Do you equalize?

[Thai Fighter]

I have to EQ my HD205, cause they're a little bass shy (neutral-sounding to be exact). Their bass is pretty good, much better than that of the HD497, but it has to be crancked up with an EQ.

 

[GreatDane]

Quote:

Originally Posted by afobisme i EQ, i dont give a **** if it's natural - i just want what i like same goes for women, but generally speaking i don't like fake looking women... ah im so confused now.

lol

Big Bottom baby!!

 

[bazmonkey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by afobisme i EQ, i dont give a **** if it's natural - i just want what i like same goes for women, but generally speaking i don't like fake looking women... ah im so confused now.

Someone way back in the thread said equalizing was like asking a loved one to go under plastic surgery... as if your audio system's feelings would be hurt if you said "we can do better". It's even funnier if you're the kind if person that would rather change the hardware to get better sound, because that means it would be better to dump your loved one for a better one instead of kindly asking her to put some concealer on that horrid birthmark in the middle of her forehead.

I love the chicken analogy, though, because it suggests that in order to eat a tolerably-flavored chicken, we're supposed to buy one, cook it, taste it, and either 1) collect obscene amounts of chicken that for one reason or another we have a problem with, or 2) return it, and start over again, neverminding the fact that in the meantime we're HUNGRY.

The searching-for-audio-purity side of this just doesn't make sense, because you probably didn't hear the reference equipment that was used for the master, so it's really just searching for an ideal in your head, or maybe what you heard in some recording studio, or whilst auditioning good equipment, or something. You're searching for that chicken that tastes, what, exactly like that chicken someone else had, exactly like a chicken *you've* never had.

As for the idea that you just want as few components as possible in your system, or the idea that you want to hear the full character of the audio equipment you're using, ok. It just means you either like bland chicken, or that you are willing to eat chicken that you might not necessarily like. Ain't nothin' to say about that; if you like straight chicken, cool.

So, it seems to me that the argument ultimately leads to the idea that EQ-ing does an unsatisfactory job of altering the sound. Ok, so salt-n-pepper just don't do a good job of seasoning chicken, and you think saffron does instead. Not all of us can afford to use saffron in all our chicken. I'm sure there comes an audiophilic point where EQ-ing is just a sub-par way of flattening/smoothing/coloring your sound, but it's a point many of us can't even afford. Moreover, some of us have good kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper. And even moreso, some of us just don't know how to properly salt a chicken. With judicious use of a proper EQ, especially to flatten the sound, I can make chicken taste pretty good. And unless someone wants to buy me saffron or more expensive chicken or a cook, it's all I've got. And even if I had a private cook and pounds of saffron and chickens that I hand-fed organic corn personally, you know, I might still like salt.

It's not that disliking salt is wrong. It's that telling someone else what a chicken should taste like, whether it's because you can afford more expensive seasonings, or because you'd rather trust the cook, or because you just like plain chicken, is stupid.

 

[GreatDane]

Why am I suddenly craving chicken? me likes a spicy cheken

 

[Fitz]

If the farmers meant for your chicken to be cooked, it would've come that way when you bought it! After all, they know more about chicken than you, and they wouldn't give you chicken that wasn't already ready to eat, now would they?

 

[afobisme]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bazmonkey Someone way back in the thread said equalizing was like asking a loved one to go under plastic surgery... as if your audio system's feelings would be hurt if you said "we can do better". It's even funnier if you're the kind if person that would rather change the hardware to get better sound, because that means it would be better to dump your loved one for a better one instead of kindly asking her to put some concealer on that horrid birthmark in the middle of her forehead.

come on, true marriage is knowing that there is someone better out there, but still finding it in yourself to be loyal to your spouse. that's the way the world works it seems, there's always something better out there

 

[Lad27]

Chicken? Nah! Big fat turkey like this one for my DT990 2005.

 

[devwild]

I do not EQ, I have however been known to use a hardware bass boost at times - that of the xin portable amps, and the one built into to my M^3, which has proven itself to be quite clean, and helps with lean or live recordings sometimes.

But generally I have prefered to find equipment that performs well together. Aside from sound quality arguements, it has been a fun part of my head-fi adventure. It has taught me much about audio equipment, and allowed me to discover for myself where hype lies, and where it doesn't.

I very much dislike software EQs, even fairly clean ones just sound wrong to me.

 

[smeggy]

I'd like to try out a hardware parametric eq sometime, I imagine a decent one would cost a bit. so many toys, so little money.

 

[go2it]

I usually turn off the setting on my Sony minidisc player and DAP.

 

[werdwerdus]

Before I got my Beyers I had Bose.. and I had to EQ treble and bass up, so the EQ had a U shape. But now with my Beyers, the freq response seems more linear so I really enjoy flat EQ (aka no EQ). Also some of the music I listen to distorts with any EQ so it is easier for me to leave the EQ off.

I didn't read this whole thread so someone else might have said the same thing already.

 

[Wmcmanus]

I equalize when I scuba dive, but not otherwise. Kills the fun if you ask me.

 

[reivaj]

yeah im the same way... at least with my old headsets/phones i used to have to keep it flat for the purpose of keeping songs from distorting. With the ms1s I use the settings that maza gave me and basically no EQing but i must say it does sound a bit fuller with a classical EQ for me... but i would rather keep my ears with the tamed neutral EQ or none.

 

[hwc]

In the years I spent in the hi fi biz, I don't think I ever sold an equalizer to anyone who had the faintest idea how to properly use it.

It is almost impossible to set a multiband equalizer by ear. The audio professionals I know who install and calibrate professional sound systems don't even try. They use real time analyzers to set the equalization. Even then, you can get in real trouble if you don't take a lot of measurements from a lot of different places and use a little judgement. You aren't trying to get flat response at the ear -- especially on the top end. Truly flat response would be like ice picks in your ears. Equalizers should be used to take care of specific serious room-related acoustic issues. Less is more.

I don't mean to offend anyone, but I doubt 1 out of a 100 people in this forum (or any other audio forum) would even get in the ballpark. The vast majority would make their system sound worse after EQ. I'm just keeping it real. I've seen EQ curves that must have been set by somebody on crack -- ruining a perfectly good sounding audio system.

I'll never forget the guy who bought the most insane system I've ever sold. Fulton Premier loudspeakers biamped with two monster Audio Research amplifers and a matching Audio Research tube pre amp. These speakers are dead flat to 12 Hz. He put them in a relatively small room. The speaker were the size of refridgerators, so they had to go in the corners of this narrow room. There was tons of room gain -- the naturally rising low bass response that you get in any small room or car. When the two of us who installed it turned the system on and listened to it, the bass literally our hearts palpatate. The house was bouncing on its foundation. Pant legs flapping in the breeze. It was hard to breathe. We'd both been listening to these speakers every day for months in the store, but the bass was just overwhelming in this small room. Frightening actually. To this day, the only bass I've ever heard even remotely similar was Phil Lesh hitting his lowest bass note on the Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound system and a few $20,000+ competition car audio systems. So, we turn this guy's new system down to catch our breath and this Richard Cranium looks at us and says, "Do you think I should buy an EQ to get a little more bass?"

 

[]|[ GorE]

Yeah,the average joe schmoe would set his car stero at +6 bass and treble and smile while he enjoys the "dhak chik dhak chik" . He mistakes the dying woofer sounds for his "beats" . i love my beats,dude...

No seriously,this is the attitude of the salespeople at teh big retailers ! I once told the salespeople of my local Sony exclusive showroom that all of their speakers suck ! and walked out.