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Equalizers - How many use them?

post #1 of 60
10/8/08 at 12:02am
Thread Starter 
Ok, this is simply a curiosity of mine. In my mild experience, I have considered a large, large portion of headphones to have very varying or just plain poor frequency responses, either greatly boosted or lacking in one area or another, or just not smooth at all.

Some hints I've picked up on from reviews and user comments on this forum is that some of the better liked headphones on this forum are the ones that inherently have better frequency responses right out of the box.

This is a simple poll to see how many of you folks do religiously use EQing, use EQ if available, try to avoid EQing if possible, or simply have never looked into EQing before.
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post #2 of 60
10/8/08 at 5:45am
I checked neither of the options. My answer is... I only use eq with highly flawed cans and only do it with decent equalizers. Ex. ipods eq is not passable. Rockbox however has a great eq. For home theater, I used to use audio control eq.
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post #3 of 60
10/8/08 at 6:13am
Generally speaking, yes, I use a judicious (perhaps too much) amount of EQ-ing, on portable equipment at least. Flat rarely gives me the sound I like.
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post #4 of 60
10/8/08 at 6:34am
I search for gear that provides the sound I enjoy without EQ.
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post #5 of 60
10/8/08 at 6:49am
I voted for blasphemy, but I have a slightly different reason not to use EQ - if a headphone doesn't reproduce a specific frequency band well pushing it up with EQ would make things even worse. It is especially true for lows - pushing more bass to a bass-lean headphone would just overload it - I prefer just keeping it as is and enjoy more detail, which is usually lost with higher bass levels.
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post #6 of 60
10/8/08 at 7:52am
In my opinion EQ is useful in that they can eq sound sigs of cheaper phones to your taste. Perhaps not up to the same level, but around there.
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post #7 of 60
10/8/08 at 12:33pm
Quote:
"Sound is pure and I will never mess it up with processing"
ROFL. Got to love this place sometimes...
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post #8 of 60
10/8/08 at 12:42pm
if the device is a good quality device, EQ can be a fantastic tool to tune your equipment for different music genres.

90% of speakers, headphones or earphones are tuned a specific way, to sound a certain way, its not often manufacturers try to create flat sounding phones and even less often they get it right. so yes sometimes i use EQ,
even if its to try and flatten the sound out a bit because a manufacturer likes bass or something.
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post #9 of 60
10/8/08 at 1:04pm
I did not vote above as none of the choices really fit.

Quote:
Originally Posted by poo View Post
I search for gear that provides the sound I enjoy without EQ.
Yup me too, but at times I will use EQ or DSP to enhance the sound a bit, although I do it rarely.
I do not consider it blasphemy, but rather as a tool that when used properly can yield positive results.
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post #10 of 60
10/8/08 at 1:28pm
Since the Fiio and the Senn PX-100 din't mix all that well, I'm forced too
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post #11 of 60
10/8/08 at 1:40pm
Equalizers = The Evil!
They do more harm than good. Imo that is...
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post #12 of 60
10/8/08 at 6:19pm
Yeah, much better to carefully match components to get the sound you want. Even factors like whether you use copper or silver ICs can address some these issues. Generally, I don't see much info on this forum on tweaks.
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post #13 of 60
10/8/08 at 9:41pm
Thread Starter 
I see headphones as a unique venue. You have a device that for the most part will be plugged into a variety of sources. This may transition from home stereo, to PC, then to Ipod. You need some type of product that will work well everywhere. When you buy home speakers, they stay in the home, in one room, and don't really change. Car audio is the same way. The hardware can be tuned for one environment, and you're done. Headphones do not have this luxury, well, unless you do use independent products for each source.

I agree picking the right hardware in the first place is a big first step. If you can get it right or very close to right in the first place, you're better off. However off you are to start with is how much you have to make up with processing. I also agree that there are inherent limitations of any hardware you use. There will be a certain usable frequency response, a certain amount of control and level of detail inherent with the drivers. You can't defy the laws of physics. However, you can tune withing the boundaries.

I've never considered processing a bad thing. They are simply tools to get a desired end result. The challenge is when you don't have processing or limited processing that doesn't let you tune as needed to get the desired resuilt. You are forced to start off with the correct hardware in the first place. If you do have adequate processing, you are given a bit more freedom of design.
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post #14 of 60
10/8/08 at 10:46pm
Depends on the genre.

Right now I'm using Etymotic ER-4Ps and while I love their flat frequency response I don't want multiple headphones or DAPs. If I want to listen to pop or even bass heavy jazz (really enjoyed Esperanza Spalding's new album) it'd be stupid not EQ with this set up!

In this manner I can enjoy all genres with these headphones.
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post #15 of 60
10/8/08 at 10:51pm
Apple iPod EQ are horrible. I've tried all the EQ before and almost all distorts my musics. It's plain sick. The only EQ that doesn't distort my musics is the Treble Booster. The Treble Booster is extremely irritating and loudens the high frequency, causing musics to be intolerable.

However, I used EQ in Foobar2000. I spent 2 Hours to set the EQ i love. I use a speaker line out thus distortions may not be heard as detailed as using an IEM.

Cheers.
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