sound_man
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2007
- Posts
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This is an attempt at making your Koss phones sound (arguably a lot) more natural. And I mean unmodded phones, because this is simply the only way to get consistent results.
I started a thread about this some time ago, but I got almost no feedback from you.
But since I'm speaking of a purely software-based thing, you don't even have to get up from your chair for this. And if "software-based" sets your alarm bells ringing, calm down: This is not the usual effects mumbo-jumbo. It is the combination of an HRTF filter (like the Headzone does it, just static) and some kind of equalization filter which fixes many of the characteristic shortcomings of your Koss (inaccurate/bloated bass, missing mids etc.)
If your are ready for the test, please do one of the following:
Here is what I want to know from you:
And why should you try it? Because you might ultimately benefit from this, once all obvious problems are fixed (and they can be, believe me). Then you can get nice sound from your portable (you can use foobar to convert your files) without having to carry an amp around etc.
So please come on and give me some comments this time!
Edit1: obsolete
Edit2: obsolete
Edit3: I have updated the contained filters and added a few new very nice setups, e.g. the typical setting for high-end listening (called bright), several not-so-bright variants of this and two derived settings for rock music (called groove and cleanbass). Owners of KSCs should use the settings marked with KSC (currently I don't have these so I have to rely on the feedback from you), otherwise it'll be probably way too bright.
The Filters can also be found here.
I started a thread about this some time ago, but I got almost no feedback from you.
But since I'm speaking of a purely software-based thing, you don't even have to get up from your chair for this. And if "software-based" sets your alarm bells ringing, calm down: This is not the usual effects mumbo-jumbo. It is the combination of an HRTF filter (like the Headzone does it, just static) and some kind of equalization filter which fixes many of the characteristic shortcomings of your Koss (inaccurate/bloated bass, missing mids etc.)
If your are ready for the test, please do one of the following:
- If you don't have foobar2000 0.9.x installed and just want to do a quick'n'dirty test, download this zip file and copy the foobar2000 folder from it directly to C:\ (this way you save yourself the tedious install and config procedure). The contents were recently updated (see below), so please redownload. Note: Technically, you are not allowed to use the above program without having a legal copy of PowerDVD, because one of it's DLLs is used.
- If you don't care about your current foobar2000 installation, uninstall it and do the above. You could also try to just run the two versions in parallel.
- If you have foobar2000 0.9.x installed or want to do it the proper way, install the required components by following this guide (look for the step-by-step part). Edit: The step-by-step guide is currently not fully up to date so please use the above complete package for now (I'll fix that).
Here is what I want to know from you:
- What can be improved. What frequencies seem unnaturally boosted, what frequencies seem attenuated.
- How it compares to your AKGs/Sennheisers/Beyers etc. The most interesting information is what instruments sound unnatural compared to what the other phones deliver.
And why should you try it? Because you might ultimately benefit from this, once all obvious problems are fixed (and they can be, believe me). Then you can get nice sound from your portable (you can use foobar to convert your files) without having to carry an amp around etc.
So please come on and give me some comments this time!
Edit1: obsolete
Edit2: obsolete
Edit3: I have updated the contained filters and added a few new very nice setups, e.g. the typical setting for high-end listening (called bright), several not-so-bright variants of this and two derived settings for rock music (called groove and cleanbass). Owners of KSCs should use the settings marked with KSC (currently I don't have these so I have to rely on the feedback from you), otherwise it'll be probably way too bright.
The Filters can also be found here.