[user_7832]

> The standard cautions, because HN is full of pedantic floccinaucinihilipilificators

I think (I am not sure, I’m more familiar with the in-room speakers style of audio reproduction) the “biggest” issue is that different speakers have different time-based nonlinearities. This should be most clear in impulse responses. At an extreme example, a headphone that has terrible resonance at 400hz can never be fixed purely by EQ using a standard amp.

> The standard cautions, because HN is full of pedantic floccinaucinihilipilificators

I think (I am not sure, I’m more familiar with the in-room speakers style of audio reproduction) the “biggest” issue is that different speakers have different time-based nonlinearities. This should be most clear in impulse responses. At an extreme example, a headphone that has terrible resonance at 400hz can never be fixed purely by EQ using a standard amp.

Now, this could be solved at least partly using current drive amplifiers. Apple has apparently done this on their AirPods. But it’s not a common thing at all.

[dsr_]

It's true, which is why that's in the standard cautions.

But it's also the case that you can get reasonably priced headphones and speakers (reasonably priced by the standards of nonaudiophiles!) that do not have terrible resonances. So: you can't fix everything, but if you're paying attention before you buy, you can avoid making mistakes.

E.g.: Kali LP8v2 are frequently on sale for $400/pair; that includes amplification. Moondrop Chu II IEMs are under $25.