[Exacoustatowner]

 
That's it !  

Hi Rico
I was listening to some Classical last night-and really had to FIDDLE (pun intended) with the ART355 to eliminate some piercing shrillness. Once I did it was decent-but very tricky to get the amount of boost wanted I.E. hearing violin overtones and triangles, bells etc without making the female chorus sound harsh, I see exactly what you mean when you say the treble is tricky!

 

[Exacoustatowner]

  Good luck with the ART 355 Dual.  I found the treble frequencies required more finite and irregular adjustments than the mid and lower bands.  The technique I'm using now is to first adjust each slider somewhat independently to a comfortable hearing level for that frequency.  Then I listen to the 'sweep', rapid succession of frequencies, to try and isolate any that are too high or too low in relation to the overall sweep.  It seems to work well.  I download the frequencies from   http://www.wavtones.com/functiongenerator.php

Hi Rico- ART 355 FAIL.
At some point I think I remember you saying- "you're going to want the DEQ.." Words of wisdom! While the ART 355 is generally pretty good- I did a critical listen with my HiFiMan 560 HP's and some simple vocals with an acoustic guitar on one side, singer in the middle and Electric (tube amp- reverb but no distortion) on the right. (Tierney Sutton). My source was A) HP out from my Oppo BDP-105D, B) Headphone out of my Yamaha V657 Receiver, C) Headphone out-after passing through the ART 355 with all sliders at center detent.
Results: Oppo out- creamy sound with excellent separation. B) Yamaha Receiver (set in "Pure Direct" mode) Creamy sound with Excellent separation-sounding fell just short in some measure to directly from the Oppo. C) Sound fell short of A or B- AND Soundstage collapsed! It sounded like a much smaller room! 
So I am preparing to order the DEQ 60L with hopes it performs better than the ART 355.
I noted that the Jensen Balanced to unbalanced converter is several times pricier than several others-is there a quality difference? My Oppo BDP-105D has Balanced Out- but my Receiver does not have balanced IN. 
Ordered!

 

[Exacoustatowner]

 I got the balanced XLR cables today-and just for fun, I connected the Oppo and the ART EQ via XLR-while the OUT from ART EQ is still RCA since my Receiver has only RCA inputs.
 
Perhaos the XLR path has better electronics-because I regained the lost soundstage (partially)
On long listening there appears to be some distortion induced listening fatigue-which I hope the DEQ60L will relieve.

 

[numbercube]

Tyll has finally answered my question. I asked whether 3 kHz should sound 10 dB louder than 1 kHz played through sine sweeps. The answer is no.
 

 ​ Theoretically, even though the signal is physically louder, our brain is so accustom to this response curve that it hears it as flat. If you are doing sine sweeps to set EQ, you should adjust EQ so everything sounds the same level.

 

[Exacoustatowner]

   I got the balanced XLR cables today-and just for fun, I connected the Oppo and the ART EQ via XLR-while the OUT from ART EQ is still RCA since my Receiver has only RCA inputs.
 
Perhaos the XLR path has better electronics-because I regained the lost soundstage (partially)
On long listening there appears to be some distortion induced listening fatigue-which I hope the DEQ60L will relieve.

Yep! The Rane DEQ60L did much better! 6 hours without a hint of fatigue-other than it being past my bedtime.

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

Turns out I may be wrong about that.  Here's a link to a "Perceptual Sweep".

 

[Rico613]

  I noted that the Jensen Balanced to unbalanced converter is several times pricier than several others-is there a quality difference? My Oppo BDP-105D has Balanced Out- but my Receiver does not have balanced IN. 
Ordered!

Sorry for the delayed response.  I'm glad the DEQ60L is working well.  I'm not familiar with the other balanced --> SE converters. I can't hear much difference on my system using the Jensen to single end vs balanced, (using another quality amp with balanced inputs).  You could always get the less expensive version and if you can't hear a difference between SE and Balanced, then your set.  Of course you'd have to bypass the EQ do compare them.

 

[numbercube]

  Turns out I may be wrong about that.  Here's a link to a "Perceptual Sweep".

 
Oh wow. This is the frequency response of the perceptual sweep. 
Playing at a very low level through my equalized headphones (1 kHz as loud as 3 kHz and so on) I'd say that the 3 kHz area sounds slightly quieter than the mids area.

 

[Exacoustatowner]

  Sorry for the delayed response.  I'm glad the DEQ60L is working well.  I'm not familiar with the other balanced --> SE converters. I can't hear much difference on my system using the Jensen to single end vs balanced, (using another quality amp with balanced inputs).  You could always get the less expensive version and if you can't hear a difference between SE and Balanced, then your set.  Of course you'd have to bypass the EQ do compare them.

Thanks Rico-so much to try! Kind of fun.

 

[Rico613]

  Thanks Rico-so much to try! Kind of fun.

I've been using the DEQ60L for a couple years, and I still find new methods of adjusting the EQ.  The process used to be agonizingly slow but now just takes a few minutes.  

 

[ironmine]

Guys, have you tried this software?
 

MathAudio Headphone EQ

1. Helps to detect and compensate for the unwanted resonances in high-end headphones and earphones.
2. Matches headphones to the individual contours of the listener's pinna (outer ear) and inner ear canal.
3. Includes a signal generator which allows the listener to detect the frequencies of the unwanted resonances caused by the mismatch between the headphone and the ear canal.
4. Accurately tunes the compensating filters to the corresponding frequencies of the unwanted resonances.
5. Allows the listener to achieve the neutral timbre of the sound of professional headphones.
6. Avoids the masking effect caused by overloading the eardrum with unwanted resonance frequencies.
7. Removes the 'ringing' effect caused by unwanted resonances.
8. Includes a crossfeed feature which allows the listener to reduce the channel separation to a natural level. The crossfeed makes the headphones less fatiguing to listen to for long periods.
9. Works with all types of headphones and earphones. High-end ones are preferable.
10. Applies 64-bit signal path throughout to deliver maximum resolution.
11. Supports full range of sample rates from 44,056 kHz up to 352,8 kHz.

 

[Exacoustatowner]

  Guys, have you tried this software?
 

MathAudio Headphone EQ

1. Helps to detect and compensate for the unwanted resonances in high-end headphones and earphones.
2. Matches headphones to the individual contours of the listener's pinna (outer ear) and inner ear canal.
3. Includes a signal generator which allows the listener to detect the frequencies of the unwanted resonances caused by the mismatch between the headphone and the ear canal.
4. Accurately tunes the compensating filters to the corresponding frequencies of the unwanted resonances.
5. Allows the listener to achieve the neutral timbre of the sound of professional headphones.
6. Avoids the masking effect caused by overloading the eardrum with unwanted resonance frequencies.
7. Removes the 'ringing' effect caused by unwanted resonances.
8. Includes a crossfeed feature which allows the listener to reduce the channel separation to a natural level. The crossfeed makes the headphones less fatiguing to listen to for long periods.
9. Works with all types of headphones and earphones. High-end ones are preferable.
10. Applies 64-bit signal path throughout to deliver maximum resolution.
11. Supports full range of sample rates from 44,056 kHz up to 352,8 kHz.

Looks interesting!

 

[numbercube]

MathEQ may be a nice option for mac users, but Windows users should get Equalizer Apo + a GUI + SineGen. MathEQ's 9 filters may not be enough and the channels cannot be set separately. But it's got crossfeed, that's a plus. 

 

[jeffreyw311]

Would anyone have an Sennheiser HD600 EQ settings file for Equalizer APO?  Just want to dial down the midrange a little bit and maybe boost the sub-bass (or whatever exists of it).  The parametric GUI software I'm using is less than user friendly and keeps crashing for whatever reason.

 

[LNuneek]

Thank you to the OP. I have been thinking for a good while that the typical frequency response graphs don't give a good representation for how a headphone will actually sound. They give some basic clues, but it's not the whole and accurate picture to what you perceive when they are actually on your head, on your ears, or in your ears. I wasn't sure why it was or how to articulate it, but your post helped me understand what I was hearing and noticing.