Since getting into the higher end equipment and headphones, I swore to myself that I’d never, ever use EQ again. Well, that has changed...

[KillerQ]

Looks like a Ken-Rad VT231 from the early 1940s ... is it?

Sure is!! One of my favorite single tubes to use, by far!

 

[Leporello]

A lot of audiophile lore was set in stone in the 60s and 70s (perhaps even the 50s!). EQ supposedly added in too much distortion to be worthwhile. Add in memories of graphic equalizers in declassé rack systems and the later fetishization of short, minimal signal paths that removed even simple bass and treble controls and even balance controls.

Part of the reason for this was economical: many European manufacturers had a very hard time competing with the Japanese. Leaving tone controls out was actually a cost saving measure. Another factor was the absurd "source first" philosophy, popular particularly in the UK audiophile scene.

 

[jannek]

I’m trying. I’m trying. But, I must admit - I sometimes wish I had a DAC with no options that just turned on and worked. No fuss, no muss. It’s appealing having the type of DAC where there’s nothing I can do to alter anything with it and I just use it as designed.

Sell the RME, buy a Topping D10s and use the rest for some nice meals with your wife.

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

Since getting into the higher end equipment and headphones, I swore to myself that I’d never, ever use EQ again.

That was certainly a mistake, because AFAIK there's no reason to not EQ, even with high end equipments. What were your reasons ?

Well, I just came across an EQ setting that is kinda rocking my world!!

Judging from your picture, I guess you've just sort of rediscovered the Harman curve :

Good for you then : you'll just have to go to AutoEQ and choose the relevant Harman EQ preset for each one of your headphones.

 

[zoran-grbic]

[QUOTE="Also, digital EQ is still not very accessible. Amir shows how easy it is with Roon, but Roon is expensive and proprietary.[/QUOTE]

Proprietary yes (not always a bad thing), but expensive? It’s $10/month...

 

[Mnyb]

There are plenty of apps that can do parametric EQ "Equalizer APO" "Foobar2000" and JRiver among the ones i use the first 2 are free

 

[Daverz]

="Also, digital EQ is still not very accessible. Amir shows how easy it is with Roon, but Roon is expensive and proprietary.

Proprietary yes (not always a bad thing), but expensive? It’s $10/month...

That's going to get very expensive over the lifetime of the software unless you opt for the lifetime purchase ($699). Anyway, I don't want to hijack the thread, but that's my reasoning for including the caveat. I know there are some here that wouldn't blink at paying that for a home music server.

 

[Sukie]

I don't think that the audiophile obsession (maybe a bit too strong a word!) with bit-perfect playback helps either.

Equalising on a PC is pretty simple these days. A bit more challenging with other endpoints, hence the benefits of Roon. Having said that Moode Audio are really embracing DSP with a PEQ and the proposed introduction of Camilla.

 

[Tks]

That's going to get very expensive over the lifetime of the software unless you opt for the lifetime purchase ($699). Anyway, I don't want to hijack the thread, but that's my reasoning for including the caveat. I know there are some here that wouldn't blink at paying that for a home music server.

J River then.

Inexpensive, and I feel has far more features.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Variety is the spice of life. View attachment 113869

So I take it, it's a change of pace, especially since your have some wonderful reference level gear in that rack as well?

 

[Mnyb]

I don't think that the audiophile obsession (maybe a bit too strong a word!) with bit-perfect playback helps either.
.

Yes it actually is an obsession , been there done that realizing nowadays it's just SNR with modern digital dithered solutions . it's the total end results that count .
There are numbers of weird stuff obsessed about that you don't hear ( memory playback and such fraudulent software like fidelizer ).

EQ your hear a positive or negative result quickly.

 

[SeaNNyT]

I’m trying. I’m trying. But, I must admit - I sometimes wish I had a DAC with no options that just turned on and worked. No fuss, no muss. It’s appealing having the type of DAC where there’s nothing I can do to alter anything with it and I just use it as designed.

The modius would offer that for a mere $200

 

[KillerQ]

The modius would offer that for a mere $200

Thanks! I ended up grabbing an Audio-GD R28 r2r combo. It’s breathtaking!

 

[posvibes]

I am a paramour of the parametric for headphones.

 

[Slayer]

I find it puzzling that so many audiophiles eschew using EQ. On the production side it’s exactly the opposite - you’ll usually find an EQ plugin on every track plus the master bus.

Well said.
I briefly went through a period of time where i was against it. Then i fell, hit my head and quickly came back to my senses.

 

[zoran-grbic]

J River then.

Inexpensive, and I feel has far more features.

True, but I find JRiver a resource hog and extremely bloated as a streaming software. It's not about how much it can do, but how it does it. For me the "user experience" part is as important as the sound quality.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

I've come to the conclusion that EQ is where most of the "magic" exists in audio reproduction. Use good, objective measurements to guide the assembly of components - including speakers - and then use EQ to fine tune it all for your room.

Even headphones, EQ is where you can squeeze out that final 5% of excellent reproduction of the recording - as opposed to the 0.0001% you can get from changing cables and burning in drivers. lol...

 

[Tks]

True, but I find JRiver a resource hog and extremely bloated as a streaming software. It's not about how much it can do, but how it does it. For me the "user experience" part is as important as the sound quality.

I'm confused, just fired up JRiver to see what the memory load is, and it's anywhere between 9MB to 45MB at idle with the network being turned on.

An entire directory of all my albums after being loaded (which takes half a minute and the CPU being pegged at ~25% load, from a fresh bootup of the network with files on a spinning disk), and streaming an MQA file (24bit 192kHz) that clocks in over 100MB filesize.. I am hovering anywhere between 1% to 5% CPU usage, and 26.3% RAM usage.

So I'm a bit confused as to what "bloated" is here?

 

[retro]

I think it's actually Mark Levinsons (the man) fault..? The first pre-amps he released had no tone controls. Then most other "high-end" brands went the same route..

And a few years later, he released the Cello Palette, a very high-end EQ...guess he realized he was wrong..

 

[zoran-grbic]

I'm confused, just fired up JRiver to see what the memory load is, and it's anywhere between 9MB to 45MB at idle with the network being turned on.

An entire directory of all my albums after being loaded (which takes half a minute and the CPU being pegged at ~25% load, from a fresh bootup of the network with files on a spinning disk), and streaming an MQA file (24bit 192kHz) that clocks in over 100MB filesize.. I am hovering anywhere between 1% to 5% CPU usage, and 26.3% RAM usage.

So I'm a bit confused as to what "bloated" is here?

Ouch, I hit a nerve.

I specifically said "find" and not "is". I can't decide for others what works for them. I can see it's working fine for you, but I don't know how much an entire directory is on your system so it's difficult to compare. Streaming is not an issue either. Although I never understood why one would use a media manager that wants to be everything to everybody instead of a dedicated player, but that's another subject.

JRiver is not a player only. It's a media manager and as such tries to do a lot. I need an audio manager, so images, video's, podcasts, audiobooks just add bloat and use up resources for nothing. JRiver's interface is loaded with options that make it chaotic from an UI point of view. When I load up my library, it has trouble refreshing the interface, going through the files and trying to edit them is an annoyance, it just exits for no obvious reasons while the directory scanning is ongoing...

Roon is at 165Mb. Still, the UI is featherlight, simple and does what it needs to do, and doesn't freeze during background tasks. I'm not a developer, but optimized code and memory footprint aren't the same thing, I think.

YMMV