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I don't know about others, but I prefer to be able to clearly hear vocals.
For me, it's understanding the words. As a choir director, I am the same way.

Once upon a time, I thought that my KRK monitors were great. I had them dialed in as flat as I could with a 1/3 octave EQ, mixes sounded as I expected etc.

About 13 years ago, I put in a CD that I had mastered but not delivered into my 2004 Prius. To my surprise, I heard different words on one of the tracks. Huh??? I listened again on the KRKs and realised that the mids were crap. I called Ted Keffalo and he told me about his new company and speakers, the Equator Audio D5 so I had him send me a pair.

On installation, no external eq, I put on a popular record from the mid '70s and hear the orchestra balance was off and the French Horn out of tune — what the…??? Then I listened again and heard that the orchestra balance was off and the French Horn was out of tune. How many times had I spun this record at raqdio stations in the '70s and why had I never heard this before?

Ok, that was a wakeup call. A couple years later, I ran into Ted at NAMM 2016, heard his new Equator D8 MK II and snagged a pair — right before his company went out of business in 2017. I still have them and love 'em paired with a JBL subwoofer. Can't say I would recommend a company that is long out of business, though.

Anyway, I have them calibrated with an IK ARC Studio though I prefer their older ARC 4 app to the current ARC X. In addition, I have the Slate VSX headphone system.

That project that let me know my KRK monitors suck is still one of my reference recordings.

BIAB 2025 Audiophile Mac
24Core/60CoreGPU M2 MacStudioUltra/8TB/192GB Sequoia, M1 MBAir, 2012 MBP
Digital Performer11, LogicPro, Finale27/Dorico/Encore/SmartScorePro64/Notion6 /Overture5