[adydula]

I too was and still am mostly in the "please dont touch the tone controls please camp"...FLAT or go home...My tone control is just try a different headhone! Yeah! Thats expensive!
Ha!

But when I found the Focal Clears and their wonderful neutral tonality (IMO)...I had a fairly perfect tonality I was looking for and voila for me I cannow listen to music that is well recorded and even not well recorded and enjoy the recording as it was originally put together..good or bad.

I undestand that there are headphones that do benefit from Eq'ing and thats fine but for me I try to keep it simple....

Alex

 

[bcowen]

For me its not about whether its what the artist or recording engineer intended, what's more important is what sounds right and engaging to me.

Absolutely could not agree more. I think (hope?) we've progressed beyond the old days of Stereophile and Absolute Sound with their constant proclamations and judgements on which component(s) were most "accurate." In the context of an audio system, exactly what the hell is accurate anyway? Accurate to the original performance? Unless I attended it, how could I know? Accurate to the recording session? I definitely wasn't there, so no way of knowing what that sounded like. Accurate to some pundits proclamation? It would be impossible for me to give less of a crap on that.

I doubt there's a single one of us that would fail a blind test of any kind picking between a live performance and an audio system reproduction, and I would suggest that 'accurate' is whatever provides the greatest suspension of disbelief in engaging the listener in the music. If a Loki helps, then a Loki is good. I wouldn't be having near as much fun and listening enjoyment without mine, that's for sure. And if anyone feels the need to look down upon me as a result, I'll be sure to notify them immediately if I even think I might care.

 

[adydula]

gee bcowen...I dont know about your equipment but all mine sounds just perfect!!!

HA!!
Alex

 

[bcowen]

gee bcowen...I dont know about your equipment but all mine sounds just perfect!!!

HA!!
Alex

That was NOT intended as a put-down to your preferences, just to be clear. Preference is all that really matters at the end of the day (at least IMO).

But since you brought it up, my preferences are bigger than yours. LOL!!

 

[Gazny]

I would love a balance control on a headphone amp, The center image is slightly to the right for me. Or added to a loki max, or any of the preamps.

TLDR; Balance control please on anything!

 

[DougD]

How about a cat-sized dog then?
(Our dog trying to befriend my girlfriend’s family’s cat.)


(photo snipped)

Very kind offer. Regrettably, I am already at my quota (of one) on dogs small enough to masquerade as a cat. (However, even with some good fake whiskers, a miniature dachshund would not make a very convincing faux-cat. Well, that's what I think. We haven't actually tried. Maybe the little guy will get a cat disguise kit for his birthday. Win-win solution to this newly discovered cat-insufficiency problem.)

 

[adydula]

That was NOT intended as a put-down to your preferences, just to be clear. Preference is all that really matters at the end of the day (at least IMO).

But since you brought it up, my preferences are bigger than yours. LOL!!

Ha! I was just being my funny self!! Now wheres my Loki???

 

[FLTWS]

Absolutely could not agree more. I think (hope?) we've progressed beyond the old days of Stereophile and Absolute Sound with their constant proclamations and judgements on which component(s) were most "accurate." In the context of an audio system, exactly what the hell is accurate anyway? Accurate to the original performance? Unless I attended it, how could I know? Accurate to the recording session? I definitely wasn't there, so no way of knowing what that sounded like. Accurate to some pundits proclamation? It would be impossible for me to give less of a crap on that.

I doubt there's a single one of us that would fail a blind test of any kind picking between a live performance and an audio system reproduction, and I would suggest that 'accurate' is whatever provides the greatest suspension of disbelief in engaging the listener in the music. If a Loki helps, then a Loki is good. I wouldn't be having near as much fun and listening enjoyment without mine, that's for sure. And if anyone feels the need to look down upon me as a result, I'll be sure to notify them immediately if I even think I might care.

I regret I can only "LIKE" this post one time!

 

[dieslemat]

Nice. Keep the Super Loki discussion rolling.

 

[DougD]

Time for a new wife then. I have a spare you can have.

Another kind offer. However, I believe I will stick with the devil-woman I know. She puts up with me, and so may be a saint-in-training.

 

[FLTWS]

I would love a balance control on a headphone amp, The center image is slightly to the right for me. Or added to a loki max, or any of the preamps.

TLDR; Balance control please on anything!

A balance control is actually not a terrible idea, I can think of instances where it would be helpful. Barring that, independent or dual channel volume controls. Can a balance control be made transparent enough? Can it have an in / out of circuit switch? Questions, questions. Friday nite day dreaming and what ifs, LOL.

 

[bcowen]

If 'Crap' were a genre, @bcowen 's music preferences would certainly fall into the category!

Oh good grief. You guys should add one of these to your Ebay watch list in case one pops up you can buy:

 

[DougD]

Yeah, OK, fine and all, but isn't 5 standard deviations from eclectic kinda like, um, normal?

Well, technically, when you're talking normal, it's not the distance, it's the shape. If you have 5 standard deviations to one side, you need a mirror image on the other side. Less technically, if you have a Mean, then you also need a complementary Happy. And probably a Sweet and a Sour. And a Quark. It all gets pretty deep, pretty fast. It's easier to be a Subjectivist, then you can just make stuff up, on an as-needed basis.

HTH.

 

[ThorCorps]

A balance control is actually not a terrible idea, I can think of instances where it would be helpful. Barring that, independent or dual channel volume controls. Can a balance control be made transparent enough? Can it have an in / out of circuit switch? Questions, questions. Friday nite day dreaming and what ifs, LOL.

I use a Sys as a balance control in my home office (due to the room layout, one speaker is 2' closer to me). From my DAC I connect 1 channel direct to my preamp and the other (louder) channel runs through Sys so I can attenuate the volume to balance the sound at my desk.

 

[johnjen]

I too have found that getting the channel balance nailed is a decidedly 'good thing'.
And for those that have DSP functionality as part of their setup, it can be dialed in with precision, as in with 0.x dB (or finer) adjustability.

And in the past I had 2.6dB of adjustment added into the system.
But this approach does require a stable and consistent system, one that isn't being dialed in nor changed on a regular basis.

And just in case you're wondering…
I notice that the sub bass will become more pronounced and with greater definition when the balance is dialed in, and so I use this as my ultimate arbiter for making adjustments.
Of course this is only really useful for balancing the system to itself, and if the music is not balanced, especially on a track by track basis, well there lie dragons, aka audio nervosa, which I tend to avoid…

JJ