[Danneq]

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Using EQ makes way more sense than buying cables to try and beef up the midrange or tone down sibilance. The audiophile view that EQ somehow gets in the way of fidelity is nonsense. 

Haha! Don't let xnor read that. While I can agree that my EQing might mess with the fidelity of the music I am listening to, it does not bother me. I EQ for my own enjoyment. I respect those who look for a accurate sound, but listening to music is not a science. It is just pure enjoyment. A diversion which is very dear to the most of us.

 

[nikongod]

I one time listened to an analog record without any equalizer. It was pathetic and sad.
 
People who love the "no EQ" rule dont even know who started it or why. Considering that there are VERY few recordings that have not been EQ'd at some point its foolish to avoid one if it increases your enjoyment of the music.

 

[upstateguy]

 
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V shaped? fine, but he should make the top sliders at 0dB max...otherwise it's gonna distort like mad on loud stuff.

 
Another thought is this: 
 
How do we know that the final result of this EQ curve on mmd8X28's homemade headphone isn't flat or close to flat?  Not having the benefit of a computer tuned headphone design, his final tuning would have to be done with an equalizer.
 
And leeperry's suggestion.
 
USG
 

 

[Prog Rock Man]

Quote:

Haha! Don't let xnor read that. While I can agree that my EQing might mess with the fidelity of the music I am listening to, it does not bother me. I EQ for my own enjoyment. I respect those who look for a accurate sound, but listening to music is not a science. It is just pure enjoyment. A diversion which is very dear to the most of us.

The accuracy of the sound is purely what the designer thinks is accurate. I have a good idea too what different instruments and music should sound like. However, I am not a user of EQ as I am a fidget and would drive myself mad constantly adjusting the settings.

 

[xnor]

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Haha! Don't let xnor read that.

Why? I don't see a problem with proper application of an EQ if needed. But it's misused quite often, which is why I'd suggest newbies to keep their hands off of it.

 

[Br777]

Quote:

Using EQ makes way more sense than buying cables to try and beef up the midrange or tone down sibilance. The audiophile view that EQ somehow gets in the way of fidelity is nonsense. 

+1 on that.  it always makes me chuckle when people say they wont touch an eq because they want to keep the sound pure and as close to the original recording as possible.  They dont get that almost every pair of headphone has frequency imbalances - quite often quite drastic - and that eqing them flat, which sometimes requires substantial eq alterations, is what brings your sound back to its "pure" close to the recording sound.    so many people tend to write off what are really capable headphones because they dont sound balanced run through a simple dac and amp or similar combination.  
 
Also very often people pretend that they can just listen to their favorite music and judge precisely whether a can or IEM is balanced with a flat sound.  Then you take those phones that sounded so balanced, run a sine wave through them, balance them with an eq and listen again, and really see how imbalanced they were

 

[Sonic 748i]

EQ's are there to compensate for a speakers flaws, usually. Get better equipment ( Headphones, AMP and DAC ) and you'll find your self not touching the EQ.

 

[Ham Sandwich]

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EQ's are there to compensate for a speakers flaws, usually. Get better equipment ( Headphones, AMP and DAC ) and you'll find your self not touching the EQ.

 
And other times EQ is used to compensate for a recordings flaws.  Other times you may want to use EQ to get a party or club sound with rock or electronic music.  If you want to do some low level listening you might want to apply a loudness style contour EQ setting.

 

[aimlink]

I used to EQ routinely but have since stopped.  It's been a mix of getting accustomed to the unEQ'd sound as well as getting more balanced cans.

 

[Young Spade]

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I used to EQ routinely but have since stopped.  It's been a mix of getting accustomed to the unEQ'd sound as well as getting more balanced cans.

Ditto. 

 

[Hcjung10]

In my addiction to high-end IEMs, I found out that the better audio equipment you got, the less EQ you use in order to... appreciate your setup? Does that sound reasonable to a lot of you guys here?

 

[Sonic 748i]

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In my addiction to high-end IEMs, I found out that the better audio equipment you got, the less EQ you use in order to... appreciate your setup? Does that sound reasonable to a lot of you guys here?

Does to me, the better the gear the less you'll use sound alterations.

 

[niftymatt]

Shouldn't a really high end system be accompanied by a solid equalizer? I mean, music live or not is always mixed with an EQ. I don't understand why a really good setup wouldn't have one. Am I wrong on this? Obviously, EQ gets a bad rap around here because people generally use EQs on their computer/MP3 player which obviously have crappy EQs built in.

 

[JxK]

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In my addiction to high-end IEMs, I found out that the better audio equipment you got, the less EQ you use in order to... appreciate your setup? Does that sound reasonable to a lot of you guys here?

I'll preface this by saying that my setup is far from high end, but I don't think that statement sounds reasonable. Every headphone has a particular frequency response, and every headphone has some sort of imbalance somewhere in that response. Additionally, every human ear is a little different and exerts its own "natural" equalization on the sound. Then you get into the murky realm of sound signature preferences. What this amounts to, in my book, is that every headphone, no matter how "good" or "high end" can benefit from equalization. It doesn't have to necessarily be alot - maybe your sound preferences just match up really well with what you have - but for all practical purposes I feel that all headphones benefit from equalization, even if it is very modest.
 
Edit: I'll add that when you become older and start losing high frequency perception, an EQ is no longer a tweak to make something sound better, it becomes absolutely essential in order to properly hear your music.

 

[Insomnymous]

I'm not a huge audiophile and probably have a lower amount of experience with this kind of stuff than most head-fiers but my personal opinion is that EQ usage has more to do with personal sound preference rather than compensating for lower end audio hardware. For example, I love a heavy bass line and rich highs, and not so much mids. So I set my EQ up that way and when I've found a great curve I stick with it and love the sound it produces. I don't have amazing hardware but I consider it to be somewhat decent here at Head-Fi, and while there may be other cans that fit my sound preference better than the ones I currently own, I believe that my rig suits me pretty well.
 
TL;DR
EQs are great for tweaking and getting a sound that is more enjoyable to your ears and there are those that love the way music sounds naturally, with no refinements to their music.