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Definitely this! Especially with Digital EQNormally when using eq you would want to cut and not boost.
Definitely this! Especially with Digital EQNormally when using eq you would want to cut and not boost.
I'm new here so I didn't really want to be a douchebag, but I couldn't help it with this one. Way too much boosting.Definitely this! Especially with Digital EQ
Well, I am a new owner of a DX220 as of this afternoon. It is burning in as we speak. Based on this thread’s feedback, I expect that I will keep the DX220 and send my HiBy R6 Pro back to Amazon. Unfortunately, I can only afford to keep one of them.
Normally when using eq you would want to cut and not boost.
Will be curious to see how you think the two compare.
You want to cut what? Volume is supposed to be cut at the end, you don't just lower all the frequencies to achieve a boost at other frequencies. If there is no option to lower volume to avoid clipping/distortion that's another matter, lack of functionality on the side of the digital EQ rather than bad user behavior. There also appears to be a bug. When I apply +1 boosts to I think 1khz and 3.3khz on the 10-band EQ something unintended happens, like air getting sucked out and the soundstage being truncated somewhat.
How would you literally equalize a headphone or iem to the Harman curve by only cutting frequencies? Do you know what the basic process of equalization is, why you're boosting or reducing frequencies? Check out an app called Sonarworks or go to their site for pictures and the lower volume to avoid clipping function I'm referring to. You boost and you reduce frequencies, then you use the highest value of your EQ to lower the volume. Not quite sure where this happens technically but it's how you avoid distortion. You don't just lower all frequencies.
In doing so, you're basically only lowering frequencies (since the highest gain becomes 0), which is what prevents distortion.
That said, I regularly use the positive gain on my Schiit Loki mini with great results.
The question is if lowering volume to avoid clipping is tantamount to just reproducing the Harman or target curve somewhere lower on the y axis. I don't know.
How would you literally equalize a headphone or iem to the Harman curve by only cutting frequencies? Do you know what the basic process of equalization is, why you're boosting or reducing frequencies? Check out an app called Sonarworks or go to their site for pictures and the lower volume to avoid clipping function I'm referring to. You boost and you reduce frequencies, then you use the highest value of your EQ to lower the volume. Not quite sure where this happens technically but it's how you avoid distortion. You don't just lower all frequencies.
Hi Tim,So I spent some time this afternoon with PEQ and doing some comparisons to EQ and with neither engaged.
What I found is that one has to be very judicious in PEQ with how much boost you use, and obviously the other parameters as well, or you will get distortion. I listened to several tracks from the Alpine Official Reference Disc Car Audio Nationals II CD - all were WAV files, and a few other MP3 tracks from Led Zeppelin, LA Guns, and Krokus. When pushed to levels causing distortion it did appear that MP3 (128 Kbps) suffered more than the WAV files. Here are the EQ and PEQ settings I ended up comparing - originally for the PEQ I had Filter 1 (F1) at +7 dB with Q = 0.5 and F5 also at +7 dB and Q = 0.5 but that was way too much!
EQ Settings
33 +6, 63 +5, 100 +4, 330 +2, 630 +1, 1k +2, 3.3k +4, 6.3k +5, 10k +6, and 16k +5
PEQ Settings
F1 Peaking, 33Hz, +5 dB, Q = 0.3
F2 Peaking, 150Hz, +2 dB, Q = 0.5
F3 Peaking, 800 Hz, +1 dB, Q = 0.5
F4 Peaking, 4000 Hz, +3 dB, Q = 0.5
F5 Peaking, 10000 Hz, +5 dB, Q = 0.3
F6 Peaking, 16000 Hz, +4 dB, Q = 0.5
Volume level was about 125 for EQ and Flat and down to about 104 for PEQ. All listening was with my Sony MDR-EX650 T iem's and at these levels the distortion was low enough for me - more tweaking/fine tuning is obviously possible.
Curious if anyone else has experimented much with the PEQ yet? Please share if you have!
Enjoy,
Tim
It's not the case with everyone.Normally when using eq you would want to cut and not boost.
I am going to disagree with here. There are problems with PEQ in the Mango Player. LPGT which has a dedicated Blackfin chip for sound processing has no sound distortion even if you boost up to 11dB. The sound is smooth. Mango player PEQ sound like Neutron player PEQ, which does have distortion with high gain.I want to avoid a lengthy debate on proper EQ technique, but I want to weigh in just so misinformation doesn’t spread.
I’m sure there is nothing wrong with the iBasso parameteric EQ. @panasonicst60 is correct. You want to cut problem frequencies rather than try to boost lacking frequencies. This will give the cleanest and most natural result. You are more likely to boost frequencies if you are trying to create an artificial kind of special effect. This is just a basic general rule of EQ used by the engineers who make and master the music you love.
I also saw that EQ recommendation with all the boosting. I didn’t respond because, hey, if you like it, you like it. Do what’s fun and sounds good to you. As Paul says, enjoy the music. However, I would just suggest trying to cut the mids first before boosting everything else.
Then I would add the R6 eq causes distortion also the AKSP1000 eq causes distortion. Cowon has a very clean eq.I am going to disagree with here. There are problems with PEQ in the Mango Player. LPGT which has a dedicated Blackfin chip for sound processing has no sound distortion even if you boost up to 11dB. The sound is smooth. Mango player PEQ sound like Neutron player PEQ, which does have distortion with high gain.
When playing 24bit flac file with the same PEQ 5 filters settings I have on the LGPT, not only does it sound distorted a little, but the sound stutter in Mango player. With 16bit flac file, there is no sound stutter but slight sound distortion.
The problem with the EQ on the DAPs that drop volume to avoid clipping or what ever is that you need to have two of the same DAPs to compare if the EQ is changing the sound to exactly what you want.