[SmOgER]

Why??? 
On every single Headphone I have to manually make it W (peak points partially depend on headphone), then it sounds miles better. Why don't they make it that way by default? 

  
Why make it V, but not W?
 

 
This + E6 on blue works wonderfully on S600s, but it was pain in the ass until I found a way to adjust windows EQ on system level. (default realtek drivers with no mods allowed me only to choose from their crappy EQ presets)

 

[ev13wt]

Because that W sound signature is only YOUR idea of good sound. To everyone else, who is trying to faithfully recreate a real performance or studio sound, thinks that sounds like crap.

And it does sound like crap. I understand it sounds fun to you, but it really isn't what this forum is about.

Try listening flat, and just listen to some songs. Maybe it will creep up on you and you will like it. It takes a while to get used to, bit ultimately is will sound better.

And the V shape is not as crazy as that eq. Its more like 3dB, not 10.

 

[SmOgER]

Wrong, there are tons of HPs with strongly pronounced V shaped EQ. In fact, almost any bassy HP has whole midrange recessed so you have to use EQ to correct this. And "flat" is not flat at all as any fun HP will be off and each will sound different. There is no right and wrong. I just don't see a point in keeping so many freqs recessed when you can have peak in the middle which would give better vocals, more clarity and it practically won't even affect bass performance.
 
EDIT: Just a random pic from headphone.com to show you what is a sound signature of HP (as I can see you kinda fail to understand this definition) and how all HPs are "flat".

 

[ev13wt]

You can rage all you want but you are still doing it wrong.


The koss you showed has an inverted v. The bass rolls off at 50 and is down -5 db at 40. Not a bassy headfone. Then, it measures very good until that big dip, then the highs roll off sharply.

This means it it a headphone with not a lot of bass, lots of nice mids and not very much detail. You can eq all you want but that headphone is, from the frequency response alone, not very good. It probably sounds mid centric and quite harsh in the low/mid-treble. Its already down -6 dB at 10KHz and falls like a stone after that.

So your eq settings are way to much for anything to be considered audiophile sound. It sure is fun sounding, but waaay too much. An EQ like that may work for one single song that was recorded like crap, but if you listen to other tracks, you are getting a very skewed response.

 

[Trunks159]

I agree with smoger. Not to say it sounds better (cus I don't like it that much), flat doesn't sound better than eq'd. Flat is simply listening to the headphones colorations (not what the artist intended), which really is the same as just eq'ing the music. Even if the headphones were perfectly flat, the sound is still altered by both the artist, the air, pads, your ears, etc, so there's always in fact eq or coloration around. At least with lower priced cans.

I used to think that eq was the enemy and always kept the eq off but I realized that's eq is actually my friend.

 

[Seamless Sounds]

Quote:

 

 
This + E6 on blue works wonderfully on S600s

 
 
JVC HA-S600 FR graph

 
Did you just give an EQ boost (100hz-200hz) to an already bass-heavy headphone? I'm not an extreme bass-head myself though.
 
A theoretical flat FR curve isn't going to sound good for some or many. You'll have to take equal-loudness contour into consideration. Our ears are less sensitive to bass and treble.
 

 

[ev13wt]

I agree with smoger. Not to say it sounds better (cus I don't like it that much), flat doesn't sound better than eq'd. Flat is simply listening to the headphones colorations (not what the artist intended), which really is the same as just eq'ing the music. Even if the headphones were perfectly flat, the sound is still altered by both the artist, the air, pads, your ears, etc, so there's always in fact eq or coloration around. At least with lower priced cans.

I used to think that eq was the enemy and always kept the eq off but I realized that's eq is actually my friend.

I never said eq is bad. It can and should be used AS intended. What op is doing is just playing aound with the sliders until it sounds good to him.

The goal should be (for an audiphile at least) a flat response from the headphones. In order to do that correctly you need, at minimum, a measured frequency response chart for your headphone model and a 30 band eq. Or better an eq that has variable frequency and bandwidth per slider, a dummy head and measuring mics + software incl. a white noise generator et cetera.

OPs having fun, and if it sounds good to him that is ok, but its hardly a fit for his headphone. There is a big thread dedicated to "how to eq properly".

 

[ev13wt]

Did you just give an EQ boost (100hz-200hz) to an already bass-heavy headphone? I'm not an extreme bass-head myself though.

A theoretical flat FR curve isn't going to sound good for some or many. You'll have to take equal-loudness contour into consideration. Our ears are less sensitive to bass and treble.

He actually gave it 10 dB at 100.

True about loudness. That is why many stereos have a loudness button that also gets misused, kind of like op is doing. Wonder why headphone amps don't have this feature for quiet bedtime listening?!

 

[Parall3l]

Quote:

I never said eq is bad. It can and should be used AS intended. What op is doing is just playing aound with the sliders until it sounds good to him.

The goal should be (for an audiphile at least) a flat response from the headphones. In order to do that correctly you need, at minimum, a measured frequency response chart for your headphone model and a 30 band eq. Or better an eq that has variable frequency and bandwidth per slider, a dummy head and measuring mics + software incl. a white noise generator et cetera.

OPs having fun, and if it sounds good to him that is ok, but its hardly a fit for his headphone. There is a big thread dedicated to "how to eq properly".

 
This isn't the goal for many people. We are not engineers who needs a flat response, we are all just here to enjoy ourselves.

 

[Trunks159]

Oooh. I just try to determine the headphones' sound sig, try to make it sound as flat and natural as I can, and tweak the eq based on genre. Funny, I used to just play with the eq.

 

[ev13wt]

This isn't the goal for many people. We are not engineers who needs a flat response, we are all just here to enjoy ourselves.

Your sig line owns you. A quote from a Senn enginer seems misplaced. He would cringe at your words too probably.

I just said its a goal for an audiophile. I also said that if OP likes it he can enjoy it. Indon't understand your point?

 

[Seamless Sounds]

I thought the only most likely scenario that someone would want a flat FR are audio engineers with studio monitors; not audiophiles or headphones. I would expect an audio engineer to be the ones praising flatter FR out of his studio speakers than an audiophile praising flatter FR out of a pair of cans.

 

[Parall3l]

Quote:

Your sig line owns you.

A quote from a Senn enginer seems misplaced. He would cringe at your words too probably.

I just said its a goal for an audiophile. I also said that if OP likes it he can enjoy it. Indon't understand your point?

You don't seem to understand that flat is not always the preferred way to reproduce audio. An audiophile is someone who has an interest in sound reproduction. Your claims relies on a vaguely defined idea of what audiophiles want, but here's the thing, you do not know what every single audiophile likes or what their goals are.
 
My signature quote is a joke about Beats, and I am sure a sennheiser engineer would realise that not everybody wants a flat headphone, especially considering the line of headphones they have out.

 

[GaijinMo]

Quote:

You don't seem to understand that flat is not always the preferred way to reproduce audio. An audiophile is someone who has an interest in sound reproduction. Your claims relies on a vaguely defined idea of what audiophiles want, but here's the thing, you do not know what every single audiophile likes or what their goals are.
 
My signature quote is a joke about Beats, and I am sure a sennheiser engineer would realise that not everybody wants a flat headphone, especially considering the line of headphones they have out.

 
Well, I think he's trying to say that an audiophile would ideally want to hear exactly what the audio engineer heard in the studio, whereas someone who enjoys music after modifying it to his or her liking may be an audio enthusiast, but not necessarily an audiophile. I don't like how a flat FR sounds, and I can understand why that would make my reproduction of the music less "pure," if you like. It's like saying I'm a foreign film aficionado, but I only watch them dubbed in English. That isn't how the director or any of the production staff intended for it to be experienced. I might still enjoy them, but it'd be hard to call me a foreign film... phile.
 
Edit - Disclaimer: I don't know anything about audio.

 

[Trunks159]

Main Entry: au·dio·phile
Pronunciation: \ˈȯ-dē-ō-ˌfī(-ə)l\
Function: noun
Date: 1951
: a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction

Nuff said.