Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianHanke  my headphones often show very little to no low-mid buildup, whereas my monitors will show a ton of it. |
What headphones? What monitors? What room?
The two primary factors that come to my mind are both acoustics related. First, one of my great annoyances in speaker design is that most smaller monitors leverage a higher Q in the low-mid to upper-bass region to substitute for the real bass they lack. It also gives them a somewhat wonky phase response in this region. Headphones don't have the same physics, so are not subject to these issues in the same way. (They have their own issues.)
Second, is room acoustics. I don't know how well your room acoustics are controlled, but most rooms I have seen are only partially controlled. And the low mid region is highly susceptible to issues here. Also in this frequency range, undamped sheetrock on studs can even resonate and cause issues. Headphones obviously don't have the same issues. (Unless your headphones are way too loud.
)
Until I can build a proper/perfect room myself, I will continue to use headphones to crosscheck.