Food For Thought?

[icehockeyboy]

I have wondered, more than once, if sonic improvements we very often spend lots of cash on, can be replicated by a set of tone controls...........:scratch:

A recent review of a dac mentions hearing a musician shuffling in his/her seat, a bit of treble boost might bring forth the same result.........?

Anyway, just my two pennurth! Discuss please! :)

[Puffin]

I have an MF X-Tone, that boosts and cuts Bass and Treble at fixed frequencies. I find this very useful for tuning.

In so far as getting the ambience of the recording, IMO phasing and time-delay makes the biggest difference.

Rob.

[Beechwoods]

EQ can only mask deficiencies in sound earlier on the chain. In my view it's inherently flawed, something will still be missing, whether it's dynamics, harmonics, phase or timing as a result of just compensating for something via a tone control. YMMV!

[seoirse2002]

Have to say I agree,and I have found a little bass boost here or there can help,but of course if you have an amp with no controls,youre stuck with it...
I often hear it said "not much bass in that amp" or "not much bass in those speakers"
Friend of mine invited me round to hear and compare 2 dacs and see what I thought....
It was a blind listen and he had carefully covered his rack so I didnt know what buttons he was pushing.....
I kept choosing the same one (with different music of course)again and again and just when my patience was about to give up,he showed me the "dacs"
One was an M dac which sounded good,the other(which I kept choosing) was a graphic equaliser!!!!!! bought on ebay for £15!!
Goes to show that "flat" is not always the most desirable sound and "let your ears decide" is some of the best advice.
Since then,my old Harman Kardon 930 was pulled out and I use it a lot if I want to listen through my primary drive speakers at low level and just use the contour switch. Both amps and speakers are running through a stan beresford router so I can switch and change.....I have no dac....well, not yet,and have recently started to record and listen to cassette tape as well,and am enjoying some tapes I made years ago....maybe its an emotive thing,but I find a certain "liveness" with them imho:cool:

[icehockeyboy]

George, I have a bathroom system, well, a pair of Bose 4.5 inch drivers in the ceiling that are designed to be used with an equaliser, the source is another SB Touch, through an old Pioneer (might be Kenwood......too tired to go up and look, so will edit tomorrow), and it has a built in equaliser, with 6 memory positions to satisfy any eventuality in how you like your eq, and quite often I come out of the shower and question my self why I don't use the set up downstairs as it sounds so good!

[seoirse2002]

hmmm,did you say the bathroom?...even my singing sounds good in there!
But I know what you mean,but do you ever find that having read or heard of a piece of gear being trumped as "uncoloured" that its lacking in something?...
Its down to our ears for sure...but to me,uncoloured means a blank canvas and if I cant add a bit of colour,Im disappointed. I wonder how many people have got rid of perfectly good stuff because it didnt sound how they liked to hear it and had no means of adjustment.:cool:
What Pioneer is that?

[icehockeyboy]

hmmm,did you say the bathroom?...even my singing sounds good in there!
But I know what you mean,but do you ever find that having read or heard of a piece of gear being trumped as "uncoloured" that its lacking in something?...
Its down to our ears for sure...but to me,uncoloured means a blank canvas and if I cant add a bit of colour,Im disappointed. I wonder how many people have got rid of perfectly good stuff because it didnt sound how they liked to hear it and had no means of adjustment.:cool:
What Pioneer is that?

While I remember...it's a JVC AX 500V, and not as I thought, it has a 5 memory equaliser, in as much as you can set it however you want, but can save 5, as opposed to just being able to choose one of 5 pre sets.
It also has a spectrum display which for it's age is amazing, this can be turned off though. http://srvimg06.emarket.ua/images_emarketua/13294801_1_94x72_rev002.jpg


And yes, I know exactly what you mean about uncoloured and lacking! :) http://srvimg07.emarket.ua/images_emarketua/13294801_2_94x72_rev002.jpg