How to equalize your headphones: A Tutorial - Page 55

Was interested in trying this, but I was wondering how this affects using both headphones and speakers equally?  Is this something I'm going to have to do for both of them, and switch between EQ settings every time I change from speakers/headphones? 

Quote:

Originally Posted by StringBoi 

Was interested in trying this, but I was wondering how this affects using both headphones and speakers equally?  Is this something I'm going to have to do for both of them, and switch between EQ settings every time I change from speakers/headphones? 

Yes.

I just accidentally deleted an absurdly long response regarding this, but in short the headphones should be equalized to have a perceived frequency response that matches the perceived response of flat frequency response measuring speakers or other frontal distant sources (e.g. a band in front of you).

The premise of the original post does not account for the natural perception we have of sound - that is, a flat frequency response speaker should not actually sound flat in frequency response when listening to a sine wave sweep.  You will hear low and high frequency roll-offs as well as a peak due to ear canal resonance at around 3 kHz, and some other things as well.  These "imperfections" in perceived frequency response are a part of how we hear real life sounds and absolutely must not be equalized out if you are aiming at creating the most accurate sound experience.

Now, the acoustical impedance mismatch resonances that the OP cites regarding the esteemed Dr. Linkwitz are in fact an issue with headphones - they're often the primary enemy with respect to accurate performance of headphones.  Also, your normal ear canal resonance may be slightly different than the 3 kHz peak most headphones have designed in.  But again, that does not in any way mean that you should have a headphone equalized so that its perceived frequency response is flat across the board.  That does not accurately reproduce sound as we hear it.

I should add that there is a more detailed discussion regarding this topic here:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/592556/purpose-cause-of-wavy-part-at-high-frequencies-in-fr-graph/15

Thanks for the info guys!  I cant seem to load up the Electri-Q program.  It installs, but there is no stand alone program or any options in Foobar to use it.  I think some of the links in the beginning seem to be outdated.  What exactly do I need to do this with Foobar correctly?  I'm usually good at figuring this stuff out...but I think I'm missing a plugin or something here. 

It's all been explained very clearly at http://www.davidgriesinger.com/headphones.htm

Personally, I couldn't leave w/o killing two spikes at 6.4 and 10kHz.

Quote:

Originally Posted by StringBoi 

Thanks for the info guys!  I cant seem to load up the Electri-Q program.  It installs, but there is no stand alone program or any options in Foobar to use it.  I think some of the links in the beginning seem to be outdated.  What exactly do I need to do this with Foobar correctly?  I'm usually good at figuring this stuff out...but I think I'm missing a plugin or something here. 

It's a VST plugin, you install George Yohng's VST wrapper (better than the foobar2000 vst wrapper) for foobar2000

http://yohng.com/software/foobarvst.html

Enable it in foobar

Point it to the directory where Electri-Q installed and you should see the option to Use VST Effect->Electri-Q

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Bloggs 

 

It's a VST plugin, you install George Yohng's VST wrapper (better than the foobar2000 vst wrapper) for foobar2000

http://yohng.com/software/foobarvst.html

 

Enable it in foobar

 

Point it to the directory where Electri-Q installed and you should see the option to Use VST Effect->Electri-Q

Thank you again!

I was wondering if there were any advantages of George's vst wrapper over the other one by Yegor. Yegor's one seems to fit in better with foobar.

Also, I seem to see the gain slider in Electri-Q for a few of you guys - how do you get it? It doesn't show up with either of the vst wrappers in foobar.

Cheers

Hopefully not OT:

After equalizing to a perceived neutral frequencey response, does play it well with DSPs like Isone Pro (a binaural synthesis)? Turning up the HRTF setting seems to create a deeper soundstage. Is this messing with the custom EQ that we have created?

I tried: SinGen > VAC > VSThost > Electri-Q > Isone Pro to hear if the eq was modified, except the tones sounded further - and that was it.

Cheers

You might as well use audio players that support VST plugins in 64fp out of the box, such as uLilith: no kludge, no 32fp processing, just pure bliss.

so what's everyone favorite EQ then? I've tried a whole bunch of them and so far my fav is Fabfilter Pro-Q in "linear phase - low" mode, SQ is fantastic 

I've never had luck with George's VST wrapper and Electri-Q - saving presets doesn't work. Yegor's adapter works better in that regard, except for some non-critical random crashes and lock-ups.

I still like electri-q the best, though I've only tried a few others. It's not the last word in stability using foo_vst (version 0.8.3, since later versions result in instant crashes), but it's good enough when you're not fiddling with it constantly.

More generally in regards to the forum topic, I've stuck with basically the same settings since the last time I posted here (pages and pages ago by this point, I'm sure). I'm still confident I've found all (four) of the peaks, though I've gradually sharpened my Q values (as I zeroed in on the exact center of each peak) so that the bands are a lot narrower. Here's what it looks like:

Here's the settings:

0.2 oct band at 5827 Hz, -7.5 dB

0.2 oct band at 7660 Hz, -6.0 dB

0.2 oct band at 10920 Hz, -4.0 dB

0.2 oct band at 13879 Hz, -4.0 dB

If you've got a DT880, I'm interested in how this setting works for you. Give it a try and post back if you've got a few moments. This is an example of what this tutorial is aiming at--minimal changes that target something very specific. I haven't been here in almost a year, but I remember a lot of people were posting really elaborate curves with dozens of bands. I think they may have been missing the point. If you have a DT880 and decide to test this curve, try bypassing and activating it in quick succession and you'll hear what sounds like a resonant filter turning on and off, while the audio itself is largely unchanged. This is what you want--you're reversing an artifact caused by the design/interface with the ears of the headphone, not radically altering the sonic signature.

How do I make electri-q work for everything outside of foobar?

i have always believed in equalizing as 'free improvement in listening experience' however my friend thinks its 'not pure/flat and is coloring the sound'
when i tune headphones i normally get a deeper and less bloated bass, less cloudy soundstage, and more crisp vocals and highs