These PEQs do way too much aggressive cutting. Basically just boosting the bass and cutting the rest of the spectrum.I could get rid of the harshness.
Altho this is a lot... Is this still considered sane?
Well, otherwise it sounds like a dental drill.
Alternatively, I remember the PHILIPS Fidelio X2HR had spacious cups and sounded pretty good, on par with the HD650. The bass was even better than the Sennheisers, and they weren't as bright as the HD800S.
idk about the Philips yet...
Without the filters - especially the one at 3kHz they cause me extreme fatigue and (sonic) ear pain.
(I'll just add for the readers that I found HD600 did not respond well to bass EQ at all, in terms of Harman level bass, but was good just using it with something like +3dB Low Shelf at 75Hz. So I would never recommend anyone get the HD600 if bass is one of the most important parts of music to them. I actually wouldn't recommend the HD600 anymore anyway given the other headphones that are on the market nowadays.)
Have you looked at my PEQ settings?
I had a quick look at your PEQ settings, but it's hard to visualise the end result, better would be a graph showing the result. But anyway, all you can do is try the various EQ's you find on the net and see which one works best and then maybe try to tweak it to finetune it. You don't have to like the HD800(s), it has some weaknesses and I found it pretty hard to get the EQ right, and it's not absolutely perfect for me as an end result. It's not my favourite headphone, but it's good & interesting, and bass doesn't hit real hard.
Somebody recommended me to try Audeze LCD-X but in this forum it got a really bad rating.
I would say my most complete headphone experience so far is with the Hifiman HE400SE, I measured them & also relay my EQ experiences here:
www.audiosciencereview.com
How would you describe the presence of highs / intimacy of vocals in these while EQ'd?I would say my most complete headphone experience so far is with the Hifiman HE400SE, I measured them & also relay my EQ experiences here:
They're obviously not in the same tier of headphones as HD800s, and when I say tier I'm referring to price. But the old adage goes that "price is not related to performance". (You can see the other headphones I own that are listed in my sig if you want to get an idea of what headphones I've been exposed to.....and I've done loads of experimentation with EQ over the years.)Hifiman HE400SE Review (Headphone)
I bought mine brand new in a sale from Amazon themselves (UK) for £69.30 delivered. They came with the same black cable that my Edition XS use. I must say I am delighted with the HE400SE. I actually bought two of them at that price. That was on August 2nd. Amazon were also selling brand new...
EDIT: to me I've found the Oratory measurement for this headphone to be the most accurate out of the headphones I own - in terms of EQ'ing to Harman seems the most neutral & balanced/complete experience. I found something similar with the HE4XX I own, which again is a round cup Hifiman - the Oratory EQ was tonally spot on with that headphone, although it felt like HE4XX lacked overall resolution, but with the HE400SE and my EQ I did to Harman Curve from Oratory's measurement then I have spot on tonality & resolution. I think there's something about the round cup Hifiman's and Oratory's measurement of them that is making them very applicable/reliable to what I view as neutral - it could maybe be low unit to unit variation of these headphones or it could be maybe not much on head variation with this design or something else......just to me it seems Oratory measurements of these have made the most "sense" to me in my experience of EQ'ing all my headphones to Harman. (I do own Anechoic Flat speakers and sub that goes down to 20Hz in room, which has also been Room EQ'd so I think I've got a good sense of what neutral is, albeit it is really quite hard to compare headphones to speakers.)
I did increase the treble energy above 8kHz, and also a bit earlier a little too, vs the Oratory EQ, which you can see at the link I gave you in my previous post. I described this change as adding bite & sparkle. Possible that I found the HD800 to be better at things like cymbals, really high up stuff in the frequency range, but I'm a bit sketchy on that impression. I managed to get a more balanced EQ with the HE400SE than I did with the HD800, and I managed to get more bass impact with the HE400SE than the HD800. It was a lot easier for me to get the EQ right on the HE400SE than it was with the HD800.
Your Edition XS gives you plenty of insight into how the HE1000 sounds. They sound nigh on identical. Then again all of Hifiman’s eggshaped models sound the same except for a few minor uppermid and treble differences. The bass though will more or less behave the same.
wow! that was certainly not the response i was anticipating, but appreciated none the less.
I own the LCD-2 at the moment. I find that the supposed ‘punchyness’ of old school Audezes is more about tuning/balance than anything else. When you turn down the uppermids and treble like these models do, the emphasis of the presentation ends up in the bass department that then sounds very impressive. It is an overall balance thing.
I ordered both the HD800s and the Audeze LCD-X (2021) for a personal comparison and finally kept the Audeze LCD-X. Even equalized, the HD-800s did not provide the almost tactile punch and bass texture of the Audeze - in my (subjective) opinion and experience.
I found that the Sennheiser sounded cold and harsh, when equalized with 'official' stuff, it sounded not much better, and equalizing it myself had made it better for me, but it was way too exhausting. Afterwards, I had really fatigue for 2 weeks and I only had moderate levels.
