The DIY'rs Cookbook

[landroni]

Now that I think on it a bit more, have you noticed this 'time to SQ Tweak' yourself?

If so, you could add more data points to this 'investigation', as can anyone, which I also encourage.
The more the reports the better!

Especially since it's such an easy 'investigation' to determine if this proclivity applies to more than just the few reports I've heard thus far.

JJ

Not yet. As of now my gear is still too lowly to be of any useful contribution to the discussion. Once better gear trickles in though, soon enough, I will start playing around with the various experimental settings and post my findings here. Until then, I'm doing my best to get a good grasp of the theory that is being discussed here... I've said it before and I'll say it again --- excellent research, and keep it coming!

 

[johnjen]

Thanks!

But even with "lowly" gear, if this thermal/humidity 'theory' is has much if any validity, it should apply to any set of headphones.
At least it's worth a shot to see if you notice any results…

This is a reflection of one of my 'design' intentions.
To be able to apply the results of my investigations to Any set up and for All music.
The great (well recorded etc.), to the simply Ok, to even really poorly recorded music it should all become inviting and even intriguing.

As for my research, I still have ≈ 8 more parts and new topics keep coming up.
My latest is based upon my just having had my 800's tested so I now have 3 sets of measurements to compare and evaluate.

JJ

 

[johnjen]

That is in fact exactly what I did. The hard copy will keep bouncing back into the "medium-hot" bin until I figure out exactly how I want to follow-up or explore this. 

I enjoy your posts, and usually read them a couple of times, BTW. (Says a guy with a BiFrost MB, a Project Sunrise III, and Sonarware s/w to go with his HD-650s, a setup that has been featured prominently in this thread, although that is not the only gear I listen to.)

d.d.

With all of the 'clutter' on my desk even a paper copy has FAR less chance of being lost or forgotten/ignored.

Yeah that particular setup is quite amazing once you get it dialed in (good tube, EQ, etc.) and the PRT (not to mention SSBB) will really help the bottom end, as well as the rest of the spectrum all the way up.

Atomic Bob started with an MSD192 dac but 'upgraded' to the Bimby and I agree with him that it is enough of an end game setup for lots and lots of folks.

I just listened to Eric Clapton's "Unplugged" album and there are a couple of cuts where his footfalls make up the beat, and the weight, impact and reverberant harmonics deliver surprising impact. :atsmile:

Just like I like…

JJ

 

[artur9]

  I perform voice over editing in languages I don't speak due to my abilities to identify and eliminate mouth noises without degrading the utterances, as verified by production managers that do speak the languages. 

When I was but a noob I worked on a speech recognition product.  I made an outtake greatest hits kind of thing of our tester's extraneous utterances to verify that the word detector was correctly rejecting non-words.  
 
She was so embarrassed about all the sounds that I ended up feeling badly about the whole thing... but not completely.

 

[bimmer100]

Arm chair Quarter Backs just kill me. The guys that ask a million questions but too effin' lazy to find out for themselves, and then question the guys that actually do the research............

 

[BIG POPPA]

Y

Yeah those guys...... Those POS........

 

[Barra]

The Big Three
 
Alright guys, I did it. 1) SonarWorks, 2) Phase Reversal, and 3) SubSonic Bass Boost. .....................................................
 
 
 
 
Wow, what a difference. I don't know what made the biggest difference as I did it all at once, but now my music has a soul and the instruments have character. What makes my setup different is that I am using the HD700 with a HD800 curve. Doesn't matter, it still sounds awesome. Being able to toggle the SonarWorks on and off, the brightness is lifted and the transparency comes out with the plug in. It takes the bright shelf down to a neutral level and raises the bass a little. However, I am not sure yet what the bass boost and phase reversal are adding to this.
 
Bottom line, everything sounds better now. Now I want to show off my rig where before it would sit un-assembled at meets. I haven't even started tweaking yet to get it perfect. The Jriver and Sonarworks combo is like having a listening laboratory in my office giving me the power to make music breath.
 
Have any of you been working with non-supported headphones? I really want to figure out how to make it work with my LCD2.2.

 

[johnjen]

These 3 tweaks can all be turned off or on independently of each other.
This way you can determine what each contributes to the whole.
And granted the SSBB and sonarworks 'dovetail' into each other so their combined contribution is more 'impressive' when they are used together.

While the PRT is sort of an independent augmentation to both, as well as the entire system.

JJ

 

[Torq]

While I still need to either make up (maybe tomorrow), or buy one of John's, phase reversal cables, I do have the Sonarworks and SSBB tweaks implemented.  Right now I'm limited to my HD650 with Sonarworks (I've tried my AKG Q701 with the K701 profile and that works quite well also).  The effects of just these two tweaks is quite obvious in terms of how many tracks I did the "just one more track" thing with (John's "superglue" reference).  I'll defer real impressions until I have all three tweaks implemented.
 
Can't wait to try the Phase Reversal trick on top of this, especially with my LCD-2.2c.
 
Since I'm on a Mac/OS X and am not a JRiver fan (it's a fantastic tool, I just can't stand the interface and UX library), I thought I'd share how I am implementing the tweaks in case anyone else is interested.
 
The Sonarworks part is easy as long as you're using a player that supports Audio Units; right now I'm using Audirvana+ which does.
 
For the SSBB part you can use one of the standard built-in OS X Audio Unit equalizers (at a bit of a push), but I am using DMG's Equilibrium.  It's a bit pricey, but I already had it for my DAW and music creation activities and it was selected after a lot of experimentation and listening to other tools as being the one that consistently, to me, sounded the best.  I think this is the same software that Bob Katz and Tyll Hertsens have been using in their more recent EQ experiment (I know they started with the JRiver options).
 
Equilibrium also allows me to do the phase reversal trick (it needs to be configured for Left/Right Stereo metering).
 
DMG have less expensive EQ plug-ins which vary the interface, flexibility and achievable sound quality (Equilibrium is their flagship and designed to run many instances for audio mastering).
 
If you're using a different Equalizer, then Flux "Stereo Tool v3" is a free way to get phase reversal capability on a per-channel basis.
 
JRiver is probably less hassle/cheaper - but I just wanted to through this out there for anyone that doesn't care for it's complexity or UX.
 
...
 
A quick aside - I'll be sending in my HD800S (after they finally arrive and I have a little time to listen to them) to get a Sonarworks profile custom calibrated for it which I'll be happy to share if anyone wants it (assuming that doesn't violate some license agreement).  It won't be as broadly useful as one of their averaged profiles for other HD800S units but it will probably be better than using the standard averaged HD800 profile with the S version of the cans.

 

[johnjen]

I too am on Mac and use the JRiver player.
Yeah it’s a pc program thru and thru but the database engines is actually fairly well implemented.
And I found it to sound better than any of the other players I tested it against.
And if it weren't for those 2 aspects I too would be using a less cumbersome player…

But it's good to know other players can be configured to work as well.

As for sending in your 800S's in for measuring, we are planning on sending in a 'batch' of headphones to Sonarworks all at the same time.
Hopefully this will lower the cost of shipping for each of us to get them there.

I also was offered a discount if we send in a bunch of cans all at the same time.
These details need to be worked out when we have a better idea of how many want to participate.

As for using the 'stock' average curves there are 2 'no limits' curves available one for the 650's and the 800's

I can send them to you, and they do 'help', especially with blending the SSBB into the sonarworks curves.

JJ

 

[Torq]

I'm definitely interested in the "no limits" curves for the HD650 and HD800.
 
I'll keep an eye/ear out for the "batch" shipment of headphones to Sonarworks as well.
 
Playing with these tweaks and tools some more, I spent the morning investigating ways to incorporate the software parts into OS X players that don't have native Audio Unit (or other) plug-in support.  Specifically "Roon" and "TIDAL", both of which I use a fair bit ... Roon especially, as before starting to play with these tweaks it was my primary music interface (it has nice integration between my local library and TIDAL).
 
I got it working, but it's fiddly ...
 
I used an application (technically a kernel extension) called "Loopback" to create a virtual audio device, directed Roon and TIDAL at that, and then used the virtual device as an input to an Audio Unit host (in this case, Apple's "AU Lab").  In AU Lab I added both the Sonarworks and Equilibrium plug-ins, configured them suitably, and off we go.
 
It's not without issues though.  Both the Loopback software and AU Lab have to be started manually before you load/play from your player, and in AU lab you must select a specific configuration file before it'll do anything - in this case the one I created for the Sonarworks and Equilibrium configuration.  I'm sure I can automate that, but it's still a bit fiddly.  A different AU host might make it easier.  And I could always leave the software running on my non-laptop machines.  Be better if Roon and TIDAL supports plug-ins directly though.

 

[johnjen]

Excellent! :atsmile:

Yeah that is a bunch of fussing with the knobs behind the 'secret' panel and also requiring knowing how to wire the patch panel AND turn it on, everytime.

Not for the 'faint of heart', for sure.

And yeah it would be nice if more players incorporated DSP as a 'normal' function within their operation.
I use Audio Hijack Pro which can access all kinds of DSP functions but the linking of several different apps together, in the correct sequence, and get them all to play well together is a WHOLE nuther matter as well.

And I would REALLY like to be able to prioritize plugins within DSP as well.
This way I could perform certain functions sooner than others and so avoid 'issues'.

But such is not the case, at least yet.

And I just saw this on the roon site.

"Audiophile Reproduction

The people who recorded your music took great care creating it. We take the same care playing it back, with Direct Mode and Signal Path features. More DSP, format, and streaming protocol support is coming!"


JJ

 

[ericr]

Hey JJ,

My first thought was to send you a PM but then I thought others might benefit from your input. As we discussed at the recent mini-meet I want to give your recommendation of Deoxit a try.

But what package type / application do you suggest?

- Squeeze Tube
- Spray
- Wipes
- Brush Applicator
- Pen Applicator
- Vacuum Tube Survival Kit
- Bottle with Needle

It seems the spray comes in 5% and 100%. The pen and brush are 100%, while many of the others don't indicate concentration.

Thanks!

 

[johnjen]

I use both the wipes and a spray bottle.
I'd opt for the 100% as the 5% is to weak a solution.

The wipes have just a bit of texture to them to help capture the crud that comes off the contacts.
And they help minimize the amount of DeOxit that winds up on the contact surfaces.

So what I do is spray just one squirt onto a cloth pad and then use the pad to clean the surface of the contacts.
I also cut the cloth pads into smaller shapes to fit into tight spaces (inside rca male connectors and the male pins of xlr connectors), even the IEC ac power connectors and the standard ac power plugs as well.

The pads also work really well on Dimms and other memory chip contacts, like SD cards, usb memory sticks etc.

But keep in mind that the less used the better in terms of effectiveness.

JJ

 

[Barra]

More positive 3 Tweak results:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/612502/sennheiser-hd-700-impressions-thread/5745#post_12315349