[jagwap]

It would be trivial to add the compression at the user end. The tuner chip sets mentioned above are going obsolete as they are being replaced by system on chip solutions which incorporate a DSP, as RF front end is EQed and stereo decoded in the digital domain (and it is nowhere as good as an analogue front end). The rest of the audio chain is always digital now except vinyl (which doesn't need it almost all of the time as it gets a less compressed master most of the time, and is rarely played in a noisy environment domestically). DAB radio has this built in from the start, but nobody used ut sadly.

The tricky part is getting the industry to agree to it.

Interestingly the people reporting on their MQA experience say the MQA version seem less compressed than others they have most of the time. I found the same except a Cars album. So MQA may not guarantee a better master is used, but it looks like they are trying to, nearly as advertised.

Edited in bold for the pedantic.

 

[bigshot]

It would be great if all portable audio units with an amp had bass boost, compression and expansion, and basic EQ. Then I could work with any sort of mastering problem, colored transducers, and listening environment on the fly. Not apt to happen though because audiophiles are more dogmatic about these sorts of things than they are practical.

 

[Strangelove424]

I'm in a quandary right now because I want an all-in-one headphone amp/dac, but have been spoiled by the DSP features on my soundcard and receiver. The idea of a device that can't adjust the sound is startling to me. If DAC makers are developing drivers for PC/MAC, I don't see why they can't add software EQ at the very least. I guess I can use the music player's EQ, but that still leaves out Spotify which has none.

 

[bigshot]

I guess it's the iPod and apps then, or would that not work with Spotify?

 

[wnmnkh]

Before even we talk about technical aspects, it is now perfectly clear that this particular 'format' is going nowhere economically.

Meridian wanted to use format to sell their DACs more. It seems this is not going to sell more DACs nor be successful as a format.

 

[Strangelove424]

I guess it's the iPod and apps then, or would that not work with Spotify?

I'm a bit unclear myself, which is why I'm hesitant to start spending money, but I think whatever device it was plugged into (for me it's either an Android phone, PC, or Mac computer) the DAC would take whatever data was given to it by music player software, including EQ, but would override system-wide EQ from the operating system. Since Spotify has no embedded EQ in their mobile app or desktop app, that leaves no way to change the sound before it hits the DAC. The part I'm fuzzy on is how easy it would be to use system-wide EQ on Android or PC/Mac, and whether or not that would effect the DAC. I've seen system-wide EQ for PC, but it wasn't compatible with my soundcard because of some WASAPI or ASIO incompatibility. It all brings to mind a great poem= http://plagiarist.com/poetry/123/

 

[bigshot]

I would think that everything in an iPod would use the iPod's DAC. If there was an app providing system wide EQ, it should work with anything.

 

[castleofargh]

Spoiler: off topic about system wide EQ.

it's a matter of app and os. with android some apps like viper4android can be system wide as long as the device is rooted. I have a BT headphone (Divine) that only offers the DSP in it's own player on android, but works on a wider level with Iphones I believe(not an apple guy myself).
on PC equalizer APO offers EQ and even convolution system wide. viper4windows isn't amazing when it comes to EQ alone and IDK if it supports Win10, but it can also work system wide and adds some other sound effects. or you can just use some virtual cable and a VST host to add absolutely anything you want. it's then only a matter of setting the default output to the virtual cable. that's the way I roll right now and the only real limitation I meet is that I have to mind the delays for when I want to play a video, but some rather simple IIR EQ won't be a problem at all.

an alternative is what I've done for several years for portable stuff, convert albums including the DSPs you like(I do it in foobar), and put those altered songs into your DAPs and cellphones.

please make or find a fitting topic if you want to discuss this for specific situations.

 

[bigshot]

I started this thread a couple of years ago and even I don't know what it's about any more!

 

[jagwap]

It would be great if all portable audio units with an amp had bass boost, compression and expansion, and basic EQ. Then I could work with any sort of mastering problem, colored transducers, and listening environment on the fly. Not apt to happen though because audiophiles are more dogmatic about these sorts of things than they are practical.

I hope you don't mean portable units like bluetooth and wifi speakers. Audiophile should stear clear of most of them. You can buy a budget separates amplifier and speakers with a wireless adaptor for less and it should trounce them.

Also I note you dont just want EQ, but why does everyone think EQ can fix everything? Colouration in drive units can be from THD, intermod or transient distortion. Don't get me started on bass boost. I think some music is begining to be mastered to compensate for the over boosted bass in modern equipment. Or perhaps the engineers have lost their top end of their hearing. Bass boost screws up the music. It does not make it "more fun", it damages it and cannot be recovered.

I started this thread a couple of years ago and even I don't know what it's about any more!

There's a lot of it about in this corner of the forum.

Keep extra EQ, bass boost, compression off my music. Give me a Master that has it's Quality Assured, and let me play it on a system I like. (See, back on topic, just)

 

[sonitus mirus]

Keep extra EQ, bass boost, compression off my music. Give me a Master that has it's Quality Assured, and let me play it on a system I like. (See, back on topic, just)

What about the room/environment you like?

 

[jagwap]

What about the room/environment you like?

Sure, but EQ won't fix that. Good room EQ works in the time domain not the frequency domain. Otherwise you are EQing the first arrival sound before reflections and re-enforcement, which will sound awful.

You know what the earliest room EQ team discovered? If you walked into an EQed room, and turned off the effect, it was dramatic. If you did it the other way around, it was not very noticeable. Because your brain does a time domain EQ every time you walk in a room and does a good job for you.

 

[bigshot]

I've found that proper equalization makes more of an impact on sound quality than anything else. If speakers or headphones can produce a wide enough response at a decent volume level, I can EQ them to ideal. No need for EQ to correct amps and players, just transducers and rooms. Of course response and time are related, but problems with reflections are best dealt with by room treatment. Typically time error is a less important problem than response imbalances. Distortion is even further down the list.

If I'm walking, I don't want big honking cans on my head, and I don't want expensive in ear monitors. I just want some cheap portable headphones that I can make sound reasonably decent with bass boost.

On trains or in the car, compression is handy to raise the lowest level to an audible range so I don't have to blast the volume.

I want a basic EQ so I can correct for lousy recordings. All engineering is not created equal, especially with historical recordings. EQ is a must to make some things listenable on headphones.

I suppose you could add cross feed and stereo synthesizers to my want list too. I could find use for them.

These things are tools. They're not satan.

 

[sonitus mirus]

Sure, but EQ won't fix that. Good room EQ works in the time domain not the frequency domain. Otherwise you are EQing the first arrival sound before reflections and re-enforcement, which will sound awful.

You know what the earliest room EQ team discovered? If you walked into an EQed room, and turned off the effect, it was dramatic. If you did it the other way around, it was not very noticeable. Because your brain does a time domain EQ every time you walk in a room and does a good job for you.

I agree and have read similar findings. Though, back on topic, I believe MQA has some damage control to contend with now. The renderer has essentially been completely dissected, and there is nothing special about it at all. Still have the decoder to contend with, but from the patents and what has been demonstrated from third party analysis, it seems unlikely that MQA offers any improvement in audio quality as format.

 

[bigshot]

Where was that reported? Sounds interesting.