[nullPointerException]

I'm sure that somebody else has come up with this idea before but I thought I would make a post about it. Being a noob, I was thinking about how I could calibrate my headphones without actually knowing what that sounds like, and then it hit me, why not just use the frequency response graph for my headphones. I knew there was one on headphone.com (headroom) so I went there and tested my theory, it worked like a charm.

here is how it goes

1. get a graph

2. know how to read the graph.

from a frequency of:
-10 hz - 100hz, each black line denotes a change of 10 hz
-100 hz - 1000hz, change of 100 hz
-1000 hz - 10000hz, change of 1000 hz
- 10000+ hz, change of 10000 hz

3. find the different frequencies that your amp/reciever alows you to change.

on my reciever i can increase or decrease the decibles of 60, 250, 1000, 4000, and 16000 hz.

4. using the graph, find how many decibles your headphone is away from 0 for each of those frequencies and the direction

on this graph:
-60 hz is at +5 dBr
-250 hz is at +2.5 dBr
-1000 hz is at 0 dBr
-4000 hz is at -2.5 dBr
-16000 hz is at about -12.5 dBr

5. EQ your headphones by pushing the dials or whatever in the opposite direction that the headphones change them
so i would put:
-60hz to -5 dBr
-250 hz to -2.5 dBr
-1000 hz to 0 dBr
-4000 hz to 2.5 dBr
-16000 hz to 12.5 dBr (my amp can only go up to 10 dBr)

6. suggestions

-if you increase the decibels of the higher frequencies, you may want to get a preamp to reduce hiss (which I sadly do not have)
-if you want to get a certain sound, you may want to start by calibrating your headphones and then adjusting the settings from there to get the sound coloring you want

any comments or suggestions are welcome. feel free to flame as well.

 

[eraser_svk]

But the graph is NOT meant to be flat !

 

[nullPointerException]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eraser_svk /img/forum/go_quote.gif But the graph is NOT meant to be flat !

your right, i just looked into it. but you could still use the same general concept i described, but instead of comparing it to a line of y=0, compare it to a graph of a natural sounding frequency curve for headphones.

 

[b0dhi]

This does work pretty well but you aren't going to get much better than about 5dB accuracy unless you have a graph of your specific unit.

 

[MaZa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eraser_svk /img/forum/go_quote.gif But the graph is NOT meant to be flat !

Yeah, but it can help to even out those odd dips and spikes. I prefer flat EQ though.

 

[eruditass]

i used to do this to simulate grado and orpheus when those graphs were up. at least for mids and below.

i used electri-q for winamp. you need a parametric one like that where you can adjust the width and shapes easily.