Self-explanatory title - so many head-fiers find certain headphones to be lacking/have too much of something, and this can (sometimes) be solved with a bit of analogue or DSP-based EQ tickling.
For me, adding a bass shelf as well as some upper sparkle on the Audeze Sine DX turned them from a 'nice'-sounding, warm pair of cans into some rather special indeed.
If you have any EQ settings that have made a great pair of cans sound amazing, or an average pair of cans sound great, let us know!
I find it rare (read : never found it) nowadays to find a pair of headphones I can't make better to me with PEQ, since passive, dumb headphones are unlikely to ever be perfectly tuned for every single one of us, although some have deficiencies that are in effect difficult to EQ (at any price point), and some are used in situations where it's in practice impractical to apply PEQ.
Since headphones' FR can vary to some degree at the eardrum of different people for plenty of reasons (pads wear, seal quality, clamp force, sample variation, positioning, etc., and illustration of that for example at Rtings which measure basse response below a few hundred Hz on five real human subjects : https://www.rtings.com/headphones/1-3-1/graph#669/3185), the last mile of the journey is to tailor a PEQ profile to you, and that profile may not work quite as well for someone else. Future active, smart headphones may increasingly be able to do it for you, but I have a feeling that some form of input for individual preferences may still be required .
The idea of creating PEQ profiles based on dummy head / test rigs measurements is a terrific head start, particularly for headphones that aren't riddled with numerous unEQable flaws and yet have a poor FR, but can only get you so far once two headphones get close to each others or close to your ideal target.
The Sennheiser HD58x can have a hilarious amount of sub-bass when EQ'd with a schiit loki - especially for an open back. So much so to where I sold my sz2000 bass-canons because they were no longer needed.
The HD58x with a heavy EQ are now my go-to for the rare occasions I am listening to bass heavy music like dubstep or whatever bass heavy electronic music.
The OG Sennheiser HD 800 was excellent to me. I was using it with all kinds of EQ (high quality ones that producers also use). Not sure why everyone was trying to use tubes or whatever to try alter the sound.
The only thing it was lacking, was a Be driver which is something you cannot EQ.
I think at this point majority of my headphones I listen to with some form of EQ. I use a variety of digital devices so I have either PEQ or Graphical EQ at use. There are a few headphones I can listen to without EQ, and there are those that have exceptional tonality that really don't need EQ to shine (HE-500, Clear, HD600, Sony MH755 to name a few). Of course, EQing made those meet my desired tonality more closely, but their stock tuning are also excellent and easily recommendable. Some headphones that I think have not so great tonality out of the box like the HD800, Elegia and DT1990 all benefited greatly from EQ that I can recommend them if used with it.
Now some would state that EQing negatively affects a headphone's characteristics or technical qualities (head stage, detail retrieval, etc.). At least from my findings, this is hardly the case and usually the comments are targeted at treble focused headphones like the DT1990 and HD800. Lowering the treble peaks would give an immediate impression of losing certain traits from the stock tuning (i.e. air, detail retrieval, head stage), sure from immediate impressions, but your hearing adapts to it if given enough time. Of course, preference plays a larger part in tuning and to each their own preference from there.
i use EQ on hifiman he400i 2020, without eq they are ok, but with eq they are unbelievable for the price, so in this case is mandatory to get the best out of them
low end planars lack usually in the bass extension with roll of starting at around 50hz, however the driver is powerful and clean so sub bass lift fix that nicely
The OG Sennheiser HD 800 was excellent to me. I was using it with all kinds of EQ (high quality ones that producers also use). Not sure why everyone was trying to use tubes or whatever to try alter the sound.
The only thing it was lacking, was a Be driver which is something you cannot EQ.
I'm one of those. Good tubes is required for 800. EQ doesn't sound right. 800 is so boring and not engaging with most solid-states including DAVE. DAVE was really disappounting with the 800.
I tried Sonarworks EQ and it wiped off all the technicalities of the 800. I think EQ is best used for minor adjuatments and people should not expect EQ to make one headphone as good as another. EQ is not like a physical mod/adjustment.
Just not an option.......I mean I have once added maybe a tiny bit of bass for a couple years to an IEM, but back to zero on everything. But transformation from EQ never? I simply don’t think it’s possible? If you add EQ, something else goes haywire?
If someone else gets it all to work, then that’s great. I have to say much of this is mental. I’m probably scared of EQ. At times I wish I could use it a little. But most of the time I'm fine with no EQ. I think you adapt to not using it?
HD700. A bass shelf and a -5 db minimum around 6k and it's MUCH better than its stock tuning. It's amazing how much some headphones with bad reputation can shine if you take the time to fiddle EQ for them.
HD700. A bass shelf and a -5 db minimum around 6k and it's MUCH better than its stock tuning. It's amazing how much some headphones with bad reputation can shine if you take the time to fiddle EQ for them.
Guess I need to try this. Love the look / build of the HD 700 and they're my only Senns at the moment so I keep them around for comparison purposes and cause they're just so pretty... But to imagine these were at one point Sennheiser's flagship? God, they're trash, at least with stock tuning. Multiple $200 headphones and IEMs I'd rather listen to vs. the HD700 with no EQ. What are these things supposed to be good at? Clearly not what I listen to for the most part - alt rock / EDM / female vocals.
Guess I need to try this. Love the look / build of the HD 700 and they're my only Senns at the moment so I keep them around for comparison purposes and cause they're just so pretty... But to imagine these were at one point Sennheiser's flagship? God, they're trash, at least with stock tuning. Multiple $200 headphones and IEMs I'd rather listen to vs. the HD700 with no EQ. What are these things supposed to be good at? Clearly not what I listen to for the most part - alt rock / EDM / female vocals.
Technically they were never Sennheiser's flagship, that belongs to the (now discontinued) HD800. But yeah, to imagine them as only 2nd to the HD800 with that bad of a fall out is pretty hard to believe. Then again, a similarish thing happened with the HD820 having a huge fall out despite being 2nd to the HD800S. Also, the HD700 is certainty not meant for EDM at all.
I've tried EQ here and there but it usually doesn't stick, the one exception however is the toilet paper mod on the DT770. For me it balances out their tonality really well as it puts the midrange a lot more upfront. It also makes the bass relatively louder and you notice how great the bass really is - there is solid midbass but it's not boomy, and the extension into subbass is much more linear than you'd get on most any open headphone. Ofcourse you can adjust the damping to taste so it's easily possible to maintain any level of treble sparkle that you're comfortable with. The mod can really bring out the best in these headphones imo.
I can listen to and enjoy my Sundaras with no EQ, but absolutely love them with it. And, I certainly can't pick up on any negative effects that might occur from EQing these headphones.
If I had the space for a desktop DAC though, I would run WASAPI Exclusive mode into an RME DAC so I could offload the EQ. On my laptop, I can't use EQ in Exclusive mode.
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