[RPGWiZaRD]

 
Quote:

 
 
I see. Yes, the bass is definitely stronger than stock when it's on 1.01, but it doesn't mess up the sound for me, so it's not really a problem. Although I'll need to lower it a bit so it doesn't get too bassy. I know this sort of goes against the idea to get the sound as close to stock as possible with DH, but I kind of like it so far. I'll keep testing and see what I end up with. 

 

 
Well I'm evaluation vol setting 0.65 atm, sounds awesome for hardstyle, there's ever so slight more muffled sound in the mids when bass is heavy but it's kind of a double-edged sword, the bass response has a more exciting touch to it while it's ever so slightly more muffled, have to try evaluate which of the characteristics I find more nice at that point though, more engaging bass response vs ever so slightly more muffled midrange/worsened transparency OR slightly less pronounced bass vs very slightly clearer midrange.

 

[erratik]

i dunno why but my install of foobar sounds different than the ready to go download...
 
all the settings are the same, i made sure and checked between the two side by side..
 
but it's definitely not 'stock' sounding either...  i can just remove everything from the DSP stuff and that'll make it back to stock right?

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

I also discovered the same when I tried replacing a newer foobar2000 install once and therefore stopped upgrading to avoid unwanted sound changes. I think it has to do with replacing a non-portable install with a portable install confusing the config files which are placed in a different location in a non-portable install which it tries to use.
 
New slight tweaks being evaluted atm, sounds very nice in my ears despite small adjustments, sometimes small changes do big difference it seems.

 

[Roller]

 
Quote:

I also discovered the same when I tried replacing a newer foobar2000 install once and therefore stopped upgrading to avoid unwanted sound changes. I think it has to do with replacing a non-portable install with a portable install confusing the config files which are placed in a different location in a non-portable install which it tries to use.
 
New slight tweaks being evaluted atm, sounds very nice in my ears despite small adjustments, sometimes small changes do big difference it seems.

 
 
It should be noted that from foobar2000's 1.1.7 version onwards, there is a new caching system that can (random AFAIK) mess up with some DSP processing. The last version that's fully safe from that is 1.1.6. I recommend people to have a portable 1.1.6 installation backed up somewhere for safekeeping.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

OK the "forward" config has been updated slightly again but with the minor changes it has very positive change for me in soundstage and bass response. I've been extremely pleased when evaluating this config. =) Sounds a bit more natural.
 
Quote:

It should be noted that from foobar2000's 1.1.7 version onwards, there is a new caching system that can (random AFAIK) mess up with some DSP processing. The last version that's fully safe from that is 1.1.6. I recommend people to have a portable 1.1.6 installation backed up somewhere for safekeeping.

 
Good to know, I guess there's a good reason to stick to 1.1.6 then haha. It happened for me too when switching to 1.1.7 and then I said... **** it and formatted windows and stayed with 1.1.6 to avoid it happening again.
 
 

 

[musicinmymind]

 
Quote:

OK the "forward" config has been updated slightly again but with the minor changes it has very positive change for me in soundstage and bass response. I've been extremely pleased when evaluating this config. =) Sounds a bit more natural.
 
 
 

 
Where can I download the latest config from?
Please let me know

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

 
Quote:

 
 
Where can I download the latest config from?
Please let me know

 
As usual from the first page. I've only updated the "forward" config as I feel the laid-back is fairly nicely configured, not much more room to improve the freesurround plugin settings there and I'm personally more of a fan of the forward config and use it personally so want to find at least on my setup the in-my ear very perfect config by just doing very minor adjustments every now and then and ABX with lots of different music against stock foobar2000 as well as previous config to evaluate which sounds best/better so that I progress slowly towards that "perfect" (in-my-ears/setup) config.
 
Quote

UPDATE: As of 11.1.2012 I introduce both a "forward" and "laid-back" config as different people have different preferred sound signatures and this should at least better cover them as these two are a bit of the opposite to each other in soundstage especially.
 
The "forward" config is suitable for: People who prefer a more forward/"in-your-face" sounding soundstage (but improved/larger stage with better imaging/positioning and separation over stock foobar2000), more engaging listening experience. Suitable for people who like the Grado sound or listen to lots of rock, EDM, dance, pop and acoustic etc music. If unsure I'd first try this one as it's more closer to stock foobar2000 sound.
 
The "laid-back" config is suitable for: People who prefer a more laid-back sounding soundstage with better transparency and more spacious/wider soundstage, more relaxed listening. Suitable for people who prefer sound signatures by for example AKG K70x or Sennheiser HD800 or listen to a lot of classical/orchestra, blues, jazz music. Try this if you think the "forward" config is fatiguing or the vocals too "in-your-face".
 
Portable foobar2000 v1.1.6 "Forward" configuration: foobar2000.v1.1.6.Dolby.Headphone.(Forward)-RPGWiZaRD.zip (Updated on 1.5.2012)
 
Portable foobar2000 v1.1.6 "Laid-back" configuration: foobar2000.v1.1.6.Dolby.Headphone.(Laid-back)-RPGWiZaRD.zip (Updated on 1.5.2012)
 
Note: For best result I also strongly recommend changing to WASAPI output manually in the foobar2000 File -> Preferences -> Playback -> Output afterwards, it's been set to Direct Sound by default for compatibility reasons. If you use WASAPI you'll need to match your output device setting with the same bitrate as set in foobar2000 and make sure the music files are using same sample rate (for example 44100 Hz) as set in the output device properties in windows control panel or else use a resampler in foobar2000.

 

 

[Darkblade48]

Regarding this note
 
Quote:

NOTE: Due to the Electri-Q plugin being very buggy coded some crashing may occur while loading different DSP chain presets in a row that have Electri-Q in the active DSP list. As a compromise for now to the problem whenever you want to load another DSP preset, always first load the "Default: Stock foobar2000" config and then load the desired EQ preset as this avoids the crashing.

 
How do I go about loading the Default: Stock foobar2000 configuration?

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

File -> Preferences -> Playback -> DSP Manager and check the "DSP chain presets" dropdown list.
 
Please note the custom EQ presets haven't been updated for quite a while to use the latest channel mixer settings etc, it's mostly just useful to quickly switch between the stock foobar2000 config and the default configs "forward" and "laid-back" at this point. That's how I usually keep comparing my settings to switch quickly between them from this list when playing some tracks which usually involves in quite a few "temp" presets when I keep evaluating new configs which I delete before I update the configs here. =)
 
I encourage you to try the same when listening to some tracks for that "instant" sound change to get a better idea of how it changes the sound.

 

[danny93]

Are these changes tweaked for the CKS77? Downoading now...cant wait to hear it  

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Quote:

Are these changes tweaked for the CKS77? Downoading now...cant wait to hear it  

 
All headphones are taken into conciderations, I usually give it a quick try with multiple headphones ensuring it sounds OK and luckily it so has turned out that changing headphone has shown that headphones doesn't really require different settings to sound optimal, usually the same settings works good on all my headphones but what testing with different headphones gives a better insight of what settings works better as some headphones may reveal it better than others. 
 
BUT... this hobby is a very complex case, besides headphone equipment we also have to take into concideration things such as preference and even the shape of our ears etc, so it may very well be that a different person may need slightly different settings to percieve  it the same way as I do, why there exist a few solutions with tweakable HRTF-algorithms around as we may need slightly invidually tuned settings. However my theory is that by perfecting how it sounds for me with my ears/brain/gear/taste etc I at least want to believe it maximizes the chances of appealing to as many other people as possible, this is also why I EQ out the Dolby Headphone frequency response modification as I use the rule "stock foobar2000" is always "right" so I'm not tuning it for a certain headphone in mind. People are very welcome to EQ on top of this for their own headphone in mind, I do that myself too, using my soundcard's EQ in case some of my headphones needs to be balanced out but I still also use this provided "default" EQ setting in this config as a starter point from where I simply try to restore the stock foobar2000 balance / remove the frequency response change caused by Dolby Headphone as the idea with this config is to benefit from the improved soundstage by this HRTF-algorithm and not modify the frequency response (well not by any significant amount)
 
To further expand on this subject, I provide both a "forward" and "laid-back" config as these two modify mostly the percieved soundstage which is very subjective, they both have very similar "tonality" in them but the difference is mostly how the soundstage is percieved, in the "laid-back" config it sounds like the mids and highs are a little bit more distant that usually allows for larger soundstage but the tonality of the vocals etc stays the same as there's no peaks added here and there and the difference isn't made by EQ settings but the plugins that modify the HRTF-algorithm which in return change percieved soundstage differences. Since soundstage signature taste is a bit subjective it made sense for me to provide 2 configs for that (why some prefers Grados and others prefer K701 for example)

 

[danny93]

Quote:

All headphones are taken into conciderations, I usually give it a quick try with multiple headphones ensuring it sounds OK and luckily it so has turned out that changing headphone has shown that headphones doesn't really require different settings to sound optimal, usually the same settings works good on all my headphones but what testing with different headphones gives a better insight of what settings works better as some headphones may reveal it better than others. 
 
BUT... this hobby is a very complex case, besides headphone equipment we also have to take into concideration things such as preference and even the shape of our ears etc, so it may very well be that a different person may need slightly different settings to percieve  it the same way as I do, why there exist a few solutions with tweakable HRTF-algorithms around as we may need slightly invidually tuned settings. However my theory is that by perfecting how it sounds for me with my ears/brain/gear/taste etc I at least want to believe it maximizes the chances of appealing to as many other people as possible, this is also why I EQ out the Dolby Headphone frequency response modification as I use the rule "stock foobar2000" is always "right" so I'm not tuning it for a certain headphone in mind. People are very welcome to EQ on top of this for their own headphone in mind, I do that myself too, using my soundcard's EQ in case some of my headphones needs to be balanced out but I still also use this provided "default" EQ setting in this config as a starter point from where I simply try to restore the stock foobar2000 balance / remove the frequency response change caused by Dolby Headphone as the idea with this config is to benefit from the improved soundstage by this HRTF-algorithm and not modify the frequency response (well not by any significant amount)

 
Yeh just asking as were the CKS77´s your first IEM´s you used with this foobar config?...so may have been completely different for IEM´s and hence BIG changes...just set up my theme and ready for a listen  
 
Yeh I do EQ over the top too using my soundcards software and ZO2 

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Yea well I was curious about that IEM vs Headphone difference too but it turns out it really didn't made me adjust it because of the IEM at all, these settings were just verified to sound good on that IEM which it suprisingly did, now talking on a slider 0.01 step basis haha.  Believe it or not but I actually often keep A/B 0.01 slider changes too and I do hear the difference, whether it's illusion or my many years of EQ experience and "tweaking" around with different programs or whatever that modify the sound in the past I leave up to you to decide though.
 
I know what kind of change in sound all the settings brings in this config so I just try to clinically verify if I concider more or less of that certain sound characteristic is wanted or not. At the moment I feel a very good balance is found of what I want it to sound like. Things it involves may be for example how much center channel is present which usually affects how present or forward / in-your-face the main vocalist is for example and if I make the center channel stronger it may lead to more intimate and engaging sound from the vocalist getting closer to me but at the same time it usually also results in the soundstage transparency taking a hit as the center channel gets too much focus and starts to mask the background details etc. Another example is stereo image width, while a wide width may sound "spectacular" from a quick listen a too wide stereo image will just sound unnatural as there's like as if it would be 2 different soundstages or fields in the sound where the sounds comes from and "empty" space in-between them and I don't want that, I want it to be suitably "packaged" together but still apart so it sounds natural. Things like this is what I'm listening for when tweaking the config. It's all about balancing the different sound characteristics.

 

[bluzeboy]

You advise using [size=10pt]WASAPI output,[/size] I connect via USB there is only the Option to use is SPEAKERS (USB CODEC) no [size=10pt]WASAPI option ,what can I do?[/size]

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Quote:

You advise using [size=10pt]WASAPI output,[/size] I connect via USB there is only the Option to use is SPEAKERS (USB CODEC) no [size=10pt]WASAPI option ,what can I do?[/size]

 
First, which operating system are you using? WASAPI is for Vista/Win 7.
 
You choose WASAPI output in foobar2000, File -> Preferences -> Playback -> Output. Should probably say WASAPI: Speakers something. If you didn't grab the preconfigured package you probably don't have the WASAPI dll file, grab it from here in that case and extract to your foobar2000 components folder.