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'Emphasis?'

post #1 of 10
2/23/11 at 6:14pm
Thread Starter 

The reason for this thread is very simple, an observation.

 

While working out some things with my set up which consists of the CDX593 + SRC2496 (24/96, dither enabled) + Monitor 10R for now I read something very interesting about a little setting on the SRC2496 called "Emphasis". Behringer explains this as a correction for recordings where the treble has been cut off to make the recordings sound more pleasing to the ears. 

 

Well as I was experimenting Charles Mingus' album "Mingus Ah Um" was in the CD-player. I used the intro of "Better Git It In Your Soul" since it is filled with little sounds. When I enabled "Emphasis" there was a subtle improvement, especially in the the treble department, most noticeable with the subtle high hat accents and the slightly improved overall clarity.

 

Note that my headphone, the Pioneer Monitor 10R is already very revealing in its presentation but this little "Emphasis" button makes a noticeable difference for the better. (Better = more revealing)

 

1. I would like to know if this Behringer thing called "Emphasis" is better known among others.

2. Is this "Emphasis" button worth taking seriously?

3. Is there a truth in the assumption Behringer makes with the "Emphasis?

 

Still learning, my regards,

 

Deep Funk

 

 

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post #2 of 10
2/24/11 at 2:30pm

Have you read the manual?

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post #3 of 10
2/24/11 at 2:34pm
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post #4 of 10
2/24/11 at 3:09pm
If I had that button it would make my DT-48E sound more like my Senn.800, which is a slight boost around 7khz maybe.
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post #5 of 10
2/24/11 at 5:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dalethorn View Post

If I had that button it would make my DT-48E sound more like my Senn.800, which is a slight boost around 7khz maybe.


Right, but this has not much to do with a slight boost.

Take a look at this de-emph filter response:

 

deemph.png

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post #6 of 10
2/24/11 at 6:57pm

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by xnor View Post

Right, but this has not much to do with a slight boost.

Take a look at this de-emph filter response:

 

 I see - down about 9-1/2 db at about 12-13 khz, down about 4db at 5 khz.  In the case of my Senn.800 and DT-48E, I suspect the 48E is down in that region about the same as the 800 is up, which makes for quite a difference combined.  So I don't know how this curve would relate to the OP's comment exactly.  If it were a headphone's output alone, it wouldn't seem bad for something around $300 to $500.

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post #7 of 10
2/25/11 at 1:02am
Thread Starter 

Xnor, I read the manual otherwise I would not have written the words "Behringer's assumption"...

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post #8 of 10
2/25/11 at 3:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deep Funk View Post

Xnor, I read the manual otherwise I would not have written the words "Behringer's assumption"...


The manual (the german one at least) explains it pretty well. The emphasis bit could have been set erroneously during the mastering process without any treble boost applied, so if you notice that the treble is cut about 10 dB on playback (emph led = on) and it sounds dull or you notice the mistake in a spectrum analyzer then you can manually correct this.

 

Afaik there are not many CDs out there that have the pre-emph flag set. This preprocessing was used in conjunction with 14-bit converters to reduce noise (higher SNR) and is, I'd say, obsolete nowadays.

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post #9 of 10
2/25/11 at 10:01am
Thread Starter 

Thanks, it is a cool feature I must admit...

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post #10 of 10
2/26/11 at 12:20pm

Yeah not many devices show the user if this pre-processing is activated (they just do it automatically if needed) and even less devices allow the user to manually disable it.

Not a big deal unless the flag was set erroneously on the recording. But then you can still rip the CD and correct it with some piece of (free) software. ;)

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