Westone ES-5: Chasing Neutral Eq settings - updated 5.7.13

UPDATE 5.7.13 A fellow Head-fier jogged my brain and caused me to re-asess....  once again, every time I think i'm close, i realize there was room for improvement.

However this means i think i've improved quite a bit over the last settings...  A much fuller, well rounded sound. Not nearly as harsh and thin sounding in the mids and highs.

Is it perfectly neutral? Probably not.  But it seems a lot closer than ever ( i know i always say that and i've revised this threat too many times to count)

I've also added settings for equalizer apo - an awesome Operating system eq that works globally over your whole computer.  Its great!

as an added aside.  if you really want to see just how much these headphones are muddled by just one major flaw, try only using the 200 hz setting.

in other words if you were on rockbox for example, only use filter 1 setting.. nothing else.  You'll see just how much better the es-5 sounds when all you do is take out the glaring hump in the mid bass. 

ROCKBOX:    

precut -3db

Filter  LS           120 Hz  Gain   1.5 dB  Q  0.7      

Filter  1 Fc        200 Hz  Gain  -7.0 dB  Q  0.4
Filter  2 Fc      1450 Hz  Gain  -2.0 dB  Q  2.0
Filter  3 Fc      3000 Hz  Gain   2.7 dB  Q  2.9  
Filter  4 Fc      4500 Hz  Gain   2.0 dB  Q  4.8  
Filter  5 Fc      7400 Hz  Gain   1.5 dB  Q  4.8  
Filter  6 Fc    12000 Hz  Gain  -3.0 dB  Q  1.4  
Filter  7 Fc         800 Hz  Gain   2.0 dB  Q  1.4 

Filter  HS       10000 Hz  Gain   1.0 dB  Q  0.7
 

Easy-Q

numbers are frequency, gain, bandwidth - bandwidth is not the same as q.  They are two different systems for creating the width of a given frequency band

global gain set to -3

all settings are peak/dips (no high or low shelving)

20             1.5           4.3

200          -7              3.0

800           1                .95

1450        -2               .7

3000         2.7            .6

4500         2               .3

7400         1.5            .3

12000     -3              1.0

20000       1.5          1.0

NEW - EQUALIZER APO settings

Preamp: -3 dB

Filter  1: ON   PK       Fc        200,0 Hz  Gain  -7,0 dB  Q  0,4
Filter  2: ON   PK       Fc      1450,0 Hz  Gain  -2,0 dB  Q  2,00
Filter  3: ON   PK       Fc      3000,0 Hz  Gain   2,7 dB  Q  2,90   
Filter  4: ON   PK       Fc      4500,0 Hz  Gain   2,0 dB  Q  4,80   
Filter  5: ON   PK       Fc      7400,0 Hz  Gain   1,5 dB  Q  4,80   
Filter  6: ON   PK       Fc    12000,0 Hz  Gain  -3,0 dB  Q  1,40   
Filter  7: ON   PK       Fc    20000,0 Hz  Gain   1,0 dB  Q  1,40
Filter  8: ON   PK       Fc         800,0 Hz  Gain   2,0 dB  Q  1,40   
Filter  9: ON   PK       Fc           20,0 Hz  Gain   1,5 dB  Q  0,23

ENJOY!!!

nobody's tried this eh?

everything else is turned off. i only use the eq to adjust the sound.. and i use the precut function to make sure nothing clips

yes, those are the q's although with the funky way the q numbering goes on my clip zip there may be some numbers that repeat as you scroll through..

i'lll try yours , i'm curious to see someone else's opinion on this.

thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zalken 
Here are some settings I have been using recently that I feel opens up the sound more, and is a little closer to neutral to my ears.

 

	Frequency (Hz)	Gain (dB)	Q
Peak 1	146	-2.50	0.50
Peak 2	3150	+2.00	2.42
Peak 3	4465	+2.80	8.50
Peak 4	5800	-1.50	5.50
Peak 5	7180	+3.00	7.70

 

what equalizer are you using to get these settings?

it cant be rockbox, or easy-q

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zalken 

Some clarification needed - does the 7,4,2,1,7 represent the Q values of each peak respectively?

 

If so, I found the sound of the curve fun but it compressed the sound stage quite a bit and colored the sound.  I shall try late on my rockbox give you my impressions on that device.

 

 

Here are some settings I have been using recently that I feel opens up the sound more, and is a little closer to neutral to my ears.

 

	Frequency (Hz)	Gain (dB)	Q
Peak 1	146	-2.50	0.50
Peak 2	3150	+2.00	2.42
Peak 3	4465	+2.80	8.50
Peak 4	5800	-1.50	5.50
Peak 5	7180	+3.00	7.70

 

i'm not following your q settings question.. yes, they are the q for the rockbox settings.  but then it sounds like you say you tried it, but yet you say you will try it on rockbox later.   If you tried those settings on a non rockbox eq they will not be the same, b/c q settings differ from eq to eq.  their values are not universal across eq's

thats the same reason i asked you what your eq settings in your chart above are for - easy q and rockbox dont have ranges that would allow such settings in their q sections.   not to mention rockbox wouldnt allow numbers that werent factors of 10 in its frequency selector

ok, so just understand that using the q settings from my rockbox settings wont work for your eq.

if you have a screen shot of your curve, i'd love to see it.

thanks

the OP has been completely re-written to reflect a true neutral EQ curve thanks to the accudio app by golden ears, and some time i took to replicate their work on other eq platforms.

refined easy-q settings.   much closer now

new rockbox settings coming soon.

yet again refinements... especially on rockbox.. much better now since i got a sescom a/b switch box which allowed me to switch back and forth between accudio and rockbox with no delay.

anyone who says they can compare two sounds of .. anything.. without zero delay a/b switching is a lunatic.. there, I said it....