Do You Use EQ?

[Witterings]

Just interested to see what percentage of people use EQ, I guess I'm looking at it from the point of should a system be right in the 1st place without any adjustment and if you're having to make changes maybe the system's not good or possibly just not right for you.

I appreciated different people have different tastes which age and it's effect on hearing will also change to a degree.

If for example you have bright'ish speakers but love the detail, clarity and punch they offer, if you feel you need to start adjusting the EQ to make them more palatable, would you consider they're the wrong speakers (or amp maybe) or do you just consider it part of the "hobby".

Obviously if you have a system that on turning it up, it distorts horribly, or if your speakers are just plain "boxy", you're starting point isn't great ... so I am assuming it's with a reasonable level of equipment to begin with.

You so often seee comments about pairing as well, if you have a restrained amp and the same with your speakers and the combination is a bit "dull", again won't tweaking the EQ bring it back to life?

Really interested to hear people's thoughts on this.

 

[plastic penguin]

No, my piddly analogue amp doesn't have this function. Not sure I would use it even it had EQ.

The balance between detail and tonality is absolutely fine.

 

[Al ears]

You cannot make a silk purse out of a sows ear they say.
whilst it might be nice to be able to tweek certain aspects if your system is that wrong in the first place EQ isn't going to help significantly.
No I dont use EQ even though my amp has the ability however I do use the Balance control.

 

[plastic penguin]

The only practical use of a in-built EQ function is if you have a system that multi-tasks, such as a Sonus.

Plus, there will always be recordings that isn't well produced. Usually it's the higher end systems that generally pick up these imperfections.

 

[abacus]

You can have a perfect system, however if the recording is poor, then an EQ can help. (No professional will ever be without EQ to fine tune things)
In addition, a perfect system can sound like a budget system when it is put in a room due to the biggest effect on sound being the room, not the system. (EQ can help with this, however room correction is better (Assuming you have made the room as best you can) as it is way more advanced than just EQ)
Finally, most Hi-Fi users who have an EQ have no idea how to use it, so the sound usually ends up worse to everybody except themselves, so in this instance not having one is probably better.

Bill

 

[Al ears]

You can have a perfect system, however if the recording is poor, then an EQ can help. (No professional will ever be without EQ to fine tune things)
In addition, a perfect system can sound like a budget system when it is put in a room due to the biggest effect on sound being the room, not the system. (EQ can help with this, however room correction is better (Assuming you have made the room as best you can) as it is way more advanced than just EQ)
Finally, most Hi-Fi users who have an EQ have no idea how to use it, so the sound usually ends up worse to everybody except themselves, so in this instance not having one is probably better.

Bill

To be honest if a recording was so poor it required the use of EQ I wouldn't be playing it much.
Yes, some people might use EQ to fine tune things to their liking but is this how the recording was intended to sound? Probably not.
If I had to resort to spending huge amounts on room correcting then I either have the wrong system in the first instance or would head down the headphone route....

 

[Friesiansam]

For my Elegias, I use the EQ settings in this video recommended by anort3, just toned down a little. I don't see a problem with EQ, as long as you are happy with the result. No matter what someone else might think, you the owner, are the one who needs to like the result.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqi54jd83uM

 

[Witterings]

Interesting comments so far!

One of the other reasons I asked, I was vaguely looking at DAC's the other night and wondering if it was worth upgrading from my E30 and was quite shocked to see a few comments from people about how useful the EQ was on their RME ADI-2 DAC
I guess my thinking was, if you pay a lot of money for a higher end DAC supposedly because it improves the sound quality, and then you have to start EQ'ing it .... what purpose is the high end DAC serving?

OK, maybe if you've got a rubbish recording but personally the idea of regularly having to adjust EQ for each song would be my worst nightmare, yes some songs will sound better than others but I just want to relax and enjo the music rather than having to keep making changes.

 

[twinkletoes]

For my Elegias, I use the EQ settings in this video recommended by anort3, just toned down a little. I don't see a problem with EQ, as long as you are happy with the result. No matter what someone else might think, you the owner, are the one who needs to like the result.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqi54jd83uM

Now this i don't see the point of, headphones should be perfect and for the price you paid for them, they should be. If you have to use an EQ on them, then they aren't fit for purpose in my eye. But that's just my opinion

 

[matthewpianist]

To be honest if a recording was so poor it required the use of EQ I wouldn't be playing it much.
Yes, some people might use EQ to fine tune things to their liking but is this how the recording was intended to sound? Probably not.
If I had to resort to spending huge amounts on room correcting then I either have the wrong system in the first instance or would head down the headphone route....

The music I love has been recorded to a vast range of standards, from pretty ropey recordings such as Fairport's famous Liege & Lief album, to Chandos SACDs of Lutolawski's music. The less than ideal recording quality of the former isn't going to make me listen any less to the great music that album has to offer.

I find most well-matched middle order systems these days have an ability to walk a decent line - bringing the qualities out in a good recording, without exposing all the faults in a bad one. Works fine for me.

 

[Friesiansam]

Now this i don't see the point of, headphones should be perfect and for the price you paid for them, they should be. If you have to use an EQ on them, then they aren't fit for purpose in my eye. But that's just my opinion

On the other hand, everyone's ears and everyone's preferences, are different. No matter how expensive they are, no pair of headphones can be tuned to perfection for all potential customers.

 

[daytona600]

Recording & Mastering engineers spend weeks or month with EQ
Hiend audio amplifiers never fitted with Eq or tone controls

 

[Witterings]

Hiend audio amplifiers never fitted with Eq or tone controls

That's something that's also surprised me, I'm sure "back in the day" they used to, I remember my parents Marantz having Bass / Treble tone controls and even my own lesser Marantz system as a kid did as well.

Everyone's ears, tastes and indeed speakers are different, I can't see the arguement for not having basic tone controls, maybe they feel that equipment's so much better and recordings more "uniform" than they used to be so feel they're unnecessary.

 

[Al ears]

That's something that's also surprised me, I'm sure "back in the day" they used to, I remember my parents Marantz having Bass / Treble tone controls and even my own lesser Marantz system as a kid did as well.

Everyone's ears, tastes and indeed speakers are different, I can't see the arguement for not having basic tone controls, maybe they feel that equipment's so much better and recordings more "uniform" than they used to be so feel they're unnecessary.

These days it is probably better if you define exactly what you mean by EQ.
There are now multiple methods of altering signals and not simply the employment of a graphic equaliser or more basic Bass and Treble adjustment pots.
Some high end manufacturers like Luxman et al still fit them to their amps others simply prefer just to amplify the incoming signal without any further interference...... And that is what it is, interference.
It's hard enough to produce a volume control that doesn't create 'noise ' so the addition of frequency controls is often left out

 

[RoA]

I don't think there's anything wrong with having tone controls or EQ. Very handy occasionally.

Roon, stalwart of audiophile music curation offers EQ.

My Chromecast Audio has simple Bass and Treble adjustments.

 

[Al ears]

I don't think there's anything wrong with having tone controls or EQ. Very handy occasionally.

Roon, stalwart of audiophile music curation offers EQ.

My Chromecast Audio has simple Bass and Treble adjustments.

So even digital streaming isn't perfect.....

 

[Ceand]

One aspect to be considered is the effect of the room on presentation. Like me, I suspect that many people have their HiFi set up in the lounge which may not be conducive to perfect speaker or listening positioning. In these cases, room EQ such as Dirac Live or Lyngdorf's RoomPerfect will help control unwanted resonances and nulls.
Of course you can experiment with bass traps and other sound reflection management materials but this is not always a good match with domestic harmony!

 

[Witterings]

One aspect to be considered is the effect of the room on presentation. Like me, I suspect that many people have their HiFi set up in the lounge which may not be conducive to perfect speaker or listening positioning. In these cases, room EQ such as Dirac Live or Lyngdorf's RoomPerfect will help control unwanted resonances and nulls.
Of course you can experiment with bass traps and other sound reflection management materials but this is not always a good match with domestic harmony!

I have to say it's new / early days for me with Dirac but the Jury's still out for me.

I've done both the focused and the wide calibrations, I'm not advanced enough to then start playing with the results / curve but if you need to is it really doing wjat it's meant to.

I keep switching between the 2 and also back to Direct and my overall opinion at the moment is the different settings sound better with different songs, it tames the bass and makes it punchier but quite often I feel it goes that bit too far.

As I say though very early days for me with it.

 

[abacus]

I have to say it's new / early days for me with Dirac but the Jury's still out for me.

I've done both the focused and the wide calibrations, I'm not advanced enough to then start playing with the results / curve but if you need to is it really doing wjat it's meant to.

I keep switching between the 2 and also back to Direct and my overall opinion at the moment is the different settings sound better with different songs, it tames the bass and makes it punchier but quite often I feel it goes that bit too far.

As I say though very early days for me with it.

If you haven’t had room correction before your ears may have got used to the sound in the room, and when it is corrected it may sound wrong even if it is more accurate, you are doing the right thing by taking your time, however I suggest you go out and listen to some live music to see what the sound should be like, and base your settings around that.

Bill

 

[bigfish786]

For my Elegias, I use the EQ settings in this video recommended by anort3, just toned down a little. I don't see a problem with EQ, as long as you are happy with the result. No matter what someone else might think, you the owner, are the one who needs to like the result.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqi54jd83uM

as I’ve bought my Focal Elegia to wear outdoors while walking I’ve bought an A&K AK JR to use as the source, as it has a 5 band equaliser on it, which should help tame the aggressive midrange for me.