I purchased the Accurate Sound/Mitch filters for my SR-1b phones and imported them into Roon. For the record, there are 3 filters that do not contain the open baffle compensation, requiring the concomitant use of the Roon PEQ for OBC, and 2 newer ones that already contain the open baffle compensation. I am not sure the configuration of the first 3 but of the latter 2 the first is "neutral" and the second is "neutral with greater bass extension". I stream Qobuz files using Roon on my Windows 10 laptop onto my network where my Bricasti M1SE with network streamer sends it to my Benchmark HPA4 headphone amp.
My initial listening impressions are below.
I did get a chance to hear three pieces of music with the 5 filters: Billy Ocean's Loverboy, an 80s pop/rock track, not really a great recording; John Mellencamp's The Isolation of Mister, a nice 24/96 song with a lot of guitar fingering and brushed drums; and Mark Knopfler's The Lights of Taormina, a 24/192 superb recording with a lot of tight low bass, detail, and spaciousness.
I would say several things. First, the Mitch filters are better than the Roon Parametric Equalizer, PEQ, especially the PEQ open baffle compensation program. Second, the better the recording, the more noticeable the sonic improvement with the Mitch filters. Third, I liked filter 2 that omitted the open baffle compensation the best of the three that omitted the OBC and required the addition of the Roon PEQ OBC, not sure what configuration it was. Of the two that contained the OBC already I liked filter 2 with the increased bass extension the best of all 5. In fact, both filters that contained the OBC were better than the 3 that omitted it. On the songs above that featured guitar fingering it was easier to hear how the guitars were played, there was more immediacy, and it stood proud of the mix more readily. The one thing that the SR-1b needs above all else is warmth and bass response, not the type of what I call closed compressive bass but the more natural kind of bass that occurs in free air that the RAAL does so much better than closed phones, and filters 2 and 5 added not only low and midbass but more body of instruments that complimented their massive speed and detail that made instruments sound more natural, i.e. body as well as pluck, sustain as well as attack. If you have ever heard Wilson speakers (I owned two different models and never quite got used to the leanness and hyperdetail of music through them) then you know what I am talking about. However, I am definitely not a fan of overly warm, smooth, bass-prominent phones that are so popular these days. There also was a sense of airiness and spaciousness using the Mitch filters missing somewhat on the standard Roon PEQ but maybe I was just imagining this aspect as the change was more subtle.
I am not sure a casual listener would hear these differences (the only change my wife has ever heard was when I added a subwoofer to my speaker system
. But the sound of the phones was improved in most ways with the Mitch filters and well worth the time and money spent on getting these into Roon. I look forward to hearing other music and the improvement in sound.
