list of analog equalizers or similar

[Cbdb2]

Dogma was a great film, digital is great EQ. Only reason to use analogue these days is if you want to play with hardware toys, and are happy for everything to come with a secret blend of noise and distortion on top of the EQ.

Technics SH-9010 Parametric Equalizer Review & Lab Measurements by Ken Rockwell

Technics SH-9010 Parametric Equalizer Review & Lab Measurements by Ken Rockwell

www.kenrockwell.com

What noise and distortion? Almost everything recorded before 2000 used analog EQ.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

I have one. Never use it.

Don't know how?

 

[Soniclife]

Technics SH-9010 Parametric Equalizer Review & Lab Measurements by Ken Rockwell

Technics SH-9010 Parametric Equalizer Review & Lab Measurements by Ken Rockwell

www.kenrockwell.com

What noise and distortion? Almost everything recorded before 2000 used analog EQ.

The noise and distortion that a thriving industry of plugins attempt to recreate for those working in the digital age. What happens during the creative recording stage doesn't need to be repeated on playback.

 

[Soniclife]

The noise and distortion that a thriving industry of plugins attempt to recreate for those working in the digital age. What happens during the creative recording stage doesn't need to be repeated on playback.

Fur clarity I'm not saying the analogue way cannot produce transparent results, just that if that's your intention it's the hard way to do it these days, and you quite probably need your own test kit. Where the digital way almost guarantees perfect results, if your music starts in the digital domain.

 

[Peterinvan]

Schiit Loki+ does the job for me. I adjust the tone for different headphones, and also different albums to suit my aging ears:

 

[Mean & Green]

I also have a Schiit Loki Mini + and am very happy with it. I have seen it objectively tested both here and elsewhere and am confident it is audibly transparent when bypassed or set to neutral.

It has an advantage over DSP in the sense that it can be instantly tuned by ear with no latency and has a tactile appeal that DSP or software controlled EQ cannot match.

For adjusting individual tracks to taste or for taming room affect bass boom with specific songs or albums it is worthwhile for anyone who wants such functionality. It may not be a pin point accurate EQ, but for general tone control it is very usable. Of course Schiit make more expensive models with more frequency bands and also remote controls and programmable pre sets. I’m sure other options are available from other manufacturers but I can only speak about what I’ve used.

I think the Schiit gear is decent.

Another analog EQ/tone benefit should you wish to boost any frequencies, you don’t need to reduce the gain digitally first as you do with digital forms of EQ. You can just simply turn a dial up and used sensibly this is fine.

I use mine to reduce the presence region on a select few albums or tracks as I desire and being hooked up to an unused ‘Tape Monitor’ switch I can completely bypass it when I don’t want it.

 

[MAB]

can anyone talk about stereo eq for high end? similar to the mcintosh but thats the only one i can find online. i want to be able to nudge the parameters for songs with less boom to bring them up to spec before going into the power amps. are there any basic boutique versions around, preferably with a bypass switch.

Do you have poor bass reproduction with your turntable? When you say up to spec, do you mean they don't have the same bass as the digital copy of the same? Do I understand you want it to be more boomy? I am perhaps confused by the term boom, since it means reverberant to me, like an obnoxious room mode.

Get an old Pioneer or Technics graphic equalizer if that is what you must have. Or a Behringer to play around with.

No matter what the noise and distortion performance of analog EQ, it is limited by the filter shape and center frequency of the unit. Depending on your room, the unit's EQ may or may not make any sense. The Schiit Lokius for instance has filters that are extremely unlikely to be useful:

Schiit Lokius Review (Equalizer)

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Schiit Lokius balanced (I/O) analog 6-band equalizer. It was kindly sent to me by a member and costs US $299 from the company direct (plus shipping). The Lokius looks like other Schiit products in their mid-sized configuration: There is a...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Some manufacturers have included useful tone controls, but the era of useful tone controls ended over two decades ago, and is replaced by DSP.

i know theres analog and active. and to be honest ive heard active isnt really that great - some have said to me analog is the way to go so the signal coming out has the least amount of fluffing done to it.

Analog and active are the same thing. So it's hard to decipher what some are saying to you. There are fantastic non-DSP based EQ, many great recordings were made with exactly that technology, passing through analog circuitry to provide EQ like this old Studer mic input:

Get a Parks Audio Waxwing, apply the EQ you desire.

Parks Audio

Waxwing - the new standard for phono preamp performance - from Parks Audio.

parksaudiollc.com

The Waxwing would be on my shortlist except my turntable plays through an active DSP system so needs no additional EQ.

Or a MiniDSP ADept, combined with PEQ of your choice, like a VST plugin, or one of the many PEQ applications, or a standalone box like a MiniDSP Flex or and AVR:

ADept

The miniDSP ADept is a compact high-resolution A/D (analog-to-digital) convertor that accepts single-ended (RCA) or balanced (on XLR) audio signals. The digital output is available on SPDIF coaxial and TOSLINK optical connectors, and can also be recorded to a computer or mobile device via the...

www.minidsp.com

This would also be fun and likely great sounding.

 

[Waxx]

The build in eq of old intergrated amplifiers mostly used a Baxandall circuit. Those are still made for studio purpose, but not for hifi i think. It's a wideband low order (6dB per octave) eq, mostly with only 2 or 3 bands that you can boost or cut. The pro version are all very expensive, also a bit because they are hyped on fora like Gearspace as a "secret tool".

I had a few of the original Studer 169 eq/mic preamp modules racked with a custom psu in the past that were basicly Baxandall eq's, but sold them as someone offered ridiculous money for it. They were great eq's for thatt altough, but i don't need those today i think.

To find them now for a cheap price in good quality is hard as they are not made anymore for hifi. The closest to those are the eq's of dj mixers (altough they are mostly noisy). An other option is buying a preamplifier with tone control (even if it's only about the tone control) like the Audiophonics PRE-BD1404CH (well rated in europe and cheap but well build).

And those who say use dsp, that is not for on the fly eq'ing, it is to complicated to mess with the dsp all the time for that. DSP is good for tuning speakers (crossover or to rooms), not to eq tracks to subjective taste like the OP wants to do. You don't want to mess with computers or digital menu's at that time, you just want to turn a knob to fix it.

 

[Mean & Green]

The build in eq of old intergrated amplifiers mostly used a Baxandall circuit. Those are still made for studio purpose, but not for hifi i think. It's a wideband low order (6dB per octave) eq, mostly with only 2 or 3 bands that you can boost or cut. The pro version are all very expensive, also a bit because they are hyped on fora like Gearspace as a "secret tool".

I had a few of the original Studer 169 eq/mic preamp modules racked with a custom psu in the past that were basicly Baxandall eq's, but sold them as someone offered ridiculous money for it. They were great eq's for thatt altough, but i don't need those today i think.

To find them now for a cheap price in good quality is hard as they are not made anymore for hifi. The closest to those are the eq's of dj mixers (altough they are mostly noisy). An other option is buying a preamplifier with tone control (even if it's only about the tone control) like the Audiophonics PRE-BD1404CH (well rated in europe and cheap but well build).

And those who say use dsp, that is not for on the fly eq'ing, it is to complicated to mess with the dsp all the time for that. DSP is good for tuning speakers (crossover or to rooms), not to eq tracks to subjective taste like the OP wants to do. You don't want to mess with computers or digital menu's at that time, you just want to turn a knob to fix it.

Your point in bold is valid. I think analog EQ definitely has a place in a component stereo system where large variations in music are listened to. It is another tool in the toolbox so to speak.

Hopefully the OP finds something useful from the posts within this thread.

 

[genesisaudiorack]

Do you have poor bass reproduction with your turntable? When you say up to spec, do you mean they don't have the same bass as the digital copy of the same? Do I understand you want it to be more boomy? I am perhaps confused by the term boom, since it means reverberant to me, like an obnoxious room mode.

Get an old Pioneer or Technics graphic equalizer if that is what you must have. Or a Behringer to play around with.

No matter what the noise and distortion performance of analog EQ, it is limited by the filter shape and center frequency of the unit. Depending on your room, the unit's EQ may or may not make any sense. The Schiit Lokius for instance has filters that are extremely unlikely to be useful:
View attachment 417258

Schiit Lokius Review (Equalizer)

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Schiit Lokius balanced (I/O) analog 6-band equalizer. It was kindly sent to me by a member and costs US $299 from the company direct (plus shipping). The Lokius looks like other Schiit products in their mid-sized configuration: There is a...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Some manufacturers have included useful tone controls, but the era of useful tone controls ended over two decades ago, and is replaced by DSP.

Analog and active are the same thing. So it's hard to decipher what some are saying to you. There are fantastic non-DSP based EQ, many great recordings were made with exactly that technology, passing through analog circuitry to provide EQ like this old Studer mic input:
View attachment 417263

Get a Parks Audio Waxwing, apply the EQ you desire.

Parks Audio

Waxwing - the new standard for phono preamp performance - from Parks Audio.

parksaudiollc.com

The Waxwing would be on my shortlist except my turntable plays through an active DSP system so needs no additional EQ.

Or a MiniDSP ADept, combined with PEQ of your choice, like a VST plugin, or one of the many PEQ applications, or a standalone box like a MiniDSP Flex or and AVR:

ADept

The miniDSP ADept is a compact high-resolution A/D (analog-to-digital) convertor that accepts single-ended (RCA) or balanced (on XLR) audio signals. The digital output is available on SPDIF coaxial and TOSLINK optical connectors, and can also be recorded to a computer or mobile device via the...

www.minidsp.com

This would also be fun and likely great sounding.

i have been using a equalizer on the computer/streaming for that extra +/- db changes per freq to sweeten up the sound.

 

[Maurizio_Maggi]

hi!
may I know what you think of the MQ 112 Mcintosh? has anyone seen it or used it?

I found one at a price of about 3000 used, and was wondering if it is useful or just a toy.
I have an Adi dac 2 fs which would allow equalization in the digital domain but the manual controls are always nicer.
I have a system only Macintosh
C22 MKV as preamplifier and two Mc275 MKVI as power amplifier in mono block configuration. and so I would like to stay on Mcintosh style and graphics, but I would not want a toy.

do you have any suggestions for me?

all the best Maurizio from Munich

 

[MarkS]

Here is a recent review of the MQ112 that should be helpful:

McIntosh MQ112 Environmental EQ Reviewed

There is room correction that is normally done in the digital domain and then analog EQ done for program or by source EQs like the MQ112

futureaudiophile.com

 

[Maurizio_Maggi]

Here is a recent review of the MQ112 that should be helpful:

McIntosh MQ112 Environmental EQ Reviewed

There is room correction that is normally done in the digital domain and then analog EQ done for program or by source EQs like the MQ112

futureaudiophile.com

thanks.

 

[Jaxjax]

Did OP ever list his gear .? Anyway I'm with most to go digital if I were him,,but there is certainly nothing wrong with those who run all XLR pro gear & don't like messing about with laptops & such. Elysia makes good stuff. If you don't need the smaller mastering settings you can just get an xfilter. I use a combo of Dirac live 3 @ 400 down & Elysia to tilt from 700hz up.

 

[Brian Hall]

can anyone talk about stereo eq for high end? similar to the mcintosh but thats the only one i can find online. i want to be able to nudge the parameters for songs with less boom to bring them up to spec before going into the power amps. are there any basic boutique versions around, preferably with a bypass switch.

The Schiit Lokius is great. It does have a bypass switch.