[Joe Bloggs]

Depressing stats anyhow. Nobody uses EQ at all. Oh well

 

[Xevion]

Well, with the EQ in Winamp I really can't make my HD600s sound better. I can make my HD500s sound better (I heavily cut out the lower mids, as in -15db or so, and some of the others are lowered and the treble is boosted a couple extra db all the way to the top. They sound a lot more neutral, but still pretty bad.

 

[skippy]

there is only one type of fletcher munson curve, which is the equal loudness curve that you linked to. i understand what it means, but i'm not sure that you do. all the curves state is that as volume levels are lowered, the highs and lows must be boosted according to the curve to sound flat. in fact the 'loudness' button on many receivers do this to emulate the fletcher-munson curves so that the system sounds flat when listening at low volume levels. also, i've read that the volume controls on some portable cd players, are more sensitive to the midrange control. so that when you turn down the volume, it attenuates the midrange more than the highs and lows to emulate the fletcher-munson curves in order to sound flat. (in reality i've never actually heard a cd player that did this).

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Look, skippy, we're both right. I go by the definition of the F-M curves (subjective loudness in phons-->dB SPL) while you focus on one specific aspect / implication of the F-M curves.

I understand this may be hard to understand as I'm using the F-M curves in a way that apparently nobody else has ever used them before. (I posted this in two fora and it's apparently new to everyone) Just understand that just because traditionally people have only extracted one meaning from the F-M curve doesn't mean that's the *only* information you can extract from it. If you still don't get it, sorry, I've already explained this in 1000+ words in total and I'm completely out of breath!

Xevion: I've said this before, *never* boost using Winamp's EQ or any other digital EQ. (except the ones on portable players, which apparently take care of the clipping problem) If you apply 'boost' to any bands, make sure you cut at the preamp by as many dB so that you don't get any net boost at any frequency, otherwise such frequencies are going to clip if the input signal is near maximum.

Also, as others have mentioned, you have to take account of the HRTF after applying the inverse of your earphones' frequency response... it is very easy to get it wrong, but when you get it right, EQ is...