Wow. How things have changed for the better. Digital Audio no longer sounds like nails on chalkboard. We can tailor our system's sound to mimic other mega dollar pieces of gear, with just different chips, circuits, etc. However, the single largest change, and the one which had the largest impact on my system's sound,was the change in my perception and mindset.
Woah! I started in HiFi in the early 1980s. I feel I was lucky, to have lived through what I consider to be "the glory years" of HiFi. And I worked as a high end audio salesman for years in the mid 90s. And I never realized how terribly closed my mind was to innovation and change in audio gear. Amps were huge, heavy, Class A or A/B designs. DACs were the size of briefcases. And literally EVERYTHING had it's own sonic signature! In the quest for neutrality, It just was not very clear what neutral was at the time. It was Yin and Yang. Warm and musical. Or it was analytical and leaned towards bright. So it didn't take a genius to figure out, making systems sound good was nothing more than getting the proper blend and balance of Yin and Yang in a system to try and get towards neutral. Literally EVERYTHING was basically being used as tone controls. We were set in our purist ways. And the thought of EQ was a mortal sin! The idea was, if a system is of high end enough design and quality, and properly selected components and cables were used, with the speakers set up just right in the listening room, a system could then NOT be improved really, unless more money was spent on more expensive components. And this was true of systems I sold in the 6 figure ranges as well.
And EVERY ONE of those systems would have been improved with good room EQ processing! No, we did not have it back then. But we would have spurned it anyway, LOL. And that is my point. I can no longer afford to play in the high dollar realm of HiFi. And with Room EQ and much better sounding, inexpensive gear, along with DIY, I'm not missing one thing I used to have with a high dollar system of my own. And my sound is now actually better! All from a change in my attitude The largest improvement I ever made in SQ in my quest for ultimate sound.
Woah! I started in HiFi in the early 1980s. I feel I was lucky, to have lived through what I consider to be "the glory years" of HiFi. And I worked as a high end audio salesman for years in the mid 90s. And I never realized how terribly closed my mind was to innovation and change in audio gear. Amps were huge, heavy, Class A or A/B designs. DACs were the size of briefcases. And literally EVERYTHING had it's own sonic signature! In the quest for neutrality, It just was not very clear what neutral was at the time. It was Yin and Yang. Warm and musical. Or it was analytical and leaned towards bright. So it didn't take a genius to figure out, making systems sound good was nothing more than getting the proper blend and balance of Yin and Yang in a system to try and get towards neutral. Literally EVERYTHING was basically being used as tone controls. We were set in our purist ways. And the thought of EQ was a mortal sin! The idea was, if a system is of high end enough design and quality, and properly selected components and cables were used, with the speakers set up just right in the listening room, a system could then NOT be improved really, unless more money was spent on more expensive components. And this was true of systems I sold in the 6 figure ranges as well.
And EVERY ONE of those systems would have been improved with good room EQ processing! No, we did not have it back then. But we would have spurned it anyway, LOL. And that is my point. I can no longer afford to play in the high dollar realm of HiFi. And with Room EQ and much better sounding, inexpensive gear, along with DIY, I'm not missing one thing I used to have with a high dollar system of my own. And my sound is now actually better! All from a change in my attitude The largest improvement I ever made in SQ in my quest for ultimate sound.
Digital EQ is being used literally everywhere these days, from cheap HTIB systems to million dollar professional concert PA rigs. You can cover a multitude of sins with enough EQ power, but there is one thing it cannot address and is sometimes the limiting factor - dynamic range. In many of the big rigs they don't even try to make the speakers flat - if there are 15dB dips or peaks they can be EQ'ed flat. Until the vocalist hits that ONE note that's been EQ'ed up 15dB and the amps run out of gas trying to keep up. Goes to nails on chalkboard instantly. Seems to happen in the mid range more than anything else - often line array elements use a multitude of 2 or 3 inch drivers (which are good for about 5 watts apiece and have low sensitivity) on a waveguide for the mids. The flatter you can make the speakers before corrections are added the less likely a dynamic range limit will be hit in operation.
It is my experience, that you have to understand both the good and bad side of using a DSP. Yes - you can make very good result with rather inexpensive gear, simply by tuning the system. But you have to know that you cant gain a dip effectively. When I have a driver that i want flat, then I have to accept the lowest point as reference in the bandwith I want the driver to operate within. You can gain your way to more loudness, but it has a price. Powerfull amplifiers and free roaming DSP control, will easily get everything out of hand and make it sound very bad - maybe even kill some drivers while driving your ears insane. Digital powers are only great when handled with care - IMHO.
I have never posted at the LOUNGE before but I had to agree with what you have found.
Judicious (I know I am going to be asked what judicious is) use of DSP in the region below 200 hz can make a profound difference.
To answer a question that was not asked of me; I would say that just like with any other component one uses "good" is what works for you along with how much money you can throw at it.
I bought used YAMAHA units from the nineties that work extremely well in my room.
Don't forget it is best to do some room treating first. The better you do it the less drastic measures one has to take with dsp (obviously).
One finds that bass notes actually can have a coherent low frequency component that is playing the same tune as the harmonics in your own listening room. I bet many people think they are hearing this clearly. I sure did for quite a long while and then you decide to see what happens. And wish you had done this years/decades ago.
My room is large and the ceiling slopes from 9 to 18 feet. This has it good points and bad points. But I thought it was a better than average room and then I started using REW and found it was a mess.
Leadbelly, we were born at the wrong time. I hate abbreviations as much as anyone but in this TAPATALK era it is the way it has become. I would hope you would not judge someone on that or you are in for a very lonely existence.
One thing for sure it's nowhere near as annoying and absurd as PRAT. The audio equivalent of "ATM machine".
Hope you don't feel the same way about contractions ...
Judicious (I know I am going to be asked what judicious is) use of DSP in the region below 200 hz can make a profound difference.
To answer a question that was not asked of me; I would say that just like with any other component one uses "good" is what works for you along with how much money you can throw at it.
I bought used YAMAHA units from the nineties that work extremely well in my room.
Don't forget it is best to do some room treating first. The better you do it the less drastic measures one has to take with dsp (obviously).
One finds that bass notes actually can have a coherent low frequency component that is playing the same tune as the harmonics in your own listening room. I bet many people think they are hearing this clearly. I sure did for quite a long while and then you decide to see what happens. And wish you had done this years/decades ago.
My room is large and the ceiling slopes from 9 to 18 feet. This has it good points and bad points. But I thought it was a better than average room and then I started using REW and found it was a mess.
Leadbelly, we were born at the wrong time. I hate abbreviations as much as anyone but in this TAPATALK era it is the way it has become. I would hope you would not judge someone on that or you are in for a very lonely existence.
One thing for sure it's nowhere near as annoying and absurd as PRAT. The audio equivalent of "ATM machine".
Hope you don't feel the same way about contractions ...
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cough cough - not an acronym.
I did not understand your comment, so I looked it up. Yes, SQ is more specifically an initialism, but most dictionaries do not distinguish between acronyms and initialisms Acronym - Wikipedia
Out of curiosity.. is there a better acronym that should be used?
Or is it a kind of snobbery against the idea of Sound Quality (which is what I assume the OP is referring to). Maybe it isn't a 'professional' term? Maybe it is a 'subjectivism' thing?
Or something else?
Honest question, I'm new to this particular facet of electronics and curious to know the basis behind your remark.
Guys question pls cause Im not into this stuff. What does digital eq do to the timbre, Do you need to bi-amp or tri amp ? To me it's you don't get something for nothing. I would opt to try to tame room acoustics over EQuing. Reason is that we try so so hard to make our digital playback to sound should I say more natural & adding digital stuff to the chain would undo all the goodness that we try to achieve. I'm in the same boat as Rick using SDTrans as transport to my AyA DS dac. Been tweaking my set up for years to get it to sound un digital.
Cheers
Cheers
If you mean mine, I wondered what was meant by "good room EQ processing", it was the method or degree of EQ employed I was interested in
Which is to say I think that as with any tool in the kit , anything from very little to - how'd you manage to mangle it that badly? In other words, implementation is key .
And does it not behoove the OP of any thread to not just throw his hands up in the air and say "OK, kids it's all yours now"?
And does it not behoove the OP of any thread to not just throw his hands up in the air and say "OK, kids it's all yours now"?
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