Why so few headphone amplifiers with a bass / tremble controls ?

[Pascalito]

Hi everybody,
First, thanks for this forum !
My question is in the title, why so few headphone amplifiers with a bass / tremble controls ?
I find two, Fosi SK-01 (with battery !?) and Geshelli (okay very sexy and beautifull but 500 bucks..)
Is there a model under $200 with a baxendal?

Thanks

Pascal

 

[DonR]

I agree, especially bass controls as I find quite a few headphones lack bass (most likely due to my weird head shape).

 

[restorer-john]

Hi Pascal! At some point audiophiles, much to the delight of manufacturers, decided they desired a ‘pure’ signal path. Bass, treble and all manner of useful features disappeared saving a ton of money.

Doesn’t matter that tone circuitry can be easily bypassed. They end up paying more for less these days.

And the Baxandall feedback tone design is not easy to get good results with each control affecting the other.

 

[raindance]

This one works really well: Syba Sonic SD-DAC63106

 

[DonR]

A review of the Fosi: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...audio-sk-01-headphone-amplifier-review.49671/

 

[Pascalito]

This one works really well: Syba Sonic SD-DAC63106

Thanks, not bad, with L/R control pod. I think is the same circuit board as the Fosi without battery, I saw some inside picture of both on google

 

[Dunring]

Most people want presets for more control when equalizing so the bass dial isn't ideal. There's tone control you can add which is a little better, but APO and Peace is what most people use for all the options and features.
Best way though is getting headphones or IEMs that are tuned how you want them out of the box. Good bass slam is a lot of fun like the He4xx or extension like the DT770 250ohm which goes way down. Not great for gaming since explosions drown other sound out though. The stuff with a bass boost like a car stereo I've tried always adds distortion at louder volumes so I avoid it and EQ it. Just not that much demand for that feature, especially on the higher end stuff.

 

[Chrispy]

Tremble control sounds much more interesting that the usual treble control.....

 

[dualazmak]

In case if you would use digital music player upstream in your PC or Mac (or even smartphones) feeding into your DAC for headphone listening, then you may quite easily install and utilize DSP software for XO/EQ/Group-Delay/Relative-Gain controls on multiple Fq zones before sending the whole digital signal into your DAC; am I right?

 

[IAtaman]

In case if you would use digital music player upstream in your PC or Mac (or even smartphones) feeding into your DAC for headphone listening, then you may quite easily install and utilize DSP software for XO/EQ/Group-Delay/Relative-Gain controls on multiple Fq zones before sending the whole digital signal into your DAC; am I right?

Absolutely. Or you can put in a device between your source and your DAC that can do all tone controls in the digital domain for you.

 

[dualazmak]

Absolutely. Or you can put in a device between your source and your DAC that can do all tone controls in the digital domain for you.

Yes, I understand well since I have been intensively building my DSP-based multichannel audio system (ref. here); the concept and approach can be also easily applied for single stereo DAC-headphone listening or for single-DAC plus passive (LCR-network) SP system (ref. here).

As you may agree, I assume software DSP (in my case "EKIO") within upstream OS should have many advantages flexibilities cost-performances in comparison with your suggested alternative "physical hardware DSP device" in the signal chain...

 

[Dro]

In popular belief hi-fi, your choice of DAC and amp is the bass and treble control.

 

[Elkerton]

Unfortunately, many recordings fall under "the circle of confusion," under which music has been recorded with different equalization requiring the use of tone controls to maximize playback enjoyment. It is unfortunate too that those products, like AVRs, that have tone controls have often buried them under menus that make them almost impossible to use. The old analogue dials are my preference.

 

[Pascalito]

Tremble control sounds much more interesting that the usual treble control.....

Ahahahahahah, sorry my native language is french ! Suite à l'écriture impromptue de ce mot, il s'est fait sentir une étrange sensation de fausseté non identifiable à ce moment là.

 

[Pascalito]

In case if you would use digital music player upstream in your PC or Mac (or even smartphones) feeding into your DAC for headphone listening, then you may quite easily install and utilize DSP software for XO/EQ/Group-Delay/Relative-Gain controls on multiple Fq zones before sending the whole digital signal into your DAC; am I right?

Yep, I understand. But the things are different because I use a mixing table like a Mackie CR1604 and the headphone stéréo fader is dead (bad contact, so I need to change it but it's a big work and expensive because the part comme from the US). So for now I use the main output of the Mackie to go to a little Berhinger mixing table and it's bad, Berhinger degrades the sound.

Edit: My headphones are Sennheiser HD 560s (main) and audio-technica ath-m50x (38 ohms)

 

[Chrispy]

Ahahahahahah, sorry my native language is french ! Suite à l'écriture impromptue de ce mot, il s'est fait sentir une étrange sensation de fausseté non identifiable à ce moment là.

Better than my french! (I get this for Pascalito's post from google: "As a result of the impromptu writing of this word, there was a strange sensation of falsehood that was not identifiable at the time" .... hmmm).

 

[Pascalito]

Better than my french! (I get this for Pascalito's post from google: "As a result of the impromptu writing of this word, there was a strange sensation of falsehood that was not identifiable at the time" .... hmmm).

Yes, more and less )

 

[Chrispy]

Yes, more and less )

Well, it wasn't that it was a falsehood, but getting someone to tremble with the twist of a knob was an interesting picture in my head.....

 

[IAtaman]

Yes, I understand well since I have been intensively building my DSP-based multichannel audio system (ref. here); the concept and approach can be also easily applied for single stereo DAC-headphone listening or for single-DAC plus passive (LCR-network) SP system (ref. here).

As you may agree, I assume software DSP (in my case "EKIO") within upstream OS should have many advantages flexibilities cost-performances in comparison with your suggested alternative "physical hardware DSP device" in the signal chain...

I agree, it does. Depending on the use case though, external hardware / software solution might have advantages as well. I have a SBC running CamillaDSP between the KVM switch and the DAC so no matter which computer I switched to, and regardless it is OS, I don't have to worry about EQ settings.

 

[motomech]

Hi everybody,
First, thanks for this forum !
My question is in the title, why so few headphone amplifiers with a bass / tremble controls ?
I find two, Fosi SK-01 (with battery !?) and Geshelli (okay very sexy and beautifull but 500 bucks..)
Is there a model under $200 with a baxendal?

Thanks

Pascal

You might want to look at the popular Fosi K5 Mini Stereo Gaming DAC. It is a USB powered DAC w/out a remote that is alot of fun in a desktop system and only costs $60. It may not sound not quite as nice as the next tier DACs ($100 and up w/ a remote), depending on the sytem and speakers. It will certinly sound better than any internal laptop, TV, Etc. Dac. It has been reviewed here @ ASR and doesn't get much love, but I think it is a good product.