Why don't more people use EQ to get the desired sound?

[RPGWiZaRD]

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I EQ all the time, any EQ will do, they all sound the same to me. 

Either you must be deaf or then you've only used bad quality EQs (comparing only software EQs to each other, iTunes, foobar, winamp etc). Honestly the difference I get between using my 10-band hardware EQ and iTunes 10-band EQ is a night and day difference and thanks to the hardware EQ you really hear how iTunes distorts and colors the frequencies (they don't sound like they are supposed to when there's similarly tweaked eq-curve or I should say loudness curve rather as the exact same settings won't sound the same on the different EQs). 
 
On iTunes I need roughly 3x bigger values/change to get somewhat similar sense of loudness curve: a ~1.5dB change on my hardware EQ represents ~4.5dB change on iTunes. The below settings sounds about as similar as possible:
 

 

 

 

[grahamnp]

I use EQ in iTunes because I prefer the way it sounds.  I EQ no more than 2db and use the preamp to compensate, whatever degradation there is to the sound, I don't hear it.  I don't believe in getting a "pure" signal because that assumes that the artist was using the exact equipment I have and I'm pretty sure they don't.
 
The iPod EQ is crap so I don't use that.

 

[maverickronin]

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Those who have replied in favor of EQ -- may I ask what equipment / software you are using?
 
I think I wouldn't be opposed to a high-quality equalizer in my system -- for relatively small adjustments only, though.

For portable use, the EQ on the Cowon players is quite good in quality, but also fairly limited.
 
Some media players have decent EQs and others don't.  I always use ffdshow's EQ when watching movies and stuff since pretty much all 'phones need a massiv boost to the sub bass to approximate a real HT sub.  It sounds great with "high quality" mode checked and atrocious without it.
 
For music players, you're best off picking one that has a decent plugin architecture like foobar or Jriver so you can use pro quality VST plugins.  I've mostly been using EasyQ since its free, good, and I'm cheap.  I've head good things about Electri-Q and PSP Neon HR.  I haven't bothered messing around to see if I can hear any differences between them since I'm spending most of my tweaking time on physical mods, but once that settles down I'll concentrate on dialing in some EQ curves for that last bit of perfection.

 

[maverickronin]

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And also, you're only thinking about a segment of the market. There are these things called frequency response graphs which tell you how linear a headphone is. I've never had the pleasure of owning a Sennheiser HD800, but from the graph I can tell you it's pretty damn linear. So no, not all manufacturers make headphones sound how THEY want, some make them sound flat. So yeah, equalizing a headphone with a very linear frequency response would put a distance between what the music was supposed to sound like and what you were listening to. I'm not considering amps and all, but I'm guessing pretty soon someone is going to yell those color the sound as well.

Look at the "un-compensated" lower set of curves.  That;s what the mics in the dummy head's ears actually heard.  Look up the different sort of HRTFs used on headphones.  There is no good way to define "flat" on a headphone.

 

[Roller]

Quote:

For portable use, the EQ on the Cowon players is quite good in quality, but also fairly limited.
 
Some media players have decent EQs and others don't.  I always use ffdshow's EQ when watching movies and stuff since pretty much all 'phones need a massiv boost to the sub bass to approximate a real HT sub.  It sounds great with "high quality" mode checked and atrocious without it.
 
For music players, you're best off picking one that has a decent plugin architecture like foobar or Jriver so you can use pro quality VST plugins.  I've mostly been using EasyQ since its free, good, and I'm cheap.  I've head good things about Electri-Q and PSP Neon HR.  I haven't bothered messing around to see if I can hear any differences between them since I'm spending most of my tweaking time on physical mods, but once that settles down I'll concentrate on dialing in some EQ curves for that last bit of perfection.

The free version of Electri-Q is a good way to start fiddling, but its paid version or different products like Ozone 4 and PSP Neon HR yield quite good results, as long as changes are made with some consideration, not just bumping freqs/mad harmonic exciter settings/etc all over the place.

 

[wind016]

Quote:

Those who have replied in favor of EQ -- may I ask what equipment / software you are using?
 
I think I wouldn't be opposed to a high-quality equalizer in my system -- for relatively small adjustments only, though.

I use PSP Neon HR ver 2 equalizer. It has oversampling, spectrum analyzer, latency compensation, linear phase, and latency analyzer. It's a pretty friggin good software equalizer, but I think Cowon's BBE hardware implemented equalizer is the best that I've ever heard. I've been looking for a Cowon BBE substitute for the computer but haven't found what I'm looking for yet. I generally use the PSP Neon HR for small changes though large changes would be fine for a bit of short term fun so long as no frequencies are boosted.
 
I use and Anedio D1 DAC with an ATH W11R. I also have a Stax O2 mk1 and I should have the DIY KGSS in a few weeks.
 
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I EQ all the time, any EQ will do, they all sound the same to me. 

I disagree with this one. Software minimal phasing equalizers don't sound as good for music than linear phasing equalizers to me. Latency issues as compared to phasing issues become audible differences for me. I also think hardware equalizers may sound better, but I'm not sure where to look at the moment.
 

 

[maverickronin]

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The free version of Electri-Q is a good way to start fiddling, but its paid version or different products like Ozone 4 and PSP Neon HR yield quite good results, as long as changes are made with some consideration, not just bumping freqs/mad harmonic exciter settings/etc all over the place.

The "consideration" is the important part with any sort of processing.  I think most people who don't like EQ either have only used awful ones or expect miracles without either understanding or experimentation.  I'm hardly an expert but I get it to work fine.

 

[Roller]

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The "consideration" is the important part with any sort of processing.  I think most people who don't like EQ either have only used awful ones or expect miracles without either understanding or experimentation.  I'm hardly an expert but I get it to work fine.

Exactly. Some EQs are much more sensitive to tweaking than others, with different scaling, but it usually comes down to people overdoing things or fiddling without any previous experience. Reading about good EQing practices is recommended for optimal results.

 

[jerg]

Neutralization is key to a successful EQ (especially that of the treble region).
 
This particular EQ for my M50s took me quite a few cumulative hours over the course of several weeks to get to how it is now, but over that course my M50's keep sounding better and better because of it.
 

 
Bar equalizers don't cut it. One needs parametric EQing that is precise down to the single-digit Hz level.

 

[wind016]

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Neutralization is key to a successful EQ (especially that of the treble region).
 
This particular EQ for my M50s took me quite a few cumulative hours over the course of several weeks to get to how it is now, but over that course my M50's keep sounding better and better because of it.
 

 
Bar equalizers don't cut it. One needs parametric EQing that is precise down to the single-digit Hz level.

I have to say that is a lot of changes that you made. I tried Electri-Q before and it wasn't very clean as some better EQs so there are large latency issues especially from the 9db boost in low range region and 5db recess of treble. If you use linear phase equalizing, you probably don't want to boost frequencies too often and most of your graph are frequency boosts.
 

 

[maverickronin]

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I have to say that is a lot of changes that you made. I tried Electri-Q before and it wasn't very clean as some better EQs so there are large latency issues especially from the 9db boost in low range region and 5db recess of treble. If you use linear phase equalizing, you probably don't want to boost frequencies too often and most of your graph are frequency boosts.

Latency?  Even on your i5?

 

[Sophonax]

Thanks for the responses on what you're using for EQ.  Anyone know of any good hardware equalizers?  I ran some searches, but it looks like equalizers used to be a lot more popular than they are now -- a lot of the big-name companies had them in decades past, including Yamaha, Marantz, McIntosh, etc.  I'm not really finding many now that are intended for home use -- most are for pro audio, like Behringer, etc.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

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Bar equalizers don't cut it. One needs parametric EQing that is precise down to the single-digit Hz level.

 
While bar equalizers won't offer the precise tweakability of parametric EQs I still got better result with the 10-band hardware EQ tweaking all the sliders optimally than using Electri-Q and about 5 or so other VST EQ plugins I gave a try. Now imagine a high quality hardware parametric EQ if that's possible, the thought of one makes me drool. Would it even be possible to adapt parametric EQ hardware-wise?
 
 

 

[wind016]

 
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Latency?  Even on your i5?

I notice some delay and more delay as more changes are made but I'm not 100% certain whether is caused by phasing or latency.

 

[maverickronin]

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Thanks for the responses on what you're using for EQ.  Anyone know of any good hardware equalizers?  I ran some searches, but it looks like equalizers used to be a lot more popular than they are now -- a lot of the big-name companies had them in decades past, including Yamaha, Marantz, McIntosh, etc.  I'm not really finding many now that are intended for home use -- most are for pro audio, like Behringer, etc.

I think you'd have to look at a pro site or something.  They've lost all their popularity in these sort of "audiophile" circles so not many companies market them to consumers.