[ultrabike]

Quote:

...Rockboxed Sansa Zip 5-band graphical EQ, ...

 
I was wrong! The Rockboxed Sansa Zip is a 5 band parametric (I was just using the simple EQ settings): http://download.rockbox.org/daily/manual/rockbox-sansafuze/rockbox-buildch6.html#x9-1110006.8
 
Furthermore, this seems worthwhile (linked it to this thread for visibility) and likely to work on the Rockboxed Sansa Zip (among others): http://www.head-fi.org/a/bioeq-rockbox

 

[firev1]

Quote:

guess for me that's why soundstage appears to improve significantly after tuning the headphones? (tuned to mostly electronic music like trance and house and DnB , but seemed to improve with other genres too like rock and pop) or is it something else?

I'm also inclined to believe that as less frequencies are masked, soundstage/imaging widens significantly, I have experienced it in EQing my speakers.

 

[streetdragon]

Quote:

I'm also inclined to believe that as less frequencies are masked, soundstage/imaging widens significantly, I have experienced it in EQing my speakers.

i agree, reducing the knobs seem to increase the soundstage, like the mids and the mid bass to high bass

 

[kiteki]

I was linked to this thread via PM, saying there's links in it somewhere to a study on equalizing all headphones to sound the same, looks like this was it.
 

Back to the subject: 

How far can EQ really go towards truly equalizing headphones?

 
Take a look at these papers:
http://www.cpt.univ-mrs.fr/~briolle/11thAESpart1.pdf
http://www.cpt.univ-mrs.fr/~briolle/11thAESpart2.pdf
 
Even with a 200-tap FIR filter @ 44.1 kHz, which is of a rather poor quality, the author was able to match the sound quality of a poor quality headphone to that of a high quality headphone subjectively. Thus, in conclusion, as long as the filter is not a linear phase(pre-ringing) & there's no excursion issue, you can freely equalize headphones however you see them fit.

 
Looking at it now...
 
From what I can tell, they used a STAX Lambda Pro to simulate other headphones, and asked the participants to rate the sound quality subjectively.
 
They then compiled the ratings, and found that the averages were well correlated to eachother, so the perceptions of the simulations by the participants were fairly uniform.
 
In the conclusions section (second document) it says "One most important results of this study is the finding that the quality of a headphone of poor or fair quality can be considerably improved simply by simulating on it the acoustical characteristics of an excellent headphone".
 
Which headphone did they use of poor or fair quality?  I'm trying to read all of it, and I can only see reference to them using a single headphone in the whole test, the STAX Lambda Pro.

 

[kiteki]

 
Yeah the MDR-SA5000 doesn't seem like a good choice for flat (HE-6) and deep bass. Not only would boosting bass cause a lot of distortion, it seems like it's too open to "contain" the pressure. The other way around would be much easier and yield better results.

 
Is the HE-6 considered very flat?  I've heard the HE-6 and I do think it's a very "reference" sounding headphone, and sounds totally different to the SA-5k.

Intuitively, I think you could make the HE-6 sound fairly similar to the SA-5k with EQ, but making either of them sound like the HE60 would be impossible, since that has the most spacious crazy soundstage I've ever heard, unless you're going to emulate that as well, but it's certainly not in the FR.

 

[ultrabike]

The HE-6 doesn't seem to have huge nulls, seems relatively smooth in the FR (except for a small discontinuity @ 5K based on Tyll's plot), and it does seem fairly flat relative to other HPs (after HRTF compensation).
 
Based on Tyll's plots, I think making a SA-5k sound like an HE60 would be difficult (lots of high freq nulls, positional variation, and THD with the Sony). However, equalizing an HE-6 to sound like an HE60 might give you a pleasant surprise

 

[kiteki]

The HE60 made me look at it like it has some trick up it's sleeve, the technology somehow makes the soundstage quite unusual.  A parametric EQ doesn't affect soundstage very much IME.
 
 
For the same reason, I can't imagine turning the Edition 8 into the HD800 either, since one is closed sounding, and the other is very open-air sounding, with the drivers physically farther away from your ear, in centimetres.
 
The physical distance of the driver from the ear, surely can't be emulated with an equalizer.

 

[xnor]

Surely you are wrong.

 

[kiteki]

Okay then.

 

[ultrabike]

How much success you have probably depends on the capabilities and limitations of the particular equalizer you are using. But distance perception can be manipulated through equalization.

 

[kiteki]

I see, well I'm going to use advanced equalizers with the JVC FXD80, to see how far I can take it, and try to learn more about different spikes and stuff.
 
Edit:  http://sonove.angry.jp/jvckenwood_HAFXD80.html

 

[Magick Man]

The HE-6 doesn't seem to have huge nulls, seems relatively smooth in the FR (except for a small discontinuity @ 5K based on Tyll's plot), and it does seem fairly flat relative to other HPs (after HRTF compensation).

Based on Tyll's plots, I think making a SA-5k sound like an HE60 would be difficult (lots of high freq nulls, positional variation, and THD with the Sony). However, equalizing an HE-6 to sound like an HE60 might give you a pleasant surprise

I can say for a fact that the HE-6 is an amazing chameleon. With EQ I can make them sound like just about any other planar I've heard. For example, setting them to sound like LCD-2s or 3s is a piece of cake.

 

[LFF]

Quote:

I can say for a fact that the HE-6 is an amazing chameleon. With EQ I can make them sound like just about any other planar I've heard. For example, setting them to sound like LCD-2s or 3s is a piece of cake.

Very true and one of the reasons I have always liked and recommended the HE-6. It responds extremely well to EQ - something that the Audeze's don't do as well.
 
Out of the right rig with a good parametric, you can get the HE-6 to sound like an electrostat like the SR-007. The HE-6 is mighty fine headphone.

 

[Nevod]

Quote:

The HE60 made me look at it like it has some trick up it's sleeve, the technology somehow makes the soundstage quite unusual.  A parametric EQ doesn't affect soundstage very much IME.
 
 
For the same reason, I can't imagine turning the Edition 8 into the HD800 either, since one is closed sounding, and the other is very open-air sounding, with the drivers physically farther away from your ear, in centimetres.
 
The physical distance of the driver from the ear, surely can't be emulated with an equalizer.

There seems to be a thing that  is hard to emulate, though not because equaliser can't do that, but because there are no measurements of it. Ear canal resonances seem to be very dependent on headphone's acoustic impedance and it's one of the things that seem to mess with soundstage seriously. HE60, being an open electrostat, seems to have low impedance as sound can pass through the membrane. HD800 should have quite low impedance due to ear chamber construction with the grilles. Most of the other phones, however, have much higher impedance and offset the sound much more.

 

[ultrabike]

Not sure if acoustic impedance effects can be captured in the measurements if a dummy head or appropriate measurement coupling is used.