Ayotte, Arizona Republican Jeff Flake, and Montana Democrat Max Baucus have been fending off town hall participants and broadcast ads knocking them for their vote. The National Rifle Association and other gun-rights groups have been propping them up. With no resolution in sight, such home-state politicking is likely to grow over the coming year. "In 2014, our ever-expanding coalition of supporters will work to make sure that voters don't forget," warned New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is in charge of the anti-gun violence group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
At a town hall Tuesday in Tilton, New Hampshire, Sen. Ayotte fielded a question on gun safety, saying she wants "criminals to be fully prosecuted," before trying to move the conversation to one about 1st Amendment rights and the media. Zandra Rice Hawkins, a member of the group Granite State Progress, interrupted and asked, "So why do you let them [criminals] get the guns in the first place?" Unsatisfied with Ayotte's response, Erica Lafferty, the daughter of the elementary school principal who died during the Sandy Hook shooting, walked out to the crowd's cheers. The man taking questions then attempted to move the conversation to one related to the Benghazi embassy attack. You can see the video here:
That was the second time Tuesday Lafferty confronted Ayotte. In Warren, Lafferty asked the Senator, "You had mentioned that the burden to owners of gun stores that these expanded background checks would cause. I'm just wondering why the burden of my mother being gunned down in the hall of her elementary school isn't as important as that?" In response, Ayotte said, "I'm obviously so sorry…for what you have been though…The issue wasn't a background check system issue in Sandy Hook. Mental health is I hope the one thing I hope we can agree on going forward and getting done." After Ayotte was finished, Lafferty stormed out. In February, Obama gave Lafferty the 2012 Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation's second-highest civilian honor, on behalf of her mother Dawn Hochsprung.
The New Hampshire Republican has a 44 percent approval rating, according to a left-leaning Public Policy Polling poll released last week, a 15 percentage point drop since October. Part of the drop may be attributed to a TV ad from Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and a radio ad from Americans for Responsible Solutions, the group run by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly. These groups have public opinion on their side; a February WMUR Granite State poll reported that 84% of New Hampshire residents approve of expanding background checks to gun shows. The NRA and National Shooting Sports Association each responded with their own radio ad.
Meanwhile in Arizona, Sen. Jeff Flake has had to respond to a new PPP poll that shows him to be the least popular Senator. After just three months in office, only 32% of Arizona voters approve of Flake. On Facebook, Flake wrote, "Nothing like waking up to a poll saying you're the nation's least popular senator. Given the public's dim view of Congress in general, that probably puts me somewhere just below pond scum." He assumes his numbers took a "southerly turn since my vote against the background check proposal." "It was a popular amendment, and I voted against it," he said.
And Mayors Against Illegal Guns hasn't let him forget it. The group has released a TV spot in addition to full-page ads in publications of The Hill, National Journal, POLITICO, and Roll Call using Flake against himself. In February Flake bluntly stated, "We need more effective and broader background checks." According to the group, 90% of Arizonans favor mandatory background checks for all gun buyers. Flake told Slate that the proposal's "definition of commercial transaction as basically anything touching the Internet…is far too broad."
Max Baucus returned to Montana to find a full ad attack waged against him by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC). The group is running a new TV ad, shown below, and bought full-page ads in 20 Montana newspapers grilling him on his gun vote. PCCC must be hoping that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) isn't bluffing when he says that his proposal will be resurrected in the Senate because Baucus is retiring in 2014. Despite the fact that 79% of Montanans support background checks, Baucus explained why his vote with one word: "Montana."
Two weeks ago, Obama stood in the Rose Garden surrounded by victims of the Sand Hook shooting and said, "This effort is not over. I want to make it clear to the American people we can still bring about meaningful changes that reduce gun violence, so long as the American people don't give up on it."
And they haven't yet.


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Justin Timberlake hasn't hosted "Saturday Night Live" near as many times as Steve Martin or Alec Baldwin. But news that he's back at the helm for the fifth time in a decade is enough to elicit the same smiles of anticipation as a stint by either prolific host (Baldwin's logged 16 guest shots to Martin's 15).
U.S. & World
The spectacle of Timberlake as a rapping, dancing fool in a Styrofoam Cup o' Soup costume, trying to out-hustle a Salvation Army Santa on "SNL" in 2006 ("Give it on up to Homelessville!"), sums up what makes him an unlikely funny force. He's not afraid to look silly or satirize the musical milieu that initially launched him to fame.
Hester is founding director of the award-winning, multi-media NYCity News Service at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is the former City Editor of the New York Daily News, where he started as a reporter in 1992. Follow him on Twitter.


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People of the world will have another chance to spice up their lives, now that the Spice Girls are reportedly reuniting for an Olympic show.
The 90s British pop sensations will represent their homeland in the closing ceremonies of this summer's Olympic Games, The Daily Mail reported.
Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice) was reportedly the last Spice Girl on board with the Olympic reunion plans, according to the Daily Mail, although Emma Bunton (Baby Spice), Melanie Brown (Scary Spice), Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice) and Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Spice) were enthusiastic from the beginning.
U.S. & World
The day's top national and international news.
Despite the reported reservations, all five agreed to perform together for the first time since their 2008 reunion tour, according to the Daily Mail. The paper reported that the group had signed on to sing two songs, one of which will be their breakout hit "Wannabe."
The pop stars recently gathered in London to launch their musical, "Viva Forever."
"I loved being back with the girls," Beckham told Irish radio host John Murray of the musical, adding that she was open to future collaborations with her bandmates. "It was a lot of fun. We did so much together. We'll see. If they're up for something, then I certainly am."


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Revision and envision: Relationships ain't easy, even when rewritten
The magical event that happens in the life of a young novelist named Calvin Weir-Fields is a dream come true for him, but it becomes a nightmare. Calvin (Paul Dano) had the misfortune to write, in his late teens, a book that was loved and treasured by just about everyone. He's been blocked ever since. I imagine J.D. Salinger having gone through torture like this.
Calvin makes the mistake of seeing a psychiatrist, although anyone who writes for a living would tell him there is only one thing to do when you're blocked, and that is to start writing again anyway. Calvin never needed to write for a living. A windfall came to him essentially through no effort, and now he expects the Muse to dictate another perfect novel immediately. Turns out the shrink (Elliott Gould) is not needed because the Muse appears in the flesh and gets right to work.
This is an ethereal backlit beauty named Ruby (Zoe Kazan), who materializes in Calvin's life and represents his ideal romantic partner. Surely she's too good to be real? Not at all. She is absolutely real, as Calvin's disbelieving brother, Harry (Chris Messina), discovers after he comes over to see for himself. Calvin discovers that he can control this young woman, however, by the words that he writes. In a sense, that takes all the fun out of it– but there's no use trying to reason with Zoe Kazan's original screenplay, which (perhaps wisely) makes no effort to explain how this happens. Full ReviewRead more on: Ruby Sparks


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U.S. commercial banks are changing some aspects of the way they treat borrowers, especially real estate borrowers. These changes are aimed at improving banks' ability to make profits on loans, or to obtain capital in other ways.
The first thing many banks have done is to raise more capital. From December 2007 through all of 2008 — the major "crash" period — U.S. banks lost a total of $56 billion in equity capital, according to the American Bankers Association. However, for all of 2009 banks boosted their equity capital by $175 billion. In the first quarter of 2010, they gained another $14 billion. Hence, they posted a net gain of $132.7 billion in those 2.25 years.
To put this data in perspective, in December 2009 there were 8,012 U.S. commercial and savings banks insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), of which 6,839, or 85.4%, were commercial banks. Those commercial banks contained assets of $11.8 trillion, or 90.3% of the assets in all 8,012 institutions. The 10 commercial banks with the largest assets combined held 92.7% of all commercial bank assets. The three largest commercial banks held 53%.
The biggest banks have raised the most capital, while small, regional banks have raised relatively little. The total equity capital held by all 8,012 banks at the end of 2009 was $1.47 trillion. That's 11 times as much as the entire system added to its equity capital from early 2009 through the first quarter of 2010.
Low rates stymie investment
Banks also are borrowing money from the Federal Reserve Bank at the interest charge of only 0.25%, and then lending that money at the prime rate of 3.25% or higher. That prime rate is 13 times as great as what the banks are paying for these funds.
That large spread — at taxpayer expense — has been helping banks make money and increase their capital, but it is also keeping interest rates lower than I believe they ought to be to avoid possible future inflation. There is plenty of private investor capital sitting on the sidelines, but low rates of return diminish investors' desire to put it to work right now when the economy needs it.
Many banks are restricting their lending on real estate because they already have so many non-performing real estate loans on their books. These banks are focusing on longtime and large customers whose business they want to retain.
In the fourth quarter of 2009, real estate loans accounted for 61.2%, or $4.46 trillion, of all loans held by the 8,102 lending institutions insured by the FDIC. About 43% of all real estate loans consisted of home mortgages, excluding apartment loans, and 24.5% were commercial property mortgages.
The share of real estate loans in all bank lending rose sharply from 39% in early 2001 to 56% in early 2002 due to a stock market crash. Mortgages have been by far the largest category of loan debt outstanding ever since (see chart).
Tougher collateral requirements
Another tactic employed by many banks is to accept as loan collateral only those assets that produce current cash flows, rather than those with no cash flows but supposedly high market values. For example, vacant land is considered of zero value if it produces no current cash flows, no matter how valuable it seems in markets.
This approach made one New York City developer claim that his large, buildable lot in Manhattan was worth nothing. That's because when he included it in a mixed-use project, the bank assigned the lot zero value.
Bankers do not want to receive lending returns for taking what are essentially equity risks in various deals. Hence, some banks are qualifying their interest rates in relation to how closely the borrower's property meets the borrower's own pro forma projections.
If the property's profits fall well below those projected, the bank requires the borrower to pay a higher interest rate because equity returns are supposed to be higher than lending returns.
If you are in real estate and plan on borrowing money from banks, be aware of these behaviors that bankers are likely to exhibit in any deals they offer you.
Tony Downs is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He can be reached at tony [email protected]


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