Sonarworks Headphone Calibration software

[Music Alchemist]

  The black line doesn't support your position.  It shows the LCD2 to have a treble roll-off.  That's the Harman curve, right?

 
It does support my position. Look at how much higher the grey HD 800 measurements are than the black line.
 
And yes, the LCD-2 has significant roll-off, but I haven't been discussing the LCD-2.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  That is a painfully bright recording on my Klipsch desktop speakers.

 
Klipsch speakers are known to be bright.

 
That was just one example, anyway. The HD 800 (at least the one I heard) makes all high frequencies sound awful and extremely emphasized.

 

[riverlethe]

LMAO

 

[Mike F]

This is not my argument, but I have to say that sounds awful - extremely thin and bright on my computer speakers and still very bright and with poor quality bass on Sony 7520's (which are usually regarded as being somewhat north of neutral in the bass).
 
It might sound good to what I suspect is the target audience on bass-head hp's though.

 

[Music Alchemist]

There's actually a thread about this:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/646871/new-hd-800-very-different-than-the-old-hd-800
 
Supposedly, some HD 800s are very bright with weak bass, while others are not so bright and have better bass.
 

  This is not my argument, but I have to say that sounds awful - extremely thin and bright on my computer speakers and still very bright and with poor quality bass on Sony 7520's (which are usually regarded as being somewhat north of neutral in the bass).
 
It might sound good to what I suspect is the target audience on bass-head hp's though.

 
You would have to listen on a neutral system to hear what it actually sounds like. (My laptop speakers are trash, for example.) The cymbals sound fine on that track. And the bass is very deep, strong, and epic too.

 

[Music Alchemist]

Anyway, guys, I didn't mean to spark an argument here. EQ can solve many issues with headphones.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/413900/how-to-equalize-your-headphones-a-tutorial
http://www.head-fi.org/t/587703/how-to-equalize-your-headphones-a-tutorial-part-2
http://www.head-fi.org/t/615417/how-to-equalize-your-headphones-advanced-tutorial-in-progress
 
HD 800 (or any other headphone) owners: it would be interesting if you followed the instructions in those guides and shared the EQ settings, to show how much difference EQ makes.

 

[riverlethe]

I hope I don't get banned for posting measurements here:
 

 
I had to turn the subwoofer knob almost down to zero to achieve this mild bass emphasis, but the Promedia 2.1's sound surprisingly good.

 

[riverlethe]

  Anyway, guys, I didn't mean to spark an argument here. EQ can solve many issues with headphones.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/413900/how-to-equalize-your-headphones-a-tutorial
http://www.head-fi.org/t/587703/how-to-equalize-your-headphones-a-tutorial-part-2
http://www.head-fi.org/t/615417/how-to-equalize-your-headphones-advanced-tutorial-in-progress
 
HD 800 (or any other headphone) owners: it would be interesting if you followed the instructions in those guides and shared the EQ settings, to show how much difference EQ makes.

 
I cut 6 - 7kHz by about 3 dB, and maybe boost 25Hz by around 5dB.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  I cut 6 - 7kHz by about 3 dB, and maybe boost 25Hz by around 5dB.

 
Oh, you already do that? Then I'm sure it sounds better than the stock HD 800 I heard.
 
Would you be willing to try out the EQ methods I linked to? It might take some work, but would be very interesting, especially if you shared the new EQ settings.

 

[riverlethe]

  
Oh, you already do that? Then I'm sure it sounds better than the stock HD 800 I heard.
 
Would you be willing to try out the EQ methods I linked to? It might take some work, but would be very interesting, especially if you shared the new EQ settings.

 
I wasn't doing it when I listened to St. Vincent, but I picked up an old Meier amp which may have a slight warm tilt.  I'm pretty happy with it as it is.


Edit: I'm guessing you never heard Etymotic ER4's.

 

[RudeWolf]

  I hope I don't get banned for posting measurements here:
 

 
I had to turn the subwoofer knob almost down to zero to achieve this mild bass emphasis, but the Promedia 2.1's sound surprisingly good.

 
 
That's a really good curve! At home I use a pair of Kef LS50ies with a SVS-SB2000 sub and pre-calibration it was all over the place under 200Hz. We do digital room correction as well.
 
Here's what we measured in a typical bedroom studio environment - 
 

 
And here's post calibration - 
 

 
 
This is basically what enabled us to get a "flat" headphone curve. Do this calibration on a full-range system in a well treated room and you'll be able to get AFR precision down to 0.5dB. Then after months of sighted and blind testing we were able to achieve a point where putting on headphones just after listening to these speakers there was very little tonal change. Sure, tactile bass impact disappears, soundstaging changes, but it's super close and our clients say that it helps tremendously for good translating mixes.

 

[Mike F]

   
 
That's a really good curve! At home I use a pair of Kef LS50ies with a SVS-SB2000 sub and pre-calibration it was all over the place under 200Hz. We do digital room correction as well.
 
Here's what we measured in a typical bedroom studio environment - 
 

 
And here's post calibration - 
 

 
 
This is basically what enabled us to get a "flat" headphone curve. Do this calibration on a full-range system in a well treated room and you'll be able to get AFR precision down to 0.5dB. Then after months of sighted and blind testing we were able to achieve a point where putting on headphones just after listening to these speakers there was very little tonal change. Sure, tactile bass impact disappears, soundstaging changes, but it's super close and our clients say that it helps tremendously for good translating mixes.

 
Seems like exactly the right way to do things to me. 

 

[Music Alchemist]

  That's a really good curve! At home I use a pair of Kef LS50ies with a SVS-SB2000 sub and pre-calibration it was all over the place under 200Hz. We do digital room correction as well.
 
Here's what we measured in a typical bedroom studio environment - 
 
And here's post calibration - 
 
This is basically what enabled us to get a "flat" headphone curve. Do this calibration on a full-range system in a well treated room and you'll be able to get AFR precision down to 0.5dB. Then after months of sighted and blind testing we were able to achieve a point where putting on headphones just after listening to these speakers there was very little tonal change. Sure, tactile bass impact disappears, soundstaging changes, but it's super close and our clients say that it helps tremendously for good translating mixes.

 
Whoa. I actually plan on getting these speakers. Can you share what your EQ settings are? Or at least tell how you did it?
 
...Or perhaps one of your products you sell does this, so you wouldn't be willing to share for free. hehe

 

[RudeWolf]

I'd be happy to tell you what EQ I used, but it wouldn't do you any good, unless you've secretly been living in my bedroom!
 
There's not much use to EQ speakers when it's really the room you need to fight. That's why we use 25 or more measurement spots around the listening spot to deduce what kind of correction is needed.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  I'd be happy to tell you what EQ I used, but it wouldn't do you any good, unless you've secretly been living in my bedroom!
 
There's not much use to EQ speakers when it's really the room you need to fight. That's why we use 25 or more calibration spots around the listening spot to deduce what kind of correction is needed.

 
Yeah, that's true. So the next best thing is illustrating how the process is done, preferably without buying expensive equipment to do so. Bear in mind that many of us know little to nothing about how to do this sort of thing, so the more details, the better.