# Curious question for Audiophiles



## FreedomEclipse (Dec 9, 2013)

Curious question is curious... 

Can you tell what kind of a person some one is or what kind of music they like or listen to just by looking at their EQ settings? 

I only ask this because setting up an EQ is such a personal thing and usually based off whatever speakers or headphones you are listening through. 

Id like to hear your opinions


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## Vario (Dec 9, 2013)

Yes, if they have a lot of bass boost it would be obvious its modern music or the speakers suck or the room isn't very optimal.  If your speakers are bad they will have a lot of mid range and no high or low.  Its hard to replicate lows without size and highs frequently are too bright.  Sometimes a bad set of speakers results in an EQ thats \ shaped or \_/ shaped.

I run a pre/pro setup, flat EQ.  I use a Lexicon DC1 Processor with a Behringer EP2500 (QSC Knockoff)

If you have good speakers (look for vintage stuff) you don't really need to EQ.  I have some 80's Infinity Reference Series I bought for $15 and refoamed.


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## MRCL (Dec 9, 2013)

Bass slider at max = moron. Lol but a high bass slider does not indicate musical taste in the slightest. Speakers that suck suck even more when the bass is boosted.
On my home stereo tower I prefer an analog EQ, and I tune it to whatever it is I'm listening to.  It also depends on my mood. On the PC and my crap generic speakers it doesn't matter anyways, with headphones on (AKGs) its different again, they're very good headphones and I don't need an EQ for that.

+1 on decent speakers, doesn't need to be vintage tough. But shelling out a couple extra bucks is worth it. My KEF speakers cost 800 and the difference to cheaper stuff is very much audible. Old Technics or JVC speakers from the 80s also do hold up very well.

That being said, so much different parameters to take into account with speakers; from your personal preference to room layout to height of speakers to enclosures to your sitting position to air density to planetary alignment etc...


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## Vario (Dec 9, 2013)

Yeah I have some 3 way Technics from 1981 I run that sound great but aren't memorable quality (particle board I think).  Taking up space though, big bastards.  I can run a shit ton of speakers off of my single amp.  This thing is such a f-cking tank of an amp so I have a ton of headroom too.

Best speakers to get for the money IMHO are Pioneer HPM100 if you ever see them.


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## FreedomEclipse (Dec 9, 2013)

Heres the EQ from my Creative SB-Z+ Logitech Z-5500's. Settings on the Z-5500's control pod are all set to defaults so bass isnt boosted unless in the EQ







And heres the EQ from PowerAmp on my SGS3 which im running with some Hi-Fi man RE-400s


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## qubit (Dec 9, 2013)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Curious question is curious...
> 
> Can you tell what kind of a person some one is or what kind of music they like or listen to just by looking at their EQ settings?
> 
> ...


Yes, the flatter one has their eq settings, the more of a hifi purist snob they are. 

That's said a bit tongue in cheek of course, but there's some truth to it. Think of those people who refuse to have an amp with tone controls on it. regardless of the benefit they could bring. Now, the more _expensive_ the hifi, the more snobbish one is, certainly. Think of a system costing north of 3-5 grand, for example.

Stick a "snob factor" poll on this thread. It'll be a riot.


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## Steevo (Dec 9, 2013)

Thats all great, but unless they are mixing the music too they are mostly just the audio equal to a hipster. 

Modern mixes of music vary so much and its uncontrolled so the "sound" you or anyone else is looking for is nothing more than your perception of it and whatever if any corn cob you prefer to stuff up your ass while you listen to it.


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## Solaris17 (Dec 9, 2013)

meh not really im hard of hearing so I actually prefer to have my bass up so its easier for me to hear. Coincidentally iv played the violin for 14 years and like classical music. Though I imagine having the bass cranked would socially portray me as someone that listens to alot of rap or maybe even gives me a "gangster" type of image it really couldnt be further from the truth.


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## Steevo (Dec 9, 2013)

This^^

Although I still like some "techno" and trance, I love me some good classical, classic rock, and "hip hop" in my "mix".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war

I find it funny that audio heads will say its OK for the studio to screw with the EQ and tweak it, but not for any user, conform or ever be branded a NOOB!!!!


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## qubit (Dec 9, 2013)

Steevo said:


> This^^
> 
> Although I still like some "techno" and trance, I love me some good classical, classic rock, and "hip hop" in my "mix".
> 
> ...


I've been a "victim" of this loudness war several times now, once in particular.

There was some mellow track out a few years ago (forget who it was now) that I quite liked. Played on the radio it sounded horribly compressed and unpleasant, with obvious companding artifacts throughout. I figured that most of this was due to the audio processing radio stations do to the sound before they broadcast it, which very audibly degrades it* and bought the CD. To my horror, that CD sounded almost the same as the radio station transmission, other than the treble being better. Why the fuck did the recording engineers ruin the sound like that?! There wasn't even an uncompressed version on the CD, which had plenty of space on it for one. Result was I only listened to it a few times after that and has now been forgotten.

*I'd really like to know why they ruin it like this, but I've never found an explanation why. Anyone know? I played a CD through a very small. cheap stereo FM transmitter of a few milliwatts and the sound through the radio was far superiour to the crap audio quality radio stations intentionally put out. What gives?


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## LightningJR (Dec 9, 2013)

I don't touch the EQ when using headphones mainly because I like the way my headphones sound and want to hear the way the music is on them. With my homemade receiver/mini system it's a different story. On prologic mode there's basically no bass so I like to turn it up but when I turn it to "stereo" the bass is extreme so I turn it down. For me as long as there's no extremes in the frequencies I keep the EQ untouched.


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## FreedomEclipse (Dec 10, 2013)

qubit said:


> *I'd really like to know why they ruin it like this, but I've never found an explanation why. Anyone know? I played a CD through a very small. cheap stereo FM transmitter of a few milliwatts and the sound through the radio was far superiour to the crap audio quality radio stations intentionally put out. What gives?




Noob producers that dont know how to mix the sound sources properly.  Then again some bands might want the guitar to cut through the mix a little more so they take away the dynamics of it and flatten the mid range out while increasing the tone - they do this quite a lot for drums because they dont want the sound to bleed into the other audio sources too much. flatten out the mids and a little touch of bass and roll the tone right up to keep everything tight without being overly powerful etc etc.


Obviously im no sound producer but Ive recorded with a few of my previous bands and this is what ive experienced and picked up along the way so im sorry to any sound producers if i couldnt do a complete breakdown of how to mix an album or track. Im usually the guy on the guitar - thats what i stick to when recording, otherwise i dabble in drums and bass too....


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## qubit (Dec 10, 2013)

Sure, n00b producers, but that doesn't explain why all radio stations I've ever heard intentionally mess up the sound like this. It has a sort of grungy, turgid quality to it, with odd, curiously suppressed treble and sometimes inflated bass. It's obviously not just an EQ thing, but the dynamics have been fiddled with. Perhaps it's to do with saving bandwidth, I don't know.

Even LBC does this and that's a talk radio station. You can clearly hear it on any jingles they play, but even on speech where it's not as obvious. It just sounds crap and I hate it.


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## Solaris17 (Dec 10, 2013)

ya its a shame todays songs dont balance out...the frequency of these kind of releases is pretty high. Maybe if the volume of people supporting this kind of music could be turned down a notch the industry wouldnt play such garbage. I could dance to that tune.



......;..

ill leave now


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## FreedomEclipse (Dec 10, 2013)

qubit said:


> Sure, n00b producers, but that doesn't explain why all radio stations I've ever heard intentionally mess up the sound like this. It has a sort of grungy, turgid quality to it, with odd, curiously suppressed treble and sometimes inflated bass. It's obviously not just an EQ thing, but the dynamics have been fiddled with. Perhaps it's to do with saving bandwidth, I don't know.
> 
> Even LBC does this and that's a talk radio station. You can clearly hear it on any jingles they play, but even on speech where it's not as obvious. It just sounds crap and I hate it.




Because most people who are bored enough to listen to the radio honestly dont have their standards set high when it comes to the overall sound quality, and most of the time is just to pass the time - something to fill that silence while theyre driving to work. dont forget this is mainstream radio we're talking about.

that said though you could have a 32k bit rate audio stream which sounds like sheets of tin foil being crushed into a ball or flapped about like a sheet of plastic/cardboard Rolf Harris style and people will still be happy to listen to it - so long as they can receive the signal or stream, they dont care how it sounds.

I only listen to the radio for the news, and even then it was probably once every 6-8 months. 

I used to listen to XFM a long time ago for the rockshow and their 'streaming' of live concerts and stuff but their playlists have become so radio friendly that if they didnt keep telling you that you were tuned into XFM every 10mins you would think it was heart 106.2 or virgin Radio....Oh wait - they call it  'Absolute radio' now, Last time I really listened to the radio, 105.8 was still known as virgin radio.

Honestly - Nobody cares


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## Ra97oR (Dec 10, 2013)

qubit said:


> Sure, n00b producers, but that doesn't explain why all radio stations I've ever heard intentionally mess up the sound like this. It has a sort of grungy, turgid quality to it, with odd, curiously suppressed treble and sometimes inflated bass. It's obviously not just an EQ thing, but the dynamics have been fiddled with. Perhaps it's to do with saving bandwidth, I don't know.
> 
> Even LBC does this and that's a talk radio station. You can clearly hear it on any jingles they play, but even on speech where it's not as obvious. It just sounds crap and I hate it.



Dynamic range compression, EQing to counteract low frequency background noise. FM radio is mostly listened by people in cars, with low frequency background noise coming from the vehicle. It does somewhat make sense.

The loudest passage and the quietest part is now about the same, so both can be heard and bass is improved to not get drown out by the background.

@ Topic: I don't use EQ on any of my setups. I just take my headphones as they are, they sounds more than good enough without EQ imo. Their sound signatures is what made me still own them in the first place.

If I still have my A2000X, I would most likely have EQ on from time to time. That thing respond to EQ like nothing I have seen before.


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## Frick (Dec 10, 2013)

About the loud war: Not noob producers, more like a cheap trick to make things louder for the sake of being louder. That and it can actually sound better on really crappy earbuds, which people use.

Me I almost agree with the snobs that EQ's are more or less useless. If people feel good about changing settings let them do so by all means, just don't pretend it's an improvement. Often it isn't.


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## Steevo (Dec 10, 2013)

Frick said:


> About the loud war: Not noob producers, more like a cheap trick to make things louder for the sake of being louder. That and it can actually sound better on really crappy earbuds, which people use.
> 
> Me I almost agree with the snobs that EQ's are more or less useless. If people feel good about changing settings let them do so by all means, just don't pretend it's an improvement. Often it isn't.




If they feel its an improvement than it is, sound like color is subjective to the observer, sometimes people learn to appreciate different tastes in music and as well different representations of the same piece with different characteristics, I like eggs, are you still reading? Putting down or subjectively insinuating that your eggs are better without salt and inferring your musical preference is of the supreme quality is merely insulting to those with different tastes.


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## The Von Matrices (Dec 10, 2013)

qubit said:


> Yes, the flatter one has their eq settings, the more of a hifi purist snob they are.
> 
> That's said a bit tongue in cheek of course, but there's some truth to it. Think of those people who refuse to have an amp with tone controls on it. regardless of the benefit they could bring. Now, the more _expensive_ the hifi, the more snobbish one is, certainly. Think of a system costing north of 3-5 grand, for example.



I guess I'm a snob then; I prefer to listen to music the way it was recorded. I always look for equipment with as flat a response as possible.  I see it as futile adjusting the equalizer because what sounds "good" varies song by song.

Honestly though, if you need to turn up the bass in modern pop/hip-hop/R&B music, then something is seriously wrong with your audio equipment or hearing.

See www.npr.org/assets/music/news/2009/12/poster.pdf


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## ste2425 (Dec 10, 2013)

For me EQ settings relay the quality of the equipment the music is being played through and the room its being played in. I was always taught that EQ is a corrective tool, you should be correcting issues in the room or equipment not trying to make 'production' changes. If you want more bass fix it at source. But then im talking about a live situation not about household use, my separates doesn't have an EQ.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Dec 10, 2013)

I stopped messing with the EQ, crystalizer, bass, and treble when I got my Forte and it's been the same with my HD. When I had bad speakers and a Fatality card I needed something extra but with a better card and good phones you can get a lot of life out of your sound just leaving that stuff alone, and you're just going to drive yourself nuts trying to customize something that works for every genre. The last tweak I did that I could actually notice was changing opamps. I was surprised at how dramatic the differences between opamps can be.


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## Frick (Dec 10, 2013)

Steevo said:


> If they feel its an improvement than it is, sound like color is subjective to the observer, sometimes people learn to appreciate different tastes in music and as well different representations of the same piece with different characteristics, I like eggs, are you still reading? Putting down or subjectively insinuating that your eggs are better without salt and inferring your musical preference is of the supreme quality is merely insulting to those with different tastes.



Sure.


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## Frederik S (Dec 10, 2013)

EQ is a good way to fix minor issues, but rather than fixing them you usually just end up dialing it down and creating another problem elsewhere. Headphones respond better to EQ to my ears because there are fewer variables, that said it is a mine field getting it right. I have tried dulling down the treble on very treble happy headphones but that just made the transitions from the upper midrange odd, and caused some odd decay issues as well. Adding more bass works to a certain extent, perhaps because there is less information in that region. 

That said I have not used extensive EQing for a long time. Most new players, sound cards, headphones are pretty good straight out of the box with a few exceptions of course. I am a pretty big fan of neutral sounding gear maybe that is why I have never bothered with EQing that much.  

Even a Samsung Galaxy S3 International edition is a pretty perfect source and has more than enough power for any earphone out there. If you can find an Android kernel with a few noteworthy audio fixes in it you are golden. These improve sound so much more than any EQ I have ever been able to adjust. 

The best upgrade to the sound quality in most headphones is a quite room with dim lighting.


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## Steevo (Dec 10, 2013)

Frederik S said:


> EQ is a good way to fix minor issues, but rather than fixing them you usually just end up dialing it down and creating another problem elsewhere. Headphones respond better to EQ to my ears because there are fewer variables, that said it is a mine field getting it right. I have tried dulling down the treble on very treble happy headphones but that just made the transitions from the upper midrange odd, and caused some odd decay issues as well. Adding more bass works to a certain extent, perhaps because there is less information in that region.
> 
> That said I have not used extensive EQing for a long time. Most new players, sound cards, headphones are pretty good straight out of the box with a few exceptions of course. I am a pretty big fan of neutral sounding gear maybe that is why I have never bothered with EQing that much.
> 
> ...


I have custom files to get the most out of my Yamaha chip in my GS2 (International unlocked) and with no EQ my cheaper Sennheiser 212's sound good enough for relaxing and around the house.


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## Vario (Dec 10, 2013)

I run flat EQ and run good sounding shit (two 8 ohm 80's bookshelf speakers per side) with a used $100 DJ amp set to 600 wpc @ 4ohm and a very low gain setting.  Thats all, a ton of headroom.  Also for you guys who run EQ, you should run negative (subtract for the reduction) rather than add.  This avoids clipping your preamp signal.

I use an EQ in my Mustang to reduce the bass in my Shaker 1000 system.  Used car came with it.


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