If you look into head phone and speaker design there is a trade off for everything. So it really depends on the manufactures goals of what they're trying to accomplish. These are the physical limitations. EQ makes up for these physical limitations. Only manufacture that seems to got around this is DCA, by using their AMTS system. You would have insufficient bass and peaky treble depending on the totality of the design and FR.
Who equalizes their High-end Audio systems? And why or why not?
- Thread starter bdh
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If you look into head phone and speaker design there is a trade off for everything. So it really depends on the manufactures goals of what they're trying to accomplish. These are the physical limitations. EQ makes up for these physical limitations. Only manufacture that seems to got around this is DCA, by using their AMTS system. You would have insufficient bass and peaky treble depending on the totality of the design and FR.
Whazzzup
Headphoneus Supremus
sounds reasonable, but so does avoiding those manufacturers that make bass deficient or peaky treble. But eq away in peace.
Then I wouldn't own one of my favorite HP, the HD800S. This is why knowing how well the driver performs and having a reasonable starting FR is important and opens up many more possibilities.
Whazzzup
Headphoneus Supremus
err look at my sig, hd800S is my main HP. I don't comprehend what you're saying, but hey, go EQ in peace. If it's necessary for you, it isn't for myself.
Agreed. I try to get the gear as right as possible for my ears. Select hi fi HP and components in that manner. Then I LOVE to put a very musical high end analog EQ balanced in the chain to have some fun on certain recordings. There are many many fav recordings that I can make sound more engaging with high end analog EQ
It makes the hobby that much more fun for me. Usually pro pieces have a true hardwire bypass. So there is really absolutely NOTHING to be lost in having this option in the signal path.
Not all people are effected by treble peaks. Just like not all are bothered by the Treble peak in th900 or HD800/s. The entire reason the S version came out was to address that sharp treble. The bass becomes more authoritative and no treble peak with EQ. Some think the arya is peaky too, but that one was right on the edge for me, but doable. Not quite the same spot in the FR though. The stock arya sounds like a plastic solo cup until you fill in that missing upper mids. Just saying that you don't have to be held hostage to a HP FR and it opens up more options and perhaps makes a HP you'd normally gloss over a contender.
Ha the th900. Interesting HP. Best bass you’ll ever find. But the approximate 6 k peak is what has me switching to Atrium Closed. And yes, EQ can help with that peak but only so much. I MUCH prefer to get the equipment right as possible first. Than EQ recordings to taste. If I’ve got the right equipment, a really good recording will need no EQ
Maybe with the stock FR because of the dips in the FR most likely contributing to higher perceived bass presents. However when EQ'd to HT I preferred the bass on the HD800S more because it felt like it was pressurizing that large cup more so than the smaller cup of the TH900. Being closed back I thought I was going to get more pressure too all things equal. I will say that in the upper frequencies the TH900 seemed like it had more felt energy though, not in a bad way. With EQ the TH900 is a fine HP though, but I bought it because I needed a closed back and was curious about the bass, but the isolation from outside noise was not good at all. I don't change EQ for different recordings I just leave it on and I get what I get. Equipment will not change the FR though unless its impedance miss match.
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bagwell359
Headphoneus Supremus
I don't hold with EQ'ing recording to recording. So I'm not talking about that. I'm also talking PEQ and not EQ because EQ isn't in most cases nuanced enough to do the job.
Headphones have a lot of issues - some FR related, some not. Getting a headphone to conform to say Oratory isn't a cure-all - for one thing its colored by user preference which is ridiculous.
However the headphones I know best - open back planars which often are quite even re: FR over 100 Hz up to 1.5k are often roller coasters above that. Toss in the issue of ringing, stators causing reflections/cancellations/turbulence - which can be mitigated, but not cured by PEQ and/or mods.
I'm not arguing mods/PEQ as a cure all, merely a way to get a higher level of performance - which to me is a more accurate rendition of the given recording.
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