[devkerr]

[size=medium] I’ve gotten a few questions lately about what settings in Fidelia’s FHX headphone processor I'd recommended to start with. In general, I’ve encouraged users to find out what sounds best to them on their own system, but I understand that for first-timers, some more specific examples are useful.

So let’s share some favorite FHX settings! What are you liking on your own music with your headphones?

Here's my own favorite settings listening to a broad range of stuff today--[/size]

Speaker angle between 35°- 60°, depending on how expansive I want the soundstage to feel. 'Prevent Clipping' enabled. ‘Amount’ usually changes album to album:

The Beatles - Abbey Road – 100%
Radiohead - In Rainbows – 65%
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II – 50%
Wilco - The Whole Love – 60%
Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild Soundtrack – 70%
Crosby, Stills & Nash - Crosby, Stills & Nash – 75%
Bang On A Can - Music For Airports (Brian Eno) – 100%
Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue – 75%

Setup: MacBook Pro -> Apogee Symphony I/O -> Cranesong Avocet -> Sennheiser HD-600
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[kyledotroberts]

Just to add to this discussion for those who havent yet tried out FHX on Fidelia

My initial settings after a fair amount of playing (and a thankyou to paconavarro for his Canz3D settings many moons ago) I've ended up with

Speaker Angle = 44 degrees
Most Realistic
Crossfeed = 76%

Also I've added (for my T1's) -0.1dB Treble as just the tiny amount that gives the majority of the rock I listen to a little more mids and bass with the tiny bit of treble reduction.

I'd be interested to hear as to peoples Advanced settings as well? I've picked 'Ultra/High/Ultra steep' for pretty much everything and have noticed the difference, especially for NoFX which normally suffers a bit from the lower quality recording, but this makes a very clear difference to me. I did read some warnings about using a filter too steep will create pre/post ringing but I've not encountered anything unpleasant yet so I'm not sure about this...

I've 10 days left on my trial but I'm starting to think this might be here to stay for me, some bands like RATM, Rise against and Kamelot are sounding way better with it enabled and after getting used to not being totally surrounded by music (which is weird to begin with) I'm enjoying a lot of my music far more with it enabled than without it.

As Devin has said in previous postings on head-fi, you can definitely tell that a lot of music is mixed for speakers, the minute you enable FHX instrumentals seem to make a lot more 'sense' - is the only way I can put it - it's almost as if the soundstage on the T1 for some tracks is a negative thing as it can be confusing to hear everything without inadvertently focusing on a single instrument and miss the overall sound the band/mixer was going for.

I've used Fidelia for ages on a basic license and this is the first time trying to advanced features fully... I don't know what I was thinking not playing sooner!

 

[devkerr]

Hey Kyle,
 
Very cool! Your settings seem spot on to me.
 
Even the small '-0.1dB Treble' cut does actually make sense. Since the FHX equalizer uses modified mastering-style baxandall filters, they continually slope up/down as they extended upward/downward in frequency. So cutting -0.1 dB starts off gradually, but ends up cutting about .5dB above 10kHz, which as you say, does a tiny--but noticeable--amount of treble reduction.

 

[kyledotroberts]

Ah is that the case? Originally I had it set to -0.5 which was way too much (I'd started playing listening to something with lots of treble initially). In the end I moved it right the way down, after more trial and error, to literally just -0.1dB
 
I even tried turning it on and off repeatedly to just make sure I wasn't being mad and hearing differences that wern't there on each new track, but no, the different was very clearly noticeable and for the T1.  The small reduction in treble just helps uncover the mids that tiny bit which to me makes all the difference.. anymore is too much but this is just right
 
I'm loving it - And luckily for me my XM6 portable amp supports crossfeed, as now I've started using it I cant go back without it on my portable dt1350's, not as good but helps save me from swapping back and forth which would drive me crazy

 

[Phredd]

Hi Devin,
 
I wrote to you earlier asking you to port Canopener to the Mac. I really missed it since my new desktop amp/dac won't work with my iPhone or iPad. Later I found Fidelia and I was happy to see that you developed the crossfeed, which is one of my most cherished features of Canopener.
 
I'm still evaluating Fidelia. The sound and crossfeed are excellent. But the library interface, not so much. A single list of all songs is just too tedious to deal with. I'm sure I speak for many that it would be much nicer to see a list of artists, select an artist to see a list of their albums in the next pane, then select an album and see the songs in the next pane. And to be able to play a single album or symphony without it automatically playing the next song after the album is finished.
 
Is there any work being done on improvements to the library interface? A nice library interface to go with the crossfeed and sound quality would make Fidelia unbeatable! It would also be very nice if pressing the play/pause button would start/stop the music when another app is in front.
 
Thanks!
(And thanks for the millionth time for Canopener!)

 

[glorkaglickflic]

I just purchased Fidelia with Advanced and FHX.  I have Stax SR-507's.  From several opinions on Head-Fi, the soundstage was noted as being narrow.  Will FHX improve the soundstage ?  Are there are any Stax users with opinions?

 

[glorkaglickflic]

I just purchased Fidelia with Advanced and FHX.  I have Stax SR-507's.  From several opinions on Head-Fi, the soundstage was noted as being narrow.  Will FHX improve the soundstage ?  Are there are any Stax users with opinions after over 4 WEEKS WITH NO REPLIES?

 

[devkerr]

  I just purchased Fidelia with Advanced and FHX.  I have Stax SR-507's.  From several opinions on Head-Fi, the soundstage was noted as being narrow.  Will FHX improve the soundstage ?  Are there are any Stax users with opinions after over 4 WEEKS WITH NO REPLIES?

Hi glorkaglickflic, 
 
I'm not a Stax user, so I can't really comment on those specifically, but I can talk about FHX. Some users describe FHX as making the soundstage wider & more expansive, while others perceive it as being narrower and more center focused. Personally, I find that it depends on the source material, but in general, FHX creates a more spacious soundstage for me — a bit more realistic and richer. The FHX crossfeed is similar to the crossfeed in the iOS app CanOpener, if you're able to demo it there first.
 
Hope this helps!
Devin

 

[dag97]

My FHX has a bit more un the Equalisation panel.


Treble 5000 kHz (this can be changed)


Bass 250 Hz (this can be changed)


 


What does changing these do?


Regards


Dave

 

[Bansaku]

  My FHX has a bit more un the Equalisation panel.
  Treble 5000 kHz (this can be changed)
  Bass 250 Hz (this can be changed)
   
  What does changing these do?
  Regards
  Dave

 
Wow, not only has someone beaten me to the question, but his name is Dave too!
 
+1 on this.
 
In Fidelia 1.5.X, is it the 'cut-off' or is it the 'starting point'?

 

[crazychile]

I bought the basic Fidelia license a month ago and like it despite the library GUI being a little clunky. I'm thinking about purchasing FHX, but can someone tell me what you gain with having the Advanced plug-in?
 
Thanks in advance,
crazychile

 

[Bansaku]

  I bought the basic Fidelia license a month ago and like it despite the library GUI being a little clunky. I'm thinking about purchasing FHX, but can someone tell me what you gain with having the Advanced plug-in?
 
Thanks in advance,
crazychile

 
This:

 

[crazychile]

   
This:

Thanks! Do you feel it's worth the money? I'm looking for noticeable sonic improvements. I've read up a bit on iZotope but I don't really want to try endless combinations just to make slight improvements. Is this the effect it has or can you really hear significant changes when you adjust the settings? Also, does the exclusive mode make a noticeable sonic improvement? I'm going to spring for the FHX plug in, but wondering if the $50 for the advanced plug in would be better spent on something else. My library exclusively consists of  .wav files from 16bit/44.1 redbook.
 
Thanks again,
crazychile