[fl00r]

Can someone please give me a little guide on how to use the equalizer settings in general and the equalizer on the iAudio X5 in combination with Shure E500 in particular?
Ever since I got my X5 I have been struggling to find the optimal EQ settings for the E500's because I didn't like the sound 'out of the box'. (I like it more vivid without going over the top)

I just don't know where to begin. I am not asking you to post your settings and know that there is no such thing as 'the best EQ settings' that suits everybody. I just need advise how to start, a baseline.
After a week of tweaking I am completely lost

The only thing I know is that I don't want to use the Mach3Bass/MPenhance/3Ddsurround or Pan options because these sounds to artificial to me.
FWIW: I use the 3-flange tips and listen to all kind of music (mostly 256 kbps MP3's) from Wagner to Weezer and everything in between. I don't use an amp and like a tight bass and crisp heights.

I really much appreciate some help!

Thanks in advance.

 

[EFN]

Sounds like you need an amp. Tweaking your EQ will only end up coloring the sound. Look for a portable amp like PA2V2 or CMOY with OpAmp 2134/627 - they will give you the punches and extended bass response without coloration effect. I simply can't listen to my rig un-amped anymore

 

[fl00r]

Thanks for the quick though unwanted reply

This is bad news for my wallet

Colourisation is indeed NOT what I want but without some EQ the sound is to flat, to joyless. I know my set-up can do better than that.
That's the bottom line of my frustration: I know the perfect sound is somewhere 'in there' but I can't find it

 

[Laptopia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fl00r Thanks for the quick though unwanted reply This is bad news for my wallet Colourisation is indeed NOT what I want but without some EQ the sound is to flat, to joyless. I know my set-up can do better than that. That's the bottom line of my frustration: I know the perfect sound is somewhere 'in there' but I can't find it

The PA2V2 is only about $65, shipped internationally. See www.electric-avenues.com. It's a bargain, and the seller is a nice guy.

 

[EFN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fl00r Thanks for the quick though unwanted reply This is bad news for my wallet Colourisation is indeed NOT what I want but without some EQ the sound is to flat, to joyless. I know my set-up can do better than that. That's the bottom line of my frustration: I know the perfect sound is somewhere 'in there' but I can't find it

Hahahaha you are paying the price for hanging around in Head-Fi

I know how you feel because I was exactly in the same situation 2 weeks ago. Just that I am lucky enuff to have a buddy to build me a nice basic CMOY with OPA2134PA which really kick ass LOL! cost me less than $30

 

[fl00r]

So let me resume: there is no other possibility other than an amp?

I was hoping/expecting that I could solve this with (a little) eq-ing.

Where are the people how said that the E500's didn't need/benefit from an amp?

 

[JaZZ]

IMO, amps are generally overrated on Head-Fi. They can't make a signal more true to its original waveform than it already is; the best they can do is to color the sound in a pleasing way. This in view of the fact that every portable player already has an amp built in, otherwise it wouldn't produce any sound at all.

The bass drop-off shown with the example of the ER-4P in the above graph may be responsible for the disappointing sound quality of the X5 with the E500. Remember: the E500 has even lower impedance than the ER-4P, so the drop-off will be even more severe. (BTW, this effect is shared by many other portable digital players, particularly the iPod, and caused by undersized coupling capacitors in the headphone out.)

Now, after reading through this thread, especially from post 7 on, I find the use of a separate amp together with the X5 even more questionable, since the line out is said to be of such bad quality. So if you have to use the headphone out for decent sound quality in this case, you introduce a superfluous signal amplification into the signal path, and this just to get rid of the bass drop-off! Remember: You use the very same signal as input for the external amp which doesn't satisfy your now demands in terms of sound quality!

If there's any chance, try to compensate for the bass drop-off by means of an intelligent combination of the built-in eqalizers (e.g. Mach3Bass turned up and low-frequency band on the EQ turned down...). The other rational solution would be the use of a higher-impedance IEM such as the ER-4S. (BTW, I prefer the more neutral sound of the Etys to the more euphonic sound of the E500.)
.

 

[saint.panda]

fl00r, it's tought to give a recommendation for the exact EQ setting and I'm not familiar with your audio player's EQ. Do you have sliders or fixed eq presets or a real parametric eq? What exactly is it that you're missing on the E500?

Quote:

Originally Posted by EFN Sounds like you need an amp. Tweaking your EQ will only end up coloring the sound. Look for a portable amp like PA2V2 or CMOY with OpAmp 2134/627 - they will give you the punches and extended bass response without coloration effect. I simply can't listen to my rig un-amped anymore

I could not disagree more with your comment on EQ-ing especially with regards to the E500. No amp can you give an additional 1dB in the treble if that's what the original poster wants or as I do with the E500. The target of any audio system should be highest listening pleasure and not least coloration. If the latter leads to the former, that's cool, but let's not mistake means for ends.

I've tried the E500 with the SR71 and Supermini III and while both improved the E500 on the technical level pertaining things like soundstage and resolution, the tonal attributes didn't change very much, as they shouldn't unless there's something seriously wrong about the amps.

 

[fl00r]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaZZ If there's any chance, try to compensate for the bass drop-off by means of an intelligent combination of the built-in eqalizers (e.g. Mach3Bass turned up and low-frequency band on the EQ turned down...). The other rational solution would be the use of a higher-impedance IEM such as the ER-4S. (BTW, I prefer the more neutral sound of the Etys to the more euphonic sound of the E500.).

Thanks for the excellent post JaZZ.
Fact is that I upgraded my IEM from ER4P to E500 because I found the ER4P's to analytical, to sterile.
Is there a 'trick' to increase the impedance of the E500 like they do with the ER4P --> ER4S?
I will try your suggestion and boost the Mach3Bass and tweak the low frequency EQ although I always thought that in this community these kind of sound enhancements where 'not done'

 

[JaZZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fl00r Fact is that I upgraded my IEM from ER4P to E500 because I found the ER4P's to analytical, to sterile.

So the E500 may be the right earplug for you nonetheless.

Quote:

Is there a 'trick' to increase the impedance of the E500 like they do with the ER4P --> ER4S?

Yes -- you could build yourself an adapter with two (say) 40-ohm resistors (one for each channel). But the result isn't predictable, as it not only increases the load «seen» by the headphone amp (which is favorable), but also interacts with the E500's impedance curve (and thus most likely will introduce some frequency-response distortion).

Quote:

I will try your suggestion and boost the Mach3Bass and tweak the low frequency EQ although I always thought that in this community these kind of sound enhancements where 'not done'

I'm no friend of EQs as well -- as long as it's a separate device to be switched into the signal path. But if it's built in a digital player and works on the basis of real-time software, if well done, it will do nothing to the sound than alter the frequency response in the desired way, since the signal doesn't have to pass multiple electronics components and cables additionally. And to be honest: for music on the go, I'm a bit less picky. No DAC in a portable digital player can match the sound quality of a good home DAC (or the one in a home digital player, resp.), and we're mostly talking of compressing formats anyway. So I have no problems with EQing for portable use.


Quote:

Originally Posted by saint.panda I could not disagree more with your comment on EQ-ing especially with regards to the E500. No amp can you give an additional 1 dB in the treble if that's what the original poster wants or as I do with the E500. The target of any audio system should be highest listening pleasure and not least coloration. If the latter leads to the former, that's cool, but let's not mistake means for ends.

I would add that EQing a colored headphone doesn't mean coloring the sound, but in fact making it more neutral.

It was with Tao's (saint.panda's) E500 that I got the feeling that the treble was a bit too soft, too underrepresented, so harder music lacked some bite and aggressiveness. From this experience I'd propose a slight treble increase. I'm not familiar with the X5, but my U3's EQ has frequency band designations such as 50, 200 Hz, 1, 3 and 14 kHz. Maybe +1 db at 3 kHz and +2 or +3 db at 14 kHz (just as basis or example) would do the trick, apart from the bass roll-off measures?
.

 

[Vul Kuolun]

Try this:

- connect the E 500 to your computer

-Do this test:
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/hearing.html
Do it at a loudness-setting, which comes near your normal listening-volume

-use the resulting curve (which now shows a mixture of your own hearing at the tested volume and the flaws of the headphone) as an eq-curve; as the x5-Eq isn´t super-flexible, try to come near it.

An external amp will never be such a mighty oportunity to get the sound you want as a good, well used eq; This method will even make the EP 630 a quite decent sounding headphone.

 

[fl00r]

The X5 has got a 5 band equalizer:
60 - 250 - 1K - 4K -12K Hz up to 12 dB

I loaded Rockbox on my X5 as well (dual boot) but the incredible sound/EQ options where way to much for me!

First let's have this 5 bands mastered

 

[Vul Kuolun]

There you go.

If you´re lucky, and the 5 bands come near the dips and dongs of your hearing/Headphone-curve, no problem.

If they don´t, you know what the rockbox-Eq is meant for.


X5 with rockbox. Lucky man.

 

[fl00r]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vul Kuolun There you go. If you´re lucky, and the 5 bands come near the dips and dongs of your hearing/Headphone-curve, no problem. If they don´t, you know what the rockbox-Eq is meant for. X5 with rockbox. Lucky man.

Lucky?! It makes me more confused than ever

 

[JaZZ]

From the Rockbox manual (--> sound settings / equalizer):
Quote:

Band 0: Low shelf filter. A low shelf filter boosts or lowers all frequencies below the designated cutoff point. The “bass”control on most home or car stereos is an example of a low shelf filter. The low shelf filter in Rockbox is more flexible than a simple “bass” control, because a simple bass control only lets you adjust the amount of gain that is applied. Rockbox lets you control the amount of gain that is applied (i.e., the amount that the bass is boosted or cut) too, but Rockbox also allows you to adjust the “cutoff” frequency where the shelving starts to take effect. For example, a cutoff frequency of 50 Hz will adjust only very low requencies. A cutoff frequency of 200 Hz, on the other hand, will adjust a much wider range of bass frequencies.

With Rockbox's low-shelf filter (e.g. set to 50 Hz) you should be able to perfectly compensate for the X5's headphone out's low-frequency drop-off.
.