[PrincessLeliana]

If your amp has bass and trebel controls, simply add some bass and treble when listening at low level, e.g. I set the bass at 14:00 and the treble at 13:00 (12:00 being the neutral position) when listening to music early in the morning or late in the evening.

Fair, no idea if the amp i get would have that though, i really want a darkvoice.

 

[Three]

Loudness buttons/controls are just rare in general these days. How about running a Schiit Loki upstream of the amp? You should be able to approximate a Loudness effect with the adjusters, and it also has a bypass switch for the times you just want to listen flat.

https://www.schiit.com/products/loki

 

[gimmeheadroom]

So I will be looking into a new amp in several months time, but all the higher end ones i've been looking at lack a "loudness" button.

From my understanding ,this boosts some of the bass and trebble (or is it mids?) when listening at lower volumes, because when its quieter the human ear doesn't quite hear them properly, or something.

I love this feature, I listen at low volumes and turning it on instantly makes any and all music sound more powerful, more energetic, and far more enjoyable.

If I were to get a higher end amp (like a darkvoice) that lacks this feature, how would I get around it? I would still listen at the same low volumes, but, if the older amp with loudness sounds better than the newer one without, what would be the point upgrading?

This is supposed to be done at the source, not at the amplifier. Receivers and integrated amps sometimes have it, but no good headphone amp ever would.

If you're happy with what you have then yeah, no point in upgrading. Because tautologies are always right.

 

[bagwell359]

Maybe I'll be fine without it but whenever I turn it off my music just sounds flat and horrible. I hope I'll be OK

If your current amp isn't faulty, you've become habituated to having part of your bass and treble raised. If that's your baseline you won't like it unless you can roughly replicate it, or get a headphone (assuming your current needs help in bass and treble) that is flatter.

 

[bagwell359]

This is supposed to be done at the source, not at the amplifier. Receivers and integrated amps sometimes have it, but no good headphone amp ever would.

If you're happy with what you have then yeah, no point in upgrading. Because tautologies are always right.

Agree. You mentioned DAC, if you are streaming or using TIDAL you can hook in a parametric EQ which is far more flexible and sonically less punishing to your sound than a simple loudness control (there is almost no chance that your headphones and rec are a perfect fit frequency wise together), and much less care is usually taken in recs vs standalone EQ in terms of sonic purity.

 

[PrincessLeliana]

If your current amp isn't faulty, you've become habituated to having part of your bass and treble raised. If that's your baseline you won't like it unless you can roughly replicate it, or get a headphone (assuming your current needs help in bass and treble) that is flatter.

I got some new headphones but theyre definitely lacking in the bass department, but turning up bass on the amp doesn't really do what I want. Even if I put it on max the headphones still don't hit the same as my older pair.

I use my PC audio with FLAC files and my turntable via the phono stage, I don't want to use a software EQ as I wouldn't have that when I listen to my vinyl, and then my vinyl wouldn't sound as nice im comparison and all that.

 

[bagwell359]

I got some new headphones but theyre definitely lacking in the bass department, but turning up bass on the amp doesn't really do what I want. Even if I put it on max the headphones still don't hit the same as my older pair.

I use my PC audio with FLAC files and my turntable via the phono stage, I don't want to use a software EQ as I wouldn't have that when I listen to my vinyl, and then my vinyl wouldn't sound as nice im comparison and all that.

Well, you have a lot of conditions, Perhaps if you look for an used Integrated made after 1995 or so (so the caps will last for awhile) that's Class AB with a bass and treble or loudness control.

 

[PrincessLeliana]

Well, you have a lot of conditions, Perhaps if you look for an used Integrated made after 1995 or so (so the caps will last for awhile) that's Class AB with a bass and treble or loudness control.

That's what I have now and am Looking to upgrade from

 

[bagwell359]

That's what I have now and am Looking to upgrade from

The last thing I can think of is get better headphones so that they don't need so much help in the bass.

If you are trying to be careful with money - rule of thumb is that $300 will get you more with a transducer than an amp.

 

[PrincessLeliana]

The last thing I can think of is get better headphones so that they don't need so much help in the bass.

If you are trying to be careful with money - rule of thumb is that $300 will get you more with a transducer than an amp.

Oh I plan to sell these headphones and get fostex x00s, so thats sorted

 

[bagwell359]

Oh I plan to sell these headphones and get fostex x00s, so thats sorted

You won't need a loudness switch with those.

 

[PrincessLeliana]

You won't need a loudness switch with those.

Yeah I've been trying to get unused to loudness so I should be ok

 

[bagwell359]

Yeah I've been trying to get unused to loudness so I should be ok

I owned a pair of Mahoganys for about a year. I didn't do EQ when I had them, and I personally didn't like the way they played. If I had been using a parametric when I had them I probably would have kept them, they have a pretty wavy frequency response.

 

[PrincessLeliana]

I owned a pair of Mahoganys for about a year. I didn't do EQ when I had them, and I personally didn't like the way they played. If I had been using a parametric when I had them I probably would have kept them, they have a pretty wavy frequency response.

What was wrong with them?

 

[bagwell359]

What was wrong with them?

OK, bear in mind based on what I've ready from you I think our tastes are very different. I don't want to discourage you, or start a battle. We are just different.