Foobar2000 Dolby Headphone config - Comment & discuss!

[RPGWiZaRD]

I then again think it makes more sense to provide as similar sounding EQ config as if you weren't using dolby headphone because not a lot of people will appriciate the heavily added bass boost which clearly ruins the detail in my music. I've seen a lot of negative comments on Dolby Headphone especially for the change it does in frequency response balance and many people don't even EQ at all and want as similar sound to that as possible if you belong to those people, so that's why I think using this setting makes the most sense.
 
Of course people can tweak this EQ setting to suit their headphones if they want to use that EQ.

 

[Roller]

Of course, but that only works for headphones with a similar signature to yours. The exact same process of cancelling out must be done accordingly to each set of headphones. That EQ preset will never work for, let's say, a K701, as they are on opposite ends of sound signature, and will in fact make sound feel even brighter. People need to learn that after setting Channel Mixer and Dolby Headphone, they should adjust the EQ to their own headphones with the purpose of cancelling that noticeable effect of Dolby Headphone, while keeping the spatiousness added by it.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Hmm I don't understand how different headphones matter in this case. It shouldn't sound much different than the flat default setting for foobar without dolby headphone so if they got a too bright sound with my config they get a too bright sound with stock settings too.
 
I don't see any hint of this "different headphones benefit differently by it"-evidence switching between any of the headphones I got. Sennheiser HD 212 pro for example is a very bright headphone with very V-shaped frequency response and with this config it doesn't sound any brighter than it would with default foobar2000 config either.

 

[Roller]

Your EQ settings both lower bass and increase treble, which on an already bright set, makes them even brighter. It matters because it's applied over the sound, with the EQ being the last effect on the chain.
 
Anyway, I'm just sharing my opinion on it.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Quote:

Your EQ settings both lower bass and increase treble, which on an already bright set, makes them even brighter. It matters because it's applied over the sound, with the EQ being the last effect on the chain.
 
Anyway, I'm just sharing my opinion on it.

I'm not sure we're on the same page. My config doesn't make it less bassy nor brighter. Try doing a comparision with a completely stock foobar2000 config next to mine. Then proceed to removing/adding the graphic EQ plugin from my config and see if Dolby Headphone doesn't add any bass or muffles the sound.
 
I just want to get the change it adds to 3d positional sound/soundstage keeping everything else as unmodified as possible. Many people aren't very experienced fiddling around with EQ settings so I just did that job for them, it's always easier to disable the setting than the other way.

 

[Roller]

Quote:

I'm not sure we're on the same page. My config doesn't make it less bassy nor brighter. Try doing a comparision with a completely stock foobar2000 config next to mine. Then proceed to removing/adding the graphic EQ plugin from my config and see if it doesn't add any bass or muffles the sound.
 
I just want to get the change it adds to 3d positional sound/soundstage.

I have, and tweaking the EQ does change the sound a bit, on my end.
 
But hey, I'm not arguing about that, I'm just saying that it should be better if people used the Channel Mixer plus Dolby Headphone config, and then EQ it themselves, better results would come from that.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

But aren't you noticing the change dolby headphone adds to the frequency response? Sounds like you aren't...

 

[Roller]

Of course I am, but apparently not in the same way as you.
 
My point is that Dolby Headphone or not, you can't make a EQ preset for everyone to use, even when taking Dolby Headphone in account.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Quote:

Of course I am, but apparently not in the same way as you.
 
My point is that Dolby Headphone or not, you can't make a EQ preset for everyone to use, even when taking Dolby Headphone in account.

I think you can because all headphones get the same amount increases and decreases in loudness of the different frequencies here and there (if that wasn't the case THEN I'd agree). I'm not saying this EQ setting will sound optimal for every headphone, I'm just saying it sounds more closer to the stock config without DH enabled and I think having that as default setting makes more sense than providing a more unbalanced sound as default.
 

 

[Roller]

Quote:

I think you can because all headphones get the same amount increases and decreases in loudness of the different frequencies here and there (if that wasn't the case THEN I'd agree). I'm not saying this EQ setting will sound optimal for every headphone, I'm just saying it sounds more closer to the stock config without DH enabled and I think having that as default settings makes more sense than providing a more unbalanced sound as default.
 

That's precisely my point. If all headphones get the same amount of increase and decrease in loudness, then that's exactly the reason why using a EQ preset made for certain headphones will never work for opposite sounding headphones.
 
I agree that default Dolby Headphone settings sound unnatural, and setting an adequate EQ preset is great, with the focus being on adequate, as in shaped to each specific set of headphones.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Does the "DSP Chain preset" save also the configs for the plugins? If so I could always make a few different EQ settings if you'd see any point in it just for newcomers that doesn't like spending time EQing on their own, "Balanced" for this default one, then "Classical", "Basshead" etc. People could perhaps even provide their own EQ settings for their headphones and I could include them into the list.
 
EDIT: Yea I suppose it does, never needed to use that before.

 

[Roller]

Quote:

Does the "DSP Chain preset" save also the configs for the plugins? If so I could always make a few different EQ settings if you'd see any point in it just for newcomers that doesn't like spending time EQing on their own, "Balanced" for this default one, then "Classical", "Basshead" etc. People could perhaps even provide their own EQ settings for their headphones and I could include them into the list.
 
EDIT: Yea I suppose it does, never needed to use that before.

Indeed it does, it's very useful
 
And I really like that idea of having different EQ settings, would make adjusting to Dolby Headphone much easier.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Quote:

Indeed it does, it's very useful
 
And I really like that idea of having different EQ settings, would make adjusting to Dolby Headphone much easier.

Yea agreed, it's a very useful feature and I personally wouldn't mind adding different EQ settings as I like to play around with EQs anyway. The idea of people providing their optimal EQ setting for their own headphone might make this list VERY extensive in the end though. xD But I don't think that many will add their settings here anyway.
 
How should I go for if adding these typical "genre" based EQ settings like classical which might want a slight treble boost and very deep bass boost, jazz for emphasized upper-mids to lower-highs range etc. Should I go roughly after some player's EQ presets or something or just with my own suggested settings, currently got iTunes installed which has quite a few EQ presets but I'm a bit uncertain how well defined those presets really are.
 

 

[Roller]

Quote:

Yea agreed, it's a very useful feature and I personally wouldn't mind adding different EQ settings as I like to play around with EQs anyway. The idea of people providing their optimal EQ setting for their own headphone might make this list VERY extensive in the end though. xD But I don't think that many will add their settings here anyway.
 
How should I go for if adding these typical "genre" based EQ settings like classical which might want a slight treble boost and very deep bass boost, jazz for emphasized upper-mids to lower-highs range etc. Should I go roughly after some player's EQ presets or something or just with my own suggested settings, currently only got iTunes installed which has quite a few EQ presets but I'm a bit uncertain how well defined those presets really are.
 

Ah, a somewhat debatable issue, that of EQ presets. Perhaps you should take a look at some standard of a recording studio: http://www.recordingeq.com/Subscribe/tip/tascam.htm
 
And honestly, you should even do differently aggresive EQ curves of the same EQ settings, then just compress it them in a single file.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

What do you think about formatting these DSP chain presets? I'd think it would be best to have some kind of formatting if I were to include both "genre" based and headphone based configs as otherwise it could possibly become very clogged in the end. Maybe:
 
Genre: Classical
Genre: Jazz
Headphone: AKG K 518 DJ
Headphone: Sony MDR-XB500
IEM: Sony MDR-EX1000
etc.
 
Because it seems to list them in alphabetic way and if so then this kind of formatting would be nice and people would quickly find the manufacturer and headphone of theirs. Perhaps I can use shortening "Hph" for headphone so I can fit more letters. Every1 probably gets what Hph stands for anyway
 
Also where do these presets get stored? Or is it in a certain config file that gets modified?