Headphones sound brittle

    I got my Kemper powerhead a couple days ago and have been trying with headphones - AT M50X, Focal Clear, and Sennheiser HD800S. Of these three headphones, the HD800S sounds best, but with all three headphones I'm finding that the highs sound somewhat harsh and brittle, lacking the warmth I would expect from "amp in the room" sound. I can reduce that problem somewhat by dialing down the treble and presence, but that results in a muffled sound. Adding 'Space' improves the headphone sound, but doesn't fully solve the brittleness problem. Is it common for headphones to not sound good with the KPA? Are there some settings I need to change when using headphones?

    Is it common for headphones to not sound good with the KPA?


    No it all depends on what headphones. I use Ultrasone and I've never had any inferior tone with any profile. Some headphones work better than others.

    Think for yourself, or others will think for you wihout thinking of you

    Henry David Thoreau

    Hi and welcome to the forum :)


    Put the "Studio EQ" in slot X and adjust "High Cut" to around 7 kHz and adjust

    how much will affect the tone in %


    Cheers !

    The adjective for metal is metallic. But not so for iron ... which is ironic.

    Like 2

    try AKG studio phones. They are my benchmark and have been for 8 yrs. I’m still trying to

    find anything that sounds as good. In fact I use these to dial in my live sound, by a/b ‘g the sound

    of the AKG’s with the sound of my monitor.

    The type of music you play and the profiles used also factor in, as does your guitar and pups.

    I use almost exclusively pro studio profiles. eg. MBritt or Andy’s stuff, Top Jimi, ...

    Quote from old crow

    try AKG studio phones. They are my benchmark and have been for 8 yrs. I’m still trying to

    find anything that sounds as good. In fact I use these to dial in my live sound, by a/b ‘g the sound

    of the AKG’s with the sound of my monitor.

    The type of music you play and the profiles used also factor in, as does your guitar and pups.

    I use almost exclusively pro studio profiles. eg. MBritt or Andy’s stuff, Top Jimi, ...

    May I ask what model of AKG Studio phones you use ?

    I use them too, and I have the "old" Studio K270 (600 Ohm) , the new Studio K270 (55 Ohm)

    and the Chinese Studio K240 (55 Ohm)

    The "Old" one sounds good, the new one sounds OK and the Chinese one not so good .....


    Cheers !

    The adjective for metal is metallic. But not so for iron ... which is ironic.

    I remember comparing all those several classic K240 variants when I was purchasing my first 'real' headphones.


    * K240 monitor

    * K240 DF

    * K240 Studio


    Didn't ever quite understand why they used such similar names when the products had so much different qualities to them..


    But yeah, headphones and amp-in-the-room with all the reflections, directivity, standing waves etc. don't go that well hand-in-hand.


    I personally have had better success with closed back than open back headphones with kpa what comes to feel, in-your-face aspect of soundstage and even ear fatigue.

    I haven't tried the Studio EQ yet, but I went to the Output section and set the High Cut filter to cut above 7kHz, and that helps a lot. Playing around with the cutoff frequency, around 7kHz does seem to be the magic number.

    Output EQ section is a global setting that affects all rigs ( I think :/ )

    Studio EQ in X slot can be adjusted to fit every rig separately and stored / saved :thumbup:


    Cheers !

    The adjective for metal is metallic. But not so for iron ... which is ironic.

    Like 1

    Seeing you have some HD800S, I know you at least have a very critical ear (some consider themselves audiophiles), So I think it is normal for you to hear some harshness (I think the same from my M50 pair connected to the kemper). The culprit might be you are so used to the smooth highs from the 800s that the results on other headphones come as sibiliant. As an example, I use some K701 on the kemper, pretty nice resolution, nice treble, but I too find the bit harsh the M50 and the T90, I preffer either the K701 or the DT770, which I normally use for mastering and recording.


    You wont get amp in the room sound, but the closest I have gotten to the sound of a real amp was with michael britt profiles. I still preffer some other profiles for recording, as the high frequencies sometimes are a characteristic from the mic spl when recording, which in turn, give some airiness to the recording, sitting nicely on the mix.

    The answer is 42

    Like 1

    You are never going to get "amp in the room" feel with headphones. More like "ear on top the amp enclosure" feel. HPF, LPF, and EQ are your friends, like others said.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

    Like 1

    Headphones sound brittle because in a sense, they are. Studio headphones typically pass much higher frequencies right in your ear than studio monitors or standard phone earbuds. Turn down your high cut to at least 7.5k for headphone practice, and that should help a lot. Just remember to turn it back up for recording. ?