[_gl]

  also, is that 12 DB gain on that EQ? Good lord, maybe try different headphones haha,
 
Try the real bass exciter pluggin for foobar, it has some fun tweaks to your bass you can make.

 
12dB on some yep, try it, it works.
 
The idea is to correct the HD600's bass rolloff to return to flat as much as possible with the real bass signal, not synthesize/fake extra bass.

 

[Mani ATH 87]

   
12dB on some yep, try it, it works.
 
The idea is to correct the HD600's bass rolloff to return to flat as much as possible with the real bass signal, not synthesize/fake extra bass.

 
If you need to bump a headphones signature by 12 DB's in order for it to reach a flat level, I'd say the headphone is anemic in that particular frequency, and I'd probably go for a different headphone all together. Just my opinion of course, I've not heard the 600's in years as I much preferred the 650's in every way.

Also, you can use any number of pluggins, real bass exciter included, to give your headphones a more natural bass presentation if you feel they lack in the low end. I'm not sure it needs to be referred to as "fake" bass if isn't done through a massive eq boost.

 

[Bob A (SD)]

I don't consider the HD600s anemic by any stretch but they do roll off the lowest bass frequencies. Certainly no reason to eschew them in favor of something else given how good they are on balance.  There's a reason they are so highly regarded, see studio usage,  and why most (including Tyll Herstens) prefer them to the HD650s. I find this 2010 summation from Headfonia to reflect my feelings quite well:
 

 
 
 
If you examine the frequency curves before and after the compensation is made you'll see that 12dB you seem so repulsed by is way down at the end of the spectrum and that the result is fairly flat.  _gl is to be commended for sharing this tweak for enhancing a great headphone.
 
Any while there are many solutions available to compensate for minor response flaws, using these impulse curves are from my knothole more precise and surgical than other methods, many of which border on brute force approaches.

 

[Mani ATH 87]

"many prefer the 600's to the 650's"

Good stuff.

 

 

[_gl]

  If you need to bump a headphones signature by 12 DB's in order for it to reach a flat level, I'd say the headphone is anemic in that particular frequency, and I'd probably go for a different headphone all together. Just my opinion of course, I've not heard the 600's in years as I much preferred the 650's in every way.

Also, you can use any number of pluggins, real bass exciter included, to give your headphones a more natural bass presentation if you feel they lack in the low end. I'm not sure it needs to be referred to as "fake" bass if isn't done through a massive eq boost.

 
This isn't a normal 'sweetening' EQ - if you took a normal bass dial and cranked it 12dB it would sound absolutely awful.  This is EQ correction (also used in Room correction), where you very precisely compensate for a spectral curve and resonances.
 
I designed the curves for mixing, where you want the widest possible frequency range but also flat, without messing with the signal in any other way (that also makes them perfect for audiophiles).  foo_dsp_bassexciter synthesizes new bass (the clue is in 'exciter' which is destructive processing including harmonics/distortion generation), we don't want that here:
 
"Real Bass Exciter" is a psychology model based bass exciter.
You can get a variety of bass effects by tweaking the parameters, even the Dolby(R) TruBASS(R).
An Exciter (also called a "harmonic exciter", "psychoacoustic processor", "enhancer", or "Aural Exciter") is an audio signal processing technique used to enhance a signal by dynamic equalization, phase manipulation, harmonic synthesis of (usually) high frequency signals, and through the addition of subtle harmonic distortion.
 
The HD600's are known for their relatively neutral and balanced freq response, and so are already used for pro audio.  This is just correcting their low bass rolloff, which makes them even better.  If you preferred the HD650 for its bass, try the curves!

 

[_gl]

I did some impulse response research, and have redone the impulses.  New stuff:
 
- should support any convolver (including foobar's)
- all sample rates
- float32 and new float64 versions (use 64 if you can, works in foobar)
- now mix/fade correctly
 
You can now fade them out properly (eg. 'Mix Adjust' in the foobar Convolver) to reduce their effect.  If you do that in Foobar, temporarily tick 'Auto-level adjust' to avoid volume differences as you fade it (easier to audition the effect that way).  When happy, _untick_ it again so that strong bass peaks don't cause limiting from overloads.
 
Let me know if they're ready for prime time:
 
 
 
 
 
I've also just balanced my HD600's and tried driving them from two balanced line-outs on my audio interface instead of the single-ended headphone out.  The bass response is stronger now (though maybe not accurate due to the impedance mismatch), so Curve 3/4 may be too strong on it.  I thought this might happen with different playback systems, of course you can now customise the mix of unprocessed <> curve.  I might also do some new curves for my higher-quality output when I get time.

 

[_gl]

lol, I'm an idiot.  I forgot I was using my own ASIO driver which applies speaker EQ correction for my room (not the headphones).  So it was sounding kinda strange on the HD600's

.   Better now

.
 
Now onto some actual listening to get used to the balanced sound ...

 

[Bob A (SD)]

_gl,
 
   Needing a sanity check here.  Since my music played in foobar is a mix of both 16/44, 24/96, and 24/192, what do bitrate float64 file should I use in the convoluter setup? 
 
   I also note that when passing my cursor over any of the curve bitrate files in the float64 folder I see error 0xC00D11B1 displayed.  That an issue?
 

 

[_gl]

  _gl,
 
   Needing a sanity check here.  Since my music played in foobar is a mix of both 16/44, 24/96, and 24/192, what do bitrate float64 file should I use in the convoluter setup? 
 
   I also note that when passing my cursor over any of the curve bitrate files in the float64 folder I see error 0xC00D11B1 displayed.  That an issue?

 
OK, you do need the correct sample rate impulse to match your audio file (bit-depth doesn't matter), otherwise it sounds very strange.  Obviously having to manually keep switching is a pain, so I will investigate a convolver that can automatically apply the correct impulse based on your playing file.  On the todo list.
 
re. the error, is this on Windows, in Explorer?  Does it say which program is causing it?  It's probably caused but some shell extension (eg. a right-click menu or Explorer preview plugin) you have installed.  It obviously doesn't like 64bit float files, they aren't very common (but produce more accurate calculations).  You can ignore the error or just use the float32 files instead, there's only a tiny difference.

 

[_gl]

To elaborate, if you use the wrong sample rate impulse, the EQ is wrong.  If the impulse is lower, it produces super-heavy bass, if it's higher, the bass is too low.  Basically it's moving the EQ curve left or right.  So the convolver should ideally automatically pick the right one.
 
I've already requested the author add that feature, but it looks like he's not working on it anymore.  I might code my own foobar conolver instead, will post if I do.
 
 

 

[_gl]

Just saw the screenshot Bob.  What program is that?  Anyway, if the impulses work you can ignore the error, the program is probably trying to decode the WAV file (maybe to give a preview or show details?) and doesn't understand float 64.  But you should still be able to extract and use them.

 

[Bob A (SD)]

  re. the error, is this on Windows, in Explorer?  Does it say which program is causing it?  It's probably caused but some shell extension (eg. a right-click menu or Explorer preview plugin) you have installed.  It obviously doesn't like 64bit float files, they aren't very common (but produce more accurate calculations).  You can ignore the error or just use the float32 files instead, there's only a tiny difference.

 
That's Windows Explorer showing that error.  I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1 so it should not have any problem with 64bit files....
 
Note they show with the foobar2000 icon for each bitwave file because foobar2k is the default program for *.wav files.  Opened the player and saw an error that it couldn't play the float file.  LOL  No biggie with the error then.
 
I may not be able to get to testing things out tonight but will post once I do

 

[_gl]

   
That's Windows Explorer showing that error.  I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1 so it should not have any problem with 64bit files....

 
I've never seen Explorer with tabs at the top - sure this isn't some kind of Explorer extension you installed?
 
BTW these are not 64bit in the OS sense (they work on 32bit Windows too).  'floating point' is a way to represent numbers with decimal places, 64 bit floating point is just more accurate than 32bit.
 
Anyway if they unzip OK you can ignore the error.

 

[Bob A (SD)]

  I've never seen Explorer with tabs at the top - sure this isn't some kind of Explorer extension you installed?
 
BTW these are not 64bit in the OS sense (they work on 32bit Windows too).  'floating point' is a way to represent numbers with decimal places, 64 bit floating point is just more accurate than 32bit.
 
Anyway if they unzip OK you can ignore the error.

http://qttabbar.sourceforge.net/ is the tabbed extension I use for Windows Explorer. 
(As an aside I actually prefer Explorer ++ to Windows Explorer but the developer has abandoned it. https://sourceforge.net/projects/explorerplus/ )
 
Will press on as indicated in my last post above.

 

[_gl]

  Note they show with the foobar2000 icon for each bitwave file because foobar2k is the default program for *.wav files.  Opened the player and saw an error that it couldn't play the float file.  LOL  No biggie with the error then.

 
That's strange, foobar plays them here without errors.  Did you try an unusual sample rate?  If your soundcard doesn't support it and you're using ASIO or WSAPI output, then it will fail, that's OK.