[kiikasi]

Can you EQ in things like tightness of bass and and speed? I'm curious about it.

 

[MindsMirror]

Every component of the sound from a headphone can be characterized by it's frequency response and distortion. Frequency response involves both magnitude and phase. EQing effects the magnitude. Obviously you cannot EQ away the distortion. Characteristics like "V-shaped" or "bass-heavy" are obviously just referring to magnitude of the FR. Terms like "tightness" or "speed" are more difficult to define in terms of FR and distortion. I don't know how exactly you would characterize them.

 

[ubs28]

Can you EQ in things like tightness of bass and and speed? I'm curious about it.

No you can't. The Sennheiser HD600 and Shure SRH 1840 has a similar tonality as the Sennheiser HD800, yet the HD800 is much faster and tighter. 

 

[kiikasi]

How do you find the Shure SE846s? I'm really eyeing them hard.

 

[Law87]

  Jeez, just mess around with an EQ on your phone for awhile and you'll see just what an EQ can do. And 8-band EQ really does the trick, I'd say.

I dont agreed you cannot tune a sennheiser momentum to be a sennheiser HD800 no way no how.

 

[kramer5150]

Can you EQ in things like tightness of bass and and speed? I'm curious about it.

An EQ boosts or attenuates frequencies.  If by "speed" you mean how fast the driver comes to rest, then the answer I think is "yes an EQ could alter the speed aspects".  A CSD plot of a balanced sounding headphone will have continual 20~300Hz resonances many milliseconds after the CSD test signal is cut.  If you attenuate 20~300 Hz by (say) 5-6 db, and run the same CSD plot... I think the time of continued resonance shortens.
 
Does that make sense?  certainly do not quote me on this, I am just thinking through the physics.  I don't think anyone has done CSD plots with an EQ'd test signal.  When you think about it, that kind of defeats the purpose...LOL

 

[TMRaven]

Frequency response makes up a considerable amount of a headphone's sound, but there's many aspects that can't be EQ'd.  I remember taking two headphones with very similar characteristics in their bass and lower midrange (the LCD2 and HE-400), but even with a drastic EQ, I couldn't get the HE-400 to sound like the LCD-2.  Even though their FRs ended up being very similar, the LCD2 was forever thicker and meatier, and the HE-400 was the thinner and snappier of the two.

 

[kiikasi]

I think that headphones with a great driver, but not optimal tuning will always benefit greatly from an EQ. Like, My Perfect Sound Didos are a bit too dark for me, but with an EQ I managed to make them sound VERY good!!! The biocellulose driver in them is very capable, but it shines brightest when it's tuned to flat or near-flat.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Can you EQ in things like tightness of bass and and speed? I'm curious about it.

 

"Slow" bass is in most cases just excessively louder bass, so yes, you can - look at a graph of the headphone and flatten out the bass response. Note in some cases the bass isn't loud, but still inarticulate anyway; in such cases try boosting the upper bass frequencies and see if that helps (do this too much and the bass drum could move up front where the vocals are in the soundstage). 

 

Note that in some cases the headphone's fit is introducing the EQ effect, so in such cases instead of applying an EQ to compensate you should deal with the fit issue first. Take my HD600 for example - I relaxed the headband a bit, but at some point the sound is just too different from brand new earpads still, so I applied a wideband EQ correction for the bass. A few months ago I really went to town bending the headband frame straight (off my head, it looks like it's too loose for my skull), and even on the old pads I didn't need the EQ.

 

[cel4145]

Terms like "tightness" or "speed" are more difficult to define in terms of FR and distortion. I don't know how exactly you would characterize them.

Speed or tightness are often related to transient response, specifically decay. That can be measured with headphones.

Transducer distortion can also increase as it rolls off in bass response on the lower end, which can reduce the perceived speed/tightness. For example, notice how the significant increase in %THD+noise on the ATH-W1000X corresponds with roll off in frequency response in the sub bass region: http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/AudioTechnicaATHW1000X.pdf. However, even in that circumstance, may not be that audible until the headphones are really pushed.

 

[cel4145]

Also, this can be interesting if one wants to see how bass can be measured: http://www.data-bass.com/data?page=system&id=88&mset=95. Be sure to check out the different series of graphs using the tabs (e.g. comparable charts, multi-series charts, etc.) for this subwoofer. Notably, you don't ever get these kinds of measurements with headphones.

 

[StanD]

I doubt that EQ can change the intertia of the diaphgram of the transducer or affect mechanical or electrical damping of the transducer. If you EQ in an attempt to change, "speed" (I hate that term) you may alter the desired FR or listener's tone and have little or no affect on actual "speed.". You can compare a planar vs. dynamic can and find that even with similar neutral FR, the planar almost always exhibits more impact.

 

[billybob_jcv]

EQ attempts to boost or cut the power applied to the driver within a specific range of frequencies. It's a lot easier to cut than it is to boost because with a cut, you aren't asking the amp or the driver to provide more than it can. One trick that works in subwoofers is to make sure that overall, you always cut more than you boost. This will make sure you aren't asking for more total power than the amp can provide or for more total displacement than the driver can move. That guideline probably works better in the limited range of frequencies a subwoofer operates in rather than the much wider range of the entire frequency band.

Still, it is worth noting that there are ALWAYS two ways to accomplish what you want with the EQ. You can keep the overall volume the same and try to boost the area you want boosted, OR you can cut everywhere else and then raise the overall volume.