[Headphone Crazed]

Using an EQ is to taste and it depends on the recording, i use a 4thgen ipod for a source onto a BBE482 sonic maximizer then to my max headroom amp driving senn 650 cans and the result is incredable it not only enhances the sonic image but i can increse the high contour on passages that make the senns go from dark to liquid smooth high with any type of music. This was a test using the BBE and was very surprised on the way it made the senn650s react sutle not overpowering no added distortion. Anyone have one lying around give it a try especially with senn650's and turn up the rock ....enjoy all ....Marc

 

[ILikeMusic]

Not all recordings have perfectly flat EQ (in fact probably few do), not all headphones have perfectly flat EQ (in fact probably few do), and even the human ear has a frequency response that varies with the volume level. Playback EQ adjustment is designed to compenstate for these deficiencies and IMO it is ridiculous not to use it in a seach for some kind of 'purity' that never really existed in the first place.

 

[robm321]

Equalize is bad bad

 

[tucker71]

Like others have said, there are so many other limitations that EQ can rectify.

Crappy original recordings....mp3's at low bitrates...portable players with weak output...that horrible radio FM compression...etc etc.


We don't have control over the mastering or the FM radio eq & comp. But we DO have eq's.
Sometimes I need to make some tweaks just to get it to sound normal!



Another thing to consider is; pre-recorded music is intended for use with speakers. Songs are mixed and mastered in studios with expensive speakers, then they take those mixes outside and listen on an average car stereo. Then it's back inside to the studio for more tweaks. At no point are headphones used in the mixing or mastering process.

By the time we're listening with our headphones, the sound is quite different from what the engineers were hearing.

 

[Jam_Master_J]

No EQ use here.

 

[Audiofiler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenEggs313 Those who naysay you just listen to their system, instead of the music.

Hmm,
this is a generalizing statement maybe??...and a lop-sided reply to a loaded question. It is all to personal preferences...to each his own. Being a music purist...and audiophile of sorts, I take great attention and care in matching and mating components with the appropriate transport and cans...this does not mean that I listen to my system only...I am after the music..in the most faithful and accurate manner..

I do agree with what Greeneggs says regarding if you can enjoy it with equalizing -great..do it.

Listening to the music as it was recorded and a closest to the orginal session tapes is my goal, and equalizers place you further from the original analog signal, and merely complicates the signal path in general...

Another set of cans will help compliment the different signature in sound you are looking for..fyi..

Equalizers=bad

edit: spelling

 

[Audiofiler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by robm321 Equalize is bad bad

Bingo,
I echo this persons statement
bad news..

 

[PiccoloNamek]

None of my headphones really need equalizing, so I don't. I'm happy with the way they naturally sound.

 

[Zowbombs]

Of course I do.

 

[Gaughtfried]

I don't equalize.

If something doesn't sound right, I usually blame it on the hardware and tweak that instead.

 

[dr.morton]

No way.

 

[russdog]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Headphone Crazed Using an EQ is to taste and it depends on the recording, i use a 4thgen ipod for a source onto a BBE482 sonic maximizer then to my max headroom amp driving senn 650 cans and the result is incredable it not only enhances the sonic image but i can increse the high contour on passages that make the senns go from dark to liquid smooth high with any type of music. This was a test using the BBE and was very surprised on the way it made the senn650s react sutle not overpowering no added distortion. Anyone have one lying around give it a try especially with senn650's and turn up the rock ....enjoy all ....Marc

Everybody has their own opinion, and that's fine. My opinion is that saying EQ is arbitrarily bad is much more of a religious statement than a sonic statement. I think it's great for someone to prefer not to have EQ, but I think it borders on blind fanatacism to assert that it's always bad.

For the main stereo, I use a tad of EQ to adjust for the room, then a small-ish amount of BBE. I don't know exactly what the hell BBE does, but whatever it is, it's not-EQ and it is amazing. Something about adjusting phase? I don't know, and I don't really care because all that really matters to me is how it sounds. On some recordings it does nothing, on others it helps a lot. If adjusted properly, it *never* hurts, and that's the part that amazes me. When adjusted properly, you don't know it's there... until you turn it off... at which point you find yourself thinking, "Hey, who stuffed pillows into my speakers?" It's a truly wonderful thing when used properly.

For portable use, while I like my 5G iPod OK, I've been stuck with its crappy and non-customizable EQ. None of the choices are right. IMO, it's a case of Apple stubborness to not offer customizable EQ. They can do it easily but they just won't, and there's no good reason why. I'm about to try Rockbox in the hope that I will get decent EQ. (I understand that it's a work in progress.) I'm gonna get a flash-based mp3 player just as soon as 4GB models get cheap. This is because I sometimes don't want to have to be as gentle as I am with my HD-based iPod. When I do that, I want a Cowon version, simply because Cowon's provide good sound, plus custom EQ, plus built-in BBE. AFAIK, nobody else does.

For software mp3 players, Cowon's Jet-audio player has BBE built in. I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know how it sounds. I'm scared to give up the 24-bit bitstream I'm getting out of MediaMonkey. I wish there was some way to combine MM's 24-bit bitstream with Jet-audio's BBE, but I don't think there is.

I also have the BBE software add-on intended for use with recording software. I have no doubt that it is great. My problem is that I don't know how to get it into the software chain with MediaMonkey. I'm sure there is some way to do it, but I'm not smart enough to figure out how. I've asked on some message boards, and nobody seems to know. It's as if the BBE software community is one bunch, and the MM community is another bunch, and there's no overlap between them to help solve this problem. If anybody here knows how to do it, I would be forever indebted to you if you can tell me how. If I ever find out how, I will be happy to provide detailed help to others, but right now it's just the blind leading the blind. If I was 13, I could probably just go clickety-click and intuit how to make it work but, at some point when I wasn't looking, I evidently became an old fart

 

[Sean H]

I don't. But the way I see it is you shouldn't for all the reasons mentioned in this thread, or that you shouldn't have to for all the reasons mentioned in this thread. But if you do apply EQ and makes the music sound better to you and more enjoyful then more power to you, and feel good about the fact you are enjoying the music as intended and not feeling hung up on being a snooty audiophile.

 

[funkadelic]

It depends on what I am listening to.

Listening to the Senn HD535's on my main rig there is no need to EQ and you can hear the drop-off in sound quality when EQ isn't bypassed.

I occasionally use the EQ on my 5G Ipod but less and less now I have settled on my PX100/EP-630 Combo after using an assortment of lesser portable 'phones

I press the Rock EQ button when using my cheap and nasty AIWA bedroom system with my HD201's. The combination sounds far better than it has any right to considering the limitations of the kit.

Simon

 

[kramer5150]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Filburt Yep, I use EQ on DAPs usually. There isn't a headphone out there that I've used (and I've used a whole heck of a lot at this point) that I haven't found can be improved by using the EQ function. I simply don't find the 'flat' response on many devices much else that exactly that - flat. My other audio equipment is voiced in some manner; I don't see much reason not to do the same to that which I find is lacking in some manner. The 'audiophile' attitude that EQ'ing is some sort of horrible abomination is something I simply neither identify with nor particularly understand. I've heard the arguments against it, but those arguments simply don't make up for the fact that I find the 'flat' response subjectively inferior.

EQ-ing to subjectively enhance the sound can be a good thing. If EQing however is done in a dramatic effort to band-aid sonic flaws... that IMHO is a bad practice, but only IF it degrades soundstage, introduces clipping, increases noise/hiss, or generally reduces sonic enjoyment.

IMHO any EQ-ing that degrades soundstage, introduces clipping, increases noise/hiss, or generally reduces sonic enjoyment is a bad thing.

I used to dial in 2-3 db of boost below 200Hz when I had an MS2. I dont really feel the need to do so with my RS1.