Besides EQ/DSP, what are some other ways that can significantly change sound quality?

[nyxnyxnyx]

I remembered asking a similar question a few months back or so, but it was with amplifiers that sound different and very distinctive in our (subjective) opinion. At the end of that thread most comments pointed me to just use EQ (which I already do) and don't waste more money on products that will most likely sound identical to what I already have.

I listened to the advice although I still kept an eye out for certain amplifiers that I wanted to try. I didn't get to try all of them but most of the ones I tried are more or less the conclusion we already have: They still sound similar with the transducers I use.

That's how it comes to the point in this thread now. It's hard if not very unlikely to hear differences between DACs (if there were any), lotta headphone amplifiers don't sound very different from their category (hybrid/tubey/ss) or in the whole market (well, I will exclude the ultra hi-end ones since many of them are still not measured and I didn't get to try them yet). Obviously EQ is effective, simple and free to use, good transducers are mandatory too indeed.
But besides them I can't think of any other things that can significantly change the sound quality. Is this the "endgame" people are referring to, where I should just forget audio for awhile and enjoy what I have? Or are there more exciting things waiting for me when I dive into the speakers world?

 

[Slayer]

You're probably already aware of it, but speaker placement can have huge effects on sounds quality.

 

[Tangband]

You're probably already aware of it, but speaker placement can have huge effects on sounds quality.

Very true - I would even say its more important than using eq . Taking a couple of hours to find the right speaker-placement and listening position makes a bigger sound difference than thousands of dollars of hardware. And its free !

Ofcourse it can be even better with eq , but one should first try to have the best loudspeaker placement .

… And before trying eq - try do some acoustic treatment in the room ( a thick rug on the floor infront of the speakers is most important ) .

 

[Tangband]

A wrongly placed loudspeaker with eq applied can be listenable, but it will never sound really good.

 

[Snarfie]

Besides using roomcorrection software i added a thick carpet size 2x3 meters. Looks like the stereo image is better i can move my head more whitout changing the location of instruments as voices (so much) they are more stabel in the center. Probably had to do with a reduction in the spatial reverberation (multiple points) that roomcorrection software can calculate for a singel point but not for multiple points.

 

[Ron Texas]

The volume control. Remember, garbage in, garbage out.

 

[RayDunzl]

Analog Tone Controls

Beer

LSD

Unequalized air pressure between inner and outer ears

Earplugs

 

[sq225917]

Height of stands, toe in, carpet, massively thick double lined velvet curtains

 

[Erici]

Let's not forget listening location. Sitting too close to the back wall is a common problem.

 

[Katji]

Let's not forget listening location. Sitting too close to the back wall is a common problem.

That's my problem. Bed and chair next to it, my head close to the rear wall, 3-4 metres from the speakers. I was thinking of it again today...that I need to find out on the local forum, who could make some absorber panels for me...because I want some specific bright colours. The left side is entirely built-in closets - nothing I can do about that - and the right side is all window, from about waist height up. I could get thicker, more absorbent curtains but that would make it unbalanced with the left side.

 

[FrantzM]

Let's not forget listening location. Sitting too close to the back wall is a common problem.

+1000

 

[Bob-23]

That's my problem. Bed and chair next to it, my head close to the rear wall, 3-4 metres from the speakers.

You may try a nearfield-arrangement - the room's impact is minimized (and your head would be away from the wall). It combines the best out of two worlds: the clarity of good headphones with the consistent imaging/soundstage of speakers. But as with good headphones: bad recordings sound bad - weaknesses of recordings are no more hidden behind thousand room-reflections.

Having experimented with nearfield-listening for a while, I recently tried out the advice for 'real' near(est)field, on the 'what's best forum' - and it's great. [1] As the speakers are that close to your ears (and straight on directed to your ears), their sound is much louder than still remaining room reflections.

Not every speaker is appropriate. See the article. (I was lucky, it works with mine.)

[1] https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/near-field-listening-acquired-taste-or-proper-paradigm.886/

 

[LTig]

Besides a fixed EQ to fix room problems or FR of headphones there are means to slightly improve SQ of bad recordings:

• tone controls: improve FR of recordings which are too bright or to too dull or lack bass
• manipulation of stereo width: for recordings which sound too narrow between the speakers

 

[tomtoo]

Bigger speakers

 

[khrisr]

Your brain? I find that my brain quickly learns and adjusts to new equipment making it the new normal so I tweak and setup as soon as possible before that happens. Here are a few things I did besides EQ -

1. Careful rug placement + diffusion panels + toein made a huge difference in treble response

2. Painstaking manual speaker placement to improve bass response. I found measurements a bit misleading initially

3. Tweaking existing furniture and rug placement making sure everything is symmetrical. I discovered a couch reflection was causing a significant coloration in treble response … all it took was a 6” nudge to fix the issue. Moving TV as close to the wall as possible turned out to be a good move as well … turns out a giant glass surface is a terrible source of reflections (duh!)

4. I can echo previous comments that getting closer to speakers can work great. Settled with about 6ft distance with toein adjusted for imaging.

 

[HiFidFan]

Room treatment?

 

[Daverz]

As for speaker placement, once you find a good position, I find adjusting speaker-to-listening-position distance and toe-in precisely as possible with a laser ranger (like a Bosch) pays big dividends.

 

[dasdoing]

the end game is getting rid of bass ringing. but that is a huge project

 

[escksu]

I remembered asking a similar question a few months back or so, but it was with amplifiers that sound different and very distinctive in our (subjective) opinion. At the end of that thread most comments pointed me to just use EQ (which I already do) and don't waste more money on products that will most likely sound identical to what I already have.

I listened to the advice although I still kept an eye out for certain amplifiers that I wanted to try. I didn't get to try all of them but most of the ones I tried are more or less the conclusion we already have: They still sound similar with the transducers I use.

That's how it comes to the point in this thread now. It's hard if not very unlikely to hear differences between DACs (if there were any), lotta headphone amplifiers don't sound very different from their category (hybrid/tubey/ss) or in the whole market (well, I will exclude the ultra hi-end ones since many of them are still not measured and I didn't get to try them yet). Obviously EQ is effective, simple and free to use, good transducers are mandatory too indeed.
But besides them I can't think of any other things that can significantly change the sound quality. Is this the "endgame" people are referring to, where I should just forget audio for awhile and enjoy what I have? Or are there more exciting things waiting for me when I dive into the speakers world?

Sound quality is a very broad term and subjective interpretation is obviously different from objective ones. A person's preference may not be the same as another person. So, it would be good if you can define what you meant by sound quality. Which measurement do you want to improve?

 

[Snarfie]

I remembered asking a similar question a few months back or so, but it was with amplifiers that sound different and very distinctive in our (subjective) opinion. At the end of that thread most comments pointed me to just use EQ (which I already do) and don't waste more money on products that will most likely sound identical to what I already have.

I listened to the advice although I still kept an eye out for certain amplifiers that I wanted to try. I didn't get to try all of them but most of the ones I tried are more or less the conclusion we already have: They still sound similar with the transducers I use.

That's how it comes to the point in this thread now. It's hard if not very unlikely to hear differences between DACs (if there were any), lotta headphone amplifiers don't sound very different from their category (hybrid/tubey/ss) or in the whole market (well, I will exclude the ultra hi-end ones since many of them are still not measured and I didn't get to try them yet). Obviously EQ is effective, simple and free to use, good transducers are mandatory too indeed.
But besides them I can't think of any other things that can significantly change the sound quality. Is this the "endgame" people are referring to, where I should just forget audio for awhile and enjoy what I have? Or are there more exciting things waiting for me when I dive into the speakers world?

You are using EQ so you are using no room correction software? If not did you ever consider using room correction software like mathaudio room eq It is free with Foobar 2000 An i have great results with it. In 45 jears time buying a 40,- euro measuring mic was the best investment i ever did in audio gear. My sound is atleast with 70% improved considering my horrible room acoustics.

My room measurments. The white Line (neutral targetcurve) is used to make it a level playing field really a hugh improvement.

https://imgur.com/T0I1hrT