Fun audio thread. I'd challenge people to a proper blind test between mp3 at various bit rates and an original recording.. The EQ debate is quite entertaining as well. Proper high quality LAME 128kbit, most people struggle, barey anyone gets statistically valid scores picking it out...

Of course one shouldn't need an EQ for various types of music; if they actually went for a certain sound, they'd have put that on the CD, not requiring on someone to use silly EQ settings at home. EQs can be handy for making horrible records sound a bit better by toning down excessive bass and ear piercing cymbals.

A decent recording played back on a decent system should in principle not require any EQ. However, there is a major flaw in the entire system; when playing music in a room, when you move your head about a matter of centimeters, the frequency response can go up and down considerably..

Still, thats beyond our control.. well, at one listening position you could indeed use parametric EQ to flatten the frequency response at that position in the room..

To make difference between u gotta own a good pair of speakers or mid-priced headphones like i got here (Creative Fatal1ty Headset).

Also, i can make pretty much difference in quality ranges. But 192 - 320kbps, it feels all the same for me. 192kbps is actually max u need for quality. Most of the legal music CD's are on 192kbps tho.

I'm totally with Niels here.

Most people would struggle to pick out even 128kbit MP3 in a proper test.

And regarding EQ on a playback system, it SHOULD used to counteract the room influence, not do anything to the recording. Properly EQ'ing a system is a complete science in itself and not something to be 'tuned by ear', or twist a knob here and move a slider there.

Quote from DragonCommando :

...this is what an equalizer tuned by ear should basicaly look like...

Excuse me? "this how it SHOULD look like"? EVERYBODY has different tastes in sound, two humans dont hear the sound the same way :/

so you really cant tell people "this is how it should look like"..

attached a pict of my EQ.

Quote from Feffe85 :

Excuse me? "this how it SHOULD look like"? EVERYBODY has different tastes in sound, two humans dont hear the sound the same way :/

so you really cant tell people "this is how it should look like"

attached a pict of my EQ.

Well yea, with my old PC i had the same program and i had to crank up my 100Hz too so it could even affect the bassline - but when i first looked at it then i was "WTF"

Quote from Feffe85 :

two humans dont hear the sound the same way :/

So u hear "uuh" and i hear "aah" ???

Quote from hazaky :

So u hear "uuh" and i hear "aah" ???

Normal people hear real music and you hear beats.

Quote from Feffe85 :

Excuse me? "this how it SHOULD look like"? EVERYBODY has different tastes in sound, two humans dont hear the sound the same way :/

so you really cant tell people "this is how it should look like"..

attached a pict of my EQ.

I said basicaly, NOT exactly. I was trying to state that it shoulden't look like a bowl shape unless you are lazy or don't realy care that much.

Of course it will look different for everyone. But why do you have your 200hz completely cut? That removes all of your upper bass range.

In general, EVERY system will benefit from an EQ, regardless of what media you play. As I stated, the EQ is not to make one particular type of music sound good, it should be set to flaten any frequency deviances caused by different equipment and the listening environment. I've said that at least twice in this thread already.

Unless you have some type of RTA spectrum analyzer or simmilar equipment you are going to have to set your EQ by ear, and it's perfectly possible to do so, provided you know what you are doing and know what to listen for.

Quote from hazaky :

Well yea, with my old PC i had the same program and i had to crank up my 100Hz too so it could even affect the bassline - but when i first looked at it then i was "WTF"

Yes, and that is because the chip on these boards sucks :P

Quote from hazaky :

So u hear "uuh" and i hear "aah" ???

No not really, but its BASICALY the same thing as two people dont SEE the same way.. the eyes and ears of two people arent exactly the same..
so people respond to freq's in different ways, and what someone says is "bass-less" someone else might think has too much bass..

Quote from DragonCommando :

I said basicaly, NOT exactly. I was trying to state that it shoulden't look like a bowl shape unless you are lazy or don't realy care that much.

Of course it will look different for everyone. But why do you have your 200hz completely cut? That removes all of your upper bass range.

In general, EVERY system will benefit from an EQ, regardless of what media you play. As I stated, the EQ is not to make one particular type of music sound good, it should be set to flaten any frequency deviances caused by different equipment and the listening environment. I've said that at least twice in this thread already.

Unless you have some type of RTA spectrum analyzer or simmilar equipment you are going to have to set your EQ by ear, and it's perfectly possible to do so, provided you know what you are doing and know what to listen for.

why? because my onboard soundchip sucks, and i rather have some low freq bass, instead of the cutting i get when having the 200Hz @ or below 0dB..

Quote from Feffe85 :

why? because my onboard soundchip sucks, and i rather have some low freq bass, instead of the cutting i get when having the 200Hz @ or below 0dB..

That would just drive me nuts.

Quote from Feffe85 :

No not really, but its BASICALY the same thing as two people dont SEE the same way.. the eyes and ears of two people arent exactly the same..
so people respond to freq's in different ways, and what someone says is "bass-less" someone else might think has too much bass..

I guess its more to do with the "how used i am to bass" like, if i have a huge sound system in my home and go listen my friends system. Or if i have mini system and go listen my friend's huge system.

Quote from DragonCommando :

That would just drive me nuts.

which? the cutting or the low-bass? well yes, it aint the optimal, but i have no money for a better soundcard right now, so i have to make "the best" of it.. :/

Quote from LFSn00b :

Actually, I do think people hear it the same way, they just think differently about it. Basically it all comes to matter of taste where one people likes rock and the other one drum and bass.


BTW: my EQ here->

yes well in that case shouldnt all eq's be the same? or why would we need a eq in the first place if the only difference is in our choice of music style?

You like what you get used to. If I were to turn the bass right up on my system, I'd no doubt get used to it somewhat, perhaps always think there was too much, but I'm sure I'd think the bass was lacking if I then turned it back down to how it is now. It's the change in sound we realise the most.

For my taste, I like to hear everything in music, all of the frequencies have to be level, thats what I strive for, and that is what I was taught an EQ was used for, to make everything level.

I was taught that an EQ is there to adjust for differences in equipment and environment so that you can level out the frequencies so all the instruments are audible, so one doesn't drown out the other.

It's amazing what you can hear in a song with a properly set up EQ, all of the little bits that make up the song. Going from no EQ to a properly set EQ you can hear a much larger range of sounds in the music, everything from the subtle plucks of the guitar or bass, to the slightest under tones of a piano or violin.

I've spent hours training myself to be able to detect the slightest difference in sound. I still havn't quite got the ear for music my dad has, since he's been doing it for a long time, but I'm getting there.

If anybody says you that the better EQ is in "V" if because he don't know nothing about sound.

The better EQ you can apply to a song or a game, if you don't know what are you doing, is a FLAT EQ, or nothing EQ, because some ingeniers before you have equalised.

Also, LFS don't have a good sound, and you can't to improve only with EQ, need more harmonics for more rich sound, and this can only do by devs

Quote from Napalm Candy :

If anybody says you that the better EQ is in "V" if because he don't know nothing about sound.

The better EQ you can apply to a song or a game, if you don't know what are you doing, is a FLAT EQ, or nothing EQ, because some ingeniers before you have equalised.

Also, LFS don't have a good sound, and you can't to improve only with EQ, need more harmonics for more rich sound, and this can only do by devs

As far as the "smile" shaped EQ, most people who don't know will set it like that anyway, and it does have a positive effect in some cases, such as on lower end sound systems. It won't beat a properly set EQ, but if you are not interested in spending the time it can add a little punch to an otherwise dull sound system.

I've used it a few times myself while working with lower end equipment, on garbage speakers that have no hope on earth of ever being equalized properly.

Quote from DragonCommando :

As far as the "smile" shaped EQ, most people who don't know will set it like that anyway, and it does have a positive effect in some cases, such as on lower end sound systems. It won't beat a properly set EQ, but if you are not interested in spending the time it can add a little punch to an otherwise dull sound system.

I've used it a few times myself while working with lower end equipment, on garbage speakers that have no hope on earth of ever being equalized properly.

i finaly got my ass out of the wagon and got me a "microsystem" with built-in soundcard.. so now i have no need for the eq, as the micro-amp has it :P

about that smile-shaped eq: yes ur right, most of my friend tend to set it like that, and i always turn it into a sad smiley just to show them what i think about their setup oh well..

Quote from DragonCommando :

As far as the "smile" shaped EQ, most people who don't know will set it like that anyway, and it does have a positive effect in some cases, such as on lower end sound systems. It won't beat a properly set EQ, but if you are not interested in spending the time it can add a little punch to an otherwise dull sound system.

I've used it a few times myself while working with lower end equipment, on garbage speakers that have no hope on earth of ever being equalized properly.

Let's just jump back to your first post in this thread...

Quote from DragonCommando :

If so you want a gradual curve down and then up so that sliders at the ends of the EQ are higher than the center ones. This is true with all EQs too.

Do you know what you're talking about?

Quote from pb32000 :

Let's just jump back to your first post in this thread...



Do you know what you're talking about?

That is because I didn't think he would want to take the time to set it up properly, just set it for effect and leave it.

If you read later, I STATED THAT.

If someone doesn't know how to set up the equalizer, and if they have to ask about the best settings, I'd assume they don't, I just tell them to set it like that, most people seem happy with it.

You guys really need to learn...
... I ALWAYS SET MY EQUALIZER AT ALTERNATING MAX/MIN VALUES AND IT SOUNDS SWEEEEEEEEEET!

The speakers in my car have really flat frequency response all the way down to their F3 of 80Hz (according to the box), which happens to be where I have the crossover point of my subwoofer at. Though I do find myself changing my subwoofer control knob alot. For some songs I have it at 3/4 other songs I have to turn it down all the way to 1/8 for it to sound good. In some songs the bass is just way to loud.

Personally, I don't use an EQ at all, I find that if I listen to music through an EQ I pick out too much wrong with it sounding,

Though if it's pro gear/recording/stage audio EQ's are fine.

mmm FLAC.

Also, TBH wouldn't bother with the software EQ, Just leave it off, You'll get use to the way the speakers sound after a while

A slight tangent, but the main problem I have with speakers and rooms is echo. Having recently moved house, music sounds so different, especially at higher volumes, as the new room suffers from echo, while the older, larger room had much less. I've done the same tricks as before (hung throws on the walls to soften the hard surfaces, put up a shelf to try and break up the large flat areas, could do with curtains instead of blinds though) but it's not improved that much, short of lining my walls with egg boxes and creating a fire hazard, I'd like to know what else I can do about it.