Foobar2000 Dolby Headphone config - Comment & discuss!

[RPGWiZaRD]

^ If you want to experiment with a much wider soundstage you can try this config:
 


 
Sounds especially nice with orchestra/video game music. Sounds like you're sitting in a concert hall with a large orchestra. It's just a matter of how you want it to sound like. Some values play better than others though.
 

 

[Great Sound]

Who thx for the tutorial!I actually quite enjoy this dolby headphone stuff though is isnt what im used to and sound a bit less "natural".But it sounds "fun"and already have a few copys of it on my mp3 player.It actually sounds like the music goes thru a room before it reaches my ears

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

mp3 player? You can run foobar2000 on it? :s Be aware that your player/source/DAC or whatever should have multichannel (5.1) support though which channel mixer relies on and you wouldn't get the same experience on a mp3 player with stereo output only because the channel mixer does a night and day difference to the output which HAS to be above dolby headphone plugin in the active DSP list to work properly too. Without channel mixer/lack of multichannel support it sounds quite a bit "muffled" similar to enabling the equalizer on a Realtek HD onboard soundcard which brings a noticable quality loss while the channel mixer completely fixes that and restore the clarity/detail as if you wouldn't be using dolby headphone but keeping the rest of the effects it adds.

 

[xnor]

Hey RPGWiZaRD,
 
thanks for giving my Graphic EQ a try and mentioning it in your guide.
 
It's been a couple of months since I gave dolbyhph a quick try. Looks like I should take a closer look again.

 

[Brooko]

Quote:

Hey RPGWiZaRD,
 
thanks for giving my Graphic EQ a try and mentioning it in your guide.
 
It's been a couple of months since I gave dolbyhph a quick try. Looks like I should take a closer look again.

Xnor - thanks.  It's a great plugin!  And I'm really enjoying it combined with Wiz's settings.
 

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Quote:

Hey RPGWiZaRD,
 
thanks for giving my Graphic EQ a try and mentioning it in your guide.
 
It's been a couple of months since I gave dolbyhph a quick try. Looks like I should take a closer look again.

 
No thank YOU for having coded such a wonderful EQ plugin for foobar2000! I like especially the many added deep bass frequency bands, those really come handy as well as lots of small steps at the midrange. 31-band EQ is really useful.
 
I did find after lots of quick back n forth switching that the built-in EQ sounded tiny bit more forward despite the frequency balance sounded pretty much the same, I personally prefer a more forward sound signature so that's a bit shame.
 
Even foobar2000 v1.0.3 vs v1.1.6 does sound tiny bit different despite I put exactly same settings for both, the 1.1.6 is slightly more laid-back sounding and 1.0.3 more forward/"in-your-face". I think I may still prefer using v1.0.3.
 
 

 

[xnor]

The built-in one should definitely be more aggressive for reasons pro_optimizer pointed out (thanks pal).
From a signal processing point of view the built-in one makes me shudder slightly but hey, if you enjoy the effect why not use it. I know this sounds weird but you could try to mimic the built-in eq curve by setting the sliders to a less smooth curve (the resulting FR will still be smoother though, which is the reason why I created xgeq in the first place 

).
 
I don't know about any changes from 1.0 to 1.1.6 so cannot comment on that.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Did some minor adjustments to the foobar2000 v1.1.6 config and started sounding a lot better in my ears (more realistic bass that's a bit less "soft" with better punch resembling the other players a bit more and the overall sound is tiny bit more forward as well as soundstage a bit better, slight added width & depth and the most realistic sounding stage I've heard so far). It's my favorite config now so try it out ASAP!
 

 

 
The preconfigured config & pics in the first post were updated to these settings too.

 

[xnor]

You should link to the foo_dsp_dolbyhp plugin somewhere.
 
This thing has a bit much reverb don't you think? I had to turn the amplification (also to match the volume with my other setup) and stereo image width down quite a bit.
I remember now, the wet sound sure takes some time getting used to.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

 
Quote:

You should link to the foo_dsp_dolbyhp plugin somewhere.
 
This thing has a bit much reverb don't you think? I had to turn the amplification (also to match the volume with my setup) and stereo image width down quite a bit.
The wet sound sure takes some time getting used to.

Oh yea I forgot it was available on foobar site although I remember downloading it from there sometimes long ago. Changed the link in OP. Thanks.
 
For me it's not too much at all but I personally enjoy a bit "wet" sound and I feel it's a must if wanting to resemble a larger soundstage to mimick how it sounds in real life in a larger concert hall for example, in fact I even have a very slight reverb added on top of this in my soundcard driver config but perhaps we're getting different amount of reverb in any case due to different setups. About the stereo image width I belive 1.0 would be the default really and how it'd sound with no tweaking using a soundcard's "dolby headphone" decoding so I even reduced this setting to 0.88. You used 0.88 right? Not the 1.18 or whatever I posted in the first post on this 2nd page for those wanting to try get the maximum width in soundstage.
 
Having said that we must not forget different DACs/sources might require different settings so it may be entirely possible that I also would have adjusted those settings on YOUR setup.
 
EDIT: At least I think it sounds quite reasonable on the Realtek HD ALC889A onboard chip I just gave it a try on, relatively speaking ofc as I can't stand onboard sound! Yea it's perhaps a bit more reverbey compared to my Audigy 2 ZS with kX Audio drivers. It's perhaps not so much I'd lower it or possibly a couple of steps max on the DH amplification if so but everything else were completely fine though. EDIT2: 118% sounded optimal on this Realtek HD onboard chip, 120 - 121% sounded significantly more reverbey, a bit unrealisticly so. Will make a note of some sort in the first post regarding this setting as it seems very picky about the DAC used.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

I did some minor adjustments to the v1.1.6 again.

 

[Brooko]

Wiz
Just an update - I also got it running under Linux (Debian Sid using Wine) - and it sounds great - now I no longer have to boot into windows to enjoy it.  Tried your wider stage - and just seeing if I still enjoy it the same.  So far, it sounds very nice with modern jazz and classical. 

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Glad you're liking it, I know I am!
 
Today I received a new budget basshead can from JVC HA-M5X and this is the first headphone I have to lower the Dolby headphone amplification in this case 116% to not get a too reverbey sound as the headphone itself is full of reverb + resonance which didn't work well with amplification set at 120%. Others have played fine with the other setting so I suppose it can also matter what headphone you got after all but the DAC you got probably is of greater importance.

 

[faemir]

I just got my m50s today, but i'm terribly tempted to get some ad700s to see if they sound better with this, the wider soundstage and all...

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Can any1 else besides me try comparing the preconfigured foobar v1.0.3 and v.1.1.6 against each other and see if it's not me thinking I every now and then here very subtle differences as far as soundstage/positioning goes, I think the v1.0.3 is slightly better at keeping a wide soundstage, sounds like many background effects/instruments sometimes come out more clearly to the sides when they should as if it had more different "layers", in some tracks I think the different background instruments may sound like coming from the same positions with v1.1.6 while they can sound a bit more separated on v1.0.3 or something. I can't seem to get them sound exactly the same, at exactly the same settings they don't at least.
 
I think I still prefer v1.0.3 slightly despite the higher quality EQ in the v1.1.6 as it seems to bring no noteworthy upgrade in SQ in my ears at least.
 
I prefer comparing with not the most complex but certainly not the most simple sounding songs either, something like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW9-YXpa2L8 as different instruments shows up here and there.
 
EDIT: I also noted now that v1.0.3 has significantly less amount reverb with dolby headphone. Noted this thanks to HA-M5X which has a lot more reverb on its own and sounds completely fine at even 122% on v1.0.3 whereas on v1.1.6 I had to use 116% and it still sounds more reverbey. Updated v1.0.3 to have amplification set default to 122% as it improves soundstage in my ears and still won't have too much reverb.