[Alpina]

Hello, first of all I am big newbie when it comes to sound. I have Cowon i9 player and GR07 mk2 IEMs which sound very good.
 
Now I got two questions:
 
1. Does increasing frequency in player equalizer equals to lower sound quality or not?
2. Cowon Jetaudio got BBE and other sound enhancements. I use Hip Hop setting for most Hip hop/Rap songs and Rock setting for Rock/Metal songs and I can say that the sound for me sound much much better than if I would put it on Normal (Default) setting. It's just no comparison for me. But as I said I am very bad at this stuff so I am wondering, does the quality deteriorates when using those enhancements?
 
For example with those settings sound is so much louder and all frequencies sound so much better compared to default settings. 
 
Edit, let's say what's better sound quality wise:
 
High sound level with default frequencies or low sound level with boosted frequencies? 

 

[Mython]

  Hello, first of all I am big newbie when it comes to sound. I have Cowon i9 player and GR07 mk2 IEMs which sound very good.
 
Now I got two questions:
 
1. Does increasing frequency in player equalizer equals to lower sound quality or not?
2. Cowon Jetaudio got BBE and other sound enhancements. I use Hip Hop setting for most Hip hop/Rap songs and Rock setting for Rock/Metal songs and I can say that the sound for me sound much much better than if I would put it on Normal (Default) setting. It's just no comparison for me. But as I said I am very bad at this stuff so I am wondering, does the quality deteriorates when using those enhancements?
 
For example with those settings sound is so much louder and all frequencies sound so much better compared to default settings. 
 
Edit, let's say what's better sound quality wise:
 
High sound level with default frequencies or low sound level with boosted frequencies? 

 
 
It sounds like you have the 'BBE' setting switched on. I find 'BBE' seems to boost treble and bass, even if the rest of the EQ is not boosted.
 
(I have the Cowon J3 so I am very familiar with the various settings available in that software/firmware).
 
Personally, I dislike the BBE setting, but I do use some of the other settings.

 

[Alpina]

   
 
It sounds like you have the 'BBE' setting switched on. I find 'BBE' seems to boost treble and bass, even if the rest of the EQ is not boosted.
 
(I have the Cowon J3 so I am very familiar with the various settings available in that software/firmware).
 
Personally, I dislike the BBE setting, but I do use some of the other settings.

Well when you select any predefined modes like Rock or Hip Hop, you can't see or change what they enable/adjust in there, so I don't know, but I am pretty sure BBE is enabled in most predefined modes.

 

[Mython]

  Well when you select any predefined modes like Rock or Hip Hop, you can't see or change what they enable/adjust in there, so I don't know, but I am pretty sure BBE is enabled in most predefined modes.

 
Yes, I see your point.
 
I never use the predefined EQ modes. The only reason I use the EQ (in terms of frequency response) is to adjust the sound of each of my IEMs / CIEMs to be as neutral as possible, so I do that with manual EQ adjustments.
 
Having said that, I do also use MPEnhance.
 
I must say that as much as I love the Cowon J3 (which is almost identical to the i9 in audio terms), I do find the J3 amp section to be rather gutless. Although it's not a high-end player, I have a suspicion it could sound pretty decent if fed into an external headphone amp, like the Portaphile 627.

 

[Alpina]

   
Yes, I see your point.
 
I never use the predefined EQ modes. The only reason I use the EQ (in terms of frequency response) is to adjust the sound of each of my IEMs / CIEMs to be as neutral as possible, so I do that with manual EQ adjustments.
 
Having said that, I do also use MPEnhance.
 
I must say that as much as I love the Cowon J3 (which is almost identical to the i9 in audio terms), I do find the J3 amp section to be rather gutless. Although it's not a high-end player, I have a suspicion it could sound pretty decent if fed into an external headphone amp, like the Portaphile 627.

That's what I am saying, I am very big newbie when it comes to sound and I have no idea what "neutral" even means and I have no idea how much should I adjust frequencies or other settings, that's why I select predefined modes which sound best for me. The question still stands, does the sound quality deteriorate compared to Normal mode which is when everything is at default.

 

[Mython]

  That's what I am saying, I am very big newbie when it comes to sound and I have no idea what "neutral" even means and I have no idea how much should I adjust frequencies or other settings, that's why I select predefined modes which sound best for me. The question still stands, does the sound quality deteriorate compared to Normal mode which is when everything is at default.

 
That's a very subjective thing.
 
I'm not avoiding the question, I'm just saying that sound quality is a subjective thing, so the only thing that matters, when choosing settings on your player, is what sounds best to you.
 
Personally, I feel that the 'BBE' setting makes the sound quite 'abrasive' / 'grainy' and fatiguing, but that's just my subjective opinion on the matter and does not mean you will experience the same thing.

 

[Alpina]

   
That's a very subjective thing.
 
I'm not avoiding the question, I'm just saying that sound quality is a subjective thing, so the only thing that matters, when choosing settings on your player, is what sounds best to you.
 
Personally, I feel that the 'BBE' setting makes the sound quite 'abrasive' / 'grainy' and fatiguing, but that's just my subjective opinion on the matter and does not mean you will experience the same thing.

I understand what you are saying completely, but still maybe there is in fact some real difference and I would prefer to listen to the "better sound quality". Just like I use flac format on all my songs even though I don't see the different between 320bit mp3, but I use the just to be safe
 
But probably you are right, all that matters is how you feel the music sounds.