I’ve actually experienced this twice, once a few weeks ago and just a few minutes ago too. So after a long day of studying and working blah blah, I decided to put on some music on my headphones. Everything sounded fine initially, but after like 1 hour in of music, I feel like everything sounded a little bit muddy and very… claustrophobic. I suspected that something was wrong with the cables or drivers, but the tonality, detail retrievals and sound imaging still sounded fine to me, only the soundstage got “nerfed”.
So I’m wondering, does exhaustion affect perceived soundstage, or is there really a problem with my headphones?
I do experience this as well. And not only that, even when I’m exhausted, really exhausted from work and get back home to relax and listen to my cans they’re not what I used to hear. Less detail, more muddy and bass punch through my head enough to make it throb so I guess your overall condition does alter the perceived sound.