HQ Player

[copy_of_a]

9 hours ago, Schafheide said:

Hi again

Would you mind telling me which app you used to plot the curves?

TIA

 

DDMF Plugindoctor

https://ddmf.eu/plugindoctor/

[Schafheide]

13 hours ago, copy_of_a said:

 

DDMF Plugindoctor

https://ddmf.eu/plugindoctor/

The looks like great software - thankyou.

But it does more than I need - I only want to plot curves, so that I can visually compare.

Do you know of freeware that would do this?

[copy_of_a]

8 hours ago, Schafheide said:

The looks like great software - thankyou.

But it does more than I need - I only want to plot curves, so that I can visually compare.

Do you know of freeware that would do this?

I am not aware of other softwares that can load vst plugins for this purpose.

You can, however, process dirac impulses and load them into REW (or HQPlayer) for comparison.

Bur I don‘t really understand what you want to achieve. Do you want this one particular setting for your headphones and be done?

Then simply get a free demo of DMG Equilibrium and create a convolution file (dirac impulse in wav format) in Audacity or so.

But I‘d simply use the setting I‘ve made for you. The insignificant differences at the low end (12dB/oct. vs. 18dB/oct. HPF) doesn‘t play a role. The slightest change to the seal of a headphone (when moving your head) contributes way more to changes in the perceived bass response.

[Schafheide]

According to the article, the headphone response is about 3db below the Harman curve, even with his 2dB EQ.  I am interested to hear the difference if I adjust the EQ so that the response is the same as the Harman curve. Obviously I could just add 3dB to your emu txt file - is this the best way to achieve it? I do understand that the Harman curve is not the be all & end all!

[copy_of_a]

21 hours ago, Schafheide said:

According to the article, the headphone response is about 3db below the Harman curve, even with his 2dB EQ.  I am interested to hear the difference if I adjust the EQ so that the response is the same as the Harman curve. Obviously I could just add 3dB to your emu txt file - is this the best way to achieve it? I do understand that the Harman curve is not the be all & end all!

no, you can't just add +3db to the curve as this would just be a change in the overall gain.

The +2db in this EQ settings refers to the bass boost you see in the graph. To further boost the bass you'd have to adjust all curve points (in relation to each other if you want to keep this particular curve).

 

Or you could add a low shelf to lift the entire curve but this would actually require to also slightly adjust the HPF.
You can add a 6th Filter in my DMG_EMU setting (pink) to experiment (without HPF adjustment):

for +1db (green):
Filter 6: ON LS Fc 100 Hz Gain 1 dB Q 0.71

for +2db (yellow):
Filter 6: ON LS Fc 100 Hz Gain 2 dB Q 0.71

for +3db (red):
Filter 6: ON LS Fc 100 Hz Gain 3 dB Q 0.71

 

(accidently cut the frequency from the graph 🙄 ... either way)

[Schafheide]

Thank you - that looks very promising!   I omitted saying that I am aware that the preamp gain would need to be changed to suit the extra gain.

[Schafheide]

In Matrix Pipeline settings - can the vertical scale (dB) of the plot display be altered?

[Schafheide]

My setup is particularly sensitive to sound engineers boosting or placing mic close to big bass drums or whatever.

It would be, perhaps, nice if HQPlayer could limit (in a nice way) the sound level for these events, when they occur.

For me, it makes their recordings of Mahler symphonies terrifying, because these enormous sound spikes cause my headphones to bottom - which is a pity, given the otherwise fabulous recording quality.

[AudioDoctor]

7 minutes ago, Schafheide said:

My setup is particularly sensitive to sound engineers boosting or placing mic close to big bass drums or whatever.

It would be, perhaps, nice if HQPlayer could limit (in a nice way) the sound level for these events, when they occur.

For me, it makes their recordings of Mahler symphonies terrifying, because these enormous sound spikes cause my headphones to bottom - which is a pity, given the otherwise fabulous recording quality.

 

What sound volume are you listening at?

[Schafheide]

5 hours ago, copy_of_a said:

no, you can't just add +3db to the curve as this would just be a change in the overall gain.

The +2db in this EQ settings refers to the bass boost you see in the graph. To further boost the bass you'd have to adjust all curve points (in relation to each other if you want to keep this particular curve).

 

Or you could add a low shelf to lift the entire curve but this would actually require to also slightly adjust the HPF.
You can add a 6th Filter in my DMG_EMU setting (pink) to experiment (without HPF adjustment):

for +1db (green):
Filter 6: ON LS Fc 100 Hz Gain 1 dB Q 0.71

for +2db (yellow):
Filter 6: ON LS Fc 100 Hz Gain 2 dB Q 0.71

for +3db (red):
Filter 6: ON LS Fc 100 Hz Gain 3 dB Q 0.71

 

(accidently cut the frequency from the graph 🙄 ... either way)

I do hope that you did not think that my response trivialized the work that you had obviously put in to your answer.  It was not until I digested the info, that I realised what you had done.  I will now listen to your new PEQ file recommendations.  Many, many thanks.

[Schafheide]

2 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

What sound volume are you listening at?

Sound volume? Not sure what you mean.  HQPlayer is set to -6dBFS.

[Miska]

7 hours ago, Schafheide said:

In Matrix Pipeline settings - can the vertical scale (dB) of the plot display be altered?

 

It auto-scales to the range of the transfer curve. There is no manual adjustment at the moment.

[Miska]

7 hours ago, Schafheide said:

For me, it makes their recordings of Mahler symphonies terrifying, because these enormous sound spikes cause my headphones to bottom - which is a pity, given the otherwise fabulous recording quality.

 

I wonder how is that possible... It has never happened to me with any of my headphones. Only case where I could imagine such happening would be some high bass EQ gain.

 

7 hours ago, Schafheide said:

It would be, perhaps, nice if HQPlayer could limit (in a nice way) the sound level for these events, when they occur.

 

It does, through the limiter, to avoid clipping. But you should keep volume low enough to not trigger the limiter.

 

[Schafheide]

The problem only occurs (for me) on Channel Classics recordings of Mahler Symphonies.  No other Mahler recording has this problem.

[Schafheide]

I should have specified a dynamic range limiter - is that a compressor?  So I can hear the pppp without being deafened by the occasional fffffff !!!  Does PCM have less dynamic range than SDM?

[Miska]

18 minutes ago, Schafheide said:

I should have specified a dynamic range limiter - is that a compressor?

 

Yes, that would be a compressor.

 

18 minutes ago, Schafheide said:

Does PCM have less dynamic range than SDM?

 

PCM has absolutely strict maximum level limit. While SDM doesn't. If those source files are DSD (I assume they are since they are Channel Classics), they could have some over-modulation portions that exceed 0 dB. I would advise to just turn down HQPlayer volume control by extra 3 dB when listening such records and that should do it.

 

[clark8888]

[shoubhikbhatti]

@clark8888 is this a in production? Do you have like where this can be bought?

[Miska]

8 hours ago, shoubhikbhatti said:

@clark8888 is this a in production? Do you have like where this can be bought?

 

I guess it's someone's hobby project. Looks nice!

 

But if it's commercial production, it is violating my registered trademark.

 

[DomiJi]

Hello @Miska

 

i have a new DAC and struggle a bit with the best settings because it is my first ESS DAC (9028 Pro).

What settings do you recommend for this ESS DAC? By the way it is a Cayin iDAC-6 MK2

 

As far as I know ASDM5ecv2 is more recommend than ASDM7ecv2?

 

Is 48k DSD recommended for ESS DACs and what DSD Filter should I choose? 47 or 50?

 

thanks for your help and have a great day

 

best

 Dominik

[Miska]

4 minutes ago, DomiJi said:

i have a new DAC and struggle a bit with the best settings because it is my first ESS DAC (9028 Pro).

What settings do you recommend for this ESS DAC? By the way it is a Cayin iDAC-6 MK2

 

As far as I know ASDM5ecv2 is more recommend than ASDM7ecv2?

 

Yes, start with ASDM5ECv2. You can also try ASDM7ECv2, especially if you can run it at DSD512.

 

4 minutes ago, DomiJi said:

Is 48k DSD recommended for ESS DACs and what DSD Filter should I choose? 47 or 50?

 

You can use 48k DSD with ESS DACs, if they actually work correctly with it. But most won't. You may get distorted/noisy sound, no sound at all, or sound at wrong speed (44.1k clock). Either 47k or 50k is fine as DSD filter setting.

 

[all300b]

OK - need a little help with a first world problem: I have fallen out of love with DSD. Initially liked the unique "analog-like" and less hifi sound of DSD256 upsampling with ASDM5 or 7 EC2. Now - after DSP calibrating my speakers - PCM upsampling to 384 with poly-sinc-mp rules the day, whereas DSD upsampling (Gauss long) sounds "boring" and a little sluggish. Other settings? Comments apply exclusively to rebook. Mac mini M1 - optical Rendu - Topping D90 (original AKM) - Ars Sonum tube integrated - Merlin VSM speakers. 

 

[Miska]

2 hours ago, all300b said:

OK - need a little help with a first world problem: I have fallen out of love with DSD. Initially liked the unique "analog-like" and less hifi sound of DSD256 upsampling with ASDM5 or 7 EC2. Now - after DSP calibrating my speakers - PCM upsampling to 384 with poly-sinc-mp rules the day, whereas DSD upsampling (Gauss long) sounds "boring" and a little sluggish. Other settings? Comments apply exclusively to rebook. Mac mini M1 - optical Rendu - Topping D90 (original AKM) - Ars Sonum tube integrated - Merlin VSM speakers. 

 

poly-sinc-mp with ASDM7ECv2? With AK4499 it is also best to use DSD512 instead of DSD256. Also remember to use PCM gain compensation to compensate for any PCM vs DSD level differences.

 

But at 384 you will have quite a low reconstruction accuracy with fair amount of ultrasonic distortion, so it will sound a bit harsh. This is what I consider "less hifi sound" that causes "digitus".

 

But also check your speaker calibration that it is not causing sonic degradation. EQ with too steep or aggressive changes will make sound muddy and messy.

 

[clark8888]

On 10/3/2022 at 10:28 AM, shoubhikbhatti said:

@clark8888 is this a in production? Do you have like where this can be bought?

It's a DIY naa from a Chinese HQ fan as Miska guessed not for sale.

[EMINENT]

This sounds quite nice. Is AMSDM7EC 512+fs ok to use with 256x48? What is the fs for?