My meticulously tweaked EQ settings for Shure SE535 and Westone 3 - Page 2

hi lunatique, as i've shared with you before, i have used your eq method to balance my LCD-2 rev2's to very close to true neutral.

i recently purchased some westone es5's (westone's top of the line customs, the best they make) and i was SHOCKED at how rolled off they were..  now granted, I am quite confident that my lcd-2's are close to true neutral.  They are not shrill, they are not rolled off.  everything seems to be in the right place with all my music.   symbols, vocals, drums, bass, guitar, all sound even and at their appropriate volumes.

that said.   THIS! is what it takes to make the es5's  sound as balanced as the lcd-2's when eq'd to neutral

yes, that is an 8.5db boost from essentially 1.5k on up.   yikes!

this just seems outrageous to me.  What do you make of this.   I am absolutely sure i am getting a proper seal.    any ideas if this is normal?

I have contacted westone about this so i'll be curious to see what they say.

it is worth noting that WITH this eq curve the es5's sound absolutely fantastic... even better than my lcd-2's if you can believe it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lunatique 

My experience with IEM's is that they tend to be quite rolled off in the treble and often rolled off in the sub-bass too, then depending on the model/brand/tips, they could also be a bit shrill in the sibilance region, or too boomy in the bass. 

 

All the IEM's I've heard were rolled off in the treble (not airy enough), except maybe the Etymotic ER4 series. 

 

Why are you boosting frequencies by cutting all the other frequencies? Keep your neutral starting point at 0 dB. Boot and cut from 0 dB--don't arbitrarily screw with the unity gain. 

 

Also, your EQ curve looks a bit too generalized. I doubt the es-5's frequency response is in smooth/simple curves like that? There must be some irregular dips and peaks that you need to address? 

 

 

 

as always i brought the unity down so the peaks are at zero... having 8+ (now more like 10) above zero seems certain distortion to me, but maybe not.  just playing it safe

it was generalized, i hadn't gotten into nitpicking yet.

This is all done by ear, so its a lot harder than using a chart for reference, but its certainly better now as there were some surprising peaks. 

its funny how such large abberations can be there and seem good until you get rid of them and then listen to the difference.

anyway still a work in progress, but this sounds better anyway..  probably still not perfect, but likely as good as its gonna get.

Thanks for taking the time to do this.  I'm not an audiophile, except that I appreciate great sound.  I love my SE535s, but haven't been satisfied with the unequalized or slightly-tweaked sound on my ipod touch. 

Using the Equalizer app, I've approximated your settings and will make them more exact over time (new to this app, I haven't been able to configure the curve perfectly yet).   I bumped the low end by 6 rather than 3, but that is a matter of personal taste (or ear canal size),  I guess.  The -12 and +12 settings are what made the biggest difference, ending the listening fatigue while keeping the treble clean.

Again, thanks.  I'm not sure I ever would have figured that out on my own.