Listen, could you post a screenshot of your miniDSP settings? I am sure that would help others."Free" iPhone based solution to: B&W matrix 805 bass alignment filter
I successfully recreated the B&W Bass alignment filter using a system-wide Parametric EQ called EQE (on Cydia - requires you to jailbreak your iPhone). See the details below if you are interested - it works like a charm and my speaker sound absolutely amazing - definitely worth the effort to EQ them as they were meant to be! Note: there are options for system-wide parametric EQ for MacOS and Android as well (details in the thread linked below).
Sorry to bump the thread, but there are very few leads out there on the internet for us folks who want to emulate the increasingly hard to find and expensive B&W 800 series Matrix Bass Alignment filter(s). And this thread tends to come up in internet searches so I'm confident others out there are still reading and benefiting from this thread despite it's age (as I have).
I had been mulling over whether to spend the $300 CAD to buy a Mini DSP HD to do the job but am hesitant to ad yet another Analogue to Digital and back to Analogue step in the sound chain of my HIFI system. Reading reviews about the D/A converter in the miniDSP it didn't sound like it would best the D/A Dragonfly Red USB device I already use plugged into my iPhone. Some folks also complain about the quality of the original analogue B&W filter so....
I was looking for a solution that would allow me to do the DSP work on the iphone - applying the appropriate EQ setting to the music while still in the digital realm of my phone before it goes thru the D/A converter so as to minimize quality degradation.
Today I was successful in using checkra1n to jailbreak my old iphone 6s (running iOS 13.4 - but there are versions of checkra1n to jailbreak iOS 14.x as well, and up to iPhone X, and they continue to evolve). That allowed me to install from the Cydia app library a free app called EQE that applies a customizable system wide parametric EQ. It worked like a charm and now everything from Tidal to the built in Music app play thru the equalizer. The app is simple to use and you can add multiple filters. There are sliders (as well as input boxes for more precision) for frequency, Q and Gain. There is also a "preamp" setting which allows you to make small changes in volume - something that the "notched" volume increments in iOS don't allow - often making it hard to get the volume just right when running through a larger stereo.
My speakers are the B&W Matrix 805 so based on the graphs posted Ken Rockwell's B&W Matrix 800 page I created 2 filters:
1. to create the bass bump: a boost of 6 dB (actually I bumped it up to 7 for a little extra but technically he pegged it at 6.1 dB to match the original B&W design) @ 37 Hz with Q = 2.0
2. to create the low end roll-off: a cut of 6 dB (or gain of -6 dB) at 20 Hz (unfortunately I believe this is the lowest frequency you can add a filter for) with a Q of 5.15 (I was just eyeballing this to mimic the roll-off of the graph - please let me know if you come up with a more accurate setting).
FYI I previously tried some iPhone apps (like Denon and Onkyo music players) that allowed me to use a band style equalizer to bump 32Hz with no Q adjustment (that would only play from my iPhone Music library) and they helped but the result with the parametric EQ is quite a bit more satisfying - worth going that extra mile to tune it right! And also I started a Tidal HiFi streaming subscription and there is no EQ in Tidal so I was back at square one until I found this solution.
I am loving the result. The change in sound is like adding a modestly sized, properly tuned (and very fast, good quality, highly musical) subwoofer to my system. I do not notice any other change in sound quality (i.e. losses of detail or dynamics, or soundstage etc.). In fact there is a rightness to the sound of the speakers now that is wonderful. I've owned these speakers for 25 years so I know them very well. When I auditioned them in the shop I remember thinking they sound as if there is a sub in the room - which I verified there was not. Since I found out about the bass alignment filter 5 years ago I've suspected that they had the bass alignment filter installed when I auditioned them in the store. I don't remember the salesperson mentioning it as an option, but then again I was young and relatively poor and was bargaining for the lowest price.
I hope this is a valuable option for others out there who want to get the most out of their B&W matrix 800 speakers. If you have an old iPhone it's a great way to retask it (and save some money on an external DSP). I do also highly recomend the AudioQuest DrangonFly Red (or some other outboard DAC) - it's a wonderful step up from listening to the headphone jack (or heaven forbid the Apple lightning to Headphone adapter). There are also some pretty decent bluetooth receivers out there, but to me it just feels like wired is ultimate in minimizing losses in Sound Quality.
If you have an android phone I believe you can do something similar by "root"ing your device and installing Viper4Android and possibly some other options. They are discussed in the Reddit thread where I found the iPhone trick - see link to the original post below. It also has a link to a parametric EQ for MacOS which I will be trying next!
To give credit where it's due, I found the EQE app and checkra1n reference in a Reddit post (ironically about the same age as this one was until today). I'm not sure if links get posted here so if the link below gets removed just google: "I have created a system-wide parametric equalizer for iOS" and you will find it:
I have created a system-wide parametric equalizer for iOS! It'''s called EQE. : audiophile
Good Luck - and enjoy getting the best out of your Matrix 800 speakers!
I successfully recreated the B&W Bass alignment filter using a system-wide Parametric EQ called EQE (on Cydia - requires you to jailbreak your iPhone). See the details below if you are interested - it works like a charm and my speaker sound absolutely amazing - definitely worth the effort to EQ them as they were meant to be! Note: there are options for system-wide parametric EQ for MacOS and Android as well (details in the thread linked below).
Sorry to bump the thread, but there are very few leads out there on the internet for us folks who want to emulate the increasingly hard to find and expensive B&W 800 series Matrix Bass Alignment filter(s). And this thread tends to come up in internet searches so I'm confident others out there are still reading and benefiting from this thread despite it's age (as I have).
I had been mulling over whether to spend the $300 CAD to buy a Mini DSP HD to do the job but am hesitant to ad yet another Analogue to Digital and back to Analogue step in the sound chain of my HIFI system. Reading reviews about the D/A converter in the miniDSP it didn't sound like it would best the D/A Dragonfly Red USB device I already use plugged into my iPhone. Some folks also complain about the quality of the original analogue B&W filter so....
I was looking for a solution that would allow me to do the DSP work on the iphone - applying the appropriate EQ setting to the music while still in the digital realm of my phone before it goes thru the D/A converter so as to minimize quality degradation.
Today I was successful in using checkra1n to jailbreak my old iphone 6s (running iOS 13.4 - but there are versions of checkra1n to jailbreak iOS 14.x as well, and up to iPhone X, and they continue to evolve). That allowed me to install from the Cydia app library a free app called EQE that applies a customizable system wide parametric EQ. It worked like a charm and now everything from Tidal to the built in Music app play thru the equalizer. The app is simple to use and you can add multiple filters. There are sliders (as well as input boxes for more precision) for frequency, Q and Gain. There is also a "preamp" setting which allows you to make small changes in volume - something that the "notched" volume increments in iOS don't allow - often making it hard to get the volume just right when running through a larger stereo.
My speakers are the B&W Matrix 805 so based on the graphs posted Ken Rockwell's B&W Matrix 800 page I created 2 filters:
1. to create the bass bump: a boost of 6 dB (actually I bumped it up to 7 for a little extra but technically he pegged it at 6.1 dB to match the original B&W design) @ 37 Hz with Q = 2.0
2. to create the low end roll-off: a cut of 6 dB (or gain of -6 dB) at 20 Hz (unfortunately I believe this is the lowest frequency you can add a filter for) with a Q of 5.15 (I was just eyeballing this to mimic the roll-off of the graph - please let me know if you come up with a more accurate setting).
FYI I previously tried some iPhone apps (like Denon and Onkyo music players) that allowed me to use a band style equalizer to bump 32Hz with no Q adjustment (that would only play from my iPhone Music library) and they helped but the result with the parametric EQ is quite a bit more satisfying - worth going that extra mile to tune it right! And also I started a Tidal HiFi streaming subscription and there is no EQ in Tidal so I was back at square one until I found this solution.
I am loving the result. The change in sound is like adding a modestly sized, properly tuned (and very fast, good quality, highly musical) subwoofer to my system. I do not notice any other change in sound quality (i.e. losses of detail or dynamics, or soundstage etc.). In fact there is a rightness to the sound of the speakers now that is wonderful. I've owned these speakers for 25 years so I know them very well. When I auditioned them in the shop I remember thinking they sound as if there is a sub in the room - which I verified there was not. Since I found out about the bass alignment filter 5 years ago I've suspected that they had the bass alignment filter installed when I auditioned them in the store. I don't remember the salesperson mentioning it as an option, but then again I was young and relatively poor and was bargaining for the lowest price.
I hope this is a valuable option for others out there who want to get the most out of their B&W matrix 800 speakers. If you have an old iPhone it's a great way to retask it (and save some money on an external DSP). I do also highly recomend the AudioQuest DrangonFly Red (or some other outboard DAC) - it's a wonderful step up from listening to the headphone jack (or heaven forbid the Apple lightning to Headphone adapter). There are also some pretty decent bluetooth receivers out there, but to me it just feels like wired is ultimate in minimizing losses in Sound Quality.
If you have an android phone I believe you can do something similar by "root"ing your device and installing Viper4Android and possibly some other options. They are discussed in the Reddit thread where I found the iPhone trick - see link to the original post below. It also has a link to a parametric EQ for MacOS which I will be trying next!
To give credit where it's due, I found the EQE app and checkra1n reference in a Reddit post (ironically about the same age as this one was until today). I'm not sure if links get posted here so if the link below gets removed just google: "I have created a system-wide parametric equalizer for iOS" and you will find it:
I have created a system-wide parametric equalizer for iOS! It'''s called EQE. : audiophile
Good Luck - and enjoy getting the best out of your Matrix 800 speakers!
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EQE allows filters below 20Hz -
Just a little addendum to say I noticed the EQE app (iOS) mentioned in my previous post will allow you to create filters below 20Hz - you just have to type in the frequency rather than selecting it visually - it won’t display beyond the window but it does have an audible effect so I can confirm it works. Much gratitude to the creator of EQE!!
Just a little addendum to say I noticed the EQE app (iOS) mentioned in my previous post will allow you to create filters below 20Hz - you just have to type in the frequency rather than selecting it visually - it won’t display beyond the window but it does have an audible effect so I can confirm it works. Much gratitude to the creator of EQE!!