Do you EQ your Music?
Jun 23, 2009 at 2:19 PM Post #31 of 62
Quote:

Originally Posted by decay /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Never dared to use EQ on portable players... the distortion gets noticeable.

I do use production-grade (whatever that indicates) EQ in foobar2000, but with the recent
development I no longer need to EQ anymore.


Exact same for me. On my iphones/ipods I've always had horrible results with the EQ.
 
Jun 23, 2009 at 2:41 PM Post #32 of 62
This may be offensive to some people, but I think it needs to be said anyway. I think people who REFUSE to EQ simply out of some purist principle are childish. To me, it's like metalheads refusing to listen to anything unmetal. I used to be a metalhead and shun non-metal, but it didn't take me long to realize how narrow minded and silly it was to deprive myself of other genres. Now, I'm not referring to people who have players with a garbage EQ that distorts the music (ipod EQ has always seemed poor at best to me) but people who have legit functional EQ's and refuse to use them just because are well, silly. The whole point is to enjoy the music - and refusing to EQ out of some principle even though it sounds better is just.. blah. Just my opinion on the subject, not directing this at anyone specifically.
 
Jun 23, 2009 at 2:58 PM Post #33 of 62
I think once you have a close-to-perfect (IYO) setup, and a collection of music that's nicely
mastered, you have no need to EQ. That's purist to me and my goal for sure.

Depending on how good the EQ is and how good a person's ear is, some "might" hear the
distortion, others "might" be affect by their pre-conception.
 
Jun 23, 2009 at 3:04 PM Post #34 of 62
That depends and I mostly agree. I'm really just referring to people who would be able to achieve a better sound to their ears but have reservations about using EQ because it's not "how the artist intended" which to me is kind of bs.

I hate to beat on a dead horse here, but who really knows how the artist intended? Did the artist intend for their music to be listened to at 320 kbps, flac, 192 kbps? Did they intend for it to be listened to on the radio only? On a Cowon D2, a Sony, or an Ipod? On Westone 3's, Customs, cheap $5 earbuds? Who knows? There are really so many factors in the chain that it's not really possible to know how the artist intended unless you asked them personally - and even then they might shrug it off and say however you enjoy it most is how they intended it.
 
Jun 23, 2009 at 3:13 PM Post #36 of 62
You totally just confused me but I guess you make a point there as well. Theoretically, a lot of music probably isn't even intended for music on portable players or on anything besides a full blown speaker system. =p

There is one other factor to consider, and that is tweaking EQ could be tiresome if you listen to multiple genres in a small time frame or are just lazy. In that case I could also understand refusing to EQ.

and no I didn't forget, I just didn't feel I needed to include all possible listening options, because there are definitely more that I still haven't mentioned.
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Jun 23, 2009 at 4:08 PM Post #38 of 62
Quote:

Originally Posted by iriverdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Buy better gear


Well I have what I consider "decent" gear. iMac>Cambridge Audio DACmagic>Little Dot Mk III>HD-650 and I still use EQ because I like how it sounds. It's not set up to please anyone else.
 
Jun 23, 2009 at 5:01 PM Post #41 of 62
I did not expect to get this much disscussion. Sometimes I EQ, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I use the bass boost on the Ibasso and put on the latin eq on the Ipod, put on Bust a move and I am in heaven taping my feet shaking my head. Some times I use my amp, but most of the time i don't. Some times I feel like a nut and some times I don't
icon10.gif
 
Jun 23, 2009 at 5:05 PM Post #42 of 62
Quote:

Originally Posted by Zalithian /img/forum/go_quote.gif
-snip-

I hate to beat on a dead horse here, but who really knows how the artist intended? Did the artist intend for their music to be listened to at 320 kbps, flac, 192 kbps? Did they intend for it to be listened to on the radio only? On a Cowon D2, a Sony, or an Ipod? On Westone 3's, Customs, cheap $5 earbuds? Who knows?


*Gets on soapbox*

Yah, agreed. Engineers mix and master songs to sound good in the widest array of playback equipment as possible (ie: anything from an ipod w/ ibuds to $30,000 speakers). In other words, there is no "pure" sound.

The engineers really HAVE to do aim for a wide variety of equipment, because if they mixed for only one specific list of equipment, a whole demographic who don't have that equipment would much less likely to buy the artist's songs. And record labels want to maximize profits, right?

As an example, I remember Kanye West wanted one of his engineers to send him a completely mixed/mastered album as an MP3. Kanye reasoned that if his music could sound good as an MP3, it would sound good on anything.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that artists, producers, engineers, etc (anyone involved with the recording process) know most listeners have relatively cheap, NON-AUDIOPHILE equipment, so most music is created to please the masses.

Thanks for letting me rant.

*Gets off soap box*
 
Jun 23, 2009 at 5:20 PM Post #44 of 62
It's not for me. Why would I spend so much money and time putting together a really top-class sound system, and then distort my music by forcing it through a piece of cheap, basic software?
 
Jun 23, 2009 at 5:27 PM Post #45 of 62
Quote:

It WOULD be nice to have that option But as long as I have a solid EQ, I'd rather not pay several hundred more dollars for something I can do for free.


Facepalm. A low end system with EQ is not the same as high end system without EQ. Not by a mile. You're just trying to sort out the things that low end system does badly. Like trying to mod a boy racer car into a supercar. Can't be done. You could tweak things, but it'll still handle like a castle on wheels.

Quote:

X2.

I never EQ.


If someone doesn't understand the reason "buy better gear" rather than using EQ, then little point explaining it.
 
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