yes, but the curve is actual numbers, while I haven't seen an effective (or standardized) objective measure of soundstage or detail. Even though the frequency

yes, but the curve is actual numbers, while I haven't seen an effective (or standardized) objective measure of soundstage or detail. Even though the frequency response curve isn't _everything_ that matters, because it's both relevant to the sound, and can be measured fairly objectively, I think it's an important detail in a headphone review. While subjective impressions could say that "bass is anemic" or "no mids", I may not know (or disagree with) what they consider "normal". A measured response curve, combined with subjective impressions, can demonstrate the reviewer's preferences within a better context. Reviewers who don't show a response curve could instead communicate their impressions of other popular headphones, but market fragmentation (and the cost of nice headphones) makes this less useful imo. Largely, I agree with your sentiment, in that reviews of headphones/audio are less useful than reviews of other products. In the absence of objective measurements of every important variable, I find myself resorting to buying brands I've had good experiences with, rather than spec chasing. I wish I had more numbers to use, but in the meantime, I try to buy headphones less frequently.