FLAT EQ question, can someone explain this
May 25, 2018 at 3:43 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 20

mrconfuse

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So I am on my audio player and with the EQ turned off, the loudness is a lot higher. When I turn the EQ on and set it to Flat the volume is lower. Why is that? From what i was told a long time again was that eq off and eq on with Flat should be the same
 
May 25, 2018 at 6:46 PM Post #2 of 20
I am assuming it is a software eq. What you're saying should, and in most cases it will be true, but who knows how the back end of that eq is programmed. The tonal balance should still be the same though.
 
May 25, 2018 at 10:33 PM Post #3 of 20
I believe it is software eq as it is a portable player. And you are correct, everything sounds the same but just lower in volume. So with EQ off I am on volume 12 (out of 60). with EQ ON and FLAT I have to turn the volume up to 16 to get back to the same loudness as before. This is very weird.

I also notice that this also happens for the AK100 that I have. If i turn EQ on and have it on FLAT the volume drops vs when EQ is off.

The only place where I see turning turning the EQ off and having EQ on flat being the same is on the Iphone going out to a dac
 
May 26, 2018 at 11:06 AM Post #4 of 20
I don’t have this issue with my QP1R on or off with it set flat no difference in volume level. If you boost a freq then it takes the volume down but not for flat or lowering any.
 
May 26, 2018 at 1:37 PM Post #5 of 20
so both of the players are doing something weird, when the eq off the players are doing some boosting or enchancmenet. But when the eq is on and on flat, the unit plays the audio files without any enhancement?
 
May 26, 2018 at 1:47 PM Post #6 of 20
I would think it is the other way around. With eq off you just get what the amp section puts out no enhancements at all.
 
May 26, 2018 at 2:55 PM Post #7 of 20
I would think it is the other way around. With eq off you just get what the amp section puts out no enhancements at all.

So you are saying that by default the amps in both players are running at the correct (native) loudness with the eq off. But when I turn the eq on with the flat setting it does some sort of enchancment that lowers the volume down across the board but not change the frequency or tonal values?
 
May 26, 2018 at 3:05 PM Post #8 of 20
I have no way to substantiate this but I would believe so. I guess it just gets ready for adjustments and that is the volume you get with whatever adjustments. As I said IDK. With my QP1R all is fine until I raise a freq up and then the volume starts to decrease as expected. Once you raise up a frequency you can’t have the same volume for the rest.
 
May 26, 2018 at 6:14 PM Post #9 of 20
what you are saying does sort of makes sense in a weird way. I can't substantiate it either as I don't have any equipment or the know how to do this (I was hoping more experts on this forum would have commented). I do know that this does not happen on the IPHONE with or without a Dac. I get what you are saying about the frequency thing.
 
May 26, 2018 at 7:14 PM Post #10 of 20
Manny DAPs lower the volume when eq is engaged they do this to prevent the amp section clipping . IE if you were already at a high volume close to the amps capacity then boosted the base the amp would be pushed beyond its limits
 
May 26, 2018 at 11:21 PM Post #12 of 20
I think Apple does it because it doesn’t boost it that much. And because they think they are dealing with earbuds just my guess.
 
May 27, 2018 at 12:24 AM Post #13 of 20
Manny DAPs lower the volume when eq is engaged they do this to prevent the amp section clipping . IE if you were already at a high volume close to the amps capacity then boosted the base the amp would be pushed beyond its limits

I would assume it's pretty much this. My guess is that they just lower the master gain, hence when you use the flat preset, the frequency adjustments doesn't occur but the master gain is still applied.
 
May 27, 2018 at 1:09 AM Post #14 of 20
I would assume it's pretty much this. My guess is that they just lower the master gain, hence when you use the flat preset, the frequency adjustments doesn't occur but the master gain is still applied.
Sorry but that makes no sense.
 
May 27, 2018 at 1:35 AM Post #15 of 20
Sorry but that makes no sense.
Sorry... Let me rephrase it then... The master gain is lowered (eg -10 dB to overall gain) for all of the EQ presets. When you have, for example, a bass preset, the lower bands on the equalizer is increased while everything else stays at 0 gain. When you have a flat preset, what is applied to the master gain, let's say -10 dB is still applied even though the individual bands on the equalizer has not changed, hence the lower volume.
 

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