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Thread: Distortion vs EQ

  1. #1
    Join Date: May 2010

    Location: Vancouver, Canada

    Posts: 2,166
    I'm Alex.

    Question Distortion vs EQ

    I am not a sound engineer, so my understanding of the subject matter is extremely naive. But I am getting mighty confused with, what to me seems like a regular conflation between terms 'distortion' and 'EQ'. I would appreciate it if someone could set me straight in these matters.

    We often hear how vinyl reproduction adds certain characteristic distortion which then contributes to our assessment that vinyl somehow sounds different than digital reproduction. But my question is: is it distortion, or is it EQ that the turntable appears to be adding to the original signal?

    Let me put it this way: I'm a musician, and I like to overdub myself in my home studio. I track myself playing, and then I edit the tracks in Protools. What I often end up doing is messing a bit with the EQ, increasing some frequencies, reducing some other frequencies a bit, etc. So am I actually adding distortion to the original signal? I may not like how the microphone was tracking my instrument, or my voice, so I need to edit it. But as the author, I don't see it as adding distortion to the signal. I see it as polishing the recording so that it sounds the way I like it.

    So is a turntable then doing the same thing? Is it polishing the original signal to make it sound more appealing to us? And of course, the better the turntable/plater/tonearm/cartridge/phono/interconnects combo is, the more pleasing, the more satisfying this EQ-ing appears. But why do we then refer to it as 'distortion'?
    Don't you just hate it when you cannot detect where the post ends and a signature line begins?

    Alex.

  2. #2
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: N E Kent

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    I'm Geoff.

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    EQ is not distortion. It is alteration of the signal amplitude. Distortion is deviation from the signal form. Added noise is an imposed distortion.
    It is impossible for anything digital to sound analogue, because it isn't analogue!

  3. #3
    Join Date: Feb 2013

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    I'm Grant.

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    that avatar has to go Geoff. Im getting you mixed up with too many folk now... I'm old n confused enough
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  4. #4
    Join Date: Sep 2012

    Location: East Anglia UK

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    I'm Marc.

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    A turntable may well be adding distortion (normally a flattening or 'clipping' of the 'upper' part of a wave (as in the bit towards the top of it's amplitude curve) it might also be having frequency specific amplitude effects (which is what eq is).

    Distortion



    Harder to visualise EQ but a graphic does it well, here each slider just controls a specific frequency from 31Hz on the left hand end to 25kHz at the right


  5. #5
    Join Date: Oct 2012

    Location: The Black Country

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    I'm Alan.

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    Good post ^^

    EQ could alternatively be termed 'tonal adjustment'. For vinyl playback the EQ is very specific, RIAA usually, to make the best of the limitations of recording onto the vinyl media.

    Distortion generally adds new harmonics to the signal, in the case of the clipped waveform above they will be mainly odd order and sound 'wrong' to our ears.


  6. #6
    RothwellAudio Guest

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    It's a good question and I have wondered myself why EQ doesn't create distortion when it clearly makes the output signal different from the input signal. Well, it does - but it's known as linear distortion. The "bad" stuff is known as non-linear distortion.
    Here are a couple of articles about it.

    http://www.nti-audio.com/en/news/let...%E2%80%A6.aspx

    http://www.audiomasterclass.com/the-...ear-distortion

  7. #7
    Join Date: Dec 2011

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    I'm Dimitris.

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    Well EQ is a type of distortion. The difference is that it is added deliberately and in a controlled manner, to essentially become part of the signal itself (for example the master)
    In direct contrast to let's say harmonic distortion which cannot be controlled outside the design or build process (usually), and is unwanted (usually)

    Now on your question about turntables and their character... This is a topic that probably has started many threads and many flames.
    My opinion is that saying that turntables have a character because they add distortion is an oversimplification, an unjust generalization and a bit silly because it suggests that other devices do not add distortion.

    All devices add some kind of distortion. How much and of what type depends on the design, the implementation and actually can even differentiate between two samples of the same model if the manufacturing process does not strictly select and match parts to very low tollerances.
    Last edited by dimkasta; 11-03-2017 at 20:33.
    Sources: Modified SL1200 MK2, Salas folded RIAA, Phonoclone, VSPS, Shelter 501 MK2, Modified Pioneer P6D6 as transport, Shigaclone transport, Peter Daniel NOS DAC.
    Amplification: Custom 211 Monoblocks, Electrocompaniet AW120, Audio Research VS110, Gainclone
    Loudspeakers: Tannoy Turnberry, PBN Montana EP Signature
    Cables/stands: Tempflex ribbon and Twinax cables
    Other: Promitheus Signature Passive Attenuator, Custom JFET - transformer preamp.

  8. #8
    RothwellAudio Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by dimkasta View Post
    Well EQ is a type of distortion. The difference is that it is added deliberately and in a controlled manner, to essentially become part of the signal itself (for example the master)
    In direct contrast to let's say harmonic distortion which cannot be controlled (usually) outside the design or build process, and is unwanted.
    This isn't quite true. Aural exciters are used deliberately but they are not adding linear distortion, they are adding non-linear distortion. The basic function is to operate on frequencies above a certain cut-off frequency, distort the waveform to add harmonics and then blend the distorted signal in with the original signal. The effect is to add some sparkle to the sound.
    In reality aural exciters are more complicated than the crude explanation above (or should be )
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exciter_(effect)

  9. #9
    Join Date: Dec 2011

    Location: Athens

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    I'm Dimitris.

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    Exciters are again a processing tool that is deliberately and conditionally applied to the signal to become part of it (for example the master)

    I referred to unwanted and uncontrollable harmonic distortion like that created by semiconductors in an amplifying stage.
    Sources: Modified SL1200 MK2, Salas folded RIAA, Phonoclone, VSPS, Shelter 501 MK2, Modified Pioneer P6D6 as transport, Shigaclone transport, Peter Daniel NOS DAC.
    Amplification: Custom 211 Monoblocks, Electrocompaniet AW120, Audio Research VS110, Gainclone
    Loudspeakers: Tannoy Turnberry, PBN Montana EP Signature
    Cables/stands: Tempflex ribbon and Twinax cables
    Other: Promitheus Signature Passive Attenuator, Custom JFET - transformer preamp.

  10. #10
    RothwellAudio Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by magiccarpetride View Post
    But my question is: is it distortion, or is it EQ that the turntable appears to be adding to the original signal?
    I think I may have misunderstood the OP's question, or overlooked the nub of it (above).
    The turntable shouldn't be EQing the signal, though MM cartridges certainly don't have the flattest frequency response ever seen. Some distortion is inevitable though. The main types of distortion in vinyl playback are tracking distortion and tracing distortion.

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