I just installed
Rockbox firmware on my 80GB iPod Classic (6th Generation) late last week, and didn't go out of my apartment for the next 4 days! I was so mesmerized and obsessed with getting the exact sound I wanted to suit most of the songs in my collection...that I couldn't stop this personal project until it was finished.
And when it was all said and done, I had a well-organized set of
186 personalized EQ presets that I could quickly and easily change on the fly --
without distortion -- while playing my tunes -- without iTunes!
***Note: I have since added an additional
7 EQ presets to this database, which now brings the total to
193.***
Now,...I just can't stop enjoying my music. In fact, this has made a bigger difference in sound quality for me than two months ago when I replaced my old pair of fake Beats Pro headphones with a genuine pair of
V-Moda M-100s.
And here's the really good news: if you have
Rockbox on your music player (or if you're going to install it), then
*you* also can use these custom EQ presets as well. They work splendidly well on an iPod Classic, and hopefully should work on most other Rockboxed players, too. Just follow these steps:
1. Click this link:
https://www.dropbox.com/l/SGd2RZoxQBmtIiUZJ6Fnlp
(The page should say "DiscoProJoe's Rockbox EQ Presets.zip")
2. Click the blue "Download" button.
3. If any sign-in box pops up, just click "No thanks, continue to download."
4. Save the file to your desktop.
5. Open the .zip file, and drag and drop the "EQ presets" folder onto your desktop.
6. Connect your Rockboxed music player to your computer.
7. Drag and drop the "EQ presets" folder onto the root directory of your music player.
8. Disconnect your music player from the computer, and reboot the music player.
9. On the main menu of Rockbox on your music player, go to "Files."
10. The "EQ presets" folder should be there. You can now open it, and can choose from 15 categories and 193 presets!
Some notes about the presets:
-- After choosing a preset and hitting the "select" button on your iPod, it may take a few seconds for the sound to change.
-- After choosing a preset, you can press the "play" button on your iPod to instantly return to the "Now Playing" screen to adjust the volume, change the track, etc.
-- While in the "Now Playing" screen, you can press the "select" button on the iPod to return to the "EQ preset" folder you were in to try a different preset, etc.
-- In the main preset list, the "0 Flat" category appears at the top of the list. (I put a numeral
0 in front of it so it would show up at the top.) The first preset in that category is "0 Flat 0." This preset will turn off your EQ and set everything to flat.
-- The categories "Acoustic," "Bass Booster," "Bass Reducer," "Electronic," "Jazz," "Rock," "Small Speakers," "Treble Booster," and "Treble Reducer" are all based upon the iPod Classic's original EQ values -- but with an added precut that doesn't distort the sound. Many thanks to
Hayden Pearce for this!
-- All other categories are based upon my own tweaking and tuning.
-- The first preset in each category has a numeral
0 behind it. This is the "original" preset without any bass increments or other tweaks added.
-- In all categories except "Bass Reducer," "Bass Super Reducer," "Optimized," and "Optimized Lite," all the presets after the original have "Bass" and "Sub-Bass" increments.
-- Each "Bass" increment boosts the 32 Hz and 64 Hz bands by 3 dB (per step) from the original or previous step. The list ends when one or both of those bands are maxed out at 24 dB. These "Bass" increments give the sound a
hard-hitting thump with a bit of a "dry" feeling to the bass.
-- In the "Sub-Bass" increments, the first step boosts the 32 Hz band by 6 dB -- and the 64 Hz band by 1.2 dB -- from the original. Each step thereafter boosts 32 Hz by an additional 3 dB, and 64 Hz by an additional 0.6 dB -- until the 32 Hz band is maxed out at 24 dB. These "Sub-Bass" increments give the sound a
deep throb with a "smooth" feeling to the bass.
-- Generally, a "Bass" increment will be as strong as the "Sub-Bass" one that's 3 steps above it. In other words, "Acoustic 3 Bass" will have about the same strength as "Acoustic 6 Sub-Bass."
-- Since most presets use an EQ precut (to prevent distortion), the volume level will get quieter with each bass increment, so you'll need to
turn up the volume to make up the difference.
-- It's a good idea to temporarily turn
down the volume while changing presets -- especially when moving from a higher bass increment to a lower one -- as the EQ precut will be applied
less, and the resulting louder volume will come blaring in.
-- The "Optimized" category is a special one. This one reduces the upper midbass and lower midrange, and is especially useful on many songs and albums with too much sound in this range -- such as Mariah Carey's
Music Box album. This category "optimizes" the sound for the
V-Moda M-100 headphones, which have a weakness for coloring the upper midbass and lower midrange too much on some music. Basically, this "Optimized" category uses the "Bass Reducer" signature for all frequency bands from 125 Hz and up -- while
boosting the 32 Hz band by a large amount and the 64 Hz by a much smaller amount. Each increment adds sub-bass until the 32 Hz band is maxed out at 24 dB. To sum it up, this "Optimized" category puts its magic hands on your pair of V-Moda headphones and chants, "V-Moda weakness,...BE GONE!" It works like magic and sounds beautiful.
-- The "Optimized Lite" category further reduces the upper midbass and lower midrange, and keeps 64 Hz at a lower level as well while only boosting the 32 Hz band with each increment until it's maxed out. In this category, song recordings with
way too much midbass and lower midrange can sound good, such as Janet Jackson's "Let's Wait Awhile" and One Republic's "Counting Stars." More magic is applied here to do the trick.
-- Most of these 193 presets were tweaked and tuned while using my
FiiO E12A portable amp with the bass boost switch turned on. This switch boosts the 10 - 40 Hz range by 6 dB while boosting the upper midbass only a little. (You can see a response curve of this bass-boost switch by clicking
here.)
-- While you certainly can enjoy many of these EQ presets without an external amp, it is
strongly recommended that you get a portable headphone amp that is
non-DAC and has a good bass-boost switch, such as the
E12A or
Cayin C5. (A Rockboxed music player might not work well -- if at all -- with an external DAC/amp.) Without an amp, and without an external bass boost switch, you'll easily run out of volume gain on the higher bass increments.
Anyway, that's it for now. I truly hope you can thoroughly enjoy these amazing, awesome EQ presets to happily brighten your days from now on.
Wow,...what a difference!
