[Windsor]

Hi head-fiers,
 
I'm really enjoying  the process of upgrading my laptop-based listening system. I want the best quality, realistic, natural-sounding listening experience that I can have.
 
I recently purchased the FiiO E7/E9 combo and a pair of Sennheiser HD 650 headphones. The amp/DAC has greatly cleaned up my laptop's sound output and my music sounds much clearer through my existing headphones and my new HD 650s. But the sound  from my headphones is far from being as natural as I want to hear.
 
My HD 650s (next to new used pair apparently briefly demoed before my purchase, and with 2-4 listening hours from me) sound limited in the treble, a little boxy in the mids, and boomy in the bass; while the sound I hear is enjoyable, it's not what I'm after.
 
Through my CDs -> laptop -> FiiO E7/E9, I've briefly tried HD 600s which are flatter though boxier than my HD 650s (perhaps due to the HD 600's relative lack of bass), and HD 800's which are very detailed if a little lacking in low-end. 
 
I'd really like to audition some T1s and LCD-2s to determine whether they bring the clarity I seek, and have already posted here and here sharing some of my listening tastes, and asking for advice and if anyone here knows where I can audition the above headphones in my area (UK - London/Surrey, and central Scotland this Xmas and New Year).
 
Though I appreciate the purity of using flat EQ to reveal the essential character of headphones, it came to mind that I could EQ my HD 650s via iTunes to achieve a more neutral, natural sound, and perhaps make them sound more like HD 800s, T1s, or LCD-2s. Using iTunes' bass reducer preset has certainly increased the low-end clarity of the HD 650s.
 
Would anyone here with experience EQ'ing headphones, who knows the difference between the HD650s and the other high-end headphones I listed above, be willing to post some iTunes EQ presets to transform the sound of HD 650s to similar to the other above headphones?
 
Thank you.

 

[sumathias]

Well I'm not an expert on equalizing headphones myself, having only done so for my dt770s and my k701s.
 
I don't think the equalizer on itunes is sufficient to equalize my 701s properly to become truly flat, as through sine sweeps I felt 2 peaks at around the 6k and 8k range.
 
These are very noticable peaks but are limited only to a very specific freq. range. Itunes' equalizer cannot adjust specific freqs and my attempts ruined the sound entirely.
 
I did have more luck with the 770s though, as the entire mid range was recessed.
 
Try another equalizer like the foobar or another music player (winamp i think?)

 

[SP Wild]

Its not possible to EQ the HD650 to sound like HD800, T1 or LCD2.  You do not tighten the bass of the HD650 when you lower the bass amplitude, you are merely lowering bass volume so that it is harder to hear the bass flaws.  You cannot improve driver response time with an EQ.

 

[jasonb]

if the bass sounds sloppy or loose then it's most likely an amp issue. is the E9 considered a sufficient amp for the HD650? they definitely don't sound sloppy or loose with my Headroom desktop amp. the bass sounds pretty damn tight to me. i can listen to progressive rock/metal all day long on them and never find the bass to be an issue. most prog rock/metal has some very fast bass drum in it at times and the HD650 can keep up just fine.

 

[Windsor]

Hi guys, 
 
@sumathias: I found a great post here about EQing headphones, and I'd very much like to try the suggested process, but I am Mac-based and have not yet found a simple solution for doing it on my Mac.
 
@SP Wild: Thanks. I mainly wanted to remove the boom of the 650's bass so that what I'm hearing is less coloured and flatter. Maybe 650s, nice as they are, don't provide the sound I seek.I am enjoying the increase in quality that my E7/E9 and 650s provide through. More below.
 
@Jasonb: I haven't A/B'd my E7/E9 combo with other amps. With the E7/E9 and 650s I can hear the notes of the bass clearly, but its a little boomy for my preference of what I want to hear.
 
What I'm hearing is the character of my amp/DAC and HD 650's which is nice, but a little coloured (a little boomy and every so slighty muffled in relation to what my ears hear). I guess what I want from home listening is the experience of listening to a live recording and it sounding as it would if I was in the same room as the performer, or listening to a well-recorded studio album and it sounding like it would if I was listening to it in the control room of a high-end studio.
 
I know that probably every pair of headphones (and amp/source etc.) colour the sound in their own unique way, but I guess what I'm after is a headphone that is transparent, so that the colour I hear comes from the recording as was intended to be heard. I want my headphone/amp setup to tells the truth of the recording.
 
This is why I've been considering HD 800, T1, and LCD-2...

 

[paconavarro]

Windsor I'm a Mac user, I recommend you to use Neutrino player, which has a great FX Chain that lets you use several AU effects, www.machinecodex.com I'm VERY happy with that player.
Also Play 0.3 lets you access the AU eq that comes with OSX ...

 

[Windsor]

@PacoNavarro.
 
Thanks for the response. I downloaded Play, but couldn't see how to access AU's; how do you do so in Play 0.3?

 

[paconavarro]

I really don't remember, I can't open it, dunno why... I click the Icon and it just doesn't loads... strange.
If I'm not wrong there is a menu that has a submenu with the effects... I'm not sure, but as I recall was nothing like rocket science or something.

 

[paconavarro]

Found it Windsor!!! there are in the preferences!!!

 

[RexAeterna]

i found out through time of eq'ing won't change the headphone way it was designed to be.  to me personally from use to eq-ing a lot before i got better equipment actually makes it sound more un-natural than anything else. if it doesn't sound good without an eq then it's either down to the source or amp used or even the headphone itself. if you do need eq'ing done like recording or something i suggest an external mixer or equalizer. much better than software based eq's.

 

[mkegan]

in itunes you can go to Window>show Equalizer which will give you several preset equalizations to try or you can customize your own.  
Also there are several bitperfect players for the mac - puremusic and amara are the best known.  They definitely improve the sound and some will allow you to play hd flac files with higher oversampling and bits.  There is the review of different players on Headfonia.  I tried several but ended going with AmaraHiFi which is reasonably inexpensive and works quite well.

 

[RushNerd]

Just be aware amping below 40hz high enough and amped loud enough, you will hear rattling or clipping in the speaker. Never gotten that with any of my other headphones, but I don't think the 650 was designed to overly compensate for it's 40hz roll off