SupOrSalad t1_jeeu5og wrote on March 31, 2023 at 2:31 PM

EQ can change a lot, and completely transform a headphone. One thing though is that it's better to EQ with wider filters, as trying to EQ narrow peaks and dips can cause issues. So in that sense, you can EQ most headphones to have very similar sound signatures, but usually there's small details in the Frequency response that are harder or unable to be EQd.

Remember that the frequency response changes quite drastically on your own head, compared to what you see on a measurment rig. So even if you EQ two headphones to have an almost frequency response on a graph, on your own head the FR at your eardrum may be drastically different.

If you were to measure the response of your own ear, and then EQ the headphones to your own ear response, then you can get something much closer. This is one method that Harman used to blind test headphones, they would virtualize different headphones with one test headphone (as well as using the real ones), and they found the results of prefrence tests using virtual headphones were 95% similar to the results using the real headphones.

radrod69 t1_jefbiia wrote on March 31, 2023 at 4:25 PM

What kind of issues can you run into with narrow peaks/dips?

SupOrSalad t1_jefbzdk wrote on March 31, 2023 at 4:28 PM

Since it is measured on a rig, often those peaks will either be in a different area when on your own head. So you might accidentally be EQing the wrong way. As well some narrow dips are phase cancelations in which it doesn't matter if you try EQ it back, the dip will still be there regardless

radrod69 t1_jefddfp wrote on March 31, 2023 at 4:37 PM

Ah, okay that makes sense and matches my own experience. If I'm making narrow filters I'll usually start with 12+db and sweep the FR with it to pin point what I want to address.

I'll need to look into phase cancellations as I keep seeing that term come up a lot lately.

Thanks!