How to equalize your headphones: A Tutorial

[leeperry]

  individual headphone EQ is mandatory to achieve flat response (..) ?

 
http://www.davidgriesinger.com/headphones.htm

the coupling of high frequencies to the eardrum varies greatly among individuals.  It is influenced by the volume of the concha, the diameter and geometry of the ear canal, the eardrum impedance and other factors.  Lacking probe microphone measurements at the eardrum, the best way to equalize a headphone is by listening.

 
much like madVR, it's a one-way ticket for sure 

  but most headphones users can't be hassled to do their homework. Besides there are very very few transparent sounding EQ's, the better your rig the more colored they'll sound.

 

[James Freeman]

Hi Lee, glad to see you here.

 
My audio rig is not half as bad.
 
Audio Interface:
Focusrite Saffire PRO 24 DSP.
 
Studio Monitors:
Behringer Truth B3030A, Kevlar woofer and Ribbon tweeter, IMO excellent sounding.
 
Hi-Fi Stereo:
Polk RTi A3 Bookshelves & Behringer A500 Studio Amplifier.
Nice and clear.
 
Headphone:
Audio Technica, M40X & M50.
 
 
My gear is not the most expensive one (I should say cheap), but certainly highly rated by other reviewers.
I buy my stuff after comprehensive reviewing on the web to find the best quality vs cost balance.
 
I EQ the audio using a VST plugin in my DAW (Sonar) for best quality through a loopback function of my audio interface.
I have a endless choice of EQ's (linear phase and not) to play with, so quality is not a problem.
I also correct my monitoring room against room modes via a calibration microphone and an EQ (VST through loopback).
 
I will try to EQ my trusty M40X and report.
 
Cheers!

 

[Shure or bust]

Gave up on trying to improve sound with a equalizer. Wasted my time. Just buy better headphones.

 

[James Freeman]

  Gave up on trying to improve sound with a equalizer. Wasted my time. Just buy better headphones.

 
You are missing the point.
 
Even the flattest headphones measured by a mic will not sound flat with with your ears and head.
Each individual has a different biology therefor EQing the headphones is mandatory for flattest sound for monitoring.
 
The problem with this technique is EQing by ear requires a trained ear, patience and right gear, no easy fix or automation here.
Only the trained ear will yield a close to "personal flat" response, so if you have no time or patience or care about flat sounding headphones, don't even bother.
 
A "better" headphone is definitely not the answer.

 

[Shure or bust]

My problem might lie with the Shure 1840's being almost totally flat to begin with. So there is no change really.

 

[Raimonds]

Trying this with shure 1840's. Hopefully I can figure it out.

Dear Friend,

Here you are!
I have measured Shure SRH1840 and added curves to my "collection" in last place of list
http://www.head-fi.org/t/413900/how-to-equalize-your-headphones-a-tutorial/1065#post_11800601
As I expressed before, all curves are such that they are giving as true working equalizer - existing colorings are removed and no new one is added.
BR,
Raimonds

 

[Cicero]

I've only just stumbled across this excellent and important thread. I haven't as yet been able to read every post but I do want to thank the OP and many contributors for their intelligent thoughts and perspectives.
 
I've just a couple of days ago purchased a pair of AKG-Massdrop K7XX phones and am keen to see if sensible EQ is workable for these cans. Also I suffer from high frequency hearing loss in my left ear. I'm off to see the audiologist in an hour's time for a check up.

 

[Raimonds]

When trying to find headphones that are close to „flat” as possible, it looks like the orthodynamic ones are very close.
 
 

 

[FredrikT92]

Is there any software EQ that works with Tidal etc? For everything you do with a PC

 

[Raimonds]

It depends on a player that is used for streaming.
In case of "JRiver Media Center" you can use VST plagins and its own Convolution engine to have detailed FIR equalizer.

 

[lamode]

  It depends on a player that is used for streaming.
In case of "JRiver Media Center" you can use VST plagins and its own Convolution engine to have detailed FIR equalizer.

 
I think he wants to pump all the PC sound through the EQ. I do it on a Mac but don't know how on a PC

 

[Raimonds]

   
I think he wants to pump all the PC sound through the EQ. I do it on a Mac but don't know how on a PC

The Virtual Audio Cable should be used for such task. You set VAC as a default sound device.
Set up some live audio processing application that "records" from VCA and playback to your physical sound card. It may be even Minihost.

 

[AidanoVT]

Wow, thanks! It took me a few hours to get it right, but when I did the difference was so huge that I wasn't even sure how my music was supposed to sound anymore! I'm using Logitech G430s, with Equalizer APO. Here's my result: 
 
Preamp: 10 dB
Filter  1: ON  PK       Fc    90,0 Hz  Gain   1,0 dB  BW Oct 150
Filter  1: ON  PK       Fc    5225,0 Hz  Gain   -20,0 dB  Q  1,00
Filter  1: ON  PK       Fc    6578,0 Hz  Gain   -20,0 dB  BW Oct 400
Filter  1: ON  PK       Fc    6888,0 Hz  Gain   -5,0 dB  BW Oct 300
Filter  1: ON  PK       Fc    7000,0 Hz  Gain   8,0 dB  Q  1,00
Filter  1: ON  PK       Fc    7430,0 Hz  Gain   23,0 dB BW Oct 600
Filter  1: ON  PK       Fc    13130,0 Hz  Gain   -5,0 dB BW Oct 400
 
The only problem is that things sound a little... bad? The sine-sweep sounds flat, though. Maybe I'm just hearing the flaws of my headphones? Also, this Equalizer doesn't seem to apply to WinAMP. How can that be? How can I fix it?

 

[Joe Bloggs]

http://www.head-fi.org/t/413900/how-to-equalize-your-headphones-a-tutorial/585#post_7586148

Those wideband 20dB cuts can't be right, I think, and the above post regarding equal loudness contours explains your result, I think.

 

[AidanoVT]

Is it possible that large cuts are working for me because I'm using a lot of preamp? Is a 20dB modification less of a thing at 10dB of preamp than at -10dB preamp?
 
I'm a total newbie here, so forgive me if I didn't benefit too much from that post. Upon further investigation, I've come across two things on my spectrum in need of fixing: the 5700hz region is too loud, and the 7300 region is too quiet. I don't know why, but fixing one of these problems seems to exacerbate the other! So, I correct the 7300 region to sound at the level of the rest of the spectrum and find that the 5700 region is even louder than it used to be! This effect seems to decrease with magnitude, so here's the flattest setting I could manage:
 
Preamp: 30 dB
Filter  1: ON  PK       Fc    90,0 Hz  Gain   1,0 dB  BW Oct 150
Filter  1: ON  PK       Fc    5700,0 Hz  Gain   -72,0 dB  BW Oct 500
Filter  1: ON  PK       Fc    7300,0 Hz  Gain   32,0 dB  BW Oct 550
 
Believe it or not, these ludicrous settings hardly sound better than no equalizer at all! What's going on here?!