UPDATE! This EQ ONLY applies to the 2020 version and not the 2021 version. Just a note about the 9khz dip. Apparently this is something that shows up on headphones that have strong interaction with the physical ear, and it should be there. For the LCD-X, I'm not sure it has this interaction, or if there really is a dip around 8.7khz. To my ear, adding a bit of energy back didn't result in the kind of 'shimmer' that filling in this dip on other headphones has resulted in, but I do think this is something you need to do at your own discretion. Start without that adjustment, and if you still find it has a cut resonance, try adding it in. But I really don't think it needs it either.
dude, i shopped/reviewed maybe 30 different headphones intensely for several days and finally bought the Audeze LCD-X's. Initially, i was a bit disappointed in the sound. thankfully, i came across your eq video, set my equalizer as closely to your settings as was possible w/ my 10-band graphic equalizer, and my headphones came alive! NICE JOB and MUCH RESPECT! THANK YOU!
A lot of people don’t understand that if you EQ frequencies up, and don’t volume compensate for headroom, you will introduce clipping. If you’re only EQ’ing frequencies down however you don’t need to do that.
I just tend to tick the "Prevent clipping" checkbox, does that do a good enough job? Btw guys, unpopular opinion: I recently got the AKG K812s, and with a bit of EQ (taming 6 and 11K, while boosting around 80hz and below 40), they sound phenomenal to my ears. You can get such detailed and plentiful bass out of these without them distorting, it's really surprising... not to mention their imaging. People all over the internet claim that the K712s are like wallhacks in FPS games, and while I agree that they're good, I never really felt like they were *that* good. That title I think belongs to the K812s... I was like "is this fair to the enemy team?" when I played CS with them on. So precise.
FWIW, many of us are getting older... and as a consequence differentially loosing hearing. And for us... EQ is a godsend to be able to hear otherwise lost parts of the music
But be careful, don't use high treble boosts with loud (above 85db) volume levels, as you could damage your hearing further, but medium volumes and more conservative boosts could help alot
Unless you have buckets of money, i think eq is more fun. you can squeeze more sounds with fewer headphones and less gear. adding (or removing) that extra variable is also pretty fun as you can more easily isolate some technicalities.
Literally a life changing video - Just wanted to say after following your brief guidelines and setting up Equalizer APO and the Peace front end, I've never been so satisfied with my collection. My 58x with a touch more extension on top and the mildest Low shelf filter from 166Hz is liquid goodness now out of my Corda Canate. My hd 600 with even milder tweaks, running balanced out of my Artist R2R DAC and THX 789 is on par with anything Ive heard at our local Canjams ... Big thank you from me!
Another amazing video. Your grasp of the issues, processes, pros and cons is presently unmatched by a vast majority of reviewers and enthusiasts. Excellent conversation.
I apologize for previous post (deleted). What I was missing was that all these measurements are made *at* the eardrum. So of course you want all the stuff in between. Sorry! Good video. And thank you for being polite with arrogant guy from the Internet.
When you do interviews or Q&As with manufacturers , it would be interesting to hear their take on EQing their headphones. What do they think of Harman target curve and why wouldn't they design headphone that is not matching to Harman target curve ?
I think in many cases they do try to get there. It's more a question of figuring out how to do it with the parameters they've chosen. There are of course many instances where they tune the headphones by ear but that's much more risky to do - not that it can't also result in a great sounding headphone. I asked Fang Bian from Hifiman about this and he told me he doesn't tune to the Harman curve in particular, but rather looks for what sounds the most "real". What that is to him I'm not sure, but it's resulted in some fantastic sounding headphones (mostly), and they do have a general house sound. So maybe he is following a target, but it's not a consumer preference one because it doesn't have the bass shelf there.
The one issue with eq, is if you use headphones when playing consoles or watching tv, you can really eq as easily. A fully fledged parametric equalizer for something like a btr5/q5 or dac/amp will be so awesome.
A less analytical approach: you EQ while listening to your favorite music. Play with the slides and listen if there's an improvement or degradation at the affected frequencies. For that to work though you need to know what the instruments & voices should sound like in real life to have a clear target in your mind. Works best with dense music that fills up the whole frequency spectrum (don't do this with solo guitar or something). You can later use a frequency response graph for further adjustments.
wow, what a great video. I personally love EQ and use my ADI 2 DAC with multiple profiles for my LCD2C to switch between depending on the day and mood. although I used to be a purist at the beginning, I now have discovered the beauty of EQ.
I used to have the same thinking and when I EQed my LCDX with the RME, a combo made in heaven was born. EQ was actually my most unnecessary feature when I bought the RME and now became the unexpected surprise.
ostvaldseo Sure: B1 Fc 100 Hz Gain 3.5 dB Q1.0 and leave the filter symbol at self mode (Sideways “Y" ) B2 Fc 1000 Hz Gain -2.0 dB Q 2 peak mode B3 Fc 3400 Hz Gain 2.5 dB Q 2 peak mode B4 Fc 6000 Hz Gain -2 dB Q 3 peak mode
As someone with very minimal experience of high-end headphones I’m glad you said that about the upper mids on the LCD-X to confirm I’m not crazy. I got the chance to listen to some recently and whilst they sounded a lot cleaner and neater than the Sennheiser Momentum 2.0s I brought with me, they sounded a lot less engaging and exciting and emotional for the rock music I was listening to, and I’m sure it was due to the relaxed upper mids. If I bought them I think I’d really want to EQ them to bring back that excitement.
Trying to find a headphone that naturally has a tonality you like may be more fun for people with lots of money, but for us poors, EQing makes the hobby a lot more affordable. I recently bought the Sundara, and the level of clarity and detail was immediately apparent from the moment I put them on. They're by far the most technically proficient headphones I own, but I felt they were a bit light on the bass for my tastes, and some vocals and electric guitars sounded ever so slightly shouty at around 4K. A bit of time spent tweaking the EQ fixed both of those right up, and turned my Sundara into a headphone that I'm much happier with than I would be if I'd left it at the stock tuning. How many headphones are there around this price range that have both the technical capabilities of the Sundara and have a frequency curve that perfectly matches my tastes? Probably none. So if I have to make a choice between EQing, or spending lots of money that I can't afford to spend on headphones to try to chase down a unicorn, I'll go for EQ every time.
Andrew, I really like your generous, kind, laid-back approach to your subject matter, where you welcome all viewpoints while at the same time describing why YOU might like applying EQ to headphones. You invite your listeners to hear you out without pressuring them to agree with you in any way. I totally recommend you to anyone seriously considering adding headphones to their listening experience. I've gotten a LOT out of your EQ discussion - thank you!
I‘d recommend giving Sonarworks Sound ID a shot… it basically does the correction curve automatically based on measurements made in labs and also compensates your gain according to the strongest EQ adjustment. It‘s used for mixing and mastering but there‘s also a systemwide application that let‘s you listen to any audio source👍🏻
Super helpful and detailed EQ overview. Using Roon's DSP EQ options -- downloading convolution filters - and I can't imagine doing without. Besides the LCD-X, it also greatly benefits a host of other headphones. Tip: I found that the LCD-XC convolution filter does wonders for the Monoprice Monolith 1060C.
I have never understood why people don't EQ. It would be the same thing as me giving you my glasses, they are not one size fits all. Hearing is no different, you will hear things differently than me. Obviously as stated EQ can add some challenges at the same time if not done properly.
From my experience I didn’t like eq because I was influenced with the part of the hobbyists that look down on eq, as well as my ignorance. But it’s all good I’ve seen the light! Eq is great
I had a hard time trusting anything this guy said after he mentioned that the Sennheiser HD650 doesn’t do well with EQ. Since I have a pair and the EQ really seriously improved my listening experience. The headphones were super capable of maintaining their clarity and quality while even using artificial surround sound EQ. Everyone talks about how the HD600 series lacks in the surround sound department but my EQ fixed that quite nicely if I had to say so myself.
I give little to no credit to what the purists say about EQ. As a musician, if I put a pair of headphones on, and they sound bad, I go ahead and EQ it. There's no reason why not to use EQ, especially if the thing costs a ton of money. Many folks can't hear above 15k, this is why cans like HD600 or some AKGs are so beloved; I can't listen to a piercing thing like that whatsoever. Very nice video btw.
You should review Sonarworks as well. It's the same thing anyway. I'd like to see your take on their calibration. It has become my new "default" for my headphones.
Super useful, what I don't get is why an expensive headphone would be tuned so badly, is it because they diametrically disagree with such a thing as a Harmon target which I can get but that the tuning dosen't even seem to be suitable for human Ears?
Two things worth having in mind: 1. Frequency response curve may differ depending on how you measure. 2. Not all EQs are made equal. Some handle phase better than others. (Sorry if you already have mentioned this in other videos.)
Thank you for the video. I'm new to EQing, however I think there is a major flaw in this video or at least very important information are missing. 1. How to measure headphones at home? If it's not (easily) possible, then I have to rely on measurements from others and not for all headphones there are good measurements. 2. When it's not possible to measure headphones at home, how can I 'see' the end result in comparison to a target I have decided to EQ towards? (hearing a result in comparison to a target is not possible). Sure I can add the DB values to the purple measured line but it's not as accurate as I can't consider Q-values properly in manual calculations... Therefore I think - especially as a newbie in EQing - it is very easy to mess up the sound quality of headphones with EQing
Also one important note to EQ is that not all hear the notes the same whats flat for one might not be flat for someone else i need to turn the bass down on many headphones that is supposed to be flat as an example
I drive my Sennheiser HD600 from iFi Zen DAC. HD600 are known for not having much bass but that TrueBass button really helps them a lot. Now, not all music benefits from it but it is really nice to have it to mitigate the lack of bass when needed. I have more or less managed to match the TrueBass boost in Equalizer APO but there is a catch. It does not translate well when I use that EQ preset with other DACs than the Zen DAC. At least it is something to take into account when I try to dial enough bass to use with other DACs of mine like SMSL Idea and Tascam US-2x2 interface.
I'm going to give a golden tip that will change the lives of many people who have (or intend to buy) the wronged Beyerdynamic DT 990: take the Sonarworks ID Reference, apply the corresponding preset to the model DT 990. But (and here is the magic) no apply 100% equalization. On the dosage knob (Dry/Wet) set it to 55. There you have the best warm sounding headphones available for this price. The best.
if you do it right, your headphone could be much more enjoyable after EQ. the main problem however, is getting an accurate measurement of the headphone so you have a reference to work with, headphone measurement rig can cost you thousands of dollars. yes there is some cheap ones out there like the minidsp ears, but those are known to have insufficient accuracies that makes the graph measured less useful as an eq reference. you can always find graphs online, but headphone do have revisions that changes the sound, and manufacturing tolerances will make every single one have different responses especially on the treble range. and besides you can never know whether a graph is trustworthy or not because you don't know the rig it's measured on. it's important to know what you're doing when EQing your headphone, but it's difficult to know what you are doing without an expensive measurement rig......
Why calibrate tvs? Why tune cars? Why adjust in-game graphic settings? Why turn the ac/heater up or down? Why install dimmers for lights? Why overclock a cpu? We eq everything around us to suit our preference. Why buy something for its potential capabilities and yet refuse to run them at those potential capabilities? I smh.. lol my question is tho especially for planars, would eq-ing affect the longevity of those planar drivers?
This is a very good question. So far I haven't heard of anything to the contrary but there may be some edge cases where if you boost the bass like crazy it could have some strange effects on the diaphragm's excursive force. I know that some HE-6 users are living in fear of their headphone's drivers ripping themselves because it slams so hard. I'll see if I can ask a manufacturer about this, or maybe Oratory has some info.
Yes, absolutely. At least match the Knowls curve. I don't keep any headphones that don't have a ceiling or if the break up balance on EQ or raised SPL. The headphones must EQ and reach SPL of 100 with no distortion or it's not going into my portfolio.
Hi! Love your channel, and thank you so much for this! Just got my LCD-X :) I found Peace to be one of the least intuitive applications i have ever used, but i figured it out after some hassle. Here's a tip: If you are unable to make Peace work, meaning, have an effect at all in windows 10 - Choose "Trouble shooting" while in the configurator and select "Install as SFX/EFX (experimental)"
@@TheHEADPHONEShow How so? I applied it to mine, which i guess is the newer version, and I think it sounds a lot better! I did however ease off the peaks at 3-4KHz and 10 KHz a bit.
@@TheEmrobe the FR for the old units is quite different from the newer ones. So I don't know which you have. I'll develop a new profile for them and you can see which you prefer.
as a person who primarily uses one headphone and/or in-ear at a time, eq is the way to go. i don't own 10 products that i would switch around for different flavors. the downside of this is preset heck where i make a minute adjustment and save a new preset so i am left with thousands of them
1. Always use minimum-phase EQ unless you want to EQ multi-driver iems. 2. Use high pass filter in the sub-bass region if you elevated bass. That's because most headphones distort in that region.
All headphones need EQ. Every Single One My ears aren't the same as your ears and there's no such thing as one-size-fits-all when it comes to headphones. The only downside is that doing EQ properly requires a fair amount of skill and, ideally, a measurement rig so you can optimise your EQ curve.
@@Ton-uy1xd its about what the mix engineer intended. But since headphone manufacturers manipulate the boost levels of frequencies, its forcing people to EQ their headphones. I have sat in many professional studios as many of my mix & mastering engineers colleagues have mixed many songs. and when I hear it back on headphones, it sounded like complete shit. even the engineers who mix the songs hear their songs back on different headphones and get shocked how shitty their mix sounds on the headphones. Then when those same engineers take the phones through its paces by analyzing the headphones frequency response they realize that manufacturers have colored / boosted the headphones which then turned the songs into shit. Many Mix and Mastering engineers hate many headphone manufacturers because they all know what headphone companies/manufacturers do to headphones and completely destroy the music they have created over and over.
idk I think some people are just lazy or even stupid enough to try using EQ I never had a pair of headphones where I didnt desire some degree of EQ. soemthing like Audeze may be more off than others but after EQ they are amazing
NEWSFLASH for anti EQ folk, most mid range and above speakers are EQd on the production line after being manufactured to account for inconsistencies. Even iems and headphones have a PCB that basically EQ the driver because you can't always tune everything with mesh and filters etc. Basically whether you like it or not, you're probably already using EQ in some way or another
@@carminedesanto6746 unless you've got a perfect room, EQ will benefit even the best speakers. Hardcore audiophiles tend to be traditionalists and will spend an awful lot of money and effort dampening the room etc, but for most people, EQ is still probably the way to go, and the technology is only getting better. People just need to understand that less is often more with EQ and not try to take the drivers places they cannot go
one little correction to the method, when you do the low shelf for the bass, if you see the crossing point - like in this video example at 120hz, than the shelf should not be set at 120hz. as the shelf bleeds to higher frequencies above it. this is why your bass boost overshot the target line above 120hz. watch it again to understand what I am talking about. usually you should subtract a little bit: the shelf should be set more like 90hz (plus minus) to match a 120hz target cross point. do it with your eyes watching the result, to see if it crosses correctly in order not to over shoot.
@@TheHEADPHONEShow your remark as general is acceptable, only specific to bass region that we discuss now, the issue is, acoustically, frequencies over shadow neighboring frequencies, and when we overshoot, doesn't mater where, but specifically in the lower registers, usually over bass meaning more energy in first octaves, will mask the octaves above it and will deteriorate tonality and detail retrieval by our ears. so we have to be very careful to not overshot 1st and 2nd octaves with over energy. if we do so we will not hear enough information in 3rd and 4th octaves. the trick is to find a fine balance between enough energy down below one the one side, and not to over shadow the required energy in the next octave (or two) on the other side. its a job done with experience and closed feedback loop, until its precise. p.s I wouldn't mind talking with you over the phone and exchange knowledge/experience, as you are one of the higher level in this area today relative to the mass reviewers out there, and I congrats you very much for this, and for your great work over here. this is why I am watching you, rather than amateurs in the channels next to you. excuse my English I am not a native English speaker, I am Israeli from Israel. 46 yo by the way.
I liked my HD6XX before i EQ:ed them all though I felt while the lacked a bit in the lower end of things EQ:ing them really took them to another level. I do feel I really did not lose anything by EQ:ing, quite the opposite and aboslutly love them now.
Was in the purist camp. Now i use the BBE sonic maximizer (better than eq) the bass boost on my amp and the Focus feature on the Hafler amp. Sounds way better cheating like this.
Tin P1 is an amazing example where eq can be a game changer. With no eq they sound flat and boring but with eq and more power they really shine and even though I dont use them very often I still keep them because I know how good they can be
I'd be interested in your take on the new Sonarworks SoundID EQ software. I think it's an interesting concept but ultimately preferred oratory1990's EQ settings.
I dialled this in in Fabfilter Pro Q2 and it sounded like ass, but when I rolled the overall percentage back, it matched what I was hearing on my speakers much better. Definitely more detailed 1-5k which will help in mixing
I use a BBE sonic maximizer to eq my headphones, like the way it works and sounds. I just tune them to the way I like my music to sound as opposed to a graph. I listen with my ears not my eyes.
Amazing explanation man, I tend to be a purist and even if a headphone measures differently than a given target, (Harman in my case is the preference) I don't really like correcting it. But I totally understand why people use it and I respect the different preferences, and this is all there's at... Enjoying the music. If modifying digitally the FR of a headphone makes it more enjoyable to a determined group of people, why not!
i agree with your assessment while i also understand the notion of not eqing and being a purist howeve if you're going to spend lots of money on a headphone why not try to get the most out of it. correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't each one respond different to eq anyways? and it's interesting bc u end up finding some that you just enjoy their vanilla sound and others that you like them better with eq but that doesnt make them bad.
I thought the whole point to have a high end hifi set of cans like these was to have the flattest response possible? What is the point to color the sound if it's already playing as good as it can get? I'm not an expert I'm just curious.
Tried the Sonarworks calibration and to my ears the excessive mids and highs it added sounds awful and fatigue inducing. All the well produced songs I listened sounded way too harsh… I think by default they sound just the way they should, warm, not ear-piercing harsh with nice but not overpowering bass.
I don't understand, if eq to your preference is the goal, why aren't studio / flat headphones more popular? Shouldn't that give you the easiest EQ experience to get what you want?
What are you using to get the analysis of the headphone response (First graph, before you use PEACE to EQ) ? I am confused on where to analyze and find the curve? Thanks
I find this incomplete. What software do I use to view a freq response graph, or extract that info myself. How do check the freq response of my headphones, do I need a professional setup to do that?
Issue of course is I don't always listen through my mac, so I had better get a streaming system or I will have to recreate the eq profile using multiple software packages on my various devices, so what u think people trying out this justification for buying a streaming server on you before my beloved, marks out of 10 😁
The HD600 series takes EQ just fine. At 90dB at 50Hz the 650 gets 1% D2. Harmonics past that are basically not existent. This is inaudible. If you don't believe me, put on your LCDs, open the generator in your REW and have it output 50Hz with the second harmonic at -40dB. There's even a nice checkbox, so you can instantly turn the overtone on and off.
The disadvantage of the Harman curve measured on a dummy head is that different people have different head-related transfer functions: our ears and heads are not all the same. So rather than equalize to an abstract model of the human ear and head, I prefer to equalize the drivers directly. Flat plate measurement + B&K hi-fi curve (a small bump in bass followed by a .9 db/octave rolloff at 200 Hz) produce a headphone that sounds more like listening to speakers in a room, and works very well for non-fatiguing listening, with a very natural warmth to the sound. Another disadvantage of the Harman Curve is that later revisions have nothing to do with sounding "flat", but sounding exciting or interesting to a wide variety of listeners. Trained listener prefer a flatter curve that is less v-shaped.
Do you prefer this over using Reveal+? I use the LCD-X for mixing but it needs correction (mids are way too recessed for the guitar driven music I usually work on) I used Sonarworks for a while but I think it sounds a bit unnatural. I am using Reveal+ lately but wish I could boost the effect it has on the LCD-X even more.
EQ or GTFO! 🖕🏻 Excellent point on hardware limitations btw. You can’t have it all a lot of the time. Anyone who doesn’t EQ should try playing an electronic guitar through an amp......or at least watch a Ola Englund or Keith Merrow amp demo video or something. 🤷♂️
Hi Andrew, I'm trying to make heads or tails out of the graph. Why would Audeze (LCD-X) deliberately reduce their frequency response so drastically between 2-4 K, especially if our ears naturally hear a response higher than that?
should I run eq for my microphone through apo? I can't find a way to use two configurations at the same time, one for each device. for the time being I used voicemeter since it can do a little more than just separate inputs
@THE HEADPHONE SHOW After watching countless RUclips headphone videos I decided to purchased the Audeze LCD-X headphones. Upon receiving them, I was a little disappointed in the sound quality. But, after watching Resolve on the Headphone Show on RUclips explain how to correctly EQ the LCD-Xs, I was quite satisfied with my new cans. I am currently streaming Ultra HD audio through my PC’s USB port from Amazon which consistently streams music at 24bit/92kHz. My USB cable is running into a FiiO Q5s portable amplifier/DAC with my headphones coming out of that. I would like to upgrade the FiiO Q5s portable amplifier/DAC to separate headphone amplifier and DAC desktop units to improve the sound of the Audeze LCD-Xs. What headphone amplifier and DAC would you recommend to complement the LCD-Xs?
I don't know. For years people kept saying to EQ my LCD2f 2016 headphones and listed the reasons why. I did EQ them twice with settings done by those in the know, and both times, I was not impressed. It made them feel lifeless, with movie scores I know so well sounding like they had gone through a noise filter. Everyone is different, and not every headphone comes off the production line the same, so trying EQ is worth a shot, but for me, it did not help.
Nope. It says so in the Equalizer APO description: "- the application must not bypass the system effect infrastructure (APIs like ASIO or WASAPI exclusive mode can not be used)"
Can you recommend a song which has all the frequencies so i can see what i'm doing in real time ? Do one for Ananda btw. I know it doesn't need much but i feel like it's vocals is a bit muffled/muted for me. Also the air is lacking a bit.
If equalising to a target, what would you normalise the two graphs to? With your conservative approach, would you just try to normalise with least amount of changes?
Thx . Very helpful! Still wondering how your proposal is different from what Audeze is providing as compensation e.g. as Roon preset. Also hove trouble finding your preferred eq presets in the provided links
Where can i find the measurement graph you use in your presentation . I am not able to read the text on the axis. I.e. i see the curve but i don't know at which frequency the dips and peaks occur . Thx
I think I have understood that the harman curve is not the gain of the ear, instead it seems like its symmetrical, because if the ear prefer a higher volume for the treble (as I see in the Harman curve) then it means that the ear attenuate that frequencies, so they should be amplified by the source in order to be properly audible, am I right? Example: receiving a constant signal in frequency, (like a monitor headphones), higher frequencies are amplified (by the ears), and treble are attenuated, so the headphones in order to follow the Harman curve has to attenuate highs and amplify treble. This means that the frequency response (gain) of the ear attenuates treble and amplify higher frequencies, being symmetrical to the Harman curve.
It's more so that the brain expects an elevation for where the ear amplifies certain frequencies. Think of the frequency response target as an ideal measurement at the ear drum reference point.
@@TheHEADPHONEShow Mmm That seems clear now.. The harman curve is what you said, it is the response of a system that starts form an audio source everywhere outside the ear, and ends at the eardrum, so it is the canal I would say. So normally, when experiencing sound, it is elevated where the Harmon curve suggests, because of the canal distortion, therefore applying the sound source almost into the ear, it bypass the canal and is almost directly applied to the eardrum, so, if not as the harman curve, it sounds ‘wrong’. Divagation: It erroneously seems similar to the response of the eye, but it is a different thing: The response of the eye is elevated in the greenish-yellow central region, and attenuated at the edges of the spectrum (red and blue), so the eye if receive perfect white (where white stands for a planar spectrum) should sees instead a greenish-yellow, and there’s nothing to do cause it’s not about the canal, but about the interior of he eye. The only way to see perfect white is providing a white without the right amount of green; or for seeing red the light should be a lot more intense than the analog green light for having a similar experienced luminosity.
I do eq headphones, but I do find a big problem with the method you show. You just showed how to eq with equalizer APO (this is the best we have, that I know of), but that only works with DS mode in windows and not if I want to send DSD direct via WASAPI or ASIO to a DAC. I also cant figure out how to do good eq in DAPs. They use the android eq wich is really bad with only like 4 to 6 bands. There is the minidsp, but then it doesnt take dsds or high res files, and ILDSP (portable one) only has line out so we are forced to use their DAC instead of our DAC of preference. I wish someone can point me out to a system wide parametric EQ for Android (for any streaming app) or a Portable device that takes digital in and have digital out and does all the filtering in the digital domain. So at the end If I cant eq my headphones in all the sources then eqing is kind of a waste of time and rather find a headphone with the signature I like.
Yeah android EQ is rough. That's why I'm more critical of IEMs with wonky FRs. But then again, people who use IEMs aren't always using them with a phone or a DAP either. With regards to your other question, yeah that's definitely an issue. To a certain extent, Roon lets you do this - and it's one of the reasons I do recommend Roon. But as for DSD exclusively, that's not something I've ever really seen the benefit of. I know some people are really into it, but that's yet another inconvenience.
@@TheHEADPHONEShow Thank you for your answer!! I rarely eq iems, since i never listen to then at high volumes, but I do enjoy listening to music in my balcony with headphones and I use a DAP with lineout to more powerfull portable amplifers. You mentioned also that when you break the seal with the lcd xs your bass response drops. how much is it? since my lcs pads are in really bad shape (leather peeling) and that might be affecting the sound. Also I remember from your podcast with crin that the oposite happens with planars, the sub bass gets enhanced.
@@elburrona A lot of that depends on the headphone's design. I think he was talking about how it impacts HiFiMAN headphones like the hE1000, and that's definitely true. Bass increasing when you break the seal also isn't unique to HiFiMAN headphones, but they are a good example of it. For Audeze's I think it's a bit more complicated because the pads are already so huge.
I think you talked about this on your livestream, but what target are you using as your reference point? Was it Harman 2013 bass response combined w/ the 2018 top end? If not, and it doesn't subscribe to a 'typical trend', would you consider mapping out your preference curve? Would be interested to see where that falls. It was cool to see your thought process on EQing the Audeze LCD-X. What's your process like for headphones akin to, say, the Hifiman Arya or Ananda, which have pretty good stock FRs, what kinds of micro-adjustments do you like to make there?
Yeah I'll put together my EQ profiles for most headphones I measure. I think some like the Ananda and Arya really aren't worth doing all that much to because they sound pretty good already, and most adjustments there would just be for preference. So like, I may boost the 2khz dip and drop a few areas in the treble by a dB or two. As for my own preference, I do like the hybrid Harman target with 2013 bass and 2018 mids and treble, but it's not so simple to just combine them in a compensation. At the moment I'm deciding the best ways to represent this stuff and I think I'll go with 2013 Harman for one, and maybe a custom target for another one, and that will likely be my own personal preference. So something like that hybrid with a bit better treble extension is likely what it'll end up being. I tend to think Harman in general ends up being a bit 'cautious' because we're not always listening to optimally recorded stuff. I suppose it's better to have the majority of material sound good than cater to only the really well recorded stuff.
So does EQ and a preferred target mean that it is pointless to own multiple headphones? I remember a video you had discussing the benefits of owning multiple headphones. In particular, the video talking to I think it's Mr. Chan from Hifiman. He proposed different headphones not just for different genres but different bands in each genre. Sorry I'm heavily paraphrasing, but if you have a set target for what sounds good, such as the Harman target, it leads me to think that owning multiple headphones is pointless (aside from practicality, like a closed back for isolation). I would love to hear your opinion on this. Great video, I recently started using EQ and have really been enjoying it.
It's an interesting question. Because I don't EQ to perfectly match the curve, and I also don't EQ every headphone to have the same FR (I like to try and keep the general 'flavor' of the headphone intact), I think it still makes sense to have multiple headphones. On top of that, not every headphone has the same characteristics, like slam/stage/speed/timbre etc. So you do get enough variation to make it interesting. But I also think it's worth respecting the idea of not EQing specifically to be able to enjoy each headphone's tonality for what it is. I think for a lot of hobbyists, this is an important part of it - they don't want all their headphones to sound the same. Realistically for people who just want to own one or two headphones, however, EQ really is something to take seriously, even if it's just a little bit.
To add to this I own multiple headphones and eq them all. The one thing you can’t take away from a headphone is its’ sound presentation. And that varies vastly to each pair. Even if all my pairs were the exact same curve, they will always have different characteristics. An obvious factor being soundstage but it goes much deeper than that
The huge holes between 4k-5k and between 9-10k would typically indicate a bad crossover or a poorly engineered one on a speaker. There shouldn’t be huge holes like that especially on a high end pair of headphones like the Audeeze LCX. Did you perform the spectral analysis on your own pair of headphones yourself or did you pull those measurements off of a website that someone else did? Because if they are yours, I would seriously consider sending those headphones to the manufacturer to have them take a look at it to make sure nothing is broken or messed up with your pair. And if those holes are standard across all of the Audeze LCDX line, then that’s a major problem/flaw with the engineering and design. Hopefully it’s just your pair that are defective.
@@BrentLeVasseur Oratory1990's curve has it and it's a commonly accepted characteristic of those headphones. I'm not a troll or a hater, I bought the 2021 version and it was an extensively researched decision since €1,4k is not a trivial amount for me, but facts are facts.
@@BrentLeVasseur I know you weren't. I read tons of posts and reviews and eventually I narrowed my options to the Arya, Focal Clear, LCD-2, X and 3. I ruled out the Arya because everyone seems to agree that build quality seems cheap and the Clear doesn't have that rep but still gives me that impression. I'm not, nor I intend to be, the typical reddit audiophile with a collection worth the value of a new car, I just want one headphone that is the best I can afford and be done with it. €1.4K is quite a lot for me so if I spend that much money on a pair of headphones they need to offer not only perfect sound quality but they also have to be perfect all round. I can understand a mid-end product to focus solely on its main purpose sacrificing aesthetics and build quality in order to cut costs, but a high end HP better have a build quality that screams premium and that allows it to last forever, and €1.4K and plastic don't sound well together in my opinion. The Audeze on the other hand seem solid and luxurious AF. Then I started to read comparisons between the different LCD models and the vast majority of people, if not all, seem to agree that the X sound better than the 2 and 3, and not getting the 3 leaves me €1K extra that I'd like to use on an RME ADI-2 next year.
@@BrentLeVasseur Congratulations for that setup, I could only dream of having something like that. You don't really have to sell me the sound quality of the Aryas (although you did a great work at it in your video), everything I read about it was positive, it's the build quality what turned me off. However, owning the LCD-X takes away the pressure of making a choice and now maybe I could consider getting the Arya at some point in the future since I do see myself upgrading my HD560S that lives on my desktop and I use all the time for casual browsing, but this hobby can turn into a money pit really fast and I really don't want to go down that route. But on the other hand, having the rme adi-2 solely for driving the X would be kind of a waste, but still, maybe in the long run. You really made me curious about what that amp (or any tube amp) could sound. Just a question, what does a tube amp ad to the sound that can't be replicated by equalizing? I have zero knowledge on tube amps in the audio context but, from what I know about amps from an electronic engineering perspective, semiconductors have a much longer linear zone so the only explanation that comes to my mind is that tubes are actually bad at staying linear and the resulting effect is what people find pleasant.
Silly question incoming: Is it possible to EQ somehow if I'm listening through a Chord Mojo, ie the original one without the EQ function? I listen from Apple Music from a desktop. Apple Music has EQ-ing, but the Mojo ignores whatever changes I make.
What if you went through the relevant frequencies and determined the minimum dB values that you could hear at each frequency? Then, scale those measured dB values, using the Fletcher-Munson curves, to a loud listening volume. Wouldn't this create an apparently equal loudness flat curve for you?
UPDATE! This EQ ONLY applies to the 2020 version and not the 2021 version.
Just a note about the 9khz dip. Apparently this is something that shows up on headphones that have strong interaction with the physical ear, and it should be there. For the LCD-X, I'm not sure it has this interaction, or if there really is a dip around 8.7khz. To my ear, adding a bit of energy back didn't result in the kind of 'shimmer' that filling in this dip on other headphones has resulted in, but I do think this is something you need to do at your own discretion. Start without that adjustment, and if you still find it has a cut resonance, try adding it in. But I really don't think it needs it either.
Thank you for a great video! Where can I find your curve for the latest LCD-XC?
No file we can use please, bar transcribing from the video?
dude, i shopped/reviewed maybe 30 different headphones intensely for several days and finally bought the Audeze LCD-X's. Initially, i was a bit disappointed in the sound. thankfully, i came across your eq video, set my equalizer as closely to your settings as was possible w/ my 10-band graphic equalizer, and my headphones came alive! NICE JOB and MUCH RESPECT! THANK YOU!
@Elloli that's disappointing.
A lot of people don’t understand that if you EQ frequencies up, and don’t volume compensate for headroom, you will introduce clipping. If you’re only EQ’ing frequencies down however you don’t need to do that.
Yup. That's why I recommend adjusting the pre-amplifying below the highest adjustment.
I just tend to tick the "Prevent clipping" checkbox, does that do a good enough job?
Btw guys, unpopular opinion:
I recently got the AKG K812s, and with a bit of EQ (taming 6 and 11K, while boosting around 80hz and below 40), they sound phenomenal to my ears.
You can get such detailed and plentiful bass out of these without them distorting, it's really surprising...
not to mention their imaging.
People all over the internet claim that the K712s are like wallhacks in FPS games, and while I agree that they're good, I never really felt like they were *that* good.
That title I think belongs to the K812s...
I was like "is this fair to the enemy team?" when I played CS with them on.
So precise.
@@metal571 Welp, I have both checked now, lol.
Better overdo it, than have clipping I guess?
As I see no downside to the former.
100% true!
Great advice, thank you!
It's the main reason I bought the RME ADI2. I've always eq'd my music, it's interactive and makes listening much more enjoyable.
Below Sea Level I got into eq because of the rme. lol
Perhaps Andrew can do a review of RME ADI-2 in the near future? :)
Do you have LCD-X? Did you manage to create a right EQ with RME for it?
FWIW, many of us are getting older... and as a consequence differentially loosing hearing. And for us... EQ is a godsend to be able to hear otherwise lost parts of the music
But be careful, don't use high treble boosts with loud (above 85db) volume levels, as you could damage your hearing further, but medium volumes and more conservative boosts could help alot
@@fred-youtube thx
Unless you have buckets of money, i think eq is more fun. you can squeeze more sounds with fewer headphones and less gear. adding (or removing) that extra variable is also pretty fun as you can more easily isolate some technicalities.
Literally a life changing video - Just wanted to say after following your brief guidelines and setting up Equalizer APO and the Peace front end, I've never been so satisfied with my collection. My 58x with a touch more extension on top and the mildest Low shelf filter from 166Hz is liquid goodness now out of my Corda Canate. My hd 600 with even milder tweaks, running balanced out of my Artist R2R DAC and THX 789 is on par with anything Ive heard at our local Canjams ... Big thank you from me!
sonic goodness
Another amazing video. Your grasp of the issues, processes, pros and cons is presently unmatched by a vast majority of reviewers and enthusiasts. Excellent conversation.
I apologize for previous post (deleted). What I was missing was that all these measurements are made *at* the eardrum. So of course you want all the stuff in between. Sorry! Good video. And thank you for being polite with arrogant guy from the Internet.
When you do interviews or Q&As with manufacturers , it would be interesting to hear their take on EQing their headphones. What do they think of Harman target curve and why wouldn't they design headphone that is not matching to Harman target curve ?
I think in many cases they do try to get there. It's more a question of figuring out how to do it with the parameters they've chosen. There are of course many instances where they tune the headphones by ear but that's much more risky to do - not that it can't also result in a great sounding headphone. I asked Fang Bian from Hifiman about this and he told me he doesn't tune to the Harman curve in particular, but rather looks for what sounds the most "real". What that is to him I'm not sure, but it's resulted in some fantastic sounding headphones (mostly), and they do have a general house sound. So maybe he is following a target, but it's not a consumer preference one because it doesn't have the bass shelf there.
The one issue with eq, is if you use headphones when playing consoles or watching tv, you can really eq as easily. A fully fledged parametric equalizer for something like a btr5/q5 or dac/amp will be so awesome.
A less analytical approach: you EQ while listening to your favorite music. Play with the slides and listen if there's an improvement or degradation at the affected frequencies. For that to work though you need to know what the instruments & voices should sound like in real life to have a clear target in your mind. Works best with dense music that fills up the whole frequency spectrum (don't do this with solo guitar or something). You can later use a frequency response graph for further adjustments.
The eq app 'Neutralizer' is really cool it's like hearing prescription 🤖👍
i love this app. wish theyd make it for PC
wow, what a great video. I personally love EQ and use my ADI 2 DAC with multiple profiles for my LCD2C to switch between depending on the day and mood. although I used to be a purist at the beginning, I now have discovered the beauty of EQ.
im not scary according to the manual the rme does not clip. The dsp handles that for you automatically so you don’t even have to think about it
I used to have the same thinking and when I EQed my LCDX with the RME, a combo made in heaven was born. EQ was actually my most unnecessary feature when I bought the RME and now became the unexpected surprise.
@@alexk1239 could you please share your DSP curve on RME for LCD-X? I have the same setup :)
ostvaldseo Sure:
B1 Fc 100 Hz Gain 3.5 dB Q1.0 and leave the filter symbol at self mode (Sideways “Y" )
B2 Fc 1000 Hz Gain -2.0 dB Q 2 peak mode
B3 Fc 3400 Hz Gain 2.5 dB Q 2 peak mode
B4 Fc 6000 Hz Gain -2 dB Q 3 peak mode
@@alexk1239 Thanks a lot! I'll start with this setting
As someone with very minimal experience of high-end headphones I’m glad you said that about the upper mids on the LCD-X to confirm I’m not crazy. I got the chance to listen to some recently and whilst they sounded a lot cleaner and neater than the Sennheiser Momentum 2.0s I brought with me, they sounded a lot less engaging and exciting and emotional for the rock music I was listening to, and I’m sure it was due to the relaxed upper mids. If I bought them I think I’d really want to EQ them to bring back that excitement.
Based on your recommendations, I approximated the EQ settings on my SONY NW-ZX507 for my LCD-X. I like the result. Thanks
Trying to find a headphone that naturally has a tonality you like may be more fun for people with lots of money, but for us poors, EQing makes the hobby a lot more affordable.
I recently bought the Sundara, and the level of clarity and detail was immediately apparent from the moment I put them on. They're by far the most technically proficient headphones I own, but I felt they were a bit light on the bass for my tastes, and some vocals and electric guitars sounded ever so slightly shouty at around 4K. A bit of time spent tweaking the EQ fixed both of those right up, and turned my Sundara into a headphone that I'm much happier with than I would be if I'd left it at the stock tuning.
How many headphones are there around this price range that have both the technical capabilities of the Sundara and have a frequency curve that perfectly matches my tastes? Probably none. So if I have to make a choice between EQing, or spending lots of money that I can't afford to spend on headphones to try to chase down a unicorn, I'll go for EQ every time.
Hey can you share the eq settings? Thanks
i really like how you seem knowledgeable about such a complicated topic cus theres so many technicalities
Andrew, I really like your generous, kind, laid-back approach to your subject matter, where you welcome all viewpoints while at the same time describing why YOU might like applying EQ to headphones. You invite your listeners to hear you out without pressuring them to agree with you in any way. I totally recommend you to anyone seriously considering adding headphones to their listening experience. I've gotten a LOT out of your EQ discussion - thank you!
I‘d recommend giving Sonarworks Sound ID a shot… it basically does the correction curve automatically based on measurements made in labs and also compensates your gain according to the strongest EQ adjustment. It‘s used for mixing and mastering but there‘s also a systemwide application that let‘s you listen to any audio source👍🏻
Soudnds way too harsh with Sonarworks curve…
I think you might want to do a version of this for absolute beginners including an explanation of terminology
Super helpful and detailed EQ overview. Using Roon's DSP EQ options -- downloading convolution filters - and I can't imagine doing without. Besides the LCD-X, it also greatly benefits a host of other headphones. Tip: I found that the LCD-XC convolution filter does wonders for the Monoprice Monolith 1060C.
Can you do a how to do eq video for the Arya's? That would be greatly appreciated!
I have never understood why people don't EQ. It would be the same thing as me giving you my glasses, they are not one size fits all. Hearing is no different, you will hear things differently than me. Obviously as stated EQ can add some challenges at the same time if not done properly.
What's the software he used to get the graph?
Because it isn't supported with exclusive playback, on Windows at least. If most DACs had built in EQ, then it would be a no brainier for me.
for me, after I EQ a headphone, I always disable the eq after sometimes because I always find the headphones sounds more right without EQ.
For me it's just introduce another rabbit hole. My ocd kicks in and i always playing with the eq instead of listening music lol.
From my experience I didn’t like eq because I was influenced with the part of the hobbyists that look down on eq, as well as my ignorance. But it’s all good I’ve seen the light! Eq is great
I had a hard time trusting anything this guy said after he mentioned that the Sennheiser HD650 doesn’t do well with EQ. Since I have a pair and the EQ really seriously improved my listening experience. The headphones were super capable of maintaining their clarity and quality while even using artificial surround sound EQ. Everyone talks about how the HD600 series lacks in the surround sound department but my EQ fixed that quite nicely if I had to say so myself.
Peace -> Settings -> Sizes and Amounts settings -> Snap dB gain = 0.1
Thats really helpful
I give little to no credit to what the purists say about EQ. As a musician, if I put a pair of headphones on, and they sound bad, I go ahead and EQ it. There's no reason why not to use EQ, especially if the thing costs a ton of money. Many folks can't hear above 15k, this is why cans like HD600 or some AKGs are so beloved; I can't listen to a piercing thing like that whatsoever. Very nice video btw.
I use Roon now. It adress all the equing issues. My LCD-X have never sounded better. But the Peace eq was good too.
Do you use Audeze’s LCD-X preset in addition to making EQ changes?
@@gibgun Yes. And the difference is huge. I can only recommend it. 😊
You should review Sonarworks as well. It's the same thing anyway. I'd like to see your take on their calibration. It has become my new "default" for my headphones.
I really wish it was just one set price for the desktop version instead of a monthly payment!!
Super useful, what I don't get is why an expensive headphone would be tuned so badly, is it because they diametrically disagree with such a thing as a Harmon target which I can get but that the tuning dosen't even seem to be suitable for human Ears?
Two things worth having in mind:
1. Frequency response curve may differ depending on how you measure.
2. Not all EQs are made equal. Some handle phase better than others.
(Sorry if you already have mentioned this in other videos.)
Thank you for the video. I'm new to EQing, however I think there is a major flaw in this video or at least very important information are missing.
1. How to measure headphones at home? If it's not (easily) possible, then I have to rely on measurements from others and not for all headphones there are good measurements.
2. When it's not possible to measure headphones at home, how can I 'see' the end result in comparison to a target I have decided to EQ towards? (hearing a result in comparison to a target is not possible). Sure I can add the DB values to the purple measured line but it's not as accurate as I can't consider Q-values properly in manual calculations...
Therefore I think - especially as a newbie in EQing - it is very easy to mess up the sound quality of headphones with EQing
Also one important note to EQ is that not all hear the notes the same whats flat for one might not be flat for someone else i need to turn the bass down on many headphones that is supposed to be flat as an example
I drive my Sennheiser HD600 from iFi Zen DAC. HD600 are known for not having much bass but that TrueBass button really helps them a lot. Now, not all music benefits from it but it is really nice to have it to mitigate the lack of bass when needed.
I have more or less managed to match the TrueBass boost in Equalizer APO but there is a catch. It does not translate well when I use that EQ preset with other DACs than the Zen DAC. At least it is something to take into account when I try to dial enough bass to use with other DACs of mine like SMSL Idea and Tascam US-2x2 interface.
I'm going to give a golden tip that will change the lives of many people who have (or intend to buy) the wronged Beyerdynamic DT 990: take the Sonarworks ID Reference, apply the corresponding preset to the model DT 990. But (and here is the magic) no apply 100% equalization. On the dosage knob (Dry/Wet) set it to 55. There you have the best warm sounding headphones available for this price. The best.
if you do it right, your headphone could be much more enjoyable after EQ.
the main problem however, is getting an accurate measurement of the headphone so you have a reference to work with,
headphone measurement rig can cost you thousands of dollars. yes there is some cheap ones out there like the minidsp ears, but those are known to have insufficient accuracies that makes the graph measured less useful as an eq reference.
you can always find graphs online, but headphone do have revisions that changes the sound, and manufacturing tolerances will make every single one have different responses especially on the treble range. and besides you can never know whether a graph is trustworthy or not because you don't know the rig it's measured on.
it's important to know what you're doing when EQing your headphone, but it's difficult to know what you are doing without an expensive measurement rig......
Thanks for this amazing vid. Just got my LCD-X and this makes a PHENOMENAL difference. Subscribed
ah yeah those were tweets
Why calibrate tvs? Why tune cars? Why adjust in-game graphic settings? Why turn the ac/heater up or down? Why install dimmers for lights? Why overclock a cpu? We eq everything around us to suit our preference. Why buy something for its potential capabilities and yet refuse to run them at those potential capabilities? I smh.. lol my question is tho especially for planars, would eq-ing affect the longevity of those planar drivers?
This is a very good question. So far I haven't heard of anything to the contrary but there may be some edge cases where if you boost the bass like crazy it could have some strange effects on the diaphragm's excursive force. I know that some HE-6 users are living in fear of their headphone's drivers ripping themselves because it slams so hard. I'll see if I can ask a manufacturer about this, or maybe Oratory has some info.
Very handy. Best headphones reviewer on the web
Yes, absolutely. At least match the Knowls curve. I don't keep any headphones that don't have a ceiling or if the break up balance on EQ or raised SPL. The headphones must EQ and reach SPL of 100 with no distortion or it's not going into my portfolio.
Hi! Love your channel, and thank you so much for this! Just got my LCD-X :) I found Peace to be one of the least intuitive applications i have ever used, but i figured it out after some hassle.
Here's a tip: If you are unable to make Peace work, meaning, have an effect at all in windows 10 - Choose "Trouble shooting" while in the configurator and select "Install as SFX/EFX (experimental)"
Just keep in mind that the profile in this video is not applicable to newer LCD-X headphones
@@TheHEADPHONEShow How so? I applied it to mine, which i guess is the newer version, and I think it sounds a lot better! I did however ease off the peaks at 3-4KHz and 10 KHz a bit.
@@TheEmrobe the FR for the old units is quite different from the newer ones. So I don't know which you have. I'll develop a new profile for them and you can see which you prefer.
@@TheHEADPHONEShow Awesome! Thank you so much :)
thanks alot....looking for a video like this for a long time....very well explained
SUBBED!!!!
as a person who primarily uses one headphone and/or in-ear at a time, eq is the way to go. i don't own 10 products that i would switch around for different flavors. the downside of this is preset heck where i make a minute adjustment and save a new preset so i am left with thousands of them
1. Always use minimum-phase EQ unless you want to EQ multi-driver iems.
2. Use high pass filter in the sub-bass region if you elevated bass. That's because most headphones distort in that region.
All headphones need EQ.
Every
Single
One
My ears aren't the same as your ears and there's no such thing as one-size-fits-all when it comes to headphones.
The only downside is that doing EQ properly requires a fair amount of skill and, ideally, a measurement rig so you can optimise your EQ curve.
Agreed, I would also like to mention that within reason, there's no such thing as what "the artist intentioned."
@@Ton-uy1xd its about what the mix engineer intended. But since headphone manufacturers manipulate the boost levels of frequencies,
its forcing people to EQ their headphones. I have sat in many professional studios as many of my mix & mastering engineers colleagues have mixed many songs.
and when I hear it back on headphones, it sounded like complete shit. even the engineers who mix the songs hear their songs back on different headphones
and get shocked how shitty their mix sounds on the headphones. Then when those same engineers take the phones through its paces by analyzing the headphones
frequency response they realize that manufacturers have colored / boosted the headphones which then turned the songs into shit.
Many Mix and Mastering engineers hate many headphone manufacturers because they all know what headphone companies/manufacturers do to headphones
and completely destroy the music they have created over and over.
idk I think some people are just lazy or even stupid enough to try using EQ
I never had a pair of headphones where I didnt desire some degree of EQ. soemthing like Audeze may be more off than others but after EQ they are amazing
NEWSFLASH for anti EQ folk, most mid range and above speakers are EQd on the production line after being manufactured to account for inconsistencies. Even iems and headphones have a PCB that basically EQ the driver because you can't always tune everything with mesh and filters etc. Basically whether you like it or not, you're probably already using EQ in some way or another
Ok, sure ..but if you’re spending $5k-10k on speakers …apart from positioning them properly…you shouldn’t have to touch a damn thing .
@@carminedesanto6746 unless you've got a perfect room, EQ will benefit even the best speakers. Hardcore audiophiles tend to be traditionalists and will spend an awful lot of money and effort dampening the room etc, but for most people, EQ is still probably the way to go, and the technology is only getting better. People just need to understand that less is often more with EQ and not try to take the drivers places they cannot go
I EQ because if done right it takes something good and makes it better
one little correction to the method, when you do the low shelf for the bass, if you see the crossing point - like in this video example at 120hz, than the shelf should not be set at 120hz. as the shelf bleeds to higher frequencies above it. this is why your bass boost overshot the target line above 120hz. watch it again to understand what I am talking about. usually you should subtract a little bit: the shelf should be set more like 90hz (plus minus) to match a 120hz target cross point. do it with your eyes watching the result, to see if it crosses correctly in order not to over shoot.
I get what you're saying but I also think it's fine to overshoot the target there. There are good reasons not to worry too much about the contour.
@@TheHEADPHONEShow your remark as general is acceptable, only specific to bass region that we discuss now, the issue is, acoustically, frequencies over shadow neighboring frequencies, and when we overshoot, doesn't mater where, but specifically in the lower registers, usually over bass meaning more energy in first octaves, will mask the octaves above it and will deteriorate tonality and detail retrieval by our ears. so we have to be very careful to not overshot 1st and 2nd octaves with over energy. if we do so we will not hear enough information in 3rd and 4th octaves. the trick is to find a fine balance between enough energy down below one the one side, and not to over shadow the required energy in the next octave (or two) on the other side. its a job done with experience and closed feedback loop, until its precise. p.s I wouldn't mind talking with you over the phone and exchange knowledge/experience, as you are one of the higher level in this area today relative to the mass reviewers out there, and I congrats you very much for this, and for your great work over here. this is why I am watching you, rather than amateurs in the channels next to you.
excuse my English I am not a native English speaker, I am Israeli from Israel. 46 yo by the way.
I liked my HD6XX before i EQ:ed them all though I felt while the lacked a bit in the lower end of things EQ:ing them really took them to another level. I do feel I really did not lose anything by EQ:ing, quite the opposite and aboslutly love them now.
Was in the purist camp. Now i use the BBE sonic maximizer (better than eq) the bass boost on my amp and the Focus feature on the Hafler amp. Sounds way better cheating like this.
Tin P1 is an amazing example where eq can be a game changer. With no eq they sound flat and boring but with eq and more power they really shine and even though I dont use them very often I still keep them because I know how good they can be
I'd be interested in your take on the new Sonarworks SoundID EQ software. I think it's an interesting concept but ultimately preferred oratory1990's EQ settings.
Oh! THANKS!
I dialled this in in Fabfilter Pro Q2 and it sounded like ass, but when I rolled the overall percentage back, it matched what I was hearing on my speakers much better. Definitely more detailed 1-5k which will help in mixing
I use a BBE sonic maximizer to eq my headphones, like the way it works and sounds. I just tune them to the way I like my music to sound as opposed to a graph. I listen with my ears not my eyes.
Amazing explanation man, I tend to be a purist and even if a headphone measures differently than a given target, (Harman in my case is the preference) I don't really like correcting it. But I totally understand why people use it and I respect the different preferences, and this is all there's at... Enjoying the music. If modifying digitally the FR of a headphone makes it more enjoyable to a determined group of people, why not!
i agree with your assessment while i also understand the notion of not eqing and being a purist howeve if you're going to spend lots of money on a headphone why not try to get the most out of it. correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't each one respond different to eq anyways? and it's interesting bc u end up finding some that you just enjoy their vanilla sound and others that you like them better with eq but that doesnt make them bad.
I thought the whole point to have a high end hifi set of cans like these was to have the flattest response possible? What is the point to color the sound if it's already playing as good as it can get? I'm not an expert I'm just curious.
Tried the Sonarworks calibration and to my ears the excessive mids and highs it added sounds awful and fatigue inducing. All the well produced songs I listened sounded way too harsh…
I think by default they sound just the way they should, warm, not ear-piercing harsh with nice but not overpowering bass.
Im in agreement with Koji at Convince me audio, if you have to eq then u need better Dac/ amp,
my lcdx's sound fine in foobar 2000 using reveal plugin
even outside on yt it sounds alright for me
I don't understand, if eq to your preference is the goal, why aren't studio / flat headphones more popular? Shouldn't that give you the easiest EQ experience to get what you want?
What are you using to get the analysis of the headphone response (First graph, before you use PEACE to EQ) ? I am confused on where to analyze and find the curve? Thanks
Subbed! Thanks for the information. Can you please let me know which microphone you're using? Looks / sounds solid. Thanks
could you do a video on sonarworks eq, i enabled it wil my lcd-x and im just stunned. im curious on your take
I find this incomplete. What software do I use to view a freq response graph, or extract that info myself. How do check the freq response of my headphones, do I need a professional setup to do that?
As with any other software, not all EQ implementations are exactly the same.
Issue of course is I don't always listen through my mac, so I had better get a streaming system or I will have to recreate the eq profile using multiple software packages on my various devices, so what u think people trying out this justification for buying a streaming server on you before my beloved, marks out of 10 😁
Nearly every piece of music ever made has had an eq in its mastering
Thanks for this vid holy crap!
The HD600 series takes EQ just fine. At 90dB at 50Hz the 650 gets 1% D2. Harmonics past that are basically not existent. This is inaudible. If you don't believe me, put on your LCDs, open the generator in your REW and have it output 50Hz with the second harmonic at -40dB. There's even a nice checkbox, so you can instantly turn the overtone on and off.
The disadvantage of the Harman curve measured on a dummy head is that different people have different head-related transfer functions: our ears and heads are not all the same.
So rather than equalize to an abstract model of the human ear and head, I prefer to equalize the drivers directly. Flat plate measurement + B&K hi-fi curve (a small bump in bass followed by a .9 db/octave rolloff at 200 Hz) produce a headphone that sounds more like listening to speakers in a room, and works very well for non-fatiguing listening, with a very natural warmth to the sound.
Another disadvantage of the Harman Curve is that later revisions have nothing to do with sounding "flat", but sounding exciting or interesting to a wide variety of listeners. Trained listener prefer a flatter curve that is less v-shaped.
The Audio Technical ATH-W900 is an EQ’ers dream.
Do you prefer this over using Reveal+? I use the LCD-X for mixing but it needs correction (mids are way too recessed for the guitar driven music I usually work on) I used Sonarworks for a while but I think it sounds a bit unnatural. I am using Reveal+ lately but wish I could boost the effect it has on the LCD-X even more.
EQ or GTFO! 🖕🏻
Excellent point on hardware limitations btw. You can’t have it all a lot of the time.
Anyone who doesn’t EQ should try playing an electronic guitar through an amp......or at least watch a Ola Englund or Keith Merrow amp demo video or something. 🤷♂️
Hi Andrew, I'm trying to make heads or tails out of the graph. Why would Audeze (LCD-X) deliberately reduce their frequency response so drastically between 2-4 K, especially if our ears naturally hear a response higher than that?
Very good Andrew.
should I run eq for my microphone through apo? I can't find a way to use two configurations at the same time, one for each device. for the time being I used voicemeter since it can do a little more than just separate inputs
@THE HEADPHONE SHOW
After watching countless RUclips headphone videos I decided to purchased the Audeze LCD-X headphones. Upon receiving them, I was a little disappointed in the sound quality. But, after watching Resolve on the Headphone Show on RUclips explain how to correctly EQ the LCD-Xs, I was quite satisfied with my new cans.
I am currently streaming Ultra HD audio through my PC’s USB port from Amazon which consistently streams music at 24bit/92kHz. My USB cable is running into a FiiO Q5s portable amplifier/DAC with my headphones coming out of that.
I would like to upgrade the FiiO Q5s portable amplifier/DAC to separate headphone amplifier and DAC desktop units to improve the sound of the Audeze LCD-Xs.
What headphone amplifier and DAC would you recommend to complement the LCD-Xs?
I don't know. For years people kept saying to EQ my LCD2f 2016 headphones and listed the reasons why. I did EQ them twice with settings done by those in the know, and both times, I was not impressed. It made them feel lifeless, with movie scores I know so well sounding like they had gone through a noise filter.
Everyone is different, and not every headphone comes off the production line the same, so trying EQ is worth a shot, but for me, it did not help.
Does this app work with tidal while using exclusive mode?
Great video as always.
No, been trough that with him. I just dont use master anymore and don't miss it.
Nope. It says so in the Equalizer APO description: "- the application must not bypass the system effect infrastructure
(APIs like ASIO or WASAPI exclusive mode can not be used)"
The only way I've been able to EQ Tidal Masters (MQA) has been through Roon.
Can you recommend a song which has all the frequencies so i can see what i'm doing in real time ? Do one for Ananda btw. I know it doesn't need much but i feel like it's vocals is a bit muffled/muted for me. Also the air is lacking a bit.
If equalising to a target, what would you normalise the two graphs to? With your conservative approach, would you just try to normalise with least amount of changes?
Can you review the Schiit Loki as a "Hardware EQ" alternative.
Brian Tooze yes please do. I run a lcd-xc on a Schiit stack and have been thinking about buying one myself.
@@ryanm9105 $2000 headphones with a $200 stack?
@@Tallnerdyguy It is not all about zeroes
The issue I have is not being able to use Exclusive audio skipping the windows audio mix
Why would you say that the Sennheiser HD600/650/6XX don't take well to eq'ing?
wondering the same
I am looking for a good EQ for the Grado GH2. But I haven't found one. I don't know how to measure those by myself...
Mic sounds amazing! What kind of mic is that?
Thx . Very helpful! Still wondering how your proposal is different from what Audeze is providing as compensation e.g. as Roon preset. Also hove trouble finding your preferred eq presets in the provided links
I haven't posted them yet. This is if you want to learn how to do it yourself
Where can i find the measurement graph you use in your presentation . I am not able to read the text on the axis. I.e. i see the curve but i don't know at which frequency the dips and peaks occur . Thx
I post them in threads on the community forum linked in the description, and also in my written reviews posted on the main page
Thx tried it out in Roon. played with the q values to get a steady curve . Sounds overall good and transparent but a bit harsh in the upper heights
Yeah maybe add a downshelf around 11khz for the LCD-X.
I think I have understood that the harman curve is not the gain of the ear, instead it seems like its symmetrical, because if the ear prefer a higher volume for the treble (as I see in the Harman curve) then it means that the ear attenuate that frequencies, so they should be amplified by the source in order to be properly audible, am I right?
Example: receiving a constant signal in frequency, (like a monitor headphones), higher frequencies are amplified (by the ears), and treble are attenuated, so the headphones in order to follow the Harman curve has to attenuate highs and amplify treble. This means that the frequency response (gain) of the ear attenuates treble and amplify higher frequencies, being symmetrical to the Harman curve.
It's more so that the brain expects an elevation for where the ear amplifies certain frequencies. Think of the frequency response target as an ideal measurement at the ear drum reference point.
@@TheHEADPHONEShow Mmm
That seems clear now..
The harman curve is what you said, it is the response of a system that starts form an audio source everywhere outside the ear, and ends at the eardrum, so it is the canal I would say.
So normally, when experiencing sound, it is elevated where the Harmon curve suggests, because of the canal distortion, therefore applying the sound source almost into the ear, it bypass the canal and is almost directly applied to the eardrum, so, if not as the harman curve, it sounds ‘wrong’.
Divagation:
It erroneously seems similar to the response of the eye, but it is a different thing:
The response of the eye is elevated in the greenish-yellow central region, and attenuated at the edges of the spectrum (red and blue), so the eye if receive perfect white (where white stands for a planar spectrum) should sees instead a greenish-yellow, and there’s nothing to do cause it’s not about the canal, but about the interior of he eye. The only way to see perfect white is providing a white without the right amount of green; or for seeing red the light should be a lot more intense than the analog green light for having a similar experienced luminosity.
Hello,
How does Balanced Armature IEMs reacts to EQ? (Compared to Planar Magnetic Headphones)
Thanks in advance
I do eq headphones, but I do find a big problem with the method you show. You just showed how to eq with equalizer APO (this is the best we have, that I know of), but that only works with DS mode in windows and not if I want to send DSD direct via WASAPI or ASIO to a DAC. I also cant figure out how to do good eq in DAPs. They use the android eq wich is really bad with only like 4 to 6 bands. There is the minidsp, but then it doesnt take dsds or high res files, and ILDSP (portable one) only has line out so we are forced to use their DAC instead of our DAC of preference. I wish someone can point me out to a system wide parametric EQ for Android (for any streaming app) or a Portable device that takes digital in and have digital out and does all the filtering in the digital domain. So at the end If I cant eq my headphones in all the sources then eqing is kind of a waste of time and rather find a headphone with the signature I like.
Yeah android EQ is rough. That's why I'm more critical of IEMs with wonky FRs. But then again, people who use IEMs aren't always using them with a phone or a DAP either. With regards to your other question, yeah that's definitely an issue. To a certain extent, Roon lets you do this - and it's one of the reasons I do recommend Roon. But as for DSD exclusively, that's not something I've ever really seen the benefit of. I know some people are really into it, but that's yet another inconvenience.
@@TheHEADPHONEShow Thank you for your answer!! I rarely eq iems, since i never listen to then at high volumes, but I do enjoy listening to music in my balcony with headphones and I use a DAP with lineout to more powerfull portable amplifers. You mentioned also that when you break the seal with the lcd xs your bass response drops. how much is it? since my lcs pads are in really bad shape (leather peeling) and that might be affecting the sound. Also I remember from your podcast with crin that the oposite happens with planars, the sub bass gets enhanced.
@@TheHEADPHONEShow I wish roon wasnt that expensive. I mean is totally worth it but due to the current times we live in, is a hard call
@@elburrona A lot of that depends on the headphone's design. I think he was talking about how it impacts HiFiMAN headphones like the hE1000, and that's definitely true. Bass increasing when you break the seal also isn't unique to HiFiMAN headphones, but they are a good example of it. For Audeze's I think it's a bit more complicated because the pads are already so huge.
Wavelet
I think you talked about this on your livestream, but what target are you using as your reference point? Was it Harman 2013 bass response combined w/ the 2018 top end?
If not, and it doesn't subscribe to a 'typical trend', would you consider mapping out your preference curve? Would be interested to see where that falls.
It was cool to see your thought process on EQing the Audeze LCD-X. What's your process like for headphones akin to, say, the Hifiman Arya or Ananda, which have pretty good stock FRs, what kinds of micro-adjustments do you like to make there?
Yeah I'll put together my EQ profiles for most headphones I measure. I think some like the Ananda and Arya really aren't worth doing all that much to because they sound pretty good already, and most adjustments there would just be for preference. So like, I may boost the 2khz dip and drop a few areas in the treble by a dB or two. As for my own preference, I do like the hybrid Harman target with 2013 bass and 2018 mids and treble, but it's not so simple to just combine them in a compensation. At the moment I'm deciding the best ways to represent this stuff and I think I'll go with 2013 Harman for one, and maybe a custom target for another one, and that will likely be my own personal preference. So something like that hybrid with a bit better treble extension is likely what it'll end up being. I tend to think Harman in general ends up being a bit 'cautious' because we're not always listening to optimally recorded stuff. I suppose it's better to have the majority of material sound good than cater to only the really well recorded stuff.
So does EQ and a preferred target mean that it is pointless to own multiple headphones?
I remember a video you had discussing the benefits of owning multiple headphones. In particular, the video talking to I think it's Mr. Chan from Hifiman. He proposed different headphones not just for different genres but different bands in each genre. Sorry I'm heavily paraphrasing, but if you have a set target for what sounds good, such as the Harman target, it leads me to think that owning multiple headphones is pointless (aside from practicality, like a closed back for isolation).
I would love to hear your opinion on this. Great video, I recently started using EQ and have really been enjoying it.
It's an interesting question. Because I don't EQ to perfectly match the curve, and I also don't EQ every headphone to have the same FR (I like to try and keep the general 'flavor' of the headphone intact), I think it still makes sense to have multiple headphones. On top of that, not every headphone has the same characteristics, like slam/stage/speed/timbre etc. So you do get enough variation to make it interesting. But I also think it's worth respecting the idea of not EQing specifically to be able to enjoy each headphone's tonality for what it is. I think for a lot of hobbyists, this is an important part of it - they don't want all their headphones to sound the same. Realistically for people who just want to own one or two headphones, however, EQ really is something to take seriously, even if it's just a little bit.
To add to this I own multiple headphones and eq them all. The one thing you can’t take away from a headphone is its’ sound presentation. And that varies vastly to each pair. Even if all my pairs were the exact same curve, they will always have different characteristics. An obvious factor being soundstage but it goes much deeper than that
The huge holes between 4k-5k and between 9-10k would typically indicate a bad crossover or a poorly engineered one on a speaker. There shouldn’t be huge holes like that especially on a high end pair of headphones like the Audeeze LCX. Did you perform the spectral analysis on your own pair of headphones yourself or did you pull those measurements off of a website that someone else did? Because if they are yours, I would seriously consider sending those headphones to the manufacturer to have them take a look at it to make sure nothing is broken or messed up with your pair. And if those holes are standard across all of the Audeze LCDX line, then that’s a major problem/flaw with the engineering and design. Hopefully it’s just your pair that are defective.
It's there for all units by design, read the analysis they made of them in the site "audio science review".
@@BrentLeVasseur Oratory1990's curve has it and it's a commonly accepted characteristic of those headphones. I'm not a troll or a hater, I bought the 2021 version and it was an extensively researched decision since €1,4k is not a trivial amount for me, but facts are facts.
@@BrentLeVasseur I know you weren't. I read tons of posts and reviews and eventually I narrowed my options to the Arya, Focal Clear, LCD-2, X and 3. I ruled out the Arya because everyone seems to agree that build quality seems cheap and the Clear doesn't have that rep but still gives me that impression.
I'm not, nor I intend to be, the typical reddit audiophile with a collection worth the value of a new car, I just want one headphone that is the best I can afford and be done with it. €1.4K is quite a lot for me so if I spend that much money on a pair of headphones they need to offer not only perfect sound quality but they also have to be perfect all round. I can understand a mid-end product to focus solely on its main purpose sacrificing aesthetics and build quality in order to cut costs, but a high end HP better have a build quality that screams premium and that allows it to last forever, and €1.4K and plastic don't sound well together in my opinion. The Audeze on the other hand seem solid and luxurious AF.
Then I started to read comparisons between the different LCD models and the vast majority of people, if not all, seem to agree that the X sound better than the 2 and 3, and not getting the 3 leaves me €1K extra that I'd like to use on an RME ADI-2 next year.
@@BrentLeVasseur Congratulations for that setup, I could only dream of having something like that. You don't really have to sell me the sound quality of the Aryas (although you did a great work at it in your video), everything I read about it was positive, it's the build quality what turned me off. However, owning the LCD-X takes away the pressure of making a choice and now maybe I could consider getting the Arya at some point in the future since I do see myself upgrading my HD560S that lives on my desktop and I use all the time for casual browsing, but this hobby can turn into a money pit really fast and I really don't want to go down that route. But on the other hand, having the rme adi-2 solely for driving the X would be kind of a waste, but still, maybe in the long run.
You really made me curious about what that amp (or any tube amp) could sound. Just a question, what does a tube amp ad to the sound that can't be replicated by equalizing? I have zero knowledge on tube amps in the audio context but, from what I know about amps from an electronic engineering perspective, semiconductors have a much longer linear zone so the only explanation that comes to my mind is that tubes are actually bad at staying linear and the resulting effect is what people find pleasant.
@@BrentLeVasseur Well, guess what, I ended up getting the Aryas, although the Stealth edition, and I'm returning the LCD-X.
i tried eq, made my audio sound worse every time lol, might just be a noob
Just ordered schiit new lokius. With lcd2 it gives me some room to tweak.
Thank you man. Can you compare this Audeze model with the Ollo S4x ?
Silly question incoming: Is it possible to EQ somehow if I'm listening through a Chord Mojo, ie the original one without the EQ function? I listen from Apple Music from a desktop. Apple Music has EQ-ing, but the Mojo ignores whatever changes I make.
What if you went through the relevant frequencies and determined the minimum dB values that you could hear at each frequency? Then, scale those measured dB values, using the Fletcher-Munson curves, to a loud listening volume. Wouldn't this create an apparently equal loudness flat curve for you?