Some good science
summarised here that points to 14 AES papers on the subject area.
I didn’t say there is no science in headphone area. What I wrote, is partly an Olive quote. The full quote goes like this:
«A recent study by Jeroen Breebaart measured 283 headphones and found there was no correlation between their retail price and measured frequency response: the best objective indicator of how good the sound [20].
Clearly headphones are still in their wild-west stages of their evolution. Without sound guidance from science and standards, their performance and sound are highly variable. Fortunately, this is rapidly changing».
Source:
https://e265b8fd1ff9a586c366-1acdfa...-for-Choosing-Loudspeakers-and-Headphones.pdf
Where I, cynically or realistically, differ from Olive is on the notion that «this is rapidly changing». There is still no evidence of convergence, standardization. In fact, headphones producers have little to win by standardizing their products. Remember, standardization means commoditization, which means lower price and profit.
If someone can come up with evidence that the article in the OP is already dated, that standards are about to emerge, then provide that evidence.
Having said that, let’s not forget that you can have science in a field and still see products coming out as if science were not present. It’s naive to think that science will only be used in a benevolent way. However, science can also be used in a malignant way.
@restorer-john has written elsewhere on this forum that producers of amplifiers used to make circuits with in-built curves, and the flatter curves were only present in the more expensive ones. This is a strategy that works, that is science based, that takes advantage of non-informed users to maximize profits through a jungle of products.
Headphones are still wild-west and there’s no sheriff in headphone town.