[Febs]

For everyone who says that they avoid EQ because they don't want to change what the mixing/master engineer did:

The mixing and mastering engineers did not do their mixes on your system. They did not listen to their mix in your room, or through your cans.

Moreover, they did not mix and master with the expectation that their work would be played back on nearfield studio monitors in a controlled studio setting. They probably mixed at a moderate-to-loud volume, but also listened to their work at both a very high and very low volume, and made compromises so that the mix would be acceptable at various volumes and on a wide variety of systems.

I'm not a big fan of using large amounts of EQ to completely change the sound signature of a recording, but from the perspective of someone who has participated in many mixing sessions, I don't find anything wrong with the judicious use of EQ to compensate for the playback system or environment or personal preference. I find the "we must hear it like the engineer heard it" mentality to be quite flawed.

 

[Towert7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by joneeboi 1) Do you listen to equalized music?

I'm a stubborn SOB when it comes to EQ and high end audio. I avoid it as best I can.
If I'm not happy with the way a product sounds, I just get something else.

 

[GregVDS]

At low volume, I push somehow the bass (M³ bass boost functionality), but usually never more than half of the pot.

But I listen through crossfeed all the time, don't know if you would consider this as equalize or not.

I never use the equalizer setting of my ipod, they are so bad, every setting is worse than the others so I let it off.

I think we try to have something the closest to reality into our headphones (I know, the sound engineer has deformed it already a lot). Let's say I try to listen to what is engraved on the cd with the best fidelity, hence I don't like the idea of equalization.

but if sometimes the sound is simply more enjoyable with, why not.

All the best,

GregVDS

 

[russdog]

Quote:

Originally Posted by russdog Quote: Originally Posted by Headphone Crazed[/quote 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 ... 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... 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

I just got the BBE plug-in to work the MM. I'm happy.

 

[tracyrick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lad27 I wish I could say that about guy who did Rush Vapour Trail. And I wish I could find out more work from guy who did Kansas Device,Voice Drum live album job.

Whoa! You are so right! My favorite band of all time but whoever mixed this CD should find another job. The loudness button got hit too hard I think. Do you also reduce the EQ on the lower frequencies when listening to this CD? The drum intro on "One Little Victory" is soooo distorted. It's too bad 'cause the CD really rocks out pretty good and I like most of the songs.

 

[Lad27]

This is an example of if you are hardline "no EQ" guy, you may as well throw this CD away. EQ-ing and running thru external DAC helps a little, but the whole thing is so congested and muddy that i is hard to salvage otherwise fine music.

I don't know whether this is common practice here (with those who use EQ), but I prefer to cut amplitude rather than boost, eg if I feel that bass woud benefit by boosting it by 3dB I'd leave bass freq at 0db and cut down mids by 3dB. In other words my V curve (or often NIKE tick like sign) top points are around 0 to +1.5 db points and then I'll turn up volume a little. Works good for my ears anyway.
For some EQ users it is often a chore, but for me personally finding that "right" sound is part of fun listening to headphones. I have several presets for Zhaolu with MS1 (and soon adding manufacture DT990/05

), Sportapro's straight from iHP140 (decent bass cut required here), several for KSC75...There is no dramatic preset differences, rather subtle, and more often the change is in using different low- mids-high frequencies (on MS1 low is ~80Hz, KSC75 are ~150Hz). I don't in any way feel guilty in using EQ this way, brings more music enjoyment to my listening, stuff any selfimposing purity, NO EQ EVER rules. Sounds better to me, couldn't care less what mix engineer or any 'audiophile' will think of it.

 

[Zowbombs]

I bass boost with convolver; makes the K701s awesome. I basically bass boost with every headphone I own/ed, and one or two speakers even.

 

[donunus]

I try sometimes but I end up going back to flat eq. I couldn't care less if DAPS didn't even have eqs.

 

[Nights_85]

for some earphones like my EB's i believe it's necessary to EQ. I essentially got these phones so I knew I could actually hear some low end while travelling on the bus, and Im quite thankful that Sony actually put a customisable EQ on their portables to get rid of this huge mid bass hump on my EB's.

 

[PiccoloNamek]

Quote:

it's an attempt to get it back to that "post mix / pre master" version that I am so familiar with.

Good luck getting rid of all of that compression and hard-limiting.

 

[I3eyond]

Update on me and EQing:

With the comfies on my MS-1s, I used to have to turn the treble up to at least 75% to enjoy the music at all. Now, I can keep it flat with my new bowls!

 

[Audiofiler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by flecom anyone who listens to vinyl is listening to an EQ... anyhow, i find that the EQ if used properly can add a bit of enjoyment to the overall sound of your system... if your system sounds so great to you that you dont need it, then awesome...

I have been a vinyl junkie for over 15 years, own 3 EQ's, never hooked one up

Using EQ is one more obrstruction to the signal path, and therefore unnecessary...match the rig with different cans, amps, preamps, and IC's...

 

[regal]

I always thought EQing adds phase distortion. I have often wondered if done digitally prior to the DAC if this is still a problem? I have several SBD recordings which require EQ to be listenable.

 

[solvexyz]

Once I learned what EQ are and how it works, I alsways using some sort of EQ to make the music more enjoyable to me.

 

[benton]

Umm...hell yes. I almost sold my iPod to buy a ZVM but after installing rockbox and using an EQ preset i found online it was such an amazing diffrence. I couldn't beleive how much of a sound diffrence it was and I didn't take my headphones off even while brushing my teeth and sleeping.