this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2026
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Flat response gang checking in. A flat response speaker/monitor is the superior system. What Parsons said is true though. That’s why I listen on flat response monitors, because that is exactly how the music was meant to be recorded and heard.
I think it's like any other piece of art. It's up to the person listening / watching / viewing to decide how it appeals to them.
I love bass, I play bass (badly), I like hearing the bass in songs. Sometimes I'll listen so that I can really hear and appreciate the bass. I've even been known to isolated Bass stems of songs not to learn them, just because I love the bass part. Other times I'll listen so that the bass blends in to the overall sound and appreciate the entire thing.
I love this comment. It's origins are from the 60's and was bandied about by rich white guys. The reason they said flat is best, is because that's all there was back then Mono was king.
As for that's how the music was meant to be recorded and heard. Ask a hip hop producer about that...
It's meant to be heard on shopping mall speakers 30 years later. That's when most of the royalties come in.
It's nice to know the estates of all our beloved 90s icons are so well off today
All hail flat response! But alas, a lot of (and even most of, likely) the music is mastered to sound good on cheap stuff with bloated bass - as that is how it is listened by the paying majority. So when you (and me, love my Adam Audio stuff!) turn that on, we hear sad tunes... So getting a well mastered copy is equally important.
Is it? Every producer is different, every studio has different equipment and most importantly, everyone's ears are different. You can't possibly know what they intended.
The truth is that the correct way to listen to music is however you like it to hear it!
It absolutely is not. Albums aren't mixed to be listened to on studio monitors, they are mixed to sound good on consumer grade speakers because that's where people listen to music. Nowadays if you're listening on air pods that's probably the way it was meant to be listened to.
Yeah, not to mention the loudness war changing how things were mixed.
And like with most art, the artist doesn't get a say in how you appreciate it
Fuck the loudness war
WHAT DID YOU SAY????? SPEAK LOUDER
No, the reason why it sounds good on consumer grade equipment is exactly because it was mixed on flat response studio monitors. Flat response means little to no bias across the frequency spectrum and no enhancements. This is so you can make sure it sounds good regardless of the quality of equipment the listener is using.
Yes, I am aware that studio monitors (other than NS10Ms, lol) have a flat response and that albums are mixed primarily on studio monitors. But the people mixing those albums aren't mixing them to be listened to on studio monitors. There using their extensive knowledge to make that album sound its best how most people will be listening to it. Taking into account people listening in their car, on their phones, on their laptop speakers, headphones, air pods, home stereos, fucking TVs, etc.
No engineer worth their salt will be mixing an album to be listened to on studio monitors because that's not how normal people listen to music.
Edited to add: However, the point I kind of lost is people should listen however they want. I used to listen to albums that I knew very well on my monitors to get to know the speakers.
For sure. My original comment was meant as a half-joke that my flat response monitors and headphones are superior than an expensive audiophile setup. Your points are valid of course.
That's why flat monitors and sound dampening are important.
A lot of money is spent to try and make a neutral room.
Yes, the point of mixing on flat monitors is so you eliminate as much bias as possible, and to make sure it will sound good regardless if you’re listening in the car or in an audiophile listening room. When you listen to music on flat response speakers as the consumer, you are listening to it with the least bias possible, meaning no enhancements of any kind. So you listen to it the way the artist/band, producer, and sound engineer mixed/mastered it.
Audiophile: "The aluminum cones on these tweeters were precision engineered to give an unbiased audio signal at up to 30,000hz."
Musician: "Some asshole barfed into my amp and now it has this buzz and catches on fire if I leave it plugged in for too long, but I still like how it sounds so we recorded the whole album on it."
Reminds me of Phil Collins' In The Air Tonight. In addition to the hi-fi recording lines, there was basically a phone line designed to allow the sound engineer in the booth and the musician(s) to talk 2-way. Collins liked the effect it gave so they rigged up a way to pipe that audio into the desk. It gives his vocal performance a distant, numb feeling that reinforces the theme of antipathy. Because the equipment was worse.
I'll tell another one: The first time I ever heard The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, it was an mp3 my father downloaded. He managed to find a version that sounded like it was taped off of the radio and then the tape played into the PC capturing at a low bitrate. It's my definitive version of the track; the result sounds foggy and mysterious like it's being played from somewhere in the fog across the lake, it bolsters the legend of the piece.
Can you share that MP3?
Lo-Fi certainly certainly has an appeal all its own.
The reason why GBV's Vampire on Titus sounds the way it does is precisely because they treated sound quality as an afterthought. Makes it unlistenable to some, a diamond in the rough to others. To me, it's the greatest underground album of the '90s. As Jason Hernandez once so brilliantly put it: "[The album] conjures up mazes of crushed basement beer cans. [...] What keeps us coming back are all the solid tunes beneath the grime. This is great, unsettling cartoon-land psychedelic pop from front to back. [...] Several classics lurk in this murk."
Well you still need a decent pair of cans to properly hear the barf on the recording
My headphone's app has a DSP effect for puke and a slider to adjust the chunkiness.
Sennheiser HD-280 PRO
Flat response? Check
Nerdy-ass thick-as-hell telephone cord? Check
Flat doesnt really have useful meaning with headphones due to everyone having a unique HRTF, even between each of their ears. So each set will sound different to each person, often dramatically so over 1 or 2khz.
But from the squigs, those 280 pros dont seem flat (if flat means diffuse field target), theyve got a big ol subbass boost
Mix on flat response. Enjoy and listen on good lively speakers like magnepans.
Mixing and listening enjoyment are totally different. My hs7s are not enjoyable.
This is my preference too. I'm no audiophile, but I do like decent sound. Still a big fan of my 'ol ~2003 Beyer DT880s (the flat aluminum cup version) which are rather flat. For IEMs, Ety ER4S fits the bill as well, without spending a fortune.
I also recently picked up my first pair of ANC BT headphones. I'd not call them flat, but I'm quite impressed for the price. Earfun Wave Pros for ~$50.