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covertash t1_j69urb6 wrote

If the issue you have is related to the tonality then you're right, EQ is one of the most useful tools to make minor corrections. The emphasis is on the word minor.

To be clear, I'm not against EQ. In fact, I do use it (sparingly), as a tool, rather than a band-aid for a gunshot wound.

This is where it becomes a bit philosophical, and in my opinion, if your EQ adjustments are well over 3 dB (or whatever your personal threshold is), across multiple bands, then the headphones themselves were probably the wrong starting point for you. I also find that if I am too heavy handed with EQ, it tends to swing towards being "unbalanced", and I end up going down a path of endlessly tweaking settings as my playlist goes on. For me, I have a broad range of what I consider tolerable and enjoyable, so I just listen to most things as they are - warts and all.

Some people may feel "who cares how the sausage is made, as long as I get to enjoy it?", and that is entirely valid. It's just different degrees of personal tolerances.

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AnOldMoth t1_j6bgnvl wrote

> the headphones themselves were probably the wrong starting point for you

While I do agree with this in a vacuum, the sad thing is that I have literally never heard a headphone that was "the correct starting point" that was anything resembling affordable. As in, Summit-Fi stuff fits this bill, and anything lower always has a ton of tonal issues that I can't stand.

EQ was the only way for me to afford really good sound, haha. Though of course this is true if you do not have this problem, which I hope other people don't.

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covertash t1_j6e1wp0 wrote

That's unfortunate. :(

I'm not nearly as bothered by tonal issues, as I find even if something sounds jarring to me, at first (i.e. stock Focal Elegia), given enough time, I always end up acclimating and normalizing the sound anyway. It just requires time to re-acclimate again when switching back to more "normal" sounding headphones, at a later time. But I can certainly understand others not wanting to undergo this arduous process.

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Ezees t1_j6fwzg9 wrote

This^^^. The ear/brain hearing system has a way of adjusting/normalizing nearly any SQ over time. It's how someone could actually enjoy Grado, Bose, or Beats while not disliking more capable or balanced headphones. That is, until they've listened to the balanced HP for awhile - then, when they go back to Grado/Bose/Beats - they'll find them horrible until their hearing adjusts again.

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717x t1_j6dqois wrote

Wishing more people could just have this take and we could all move along lmao. I’ve seen so many posts about EQ during the 15 years I’ve been into the hobby, and it’s crazy to me how controversial it is.

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covertash t1_j6e3v8f wrote

Yeah, I feel that the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction to the point where the context for EQ usage is lost, and we're now overcompensating and over-correcting to cope with essentially a bad purchase.

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