How to equalize your headphones: A Tutorial - Page 33

what's so annoying w/ EQ'ing headphones is:

-my brain FR seems to drift over the day..so a perfect EQ at 2PM doesn't really work at 2AM

-finding the right EQ takes forever, and you have to do it in small bursts because your brain will DSP everything after a few secs anyway

-many EQ's have a flaky phase response that ruins the stereo image and adds some sort of mushy/phasey color to the trebles

but when you manage to keep those problems under control, and use transparent-enough headphones...it's sheer enjoyment!

I completely agree leeperry! That's why I save so many different EQ presents on my Cowon and Itunes.

Also, having a positive attitude about your equipment helps too XD

Quote:

Originally Posted by leeperry 

what's so annoying w/ EQ'ing headphones is:

-my brain FR seems to drift over the day..so a perfect EQ at 2PM doesn't really work at 2AM

-finding the right EQ takes forever, and you have to do it in small bursts because your brain will DSP everything after a few secs anyway

-many EQ's have a flaky phase response that ruins the stereo image and adds some sort of mushy/phasey color to the trebles

 

but when you manage to keep those problems under control, and use transparent-enough headphones...it's sheer enjoyment!

it usually takes me many, many revisions over days or weeks until i am satisfied that i have flattened the sine wave sound. listening to sine waves for anything more than a few minutes at a time, even at reasonable volumes, just kills your ears and thus your judgement.

sometimes my opinion of "flat" changes too.  For example, take  7000hz and 500hz in a hypothetical situation...  the higher frequency may "sound" louder than the 500  b/c it is more shrill so you may think your 7k is louder than your 500 at first, only to realize that the 7k just sounds more "intense" and is actually not "louder" than the 500.  this is where lots of practice can change your way of viewing "loudness"

its also very easy to mistake a more flat sound for a "veiled" sound when first a/bing.  this simply happens because you are more used to the out of balance sound.  sometimes simply increasing the volume to compensate for all the eq'ing can help "remove the veil". 

Also if you listen to the eq'd sound for a while without going back to the non eq'd sound you will really hear how out of whack the non eq'd sound was once you try it again (unless you didnt eq much in the first place).  This is assuming you actually did a good job flattening the sound in the first place.

So, if one can achieve that of a flat frequency response using the proper hardware/software and pink noise then would it not be pointless to purchase a DT48 E? Or, would it not be more logical just to purchase something like the DT48 E instead of having to go through all of those steps? Or, is it that people may want to purchase other headphones for their soundstaging, comfort, and durability? I am not challenging the OP's ideas with the assumption that I am right. In fact, I am asking these questions just for the sake of learning. I am a n00b! So, no disrespect intended and I don't think the OP is wrong by any means.

Also, are the OP's methods 100% effective?

and this link seems to be saying that languages have different sibilances...I usually finetune my EQ on french/english/portuguese/japanese just to be sure: http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=ko&u=http://www.seeko.co.kr/zboard4/zboard.php

and indeed, it's about finding the perfect compromise between veiled and edgy/sparkly...there isn't really a need to be perfectly spot-on as your brain will smooth the most obvious spikes anyway.

this link compares the phase linearity of a few plugins: http://www.gearslutz.com/board/gear-shoot-outs-sound-file-comparisons-audio-tests/477502-linear-phase-eq-shootout.html

I curently use EQuality in linear phase mode, and I never listen to sinewaves...I know where my middle ear resonances more or less stand, I just finetune the attenuation and Q over the days.

Ah well, EQuality sounds unmanageable to my ears(even in "linear phase" mode)....I'm always trying really hard, but Sonnox sounds far less "sparkly" and much more neutral/controlled. It might be technically more advanced(Sonnox being "minimal phase" and pretty old), but power w/o control doesn't mean anything.

Fixing the slightly forward upper mid-range of HD800:

450hz : 0db
650hz : -1db
850hz : 0db

A small adjustment does magic.

Does anyone know if there is an iphone app which allows me to apply these settings in real time? Something in the mould of Audio Hijack?

I was thinking that I could just "re-record" each song with my specific EQ settings. But, apart from being time consuming, this poses a problem if I were to listen to them on other speakers, or have other people listen to my music for example.

I have a horrrible peak @ 987hz (B5), which starts at 554 (C#5) and finishes at 1661 (G#6). I'm using JH-13's. Acgh

I went 2 days without listening to my rig. I got back home, turned on the eq and put in some music. It sounded great, but for some reason flat sounds better at the moment. Its sounds more detailed. Also im using minimal cutting and no boosting, so Im not mistreating the EQ.

It funny how much the brain and ears change over time. Our natural DSP is quite good and adaptable.  

Here is a cool article called "Sound equalization in relation to the way we perceive sound": http://www.anstendig.org/EQ.html

Originally Posted by EYEdROP 

I went 2 days without listening to my rig. I got back home, turned on the eq and put in some music. It sounded great, but for some reason flat sounds better at the moment. Its sounds more detailed. Also im using minimal cutting and no boosting, so Im not mistreating the EQ.

Using which EQ? many EQ's butcher the sound more than anything else.

AUParametric EQ.

My frequency curve using Sennheiser HD555 driven by a Bravo V2 which is connected to Audiotrak Prodigy HD2 souncard.

Gush... Getting the right software and caching the wrong peaks was the easiest part... In practice, EQ-ing is much, much harder then if just correcting the white noise picks.. On real music things, much, much different.

Here is the warm equalization for my DT990 Premium (250 ohm). Sounds nice to my ears on any recording.  Source : Audinst HUD MX1 -> LittleDot MKIII tube Amp (on Russian 6J1P-EV )

Great post, very informative

Has anyone found a simple and effective way to do the process (as suggested in the first post) on a Mac?