How to equalize your headphones: A Tutorial

[Sound Eq]

another question is there a parametric eq for ios that allows us to play flac

 

[lamode]

  i really dont know why no one can write a program that can do this by a click of a bottom for regular users and consumers, i know that many people who are not familiar with all the tech talk here also deserve to listen to great sound, but to go through this for a non tech person is like swimming in mud
 
Regular users who love to get the best sound possible, really deserve a program that u open it click a bottom and does all the things discussed here, i hope a generous programmer will one day write all this to be executed by a click of a bottom that is ready for the normal day consumer

 
That's not going to happen without some sort of measurement microphone. And that's more than most people are willing to spend. Perhaps some headphone retailers could make some revenue by offering this service at $50 a pop - calculating the optimum PEQ settings for your own headphones on your own ear. People spend a lot more on things like cables which offer no significant improvement compared to good PEQ.

 

[Sound Eq]

that would be great idea if hp manufacturers would offer such a service, but for me since i am on the go, and mainly rely on portable rigs and my transport is an ios, i did not yet find an parametric equalier that allows u to play flac

 

[Djinnenjous]

i really dont know why no one can write a program that can do this by a click of a bottom for regular users and consumers, i know that many people who are not familiar with all the tech talk here also deserve to listen to great sound, but to go through this for a non tech person is like swimming in mud

Regular users who love to get the best sound possible, really deserve a program that u open it click a bottom and does all the things discussed here, i hope a generous programmer will one day write all this to be executed by a click of a bottom that is ready for the normal day consumer

I'd gladly pay $100-200 for reliable softare that could EQ my IEMs for me without darkening the sound, altering timbres, etc. The chance to hear my music the way it was meant to be experienced for the first time would easily be worth the cost of a new set of headphones. Arguably more, since evidently even the best IEMs on the market would still sound sketchy without equalization. :/

 

[Sound Eq]

yeah me too, although what is starting to get really irritating is that somehow some few people think if your not tech enough you don't deserve to be here, well regular people who are not tech familiar with frequencies and analysis also seek high end audio too, and we entered this world of audiophile to get the best we can, but then for example i am in the medical field what would i know about all this tech talk here, so sometimes i just find myself reading things here that simpy make no sense to me or understanding
 
so i really would like this community to all think of regular users who have no background in sound physics or whatever it is that people sometimes write volumes of
 
and i am not ashamed to admit i dont understand most the tech stuff written here, but that does not mean I dont distinguish great quality sound from trash quality. So i would really like to see a software or a program that allows u to get the best sound with just a click of a buttom

 

[Djinnenjous]

I can't say I've seen as much of that as you might have.  There are definitely some tech geniuses around here but I doubt it would be a quality audiophile forum without them.  Threads like this one are chock full of digestible information that people like us can use to self-educate and generally people are responsive to questions if you're willing to own your ignorance.  I've met some wonderful people on Head-Fi—but I've also had numerous questions go entirely unanswered, which might have been because folks felt it was beneath them to answer me.  I choose not to get bent out of shape over it because my involvement at Head-Fi has taken me from a 5th gen iPod with Klipsch Image S4s to an iBasso DX90 with NuForce Primo 8s, HiFiMan RE-400s, and Sleek Audio SA7s.  If I never manage to perfectly EQ any of them they'll still sound better than 95% of what the rest of the world is listening to.
 
All of that said, I do empathize with your frustration.  I hate math and all this talk of logarithms is intellectually emasculating.  I'm a social work student with an undergraduate degree in psychology.  If we're talking human behavior or social justice issues I'm pretty solid; but I feel like an idiot the second someone starts spouting formulae like f/B + Q(sin)^3.1415*[(a)(b^c)] = volume.
 
Nope.  Just nope, nope, nope! But that doesn't make me an idiot at all.

 

[SavantGarde]

  i really dont know why no one can write a program that can do this by a click of a bottom for regular users and consumers, i know that many people who are not familiar with all the tech talk here also deserve to listen to great sound, but to go through this for a non tech person is like swimming in mud
 
Regular users who love to get the best sound possible, really deserve a program that u open it click a bottom and does all the things discussed here, i hope a generous programmer will one day write all this to be executed by a click of a bottom that is ready for the normal day consumer

Here's something.
 
Or you could get Dirac Live and maybe hook it up to something like this.
 

 

 

[Sound Eq]

 
Here's something.
 
Or you could get Dirac Live and maybe hook it up to something like this.
 

 

i was wondering does dirac work with headphones, also how about the car as I have a system that I am struggling to equalize
 
Now i am thinking of using a small 7 inch tablet window 8.1 as a transport and it instead of the ipod and connect it to my ifi dsd and audio lcd2, do u think using a window 8.1 tablet will give me better sound using this software headphone math or dirac than using an ipod as a transport

 

[r10819]

I'm trying the EQ my SR950 which already have high treble and bass.. More comfortable now with lowered bass and treble but vocals are sounding like they come from a phone and lack some detail..Guess I made width of treb spike too high..

 

[lamode]

  I'm trying the EQ my SR950 which already have high treble and bass.. More comfortable now with lowered bass and treble but vocals are sounding like they come from a phone and lack some detail..Guess I made width of treb spike too high..

 
Have you tried listening to a sine sweep to identify where the problems are?

 

[Joe Bloggs]

I haven't read all 66 pages of this thread but I'm very interested in using this information to eliminate ear canal resonance that I suspect is hitting me at about 7khz with my Primo 8s.  What I need to know is whether or not all of this can be reliably undertaken using Rockbox's PEQ for the iBasso DX90.  I don't listen to music on my PC and I have no home stereo.  I listen to everything through my DAP.

To get the maximum benefit should I download the necessary software onto my PC and tune there, then attempt to copy my PEQ settings into Rockbox, or would that not be useful because of the variance between the hardware?  Can I stick the pink noise and sine sweeps on my DAP and do it all directly on my DX90?  I've never done anything like this before so I could really use some basic advice.

Thanks so much in advance!

I would much more recommend doing this on the PC and then copying the results to rockbox. Sinegen lets you pause on a known frequency to quantify exactly what frequency is standing out by how many dB. You can then correct for this on the PEQ on your DX90. Results shouldn't vary appreciably between the PC and the DX90 for this application.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

i really dont know why no one can write a program that can do this by a click of a bottom for regular users and consumers, i know that many people who are not familiar with all the tech talk here also deserve to listen to great sound, but to go through this for a non tech person is like swimming in mud

Regular users who love to get the best sound possible, really deserve a program that u open it click a bottom and does all the things discussed here, i hope a generous programmer will one day write all this to be executed by a click of a bottom that is ready for the normal day consumer

I've been doing this for years and I can't envisage any way of programming this approach to work with one click without user feedback. That said I do have canned presets for a lot of headphones--is that what you want? But the results are going to be a far cry from optimizing a pair of phones for your own ears.

 

[Sound Eq]

I've been doing this for years and I can't envisage any way of programming this approach to work with one click without user feedback. That said I do have canned presets for a lot of headphones--is that what you want? But the results are going to be a far cry from optimizing a pair of phones for your own ears.

i will appreciate if u can send me some presets 
 
i listen most to synthpop, metal, rock, indie, ambient music
 
i am so curious to see what u have achieved, i might use urs as startup points and then continue tweaking
 
my headphones are ooze lcd2 rev2, and i use ifi dsd and jriver on windows

 

[bmichels]

Ok I will read this thread but I have to confess that In général am not sold (yet) to the idea of "modifying" the signal. Tests will tell..,

 

[Rico613]

Ok I will read this thread but I have to confess that In général am not sold (yet) to the idea of "modifying" the signal. Tests will tell..,

 A true believer !!!   Everything affects the response curve. DAC's, cables, amps, tubes, headphones, more cables, connectors, the mechanics of the inner ear and finally neurons going to the brain.  Many find careful equalizing makes a huge difference.   I find it essential for classical listening, but then I have a significant high end hearing loss.