Headphones sound signatures and EQ

Totally up to the user. 

Some people EQ, some people will never touch it.

IMO, the fun of this hobby is getting new equipment; new DAC, amp, cables, and headphones.....to get the sound signature you want. 

There is nothing wrong with equalization, if done correctly (making sure it cannot result in clipping, etc.). However, for the purpose of fixing frequency response problems, that is not easy to do without reliable measurements of the impulse response (especially when also considering phase/delay).

If the purpose of equalization is only to change the overall tonal balance of an otherwise reasonably linear frequency response, then the main problem is increasing distortion in the headphone. This is mostly an issue when increasing bass. For example, trying to turn an ATH-AD700 into an MDR-XB700 is problematic because the drivers will not handle the necessary levels of bass very well, even if the amplifier can output enough power. But with something like the LCD-2 that can handle a lot of power at any frequency, it would work better.

Yea I like EQing and keep doing that because:

- It doesn't cost you anything (therefore I don't understand people who doesn't even try it if they aren't happy with the frequency response balance)

- It's actually fun the way I do, just listen to your favorite music while EQing meanwhile to EQ according to your ears (might be difficult for some)

- It WORKS for me at least, often improving the subjective value on the sound you're hearing conciderably (I'd say XB500 is the one that has improved the most for me, from like ~$60 worth of sound stock to like ~$120 after EQ)

- With just a little practice it becomes fast and easy process

- You get to understand the sound better as you like me can pretty instantly start to tell yea this headphone needs an adjustment aprox here or there because it sounds like this n that etc.

Of course it's best to get a headphone that sounds perfectly according to your taste from start without doubt but if you're a perfectionist like me it's hard to find just that headphone which is perfect out of box.

Depending on what you're trying to fix, this may not be possible. If you just want a slight bump to the bass, or a slight cut in the mids, sure, an EQ can help. It cannot, however, fix problems related to stored energy/ringing, nor can it change things like sound-stage or otherwise defy the laws of physics. For example, I cannot (Even with +20 dB of gain, which is a 100x increase in power demand or 10x increase in voltage demand) turn my MDR-F1s into a bass-heavy headphone. I will, however, likely create lots of distortion and/or damage them in the attempt. However, on the other hand, if I wanted to cut down the high-end energy a bit, I can easily pull down everything from say, 8k and up, by a few dB with no trouble (These are both hypothetical scenarios).

You can't kill things like sibilance, resonance, and that sort of thing with an EQ. It only acts upon the signal, not upon the transducer/output. In other words, if I were to take my F1s and butcher up the EQ settings, they'd still sound like F1s - just F1s playing back a really skewed response (so it would sound different overall, but it's not changing them into something else). So what I mean here is, for example, if they ring at a given frequency, they will still ring at that frequency, I may just have reduced the amount of energy being sent into them at that frequency. 

To my knowledge, there's only one device that tries to actually apply some sort of "correction EQ" to headphones (similar to Audyssey or Trinnov for your listening room), the Smyth Realiser, but it costs more than most headphones in current production (aside from the STAX SR-009 and SR-007, and Ultrasone Edition 10), and I don't know if it actually "helps" at all. Seems a bit silly though, just considering the price. There are surround sound simulation suites like Dolby Headphone that can improve imaging with conventional headphones, but they scale accordingly. Meaning that a headphone that sucks for imaging (like my Denon ECHs) will still suck for imaging, but it's getting a more tailored (for headphone use) signal. Something that doesn't suck for imaging (like the F1s) will accordingly do better. 

If you have a pair of headphones, and access to some sort of EQ device beyond a standard two-dial tone control, play with the settings; the above should make more sense in that light. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by curtainsinmotio 

I hear a lot of talk about certain headphones lacking bass, some with too much treble/sibilance etc. In what way is it worse to use a slight EQ to fix this matter of preference than to have a pair of headphones sounding that way originally?

EQ is fine with slight adjustments for me. For example I only adjust the bass (60hz - 250hz) and upper mids (1khz - 4khz) very slightly on Pro 900 to get rid of any harshness, bring the mids a bit more in front and add a bit more bass without ruining the sound.

Define "little more" - if we're talking about <6 dB you shouldn't have any problems with something like the T1, assuming the amplifier is competent.

Quote:

Originally Posted by curtainsinmotio 

On some music, like psychedelic trance, I EQ my new T1 a very little touch to add a little more bass and it does not sound like it is distorted at all. However I am new to audiophile listening and it might very well be my ears are not trained good enough yet.

For me, I never change more than <4 dB or so.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich 

Define "little more" - if we're talking about <6 dB you shouldn't have any problems with something like the T1, assuming the amplifier is competent.

 

That's "minimal" enough - that shouldn't introduce any problems unless the "thing" you're using for EQ introduces noise by itself (which would be all the time it's in the circuit). If that's what you like, no harm there. 

I don't think it's "worse" to use EQ, it just has a negative stigma among the "I want to hear it exactly as the producer intended" crowd.  It's just easier to start with a sound signature that matches your taste than to say, try to turn a K701 into an XB-500 or vice versa.  Even then there are far too many differences between headphones than just mere differences in decibels at particular frequencies.  More than anything I just find it fun to experiment with EQ.  Trying to optimize a particular headphone to sound just how I want it, or even fun things like seeing if I can get my SRH-940 to compete with my Pro 900, or trying to balance my XB-500 into my HD-600.

Also remember one thing, that all EQs doesn't work equally good, so that you get lots of distortion using one EQ may not be the fault of the headphone or the source/amping but could be the EQ itself. I've been using Audigy 2 ZS card equipped with some 3rd party drivers kX Audio in the past. This software allowed me to even load multiple EQs at the same time, never tried more than 3 EQs at the same time but it I tried for fun boosting the bass up by 36dB and it didn't distort but I had lowered the volume to like 7% where bass provided pretty much normal listening volume and mids and highs could barely be heard, sounded like being next door to a club with bass bleeding through the walls BUT it didn't distort/clip, the bass sounded clean. Try doing the same (if they even allowed such boost) with any software EQ and you'd only get bunch of distortion as output.   

Among the EQ's I've tried this would be roughly the order of how great they work (ability to avoid introducing distortion and how "accurate" it is): 

1. kX Audio 10-band EQ

2. X-Fi Titanium HD's EQ

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3. Electri-Q (the freeware one) VST EQ 

4. Realtek HD onboard's EQ =~ ASUS Xonar EQ (C-Media driver software), about equal

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5. Your typical media player's EQ (Winamp, foobar2000's)

6. iTunes EQ

If I hadn't access to any better option than say the #5 I probably wouldn't be that much for EQing either!

Quote:

Originally Posted by curtainsinmotio 

I am using the EQ in Foobar2000.

While the built-in graphic equalizer is somewhat limited, there are others available (as foobar, winamp, or VST plugins) that you can use instead of it.