EQ usage. Yes or No?
Jul 14, 2005 at 9:10 PM Post #17 of 43
An interesting story told to me by a friend who designs and builds PA systems for everything from small clubs to arenas...

He says that most live mixers he meets don't know the first thing about equalization. They come in and without even listening apply a curve, then point at it and say, "That's the EQ I use every place I work." That's the dumbest thing imaginable, because every system and every house has its own sound... what might sound good in one place, might sound like a hash somewhere else.

My friend also told me that mixers usually do better with equalizers with knobs like on a mixing board than they do with graphic equalizers with the little pots spread out across the face. He says that there is some sort of weird dominance in humans of eyesight over hearing that makes people create pretty sweeping curves that look nice instead of listening and realizing that the problem is random spikes and dips in the sound, not an even shift in the whole curve.

See ya
Steve
 
Jul 14, 2005 at 9:29 PM Post #18 of 43
Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot
The proper way to EQ is subtractively... you pull back on the frequencies that are masking the weaker ones. This adds very little noise to the signal. So, I would say that the reason that EQ gets bad press is because most people don't know the first thing about how to use them!
Steve


Aahhhh.......very true. If your equalizer is causing audible distortion...
1) You need another equalizer
2) Your adding when you should be subtracting
3) Your system's Source needs an upgrade
4) The track you're listening to is already distorted, the equalizer just brought it out.

An equalizer should match and be part of your source. All the headphones in the world can't help an inferior Source. The Source is the foundation of your system. Too many inexperienced folks spend $400+ Cans and $600+ amps on a < $300 Source, then complain about the Cans being bad.
 
Jul 14, 2005 at 9:34 PM Post #19 of 43
Quote:

Originally Posted by OlManRivah
folks spend $400+ Cans and $600+ amps on a < $300 Source, then complain about the Cans being bad.


hey , there's probably bit of true here
 
Jul 14, 2005 at 11:09 PM Post #20 of 43
Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot


there is some sort of weird dominance in humans of eyesight over hearing that makes people create pretty sweeping curves that look nice instead of listening........




This is 1000% true.
I've seen that happen squillions of times. Some engineers just LOOVE making "their" curve without even listening.
It really is like adding salt before you even taste the food.
Idiots.
 
Jul 14, 2005 at 11:17 PM Post #21 of 43
EQs provide a more artificial sound than what would originally come from your source. Since it adds another part to the chain in your hifi setup, the sound gets degrated.

Just buy gear that sounds how you want it to - using EQ on high-end stereo gear is contradictory!
 
Jul 14, 2005 at 11:35 PM Post #22 of 43
In spite of eq adjustments being free *gasp* I would never listen to music without incorperating them.

No headphone I have tried didn't have flaws that needed to be eq'ed out.

Furthermore, I disagree with the earlier poster - if I had a phone that was really comfortable or provided alot of isolation or was really stylish, then I would have no problem drastically altering the sound to make it enjoyable.
 
Jul 14, 2005 at 11:37 PM Post #23 of 43
Equalizers don't add artifical sound. They take sound that has become artificially unbalanced and return it to its natural balance. That's why they're called "equalizers" not "artificializers".

Your speakers are capable of reproducing a wide range of frequencies. They do this by using several speakers of various sizes, designed to reproduce different parts of the spectrum. Crossovers filter the response to each speaker to optimize their performance. But inevitably there is some overlap of coverage from one speaker to another. And even the best speaker systems are a ways away from having a totally flat response. You can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear, but you can improve any system with careful equalization.

The advantages of a balanced frequency response are MUCH more apparent than the advantages of lower than average harmonic distortion or noise floors. We used to have to worry about things like that, but technology has pretty much rendered THD and signal to noise to be non-issues. A lot of hifi nuts spend all their energy trying to reduce already inaudible levels distortion and noise, and ignore the most glaring deficiency in their system... unbalanced frequency response.

Every single recording studio has an equalizer built into their mixing boards. Why shouldn't a serious stereo system have the same?

See ya
Steve
 
Jul 14, 2005 at 11:50 PM Post #25 of 43
If you go into foobar2000, open Add Location under the Playlist menu. In the box, type:
sweep://20-20000,20
Play the file that was created. This will expose any faults in a headphone's FR. Now if you turn on EQ and use positive equalization (that is, move sliders up instead of down), then listen to the sweep again, you will notice that at the place where the EQ kicks in, the sound will take on a distinctively "zippy" quality. This does not happen when using negative equalization.
Conclusion:
Always use negative equalization.
The more bands the merrier.
It would be good if foobar had an EQ that dealt in fractional dBs.
 
Jul 15, 2005 at 4:49 AM Post #26 of 43
Quote:

Originally Posted by Lithos
I only use an equalizer when I feel that the music is lacking something


That's what an equalizer does best.......

It's easier to boost 1 or 2 bands than lower 14 (mine has 16). So folks get into a bad habit. Or using the presets.
 
Jul 15, 2005 at 9:45 AM Post #28 of 43
I've never come across a tonally perfect headphone to my ears, they all have their individual characteristics and ways they like to project the sound but since the tone is never perfect and I can make the tone to how I wish, I will.
 
Jul 15, 2005 at 2:40 PM Post #29 of 43
I use with my flash player(iaudio), but not with my main rig. Mainly coz I am fond of my home system, my house sound / comfy-used to etc..., but also have scarce rack space, so do not want to waste on an Eq dont need most of the time and scared of the down-sides to introducing more distortion. I am not familar with high-end EQ`s. The ATH digital HP amp is one of the few that incorporate. On my short list if can be had for about 1/2 retail.

I used to have an Eq for my crappy HT setup and it was convenient at times. But the denki truck got an omiyagi a while back, when I moth-balled the HT audio.

So in conclusion, if $ is no object have an Eq for those moments where you want to tweak the sound.

Those who use Computer rigs probably Eq a bit more.
 
Jul 15, 2005 at 2:49 PM Post #30 of 43
Home audio setup (speakers) only use EQ if it is late at night and someone is sleeping, so I get rid of the bassline.

Using cans at home, never EQ.

Portables, I usually add a bit of bass or midbass, since my earbuds are fairly bass shy.
And for jogging, even though E2c's are not bass shy, I still add some bass, so I haul ass faster ;p
 
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