Question about equalization and headphone sound signature taste.
Sep 17, 2014 at 11:06 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 3

nicolasete

100+ Head-Fier
Joined
Jul 10, 2010
Posts
117
Likes
14
Reading about the different sound signatures headphones have, with all the personal preference involved in that, just remembered that when I listen to music (or anything for that matter) on my desktop, which uses the Realtek HD Audio Manager, I find that there is one equalization preset ("powerful") that sounds CLEARLY better than the others and makes music sound not only more "punchy" (in a good way) but also cristal clear.. I don't have my desktop at hand, but according to Google Images it looks like this:
 
 

 
 
I was wondering if that means I actually like the "v-shaped" sound I often see mentioned in the forums as opposed to the "neutral" sound almost everyone here seems to prefer (which i assume would be a flat/flatter EQ). The headphones I use are the Creative Aurvana Live, which I which I have also seen described as V-shaped.
 
Given that some -not all- of my favourite music genres (such as acoustic and vocal jazz, classical or cuban) are supposed to have a midrange emphasis, shouldn't this preference make no sense at all? (I say this to my understanding of V-shaped as Treble/Bass emphasis with recessed mids). For instance, one of the songs that I tend to use when I'm testing audio is Chan Chan, which sounds so much better when I use that preset:
 

 
 
 
* I don't know if this might have more to do with the source than with the EQ, since when I try to emulate that preset in my laptop, which uses a different manager (IDT HD Sound), plus the hardware being obviously different, while it feels sonically similar to what the Realtek preset acomplishes, everything just gets muddy and immediatly unconfortable to listen to (blurry bass and painful treble).
 
Sep 18, 2014 at 3:06 PM Post #2 of 3
Shameless bump. 
smile.gif

 
Sep 18, 2014 at 3:24 PM Post #3 of 3
A V-shaped FR is more fun and better for lower volumes because of the way that our hearing works. A somewhat V-shaped FR is a good thing but some headphones are far too v-shaped to the point of drowning out the mid range and sounding completely inaccurate. If your music has a mid range emphasis then this makes perfect sense because relatively balanced sound always sounds the best.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top