SpaceOperaVillain
100+ Head-Fier
Anybody else have this on their laptop? After my wife reclaimed her pair of Marshall Major's, I am left with Acer Nitro over-the-ear gaming headphones that were freebies with my Nitro 17" gamer laptop ... at least until some chifi and 'zon orders arrive.
Without EQ, these Acer Nitro gamer headphones seemed, at first, like dog dung of the lowest order, but I keep them around for several reasons.
1) they're comfortable. It's hard to find comfortable headgear if you have a wide noggin'. The pads are actually not bad, and the headstrap padding is a nice thick rubberized material. Cable has good tension relief. The clamping force is minimal but seal well. They actually fit OVER my ears. I have a bad feeling I will regret the Koss UR42i's I just ordered.
2) they're basically open back and offer zero noise isolation, which is good for when my wife is yelling for me across the house.
3) they're perfect for teleconferencing. After these other 'phones arrive, I am tempted to crack these open and experiment by transplanting my Grado SR80 drivers. I only want to do this so I can paint GRAcers on the outside. Sacrilege, I know.
Anyway, so after months of ignoring it I recently discovered Waves MaxxAudio app in the start menu. This image below has the usual tell-tale signs of utterly crap phones. But I'm hear to tell you, friends: I think there is some genuine VOODOO happening in this MaxxAudio app on my Acer. Usually the freebie software you get is garbage. I got my start in tech industry by working for Creative Labs. I had the SB16 Pro I when it first dropped, then the successive ones. Yes, that's how old and decrepit I am. For the most part, stock PC audio chips and the malware that ships with them are to be reviled. But it's year 2020, and by golly I think they've cracked it.
If I turn all the crap buttons on "dimension", "revive", and then crank the "details" knob to max - there is ... soundstage?! wait, what?! There is sparkle on the top end cymbals. There's a great timbre on the horns. I can hear all the breaths and subtle noises of tongue mashing against the reed. I hear bass strings buzzing on the frets. Coughing in the background that wasn't edited out. The bass is clean and unoffensive (pretty sure these are 50mm drivers, after all). At low to mid level volume this sounds ... way better than what should be possible. It sounds good enough to be quite irritating, actually.
Has anybody else tried this out? Maybe I'm just desperate.
Using Spotify as the source at 320 kbps. No idea what resistance this 1/8" port is. It's clear that the signal is getting mashed around in ways that aren't possible without software, but the end effect just ain't that bad.
What other software based EQ's have you had good luck with?
Without EQ, these Acer Nitro gamer headphones seemed, at first, like dog dung of the lowest order, but I keep them around for several reasons.
1) they're comfortable. It's hard to find comfortable headgear if you have a wide noggin'. The pads are actually not bad, and the headstrap padding is a nice thick rubberized material. Cable has good tension relief. The clamping force is minimal but seal well. They actually fit OVER my ears. I have a bad feeling I will regret the Koss UR42i's I just ordered.
2) they're basically open back and offer zero noise isolation, which is good for when my wife is yelling for me across the house.
3) they're perfect for teleconferencing. After these other 'phones arrive, I am tempted to crack these open and experiment by transplanting my Grado SR80 drivers. I only want to do this so I can paint GRAcers on the outside. Sacrilege, I know.
Anyway, so after months of ignoring it I recently discovered Waves MaxxAudio app in the start menu. This image below has the usual tell-tale signs of utterly crap phones. But I'm hear to tell you, friends: I think there is some genuine VOODOO happening in this MaxxAudio app on my Acer. Usually the freebie software you get is garbage. I got my start in tech industry by working for Creative Labs. I had the SB16 Pro I when it first dropped, then the successive ones. Yes, that's how old and decrepit I am. For the most part, stock PC audio chips and the malware that ships with them are to be reviled. But it's year 2020, and by golly I think they've cracked it.
If I turn all the crap buttons on "dimension", "revive", and then crank the "details" knob to max - there is ... soundstage?! wait, what?! There is sparkle on the top end cymbals. There's a great timbre on the horns. I can hear all the breaths and subtle noises of tongue mashing against the reed. I hear bass strings buzzing on the frets. Coughing in the background that wasn't edited out. The bass is clean and unoffensive (pretty sure these are 50mm drivers, after all). At low to mid level volume this sounds ... way better than what should be possible. It sounds good enough to be quite irritating, actually.
Has anybody else tried this out? Maybe I'm just desperate.
Using Spotify as the source at 320 kbps. No idea what resistance this 1/8" port is. It's clear that the signal is getting mashed around in ways that aren't possible without software, but the end effect just ain't that bad.
What other software based EQ's have you had good luck with?
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