CraigMcMurtry t1_j6p7wuw wrote on January 31, 2023 at 10:37 PM

Reply to comment by AnOldMoth in Can using EQ damage headphones? by computerworlds

Then explain why I’m mistaken instead of just asserting that I am.

AnOldMoth t1_j6p8wj2 wrote on January 31, 2023 at 10:44 PM

Because nothing you said has anything to do with whether or not EQ can damage a headphone, for one. But even if we answered the question that no one was asking "Should you EQ," nothing you said, once again, is a reason to not use EQ. You even mentioned Dirac room correction, which is a form of EQ, so... You pretty much just shot yourself in the foot there.

> EQ is viable when the source is a PC, Mac or Android phone, or an iOS device

This is also ridiculous. You just described 99% of what audiophiles listen on, which means yes, it's definitely viable. The extreme majority of people are not sitting around near a turn-table or old CD/Cassette player.

Also, something being massively expensive has nothing to do with whether or not something is viable. I've seen million dollar cars lack pretty basic features, doesn't mean those features aren't worthwhile. It's a nonsense argument.

I hope that explanation makes sense.

CraigMcMurtry t1_j6pavt1 wrote on January 31, 2023 at 10:57 PM

I mentioned Dirac precisely to make it clear that there is a situation in which equalization is necessary … because the designers of your amp and speakers cannot anticipate where your walls are in relation to the speakers. Equalizing for headphones is corrupting the source to compensate for junk equipment, which is usually the headphones. And listening from a PC is evidence that one is decidedly not an audiophile … notice the absence of any mention of PC peripherals in material targeted at actual audiophiles like Stereophile and Absolute Sound. The only place a PC fits in an audiophile’s world is as a Roon endpoint from which to feed actually good audio equipment … none of which has any facility for EQing headphones because there is no market for that among people spending real money on audio equipment … including fine headphones.

AnOldMoth t1_j6peb3j wrote on January 31, 2023 at 11:20 PM

> Equalizing for headphones is corrupting the source to compensate for junk equipment

It's not corrupting anything, modern digital linear equalization is transparent to the source aside from the adjustment to the frequencies, which you are intentionally changing. This is not corruption.

> And listening from a PC is evidence that one is decidedly not an audiophile

Oh okay, so you get to gatekeep what an audiophile is now, as opposed to someone who just enjoys good sound? Grow up.

> notice the absence of any mention of PC peripherals in material targeted at actual audiophiles like Stereophile and Absolute Sound

More gatekeeping garbage, irrelevant.

> The only place a PC fits in an audiophile’s world is as a Roon endpoint from which to feed actually good audio equipment

Yeah, most of the time PC parts feed into a DAC of some kind that is external to the device. This is braindead obvious, and no one disputed that. Maybe reading comprehension is your issue, considering your initial response was a reply to a question nobody even asked.

> none of which has any facility for EQing headphones because there is no market for that among people spending real money on audio equipment … including fine headphones.

Several devices come with in-built parametric EQ, if you spend enough for it. And guess what, there is NO SUCH THING as a perfect transducer, it doesn't exist anywhere. That's why EQ is a thing, to adjust the parts that we either do not like, or have issues. There's a reason why recording engineers like myself USE EQ in our mastering process, because perfection literally doesn't exist. And no, there really is no difference between doing it in the master and doing it for your audio system, the result is EXACTLY the same when it reaches the analog portions of what you're using.

Thank you for confirming you're clueless, though.