[lamode]

I decided to try this on my $30 portable headphones, until I upgrade to something more serious. (My Sennheiser HD650s were destroyed in a flood a while back).
 
The SQ went from a 3/10 to a 6.5/10, easliy. 24-bit digital EQ is a godsend. Actually I'm not new to EQ - I used to run an all-digital PC based audio system using foobar and a Tact Audio digital amp. The EQ really helped balance out the speakers and room response. But I digress...
 
Just for your entertainment I am showing you what was necessary to flatten out my Vivance Aircoustics, running direct from my Macbook Pro jack. I needed to find an 8-band parametric EQ to handles these suckers.The 20-20k response fits within a 20dB envelope! LOL (It might need some fine tuning but you get the idea).
 
 

 

[lamode]

I just upgraded my EQ to Fabfilter Pro-Q 2 (from Blue Cat Paramtr'EQ 3)
 
All I can say is WOW. I am blown away but how fantastically designed this is, how powerful, how fast to set up, and how good sounding. Just wow.
 
In the first 10 minutes I had a pair of crappy headphones sounding the best they ever sounded. My previous EQ was so clumsy to use in comparison that I couldn't get the right result even after hours of trying. It was a lot better but there was some fine tuning to do which was tricky due to Blue Cat's relatively crude interface. Pro-Q 2 on the other hand was a JOY to use. The frequency reponse of the source is show subtly in the background of the interface, so the sine sweep was indicated as a peak on the chart as I was listening to it ,and as I heard a FR anomoly I just had to click on the curve with the mouse to create a new band and drag up or down (then adjust the Q later).
 
I can't recommend it highly enough! I haven't been this excited about an audio product in years. (No affiliation).
 

 

[Rico613]

Congrats!  That looks like a very comprehensive EQ indeed.  I just discovered the importance of listening to the frequency sweep, (sine waves on my system), at normal listening levels.  It had seemed easier to set the EQ at lower volume, but when I listened to music at higher volume the treble was way too high.  Now it's a whole new world.  Can't believe I was that dumb . . .  

 

[darkless]

  Congrats!  That looks like a very comprehensive EQ indeed.  I just discovered the importance of listening to the frequency sweep, (sine waves on my system), at normal listening levels.  It had seemed easier to set the EQ at lower volume, but when I listened to music at higher volume the treble was way too high.  Now it's a whole new world.  Can't believe I was that dumb . . .  

 
It's an easy mistake to make. I've made it myself more times than I care to remember. The downside of listening to sine waves at normal listening levels is ear fatigue setting in much faster than at lower levels.

 

[Rico613]

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[SavantGarde]

  That's basically what the Smyth Realiser does. But it also EQ's your headphones. You leave the microphones in your ears and then put on your headphones. Then it sends test signals to the headphones and measures the resulting frequencies that come out of the headphones. It also takes into account the shape of your outer ear. Once the measurement is done, it then processes the audio to give you a very flat frequency response and also cancels out any interaction of the sound with your outer ear such as reflections,resonances, etc.

Does OOYH also do this, i.e. subtract the influence of the pinna and the frequency response of the headphones (that often use diffuse-field equalisation)?

 

[darinf]

Originally Posted by darinf 
  That's basically what the Smyth Realiser does. But it also EQ's your headphones. You leave the microphones in your ears and then put on your headphones. Then it sends test signals to the headphones and measures the resulting frequencies that come out of the headphones. It also takes into account the shape of your outer ear. Once the measurement is done, it then processes the audio to give you a very flat frequency response and also cancels out any interaction of the sound with your outer ear such as reflections,resonances, etc.
 

Does OOYH also do this, i.e. subtract the influence of the pinna and the frequency response of the headphones (that often use diffuse-field equalisation)?

Out Of Your Head is software only, so there is no way to do any measurements with microphones, etc. So, the short answer is, no, Out Of Your Head does not do any EQ. However, if you have us do custom measurements, then we can incorporate the headphone EQ measurements into a custom preset for your ears and your headphones. Or for anyone who has Realiser measurements, we can use those to incorporate the headphone EQ into a custom Out Of Your Head preset.

 

[NatetheGreat]

Thank you, this is very informational and useful. Sometimes I like to color my sound a lot though, it's fun, haha.

 

[Djinnenjous]

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!

 

[lamode]

  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 don't know which DAP (digital audio player?) you are using but the best way to solve a resonance is with a notch filter. Most likely your DAP won't support any such filters (e.g. VST or AU). If it does, then you just need to use sine sweeps to identify and filter out the offending frequency.
 
You're going to need either a dedicated notch filter, or a parametric EQ, to do it properly.

 

[Rico613]

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[Djinnenjous]

I'm sorry to have to ask this, but what settings do you use to create these sine waves?  I'm not technically inclined—more of a serious music lover than a bona fide audiophile (sadly)—so all these settings and options are pretty confusing to me.

 

[Rico613]

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[Djinnenjous]

Okay, so far I'm following you.  What I've done is recreate the exact same sine wave tones you listed above and saved them in a unique folder on my MicroSD card.  Now I've got my EQ set to "On," with everything tuned to 0 as a reference point.  (First question: Is +/-0dB my ideal reference point?)
 
So do I just listen to them all carefully at my normal volume and make minor EQ adjustments to each tone as they become harsh to my ears?  It's hard for me to tell how balanced they are in relation to one another because as I move up in frequency bands each tone feels subjectively louder than the last.  I'm not sure if this is common to all people or if I am particularly sensitive to treble, ear canal resonance—whatever.
 
Again, thank you for your input.  I'm doing the best I can here and I am grateful for any additional advice you can share.

 

[Rico613]

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