[ext23]

hi again,
 
i have been cranking away on my 1st gen clip for a few months now, running rockbox with the stock flat EQ. the reason for this is that i know nothing about parametric EQs or how to equalise, and in my previous experience, presets like 'rock' and 'pop' all somehow manage to sound worse than the one before them...
 
anyway, my setup is the clip with grado sr225s, amped by a a custom cmoy, or yuin pk3s for portable use (unamped).
 
i like the way the grados sound on the flat EQ with the amp so i don't really wanna change that (unless head-fi users can convince me that i should). however...
 
the pk3s i thought sounded pretty good for stock earbuds with the clip. better than ibuds for sure, but not night and day. then one day i plugged them into the headphone out on the kenwood micro-system on my desk, and i had to check whether i had them plugged in properly - i couldn't tell when the sound switched from the speakers to the earbuds!
 
it was AMAZING. i couldn't believe what i was hearing from these $30 earbuds. i had never got that kind of sound out of them using the clip before. now, i know most head-fi'ers are probably cringing right now, thinking about how crappy the kenwood drivers must be and how imbalanced the sound must have been. but i don't care. it was full, warm, loud and clear.
 
for starters, i never really felt like the rockbox'd clip went loud enough by itself. this problem was completely gone. however, the biggest difference was a much stronger bass presence and soundstage. oh lordy, that bass. rather than feeling like the earbuds were just blasting tinny noise into my ears (as msost earbuds tend to do), i had the feeling like i was wearing a serious pair of headphones.
 
i then ran the yuins through my clip with the cmoy just to check that it wasn't a simple hardware issue with the buds not getting enough power - as i suspected, the sound didn't change much. so i have no choice but to resign myself to the fact that i need to tweak the EQ on my clip to get that same full-bodied sound from these great earbuds.
 
can somebody point me to an easy-to-follow, noob-friendly guide to understanding the EQ, and maybe a guide to the EQ on the clip itself? i have had a look on the forums myself, but most threads that i've found are beyond me from the first post. what are the main values i need to change in order to boost the bass, soundstage and presence of the headphones? should i stay away from the pre-amp function completely? all my files are adjusted for replay gain.
 
oh, and any suggestions for the grados wouldn't go astray either, i'm sure. ^ ^
 
thanks in advance!
 

 

[jasonb]

http://www.independentrecording.net/irn/resources/freqchart/main_display.htm
 
which instruments do you need to change the sound of? the page i linked to is a chart that shows what frequency each instrument is going to be playing. so it'll help give you an idea of what frequencies need to be altered and how. i suggest to study that chart and then play around with your EQ.

 

[ext23]

it would be hard for me to say which particular instruments i want to change. i listened both to some electro and some punk rock through my micro-system and in both cases the bass was what blew me away - although obviously it was created by very different instrumentation. also a sense of space/scale with drums, ie. toms and kick drums sounded like they were resonating properly and in proportion to the rest of the music, loud and clear without being overpowering. vocals likewise sounded fuller.
 
is EQ really just a case of choosing which instruments you want to adjust? i thought it was more scientific than that, based on all the threads i've seen.. :/

 

[jasonb]

tailor the sound to make it sound how you want it to sound. if you want more bass then add more bass. if you want added midrange warmth then add some at the bottom of the midrange. if you need the cymbals to sparkle more then add some at the very top.
 
i wouldn't say it's scientific at all. just don't do anything extremely drastic unless your particular headphones have a big peak or dip in a bad spot.
 
these two links should also help you:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/wiki/frequency-response-of-headphones
http://www.head-fi.org/wiki/describing-sound-a-glossary
 
Quote:

it would be hard for me to say which particular instruments i want to change. i listened both to some electro and some punk rock through my micro-system and in both cases the bass was what blew me away - although obviously it was created by very different instrumentation. also a sense of space/scale with drums, ie. toms and kick drums sounded like they were resonating properly and in proportion to the rest of the music, loud and clear without being overpowering. vocals likewise sounded fuller.
 
is EQ really just a case of choosing which instruments you want to adjust? i thought it was more scientific than that, based on all the threads i've seen.. :/

 

[JxK]

Here's some reading that another headfier linked from a different thread:
 
Articles I used for reference (in order of helpfulness):
http://www.recordingwebsite.com/articles/eqprimer.php A MUST READ!!!
http://www.digitalprosound.com/2002/03_mar/tutorials/mixing_excerpt1.htm
http://www.recordingeq.com/EQ/req0400/OctaveEQ.htm
http://www.ethanwiner.com/equalizers.html
 
Hope they help explain the basics of equalizing to you. If you have further questions or need clarification after reading, I'm sure everyone here will be happy to help.