• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Basic EQ philosophy?

OzarkCDN

Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2022
Messages
30
Likes
5
I have a pair of handy earbuds - liberty pro 3's from anker - that have a 'hear ID' fn that basically plays sounds at certain frequencies / levels and you hit the button when you can hear the sound. Monkey hit the button and get a banana - or in this case, a curve for you. It was clear to me that after half a century so far... I don't hear the same frequencies, at the same levels, in each ear. Especially I've lost some of the high frequency hearing. All that to say, I like the end result of the generated curve for what use these buds for.

So, question is - is the 'goal' of EQ to adjust the reproduced frequency spectrum to sound 'equalized'?
 

voodooless

Grand Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jun 16, 2020
Messages
10,223
Likes
17,799
Location
Netherlands
I don’t think you should judge your frequency response by how your hearing limit is. Also, for you, you are by now used to how you hear things. Artificially raising the highs might not sound natural to you at all.

I’d first check if there is a standard harman correction for your buds, and try that.
 

Holmz

Major Contributor
Joined
Oct 3, 2021
Messages
2,018
Likes
1,241
Location
Australia
I have a pair of handy earbuds - liberty pro 3's from anker - that have a 'hear ID' fn that basically plays sounds at certain frequencies / levels and you hit the button when you can hear the sound. Monkey hit the button and get a banana - or in this case, a curve for you. It was clear to me that after half a century so far... I don't hear the same frequencies, at the same levels, in each ear. Especially I've lost some of the high frequency hearing. All that to say, I like the end result of the generated curve for what use these buds for.

So, question is - is the 'goal' of EQ to adjust the reproduced frequency spectrum to sound 'equalized'?

Level equalisation is one flavour.
There are also other “Digital Signal Processing” (DSP) equalisation schemes.
 

tomtoo

Major Contributor
Joined
Nov 20, 2019
Messages
3,607
Likes
4,514
Location
Germany
You are used to what you hear. Lets imagine you hear the ringing of a set of keys on a keychain. This has very high frequence content, as a child you did hear it different.
No imagine the sound got recordet and you play it back.
If all is linear you hear it like the ringing of set of keys on a keychain every day.
Boosting now the highs of that sound to hear it like you heard it like a child will sound not natural to you. What not means you cant enjoy this. So at least for me i prever to have the recording how it was. Couse a natural violine sounds now so to me, less highs, yes but your brain is used to it. Maybe different if its not natural thru age and comes faster from a infect or accident?
 
Last edited:

Holmz

Major Contributor
Joined
Oct 3, 2021
Messages
2,018
Likes
1,241
Location
Australia
You are used to what you hear. Lets imagine you hear the ringing of a set of keys on a keychain. This has very high frequence content, as a child you did hear it different.
No imagine the sound got recordet and you play it back.
If all is linear you hear it like the ringing of set of keys on a keychain every day.
Boosting now the highs of that sound to hear it like you heard it like a child will sound not natural to you. What not means you cant enjoy this. So at least for me i prever to have the recording how it was. Couse a natural violine sounds now so to me, less highs, yes but your brain is used to it. Maybe different if its not natural thru age and comes faster from a infect or accident?

So if I wear rose coloured glasses, and everything is rosy, then I should keep wearing them because I am used to them?

And should I wear the amber ones when skiing in the fog?
 

voodooless

Grand Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jun 16, 2020
Messages
10,223
Likes
17,799
Location
Netherlands
So if I wear rose coloured glasses, and everything is rosy, then I should keep wearing them because I am used to them?
Well, the difference is that you permanently have the glasses on, and they got rose gradually over many years.
 

tomtoo

Major Contributor
Joined
Nov 20, 2019
Messages
3,607
Likes
4,514
Location
Germany
So if I wear rose coloured glasses, and everything is rosy, then I should keep wearing them because I am used to them?

And should I wear the amber ones when skiing in the fog?

Thats very wrong.
Seeing rose colored gets natural for you.

So lets say you have seen mona lisa in original skin tone 20 years ago she would look now different to you, but her skintone would look like the skintone you see natural. Adding blue to her would make her look pale. You look,hear a conserve that you compare to your natural impression. I mean as long as we talk about natural slow hf hearing degreation.
 
Last edited:

Holmz

Major Contributor
Joined
Oct 3, 2021
Messages
2,018
Likes
1,241
Location
Australia
… So lets say you have seen mona lisa in original skin …

Now I am looking in the mirror, I am not sure if it a smile or a smirk?


I put in ear plugs when I am running tool and I cannot really hear4sh_t then.
But when I take out the ear plugs I hear just fine.

We really need someone, or some group, of hearing loss sufferers to be tested.
But not hearing any high frequencies seems like it is not NATURAL… and that it is more like that there it is nothing left.

Most people wearing the hearing aids are able to hear better than without, so the OP probably needs to trying whatever boost gets them to a happy place. It may not be all the way jack up to the max, but they probably want some boost.??
 
OP
O

OzarkCDN

Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2022
Messages
30
Likes
5
I guess we can say subjective vs objective equalization… I thought this might be related to psychoacoustics, but I think that wasn’t right. My rose colored glasses might be your scarlet.

Fact is none of us hear all frequencies with the same sensitivity, and optimizing an output signal for an objectively flat measured response for a microphone will differ from a subjectively perceived flat response, which makes good sense from the production vs consumption perspective. The anker earbuds I have do this inside it’s app, but is there a more robust / detailed way of doing this that would help me set a personalized ‘my flat’ curve?
 
Last edited:

Holmz

Major Contributor
Joined
Oct 3, 2021
Messages
2,018
Likes
1,241
Location
Australia
I guess we can say subjective vs objective equalization… I thought this might be related to psychoacoustics, but I think that wasn’t right. My rose colored glasses might be your scarlet.

Fact is none of us hear all frequencies with the same sensitivity, and optimizing an output signal for an objectively flat measured response for a microphone will differ from a subjectively perceived flat response, which makes good sense from the production vs consumption perspective. The anker earbuds I have do this inside it’s app, but is there a more robust / detailed way of doing this that would help me set a personalized ‘my flat’ curve?

I dunno…
Many people (myself included) would likely give some advice based upon some scientific understanding… But… we do have audiologists who do this stuff like it is going out of fashion.

Whatever you do, it would be a great service to others to put in your work along these lines.

Hopefully you find a good outcome.

Maybe it will be much like how I wear reading glasses… using the 3.5 ones when welding or soldering, the 1.0 for TV and movies, and the 1.5 for looking at a books anfd screens. Maybe you’ll be using differing EQ for various situations?
(I dunno)
 
Top Bottom