What is your fav Focal Elear EQ curve?

[crenca]

Just looking to compare contrast mine with yours.  I will show you mine if you show me yours

[crenca]

Here is one (mine is similar...i will get a scrnshot):

 

 

[crenca]

Here is mine as of right now (sure to change in the next 5 minutes):

 

 

[dalethorn]

I boosed mine just shy of 5khz, but this one looks like somewhere around 5.5 khz. 

[crenca]

Just now, dalethorn said:

I boosed mine just shy of 5khz, but this one looks like somewhere around 5.5 khz. 

 

 4483 to be exact (I meant to enter 4500

 

I was hoping you would respond Dale - I found a review of yours of the Elear somewhere with a curve but it had no numbers listed.  What are you doing above 4500 (6-10k)?  Also, what are you doing with 500-1500, 2k?  I don't quite know what to do in this latter area as everything I try still sounds off...

[dalethorn]

17 minutes ago, crenca said:

 

 4483 to be exact (I meant to enter 4500

 

I was hoping you would respond Dale - I found a review of yours of the Elear somewhere with a curve but it had no numbers listed.  What are you doing above 4500 (6-10k)?  Also, what are you doing with 500-1500, 2k?  I don't quite know what to do in this latter area as everything I try still sounds off...

I'm up about 3 db between 6-9 khz.  About 6 db from 10-13 khz, but that's harder to judge even though the tones are audibly reliable there, since ear canals vary greatly at the highest frequencies, and so do most premium headphones.  I didn't do anything significant in the midrange, about -3 at 220 hz and -3 around 1.7 khz, just because it seemed better that way.  The mids are pretty well free of coloration, which I've found true of the Focal headphones I've tried so far.

[crenca]

8 minutes ago, dalethorn said:

I'm up about 3 db between 6-9 khz.  About 6 db from 10-13 khz, but that's harder to judge even though the tones are audibly reliable there, since ear canals vary greatly at the highest frequencies, and so do most premium headphones.  I didn't do anything significant in the midrange, about -3 at 220 hz and -3 around 1.7 khz, just because it seemed better that way.  The mids are pretty well free of coloration, which I've found true of the Focal headphones I've tried so far.

 

 

Ok, thanks for the insight.  Coming from the usual planar's (Hifiman, etc.) perhaps I am too used to that reluctant-yet also-sweet (is that the word?) midrange that causes these dynamics to sound "off".  I keep tinkering with things between 200 to 2k looking for something - but I end back up to right around your 2-300 and 1500-2k with even less attenuation (about 2db)....

[dalethorn]

18 minutes ago, crenca said:

 

 

Ok, thanks for the insight.  Coming from the usual planar's (Hifiman, etc.) perhaps I am too used to that reluctant-yet also-sweet (is that the word?) midrange that causes these dynamics to sound "off".  I keep tinkering with things between 200 to 2k looking for something - but I end back up to right around your 2-300 and 1500-2k with even less attenuation (about 2db)....

The planars I've used seemed to have a very flat midrange, which is very appealing.

[buonassi]

first night with the elear, first stab at equal loudness, smoothing treble peaks/nulls.  Not bad results for a first pass.  

[dalethorn]

7 hours ago, buonassi said:

first night with the elear, first stab at equal loudness, smoothing treble peaks/nulls.  Not bad results for a first pass.  

 

Original Elear, standard earpads?

[buonassi]

16 hours ago, dalethorn said:

 

Original Elear, standard earpads?

yes, original Elear, stock pads.  Unusual, I admit - but I really enjoy smooth treble, and this takes away the coarseness for me at least.  So far, very impressed with the Elear.  I know I can dial this in better, but even at first pass, the speed and depth of this phone is on point.  

[dalethorn]

7 hours ago, buonassi said:

yes, original Elear, stock pads.  Unusual, I admit - but I really enjoy smooth treble, and this takes away the coarseness for me at least.  So far, very impressed with the Elear.  I know I can dial this in better, but even at first pass, the speed and depth of this phone is on point.  

 

What I found so unusual about the Elear was the seeming lack of reflections in the earcups, compared directly to other open headphones.  In a sense, it was just a little bit like listening in an anechoic chamber - not a 'dead' sound by any means, but noticeably quieter than other headphones.

[buonassi]

I've simplified my compensation curve quite a bit, trading perfect frequency response for less DSP-ing, if that's a verb.  I'm beyond impressed with how well this takes to EQ.  Note I'm using linear phase for the highs and a minimum phase for the lows in a different AU bank.  Stellar with a bit of crossfeed from Goodhertz

 

 

[dalethorn]

16 hours ago, buonassi said:

I've simplified my compensation curve quite a bit, trading perfect frequency response for less DSP-ing, if that's a verb.  I'm beyond impressed with how well this takes to EQ.  Note I'm using linear phase for the highs and a minimum phase for the lows in a different AU bank.  Stellar with a bit of crossfeed from Goodhertz

 

 

 

I've found that trade works pretty well sometimes, especially if it frees up a slider or two.

[crenca]

On 1/29/2018 at 12:01 AM, buonassi said:

I've simplified my compensation curve quite a bit, trading perfect frequency response for less DSP-ing, if that's a verb.  I'm beyond impressed with how well this takes to EQ.  Note I'm using linear phase for the highs and a minimum phase for the lows in a different AU bank.  Stellar with a bit of crossfeed from Goodhertz

 

 

 

 

Thanks!  Can you still hear that 15-20k range (be honest!  ), or are you boasting that for some other reason?

[buonassi]

4 hours ago, crenca said:

 

 

Thanks!  Can you still hear that 15-20k range (be honest!  ), or are you boasting that for some other reason?

 

Well, not so much past 15, no I can't - though I just tested up to 18K at the audiologist a couple months ago - which took me by surprise since my home tests suggest I can only hear up to 16.5k.  There's really not any "music" past 15, and even that's just cymbal sheen.  But the elear takes a dive right after 12.5, so I thought it needed a little help to get a 15K tone as loud as a 12K tone.  So what you're seeing in my graph isn't necessarily what I'm hearing.  That spike in the top octave is only there to get me up to 15K performance.  This is why I didn't use a high shelf. 

 

Still, the 6db boost at 16K helps lift everything past the 12K dive the elear takes.  And it's noticeable to me.  

[buonassi]

There seems to be a consensus that some extra energy at 4K is needed to take care of that "suck out" people describe.  What's odd to me is that lots of folks don't seem to be bothered by that spike at 10K.  It doesn't hurt my ears like say a 7K spike would (sibilance) but still makes things sound a tad tizzy.  

 

That being said, I'm simply in love with the performance of this headphone.  These issues aren't dealbreakers at all and I find the Elear to sound very good even without EQ surgery. 

[crenca]

12 hours ago, buonassi said:

 

Well, not so much past 15, no I can't - though I just tested up to 18K at the audiologist a couple months ago - which took me by surprise since my home tests suggest I can only hear up to 16.5k.  There's really not any "music" past 15, and even that's just cymbal sheen.  But the elear takes a dive right after 12.5, so I thought it needed a little help to get a 15K tone as loud as a 12K tone.  So what you're seeing in my graph isn't necessarily what I'm hearing.  That spike in the top octave is only there to get me up to 15K performance.  This is why I didn't use a high shelf. 

 

Still, the 6db boost at 16K helps lift everything past the 12K dive the elear takes.  And it's noticeable to me.  

 

12 hours ago, buonassi said:

There seems to be a consensus that some extra energy at 4K is needed to take care of that "suck out" people describe.  What's odd to me is that lots of folks don't seem to be bothered by that spike at 10K.  It doesn't hurt my ears like say a 7K spike would (sibilance) but still makes things sound a tad tizzy.  

 

That being said, I'm simply in love with the performance of this headphone.  These issues aren't dealbreakers at all and I find the Elear to sound very good even without EQ surgery. 

 

 

Thanks Buonassi, my own self tests reveals that I am a stretch now to 14k, and that in only one ear (I am in my late 40's).  Those not bothered by the 10k spike might be down to about that in there hearing, who knows.  I have attenuate it to get the best out of the Elear.

 

I agree with you, the Elear really "takes" EQing well and sounds really good with it, unlike some other HP's

[buonassi]

On 5/28/2017 at 3:16 PM, crenca said:

Here is one (mine is similar...i will get a scrnshot):

 

 

I recently put 2.5 db of steam behind 600hz.  Just a simple bell that affects 200hz to 2K, very similar to yours, but with a slightly more narrow Q.  I read your post, but didn't think this was something I should change.  But trying it out really infused some magic into the low mids.  The result is a sound I'm very familiar with (having the JH Angie IEM).  This is an area where there is a tremendous amount of music and moving this up a bit really brought some more emotion and warmth into the mids overall.  

 

Just for fun, here's my latest curve: