istirsin
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2015
- Posts
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So, two things. One, has anyone compared the H6 to the meze classics 99?
Two:
Tl;dr I think first gen H6es sound better with a 700Hz q=0.7 -5dB high shelf filter
I've had my H6es (first gen) for about 9 months now. Seems like something about the frequency response makes these headphones curiously airy, but there was treble colouration that made vocals sound a little goofy (overbright). After messing around with a parametric EQ for months, I think I've figured out what's up. Rather than a 5dB recession centred around ~320Hz and weak bass, H6es have a rise from 320Hz to 1kHz that seems to be both adding colour and masking the (IMO pretty nice and definitely loud enough) bass.
I listened to some music on my rockboxed Sansa clip zip with a -5dB high shelf filter with Q=0.7 and cutoff 700Hz (preliminary guess; haven't decided if the cutoff needs tweaking yet) so that the flat part of the filter response begins at 1kHz. I sort of eyeballed the cutoff by graphing biquad filters in octave (Matlab alternative).
Much nicer, I think! Once I'm certain that the cutoff is in the right place, I'll start trying to incorporate the other tweaks I've tried (subtly smoothing peaks above 5kHz to lessen auditory fatigue; dealing with the wiggle around 160Hz that makes barbershop quartet a little disappointing to listen to). It's tricky to do that without destroying the soundstage and air that makes the H6es what they are though. I'd be happy to share those changes once (if?) I figure it out!
I'll be getting my hands on the Meze 99 by the end of next week and I'll have comparisons up with the H6 gen 2. I'm going to be keeping one and selling the other.