Perfect HRTF matching does not guarantee better headphone sound quality

Evidence

From a strict hard science point of view, improving the match between a listener’s HRTFs and those involved in capturing the recorded event should make everything better—sound quality and external localizations should improve. Compensating for head movements will still likely be a requirement. This is an area of continuing research. However logical this approach sounds, there are experiences that challenge that simplicity, indicating that there is more to be considered, adaptation in particular. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 293

Categorization

• QUESTION: The gap between theoretically perfect individualized HRTFs and real-world listener satisfaction is a live research puzzle — worth chasing the published evidence for adaptation over accuracy.
• XREF: connects to: Individual HRTF measurements give the most accurate external ear emulation — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1608