Help! Rockbox EQ settings for Ipod video confusion.

It does depend on the headphones. EQing your headphones strengths could make them sound bad. You could at least include what headphones you are using.

Using The RB EQ can be a challenge. Make small changes and use pre-cut if using any additive settings.

You simply need to experiment with your reference recordings that you know well.

5db precut, 5db bass boost, bass threshold 2, er4p

yeah just use 3-5db pre-cut and then play with it, it updates before you save the settings, so just use some music you know and play with it until it sounds right to you. I find it a little humorous when people ask us what sounds good to them. I suppose I have a bit of a head-start having a bit of a music production background, but its still personal taste. if you've ever used a multiband EQ on a preamp or amp then its exactly the same. I use the parametric EQ because I like having Q adjustment.

Check the manual for your device on rockbox anyway. Some of the stuff you posted about is answered there. Did you see my settings from above?

no problem mate; i'll do what I can, i'm no expert, but I have a reasonable understanding. enough for you to kick off with anyway.


cool; glad we are sorted with this one

yep its basically a bas boost in software

OK bass cutoff basically sets the frequency at which the high pass filter is set at. so any frequencies below the point you set will be attenuated; so if you are using headphones or speakers that distort in the low end and still try and reproduce those frequencies even though they suck at it; yoiu can tell the ipod not to send any information below that point.

sweet

same as bass cutoff but for highs, so if your headphones have sibilant highs or you are sensitive to high frequencies then you can attenuate those as well.

sweet

I havent actually gone into that in rockbox, it may just allow you to switch the channels

yes its in percentage; this basically applies a curve to the stereo field; so things that are just a little of centre on a low setting will be pushed further out with a higher percentage. on 100% all sounds will be either panned hard left or hard right. AFAIK
so you got this one?? because its a little more involved to explain, but basically it emulates the sound of speakers, so some of the left channel is fed into the right channel and vice versa; works really nicely on live music.

not sure on the implementation of these in rockbox, I havent played with them

same as high frequency cut-off, except it isnt just a shelf where the highs are just cut at a certain frequency; instead the audio is rolled off according to a DB curve; this setting adjusts the severity of that curve or how steep the slope.

well this setting is on the dap; its the same as high-cut but more accurate and measured in Hz

dithering is used to smooth out a harsh recording. to dither something is to take a set of values and apply shades of grey so to speak, so it decreases resolution/clarity, but helps if something sounds harsh or grainy

LS = low shelf the point at which there is no signal sent to the amp
PK1,PK2,PK3 = these are 3 peak levels so you can choose points to add gain to or attenuate (so they are like bands) and each of these can be adjusted with the centre frequency (the frequency at which the band is centered) and Q; q is a type of curve so a low q effects a narrow band of frequencies and a high q is a wide band (I may have them back to front, i'm not reading from a manual here or even looking at rockbox.
HS is high shelf so like low shelf but with the highs

explained above, because they are just teh same functions displayed in a different way

again its really a matter of taste and depends on your headphonesn and music preferences. dark headphones may need a small boost in the highs and a little downward nudge in the DB on the low band around 30-50hz and sibilant headphones may need a touch of high-shelf adjustment.

thats a best as my limited knowledge can do with this, but I hope i've cleared some things up for you.

Nice walk through qusp.

When I was trying to learn RB using my 5.5G I used the online manual and read every page and played with my iPod for each feature that I needed to learn...I've gone through it a few times.

Crossfade is still one of the cool tricks that keeps the music flowing...it takes experimenting with the 4 parameters to get it right.

noworries; glad to help good idea to start from flat and go from there. crossfade is very powerful for IEMs specifically; really helps to widen the head-stage. but its not appropriate for all types of music IMO. for instance it really screws with electronic music; which usually has a lot of hard panned drums/cymbals getc as well as a lot of spacial effects already in the production. so with crossfeed combined with this it can just become mush. great for live gigs/classical/jazz etc though

I freaking lost an auction this morning for a gem of an 80gb 5.5g ipod by $2....

*sigh*

How I wish I had an older one of my own to try rockbox on permanently.

You have excellent components, I don't think EQ is necessary.

Just for the record, I mentioned crossfade but I also enjoy crossfeed. Both are possible with Rockbox.