euGuy
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2008
- Posts
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My headphone setup had been making me very happy lately in all regards except one: bass extension. The phones are Goldring DR100, with a Creek OBH-21 amp and a Moodlab Concept dac. My computer's Audiophile 2496 sound card is the digital source, and it's being fed into a receiver for non-headphone listening, which then forwards the digital signal optically to the Moodlab. The receiver doesn't sound good to me through it's analog inputs or I'd use the Moodlab as it's source too.
I was thinking about upgrading my headphones to perhaps the Goldring DR150, but reviews suggest that they don't do much better in the bass extension department. I don't have a bunch of money to throw around right now for new headphones anyway.
Then I thought: Just for fun, why don't I disconnect the bookshelf speakers, turn up the receiver with the subwoofer still on, and see what happens when I listen to the headphones? The sub is a big concrete acoustic suspension enclosure with a 15" driver that I built myself. It's driven by an old Yamaha amp, and it goes a lot deeper than the headphones.
The experiment actually worked pretty well with a little volume matching, although I could sometimes feel the bass through my feet more than I could hear it, creating a bizarre effect. Some spots in the room were better than others, and fortunately laying in bed was a good sounding spot free of weirdness! Unfortunately this put my head a good distance from the sub, and required cranking up the woofer loud enough to possibly disturb my condo neighbors if the headphones were turned up much at all.
Then I thought: Hey, I've got a DEQ2496 digital eq collecting dust in the closet. I could fit that in the digital signal chain between the receiver's digital output and the Moodlab. The DEQ has a high pass filter setting that might be interesting to try with the headphones - and it has a delay feature that might improve things. So I hooked it up, set the receiver's sub crossover for 200hz, and set the DEQ high pass also to 200hz.
Wow! It seems that either the dac, the headphone amp, or the headphones, or perhaps the combination of all 3, very much appreciate being relieved of bass duty below 200hz. If you haven't tried running a digital active high pass filter with a dac and headphones, you might just be surprised. I had no complaint at all about the mids and highs on my headphone rig before doing this. But man, did they get better! I tried lower crossover frequencies but found that 200 really worked nicely.
Next I put a blanket on the carpet with a pillow right next to the sub, got myself comfortable on the floor with my head parked next to the woofer driver, used the receiver's remote to back off the bass level until it matched to my ever so slightly bass rich preference, set the DEQ delay to 1 foot since that's how far my head was from the woofer, turned off the lights, and listened for a couple hours.
Wow! (had to say it again.) The bass is so much better. It integrates beautifully. I won't say it's perfect, but it's very, very nice in a way that keeps sounding better with each passing song. It's highly brain adaptable. The headphones by themselves couldn't begin to deliver bass that deep and with that effect. It's just awesome. My whole head and upper body are able to slightly sense it, and it just makes a world of difference. The song that had brought the bass issue to my attention was Dindi, sung by Kimiko Itoh on a Columbia Jazz sampler CD I've had for 20 years. The bass line has occasional low notes that are pretty deep and kind of boomy sounding through my ultimate ears headphones, and through my bedroom and front room main speakers & subs. With just the DR100 headphones, Kimiko's voice is clear and lovely - better than my speakers or Ultimate Ears earbuds, but that bass just doesn't go deep enough, and the song really looses something important because of it.
With the DR100/DEQ/subwoofer combo, I can honestly say I've never heard those bass lines clearer and more natural sounding. Kimiko's voice was even more beautiful. It just about brought a tear to my eye.
Interestingly, I found myself preferring the Creek volume level lower with the new setup. I think I was cranking it up before in a desperate attempt to find that bass. Now I feel I'm not missing out on anything at a very comfortable long term listening level.
I have something wonderful. I just have to lay on the floor to get it.
Maybe I'll sell my bed.
I was thinking about upgrading my headphones to perhaps the Goldring DR150, but reviews suggest that they don't do much better in the bass extension department. I don't have a bunch of money to throw around right now for new headphones anyway.
Then I thought: Just for fun, why don't I disconnect the bookshelf speakers, turn up the receiver with the subwoofer still on, and see what happens when I listen to the headphones? The sub is a big concrete acoustic suspension enclosure with a 15" driver that I built myself. It's driven by an old Yamaha amp, and it goes a lot deeper than the headphones.
The experiment actually worked pretty well with a little volume matching, although I could sometimes feel the bass through my feet more than I could hear it, creating a bizarre effect. Some spots in the room were better than others, and fortunately laying in bed was a good sounding spot free of weirdness! Unfortunately this put my head a good distance from the sub, and required cranking up the woofer loud enough to possibly disturb my condo neighbors if the headphones were turned up much at all.
Then I thought: Hey, I've got a DEQ2496 digital eq collecting dust in the closet. I could fit that in the digital signal chain between the receiver's digital output and the Moodlab. The DEQ has a high pass filter setting that might be interesting to try with the headphones - and it has a delay feature that might improve things. So I hooked it up, set the receiver's sub crossover for 200hz, and set the DEQ high pass also to 200hz.
Wow! It seems that either the dac, the headphone amp, or the headphones, or perhaps the combination of all 3, very much appreciate being relieved of bass duty below 200hz. If you haven't tried running a digital active high pass filter with a dac and headphones, you might just be surprised. I had no complaint at all about the mids and highs on my headphone rig before doing this. But man, did they get better! I tried lower crossover frequencies but found that 200 really worked nicely.
Next I put a blanket on the carpet with a pillow right next to the sub, got myself comfortable on the floor with my head parked next to the woofer driver, used the receiver's remote to back off the bass level until it matched to my ever so slightly bass rich preference, set the DEQ delay to 1 foot since that's how far my head was from the woofer, turned off the lights, and listened for a couple hours.
Wow! (had to say it again.) The bass is so much better. It integrates beautifully. I won't say it's perfect, but it's very, very nice in a way that keeps sounding better with each passing song. It's highly brain adaptable. The headphones by themselves couldn't begin to deliver bass that deep and with that effect. It's just awesome. My whole head and upper body are able to slightly sense it, and it just makes a world of difference. The song that had brought the bass issue to my attention was Dindi, sung by Kimiko Itoh on a Columbia Jazz sampler CD I've had for 20 years. The bass line has occasional low notes that are pretty deep and kind of boomy sounding through my ultimate ears headphones, and through my bedroom and front room main speakers & subs. With just the DR100 headphones, Kimiko's voice is clear and lovely - better than my speakers or Ultimate Ears earbuds, but that bass just doesn't go deep enough, and the song really looses something important because of it.
With the DR100/DEQ/subwoofer combo, I can honestly say I've never heard those bass lines clearer and more natural sounding. Kimiko's voice was even more beautiful. It just about brought a tear to my eye.
Interestingly, I found myself preferring the Creek volume level lower with the new setup. I think I was cranking it up before in a desperate attempt to find that bass. Now I feel I'm not missing out on anything at a very comfortable long term listening level.
I have something wonderful. I just have to lay on the floor to get it.
Maybe I'll sell my bed.
