EQ or DSP with Headphones

[LBob]

I recently shifted over to headphones entirely for various reasons.  I wondered if it was possible to use some form of EQ or DSP (I'm not sure which apply here) with headphones.  I found one very very detailed and technical example of EQ on Head Fi, but it frankly was beyond me.  Is anyone aware of any guides/explanations on how to use EQ/DSP?  I'd like to use it with Audirvana + as a plug in if possible.  Additionally, anybody have any experience with EQ or DSP with headphones?

[dalethorn]

3 hours ago, LBob said:

I recently shifted over to headphones entirely for various reasons.  I wondered if it was possible to use some form of EQ or DSP (I'm not sure which apply here) with headphones.  I found one very very detailed and technical example of EQ on Head Fi, but it frankly was beyond me.  Is anyone aware of any guides/explanations on how to use EQ/DSP?  I'd like to use it with Audirvana + as a plug in if possible.  Additionally, anybody have any experience with EQ or DSP with headphones?

I've equalized 150 headphones using the Audioforge Parametric equalizer for iOS devices.  It's very effective, and I have a tutorial on it at my dalethorn website under the hifi misc. section.  Getting a desktop parametric equalizer might be difficult or expensive.  Anyway, just a quick note - the object of EQ starts with correcting the worst peaks and recesses from top to bottom, but after that, the goal for best sound isn't a flat response, it's to gradually suppress or eliminate colorations.  And when you've achieved the best EQ, it shouldn't be for "your personal hearing", it should be for a natural sound like you hear with live music.

[LBob]

Thanks. I'll check it out.  Did you find eq made significant improvement Since?

[dalethorn]

4 hours ago, LBob said:

Thanks. I'll check it out.  Did you find eq made significant improvement Since?

The best thing EQ does, once you get into it enough, is make the sound more natural, with a much better soundstage.  Sometimes, with some headphones and speakers, you can get lucky and suppress a couple of peaks or boost a recess or two, and the sound improves so much it's like having a much more expensive item.

 

Other times, some of these devices can be really tough to EQ, and it's unpredictable.  But no matter what the cause, whether driver mis-timing, frequency errors, distortions and resonances etc., I've never found a case where frequency adjustment with the equalizer didn't make an improvement.

 

For example, when Innerfidelity did a brief review of the AKG K812, they noted some problems with harshness or even distortion, and they gave examples of a couple of music tracks -- Tiger Okoshi (Bootsman's Little House), and Pinback (Non Photo Blue).  The K812 did prove to be a problem for me, but eventually I found frequencies that I could reduce just enough to make those songs tolerable, yet not so much that other music experienced dropouts at those frequencies.