[Brainfeeder]

can EQ damage your headphones

 

[maverickronin]

Quote:

can EQ damage your headphones

If you tried really hard and didn't care that they sounded like utter crap before damage was done.  EQ isn't any more dangerous than the volume dial.
 
Just don't start off with it turned all the way up. and your fine.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

i assume you only use them at the PC then?
 
 

Yep, I don't really need the perfect sound on-the-go so I just use a DAP and a different pair of (more portable) headphones. At home I just source music from the PC.
 
That would probably rustle the jimmies of audiophile purists, but hey I'm all for performance with less regard for other things.

 

[liamstrain]

I almost always eq - except for portable use, but that's more a limitation of my portable device than anything else. 
 
I have a full parametric eq with crossfeed presets set up for my mastering headphones. As well as some basic eq settings set up for each of my pleasure listening headphones. 
 
Purists be damned. No headphone is perfect - adjusting the response a little to either mitigate a flaw in its response, or to your own taste makes perfect sense to me. 
 
I do try to always eq down when possible (e.g. if the mids are recessed, rather than bumping them up I reduce the lows and highs - which makes the mids relatively higher) in order to avoid adding modulation distortion. 

 

[dysthanasiac]

 
This EQ has made all the difference in the world to my ears and has made my HD650s sound like they should.
 
(Now if I can just get my ears to stop ringing from all of the sine sweeps.)

 

[TMRaven]

-9db at 8khz on the HD650s?  You must have some very sibilant recordings.

 

[dysthanasiac]

Just very sensitive ears.

 

[Cybrsrch1]

Id say the more you have to EQ, the more it indicates your setup has issues you have to correct for,  or possibly  you may have some hearing loss and EQ to compensate, generally speaking a good system playing hi quality sources wont require EQ, but music is personal and as long as you enjoy the experience more power to you. I don't EQ on my headphone setup. but I mess with it all the time in my car ( 84 Z31 na with Blaupunkt / Polk setup).

 

[dysthanasiac]

There's nothing wrong with my system, nor do I have any hearing loss.  (Yet.  I really hope this ringing goes away in the next day or so.)  Everyone's ear canals have resonant frequencies, and my EQ is the result of me de-emphasizing those frequencies so that I can hear what I'm supposed to hear rather than the shrill, muddy mess that existed without proper EQ.  I'm only compensating for my physiology.

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

Id say the more you have to EQ, the more it indicates your setup has issues you have to correct for,  or possibly  you may have some hearing loss and EQ to compensate, generally speaking a good system playing hi quality sources wont require EQ, but music is personal and as long as you enjoy the experience more power to you. I don't EQ on my headphone setup. but I mess with it all the time in my car ( 84 Z31 na with Blaupunkt / Polk setup).

Headphones will almost always need equalization to sound flat. Not everyone's ears handle sound in the same way, but manufacturers have to assume they do because they aren't going to tailor them to each customer. You're doing yourself a disservice by completely dismissing it. If you like what you hear without EQ then good on you, but don't generalize and assume EQ is unnecessary for "good" gear.
 
Find a program that generates sine waves, and check various frequencies. I think you might be surprised. The changes I made to my treble aren't at all enough to make it flat, but I like what I heard before EQ so I decided on only mild adjustments.

 

[Cybrsrch1]

meh

 

[TMRaven]

I'd definitely EQ if my iTunes EQ didn't generate a nasty amount of distortion throughout the entire audio spectrum.  

 

[dysthanasiac]

You can be blasé about it if you like.  You'd be surprised at how much detail you're missing without an EQ specifically for yours ears.
 
TMRaven: Try Foobar with EasyQ.  It's a magical combination that has relegated my iTunes to organization duty only.

 

[liamstrain]

Quote:

I'd definitely EQ if my iTunes EQ didn't generate a nasty amount of distortion throughout the entire audio spectrum.  

Best to either bypass iTunes EQ or only EQ down - additive does throw in some pretty bad distortion. 

 
Quote:

meh

Seriously? He gave a pretty well considered and polite response to your dismissive claim. There are a lot of audio professionals, myself included who agree with him. Better no response than another dismissive one if that's how you feel about it. 
 

 

[TMRaven]

Quote:

Best to either bypass iTunes EQ or only EQ down - additive does throw in some pretty bad distortion. 

 

 
That is with taking into consideration adjusting the preamp to compensate for the peaks already.  Even while doing that to prevent clipping, it still adds too much distortion.