Geruvah
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2009
- Posts
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- 14
Seems to have a link for OSX downloads. Now I have to find a player that can support VST plugins on the mac.
3) Engage Isone and look at the pink wave on the analyzer. Now you see EXACTLY how Isone is changing the frequency response.
This is what I do:
1) Insert a spectrum analyzer into the signal path after Isone. Make sure the slop is 3dB for a flat response. I use Voxengo SPAN (it's free and very, professional). You can use the mastering preset, but change the slope to 3dB.
2) Run a pink wave. Make sure Isone is bypassed. Look at the analyzer and make sure the pink wave is read flat. If you haven't changed the slop to 3dB, now's the time to do it, as you'll visually see the response of the pink wave tilt and flatten out as you change the slope, otherwise it'll be tilted.
3) Engage Isone and look at the pink wave on the analyzer. Now you see EXACTLY how Isone is changing the frequency response.
4) Insert a high quality parametric EQ into the signal chain before SPAN (you can put it before or after Isone--I don't think it matters that much). Now adjust the EQ to flatten out Isone's frequency response while looking at the analyzer. This is very easy because you're seeing changes in real-time.
Then that's it. You now can enjoy the realism of Isone without having to turn of the HRTF or Room simulation features, and still get a flat frequency response.
People do realise that with headphones, a balanced sound signature sin't flatline like in speakers right?
People do realise that with headphones, a balanced sound signature sin't flatline like in speakers right?
thats a good idea except the real issue isnt the eq changing within the signal path, its the way i hear it. i eq sine waves flat whether using isone or not , but i base it on what i hear. that way when i get the sine wave to sound as flat as possible to my own ear, i am assured to be hearing the music closer to the way it was intended. this is challenging and not exact of course, but short of investing in some sort of tiny in ear microphone, and probably quite a bit of software, with what would most likely still be only semiaccurate results, its the best i can do
or turn off the room simulation and the HRTF features
Quote:
People do realise that with headphones, a balanced sound signature sin't flatline like in speakers right?
please explain...
When you say sine waves, what are you talking about exactly? Are you playing sine waves of equal amplitude at various frequency intervals and trying to make all frequencies sound the same in terms of loudness? Do you play log sweeps? Pink noise? If you are EQ'ing to get your headphones to sound more flat by ears only, how would you know what flat sounds like? If all frequency intervals sound the same loudness to you, that doesn't necessarily mean it's flat, because of the Fletcher-Munson curve. Using a visual spectrum analyzer is the only way to be accurate (or relatively more accurate than relying on your hearing alone).
I don't think you understand Isone Pro's features. Did you even read the manual?
Quote:or turn off the room simulation and the HRTF features
What.....
To make as less coloured as possible and most realistic and as close to speakers as possible, you need these, particularly the HRTF 'Head size' function. As alluded to in this thread, the ear size function is kinda useless as your pinna is always the correct 'settings' for that funcation thus why you set the cue strength to zero, which only affects the 'ear size' function.
Headphones by nature distort the sound due to lateralisation (the 'two blob' effect of headphones). If you understand HRTF, you'll understand why there's the need for that function.
my understanding of what a sine wave is: a file that sweeps from 20hz to 20k slowly playing all frequencies at equal volume.. the closest i can come to describing it is when you hear the sound effect for a bomb dropping in a cartoon.. beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo... anyway im sure you know what im talking about..
so then, i play that on repeat with a spectrum analyzer visible so that i can have a visual reference for where in the frequency field the sine wave is playing
then, i use a parametric eq.. with the headphones on, to adjust for any peaks or valleys i am hearing to the best of my ability..
the end result is that.. again to the best of my ability, i hear the sine wave playing all the frequencies at equal volume.. though technically eq'ing the bass portion is more of a preference.. i mean if i truly got 30hz for example to literally sound as loud as 1k, the bass wold probably be overwhelming.. but you get my point
my understanding of the fletcher munson curve is this: lets pretend you had headphones that could truly play all frequencies at the exact same volume.. well once you put them on your head your inner ear distorts this (very simplified i know) so that you no longer hear equal volumes of all frequencies.. therefore rebalancing them using the procedure described above brings you back to hearing all frequencies at the same volume.
whether this works in "theory" or not, it is clearly working in real life.. its very obvious when you have "flattened" the sound vs a stock sound.. sibilance dissapears, bass fills out, all the frequencies of a given album just sound "right" especially when you then compare to how it sounded without EQ.. there is clearly a big improvement. When I had really nice cans, like thunderpants, this was particularly evident, as everything just sounded perfectly real.. anyway you get my point..
so this is what i do, whether im using isone or not.. if i am doing anything wrong please feel free to give me criticism.. all i know is that to me.. its the best i have ever heard things sound..
Any chance of luring Jeroen back to the forum to explain, or better yet, publish a new PDF manual or noob-oriented tutorial?