Dr. Sean Olive on the Harman Target and Its Myriad Alternatives

from SoundStage! Audiophile Podcast · host SoundStage! | The SoundStage! Network | Schneider Publishing Inc.

This week, host Jorden Guth is joined once again by Dr. Sean Olive, senior fellow at Harman International, to dive deeper into the development of the Harman target curve for headphones, the reason why so many alternative target headphone curves have cropped up in recent years, and what it all means for music fans. Sources: “Sound Researcher Dr. Sean Olive” on the SoundStage! Audiophile Podcast: https://www.soundstage.life/e/sound-researcher-dr-sean-olive-tonmeister-nrc-harman-and-floyd-toole-target-curves/ “Dr. Sean Olive on 35 Years of ‘Fast Car’” by Dennis Burger: https://www.soundstageaccess.com/index.php/feature-articles/1259-dr-sean-olive-on-35-years-of-fast-car Seong-Jin Cho: https://seongjin-cho.com/ Chapters: 00:00:00 Announcement 00:00:30 Introductions 00:02:09 A deeper dive into the origins of the Harman target curve 00:18:26 Music Break: “Rush Hour” by Peter John 00:19:24 Everybody and his brother has a target headphone curve 00:38:02 Outro: “Piano Concerto (Ravel)” by Ohad Ben-Ari

What this episode covers

This week, host Jorden Guth is joined once again by Dr. Sean Olive, senior fellow at Harman International, to dive deeper into the development of the Harman target curve for headphones, the reason why so many alternative target headphone curves have cropped up in recent years, and what it all means for music fans. Sources: “Sound Researcher Dr. Sean Olive” on the SoundStage! Audiophile Podcast: https://www.soundstage.life/e/sound-researcher-dr-sean-olive-tonmeister-nrc-harman-and-floyd-toole-target-curves/ “Dr. Sean Olive on 35 Years of ‘Fast Car’” by Dennis Burger: https://www.soundstageaccess.com/index.php/feature-articles/1259-dr-sean-olive-on-35-years-of-fast-car Seong-Jin Cho: https://seongjin-cho.com/ Chapters:00:00:00 Announcement00:00:30 Introductions00:02:09 A deeper dive into the origins of the Harman target curve00:18:26 Music Break: “Rush Hour” by Peter John00:19:24 Everybody and his brother has a target headphone curve00:38:02 Outro: “Piano Concerto (Ravel)” by Ohad Ben-Ari

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Dr. Sean Olive on the Harman Target and Its Myriad Alternatives

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This episode was published on February 28, 2025.

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