Equalizer in a Hi Fi system

Haven’t posted here in a while. While I haven’t explored digital EQ yet, I HAVE made some cable upgrades and replaced my aging ML ATF transducer tweeters to great benefit. I am hearing more detailed presence region, more extended airier treble, dialing in less EQ, and hearing tighter more articulate and more punchy dynamic bass. Overall dynamics clarity immediacy are better with cable upgrades. I have learned through loaners from TCC that my equipment favors single conductor 10 AWG. There is not a single stock cord left. Oh, the upgrades are one DiMarzio M-Path 3 x 12 AWG conductors on the PEQ-1 and Audience Forte F3 everywhere else. The 1.5 M digital coaxial Shunyata Theta cable for my Aries has also contributed nicely. Great stuff!

All these changes- new power cords, new digital spdif cord, and last but not least new tweeters- have the system fully saturated to the point to where the EQ settings are much better. And less. No more tricks like needing to bump up mids slightly and 120 hz slightly while toying with 15 kHz and smidge down at 5 kHz. Now it’s simply using 40 hz for bass and 20 kHz for treble. Everything else dead flat. If I DO on some darker recordings need bigger treble I switch to 15 kHz and back 5khz down 1/3 dot, leaving all the mid dials flat, and NOW with the added power and more saturated mids it sounds PERFECT, without any lower treble / upper mids suck out. In conclusion, the EQ interacts perfectly and better than it used to, even, to accomplish my listening ends. 
I made the discovery that when you push multiple other dials above flat even a little, like 1/3 dot, that you cannot drop 5 kHz by as much before the presence region is impaired. Guess it’s all relative and makes sense. But with cheaper cords when I set 120 hz, 500 hz, and 2 kHz all flat like I am now, it sounded recessed and a touch poor. Am sorry so long winded but wanted to elaborate on how better cabling improved mids and dynamics on the EQ and simplified settings. There’s also less overdrive (potential for distortion) as well, as all dials are set less and the resultant EQd sound is now only slightly louder than tape loop OUT (true bypass). Am very very happy with these changes. 😊🎶

A little update on aftermarket PCs from an EQ perspective. Joy of all joys, two great things are observed with my system nowadays. 1.  More and better bass. Better more popping and detailed articulation in mids. These are great great baseline changes that I would always equivocate with better hi fi. 2.  Surprisingly more headroom with analog bass boost so less prone to analog distortion. I didn’t expect this one. I love that at this point I have this current system maxed out completely. Only component or speaker upgrades can improve it now. 
Aftermarket PCs really matter! 

I confess to being lazy in the last year with pursuing digital EQ for both room correction or target curves. One day…it’s hard to make changes to something so good. 

@jtcf , still enjoying your studio equalizer?

I am super curious how well treble target curves work when you have actively done crossover using your high end DSP system and biamping. So very curious. @mijostyn ?  Comments?  We’re talking a broad bell centered at 15khz with a Q of 0.65-1. 1 probably better and more natural. 

Giving @bigwave1 a shout out for favorably mentioning his Charter Oak PEQ-1 on “biggest influence on…” thread recently. Thanks Dave!  Dave has always killer system. BTW,  I brought my 3rd CO unit up to Audible Images in Melbourne FL. Heard it in between Mac tube pre and mono blocks driving Sonus Faber. The 20 k and 40 hz were glorious bands!

The VOX software fully parametric EQ for Qobuz is the best software EQ I’ve heard to date, sonically. I am using it exclusively with my exercise buds, Senne Momentum TW 4. While it can do largely anything without distortion, which is great, it still lacks that 3D soundstage depth and roundness of notes and full layered textures that my CO delivers. So I still feel for my use case of adding tone, analog EQ better. Admit though results are highly variable. I’ve been lucky to have found a couple of good boxes out there. 😊🎶

“I met Mike at NAMM in Anaheim, January 2014. I was looking at his EQ, and he talked me into buying the compressor as well. I wrote him a check on the spot for both, and took them home after the show. So I suppose technically they should be called demo units, but only demonstrated by Mike, and from the looks of them, very little. I used them briefly for an archival restoration, and then put them back in their boxes, and forgot about them until years later when I moved. That's the truth! 

Oh, I have my check stub for the purchase, that I can show you if you are serious about buying them. Also, I did just take them out and test them on my AP, and they are fine in all respects. No scratchy pots or other age-related issues.”

Ian

Above is about a used like new CO for sale on eBay. I inquired of the age and got the above answer. THIS IS A GREAT GREAT FIND!  Someone should jump on it. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/277064890882?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=-c_owSiBTry&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=vlylgtfgsgk&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=MORE

I know another who speaks highly of onboard Sansui EQ in pre. The Douk T8 Pro7. Looks cool. I wonder for sh-ts and giggles how it’d conmpare sonically to CO. Temptyto find out. Cheap on Amazon. 

I have checked further this CO on EBay. It’s in PRISTINE like new condition. Someone who wants high end analog tone and whose system is all XLR balanced really ought to jump on this!  It WILL sell quick. That’s how great they sound. If I didn’t own 3 right now I’d buy it immediately!

Incidentally that Charter Oak on EBay sold like 2 days after I posted about it. They are tonally wonderful EQs and the pros know it. They are rare gear and highly sought after. 

I have found an interesting article.  On tonal vs corrective EQ  see link I will send  

Can’t attach link. Don’t know why. Sheesh. Google Icon Collective what’s the best effects chain order for mixing?  So annoying!  Sorry. Read section 5.  
I argue that with a finished product, a post mastered recording, that tonal and only tonal EQ plays a role. Not corrective EQ. That is in my mind only applicable in mixing and mastering in the studio. And from reading this thread you know what that means… in the playback scenario only analog EQ and only boosts. Don’t take it from me. Read what’s out there.  That’s absolutely been my personal experience with all kinds of EQ. And my boost only analog only approach seems vindicated by every thing I read. No doing cuts with a digital EQ or crappy analog EQ will NEVER get the kind of full saturated, note dense, 3D, harmonically pleasing, “tone is king” kind of result I’m getting. The caveat though is that now I’ve played with a number of analog EQ hardware devices. They are NOT all created equal. Particularly when it comes to treble. You have to find a great one. But when you do it is the “keys to the Kingdom “ and nothing beats it b

“ If i boosted with my tone control  the higher frequencies, the violin become celestial honey and any bass head will become High head...”

I love this quote. Exactly!

@mahgister ,

I wish I could hear your naturally tuned system with the resonators you use coupled with your Sansui EQ!  I will simply bet for the relatively small monetary outlay that it sounds heavenly!

TONE IS KING!! 
But I must have resolution, pace, stage, dynamics and timbre also!  I simply am not satisfied unless I have it all!  And I’d rather do it my way than spend 200K on a system with no tone controls!

👍🎧🎶

I love folks like yourself, Denis, who are not afraid to seek out good quality treble tone control and Boost…for better space, timbre and harmonic structure in upper range. Often mids sound more realistic doing so, as I think you have also found.  Too many audiophiles absolutely do not know what they are missing because they are treble shy and only cut there. And likely that’s because of poor implementation on that tone control or EQ, making a boost sound bad. As I have said before, finding a true balanced transparent treble tone control that enhances the music boosted without degrading is truly a magic experience with hi fi gear. The true Keys to the Kingdom!

To the treble cutters, the truth is that if you added a modest nice broad bass shelf of  say 4 db or so and possibly a mild touch of mids boost, then you’d never cut treble. You’d want to boost with a high quality treble shelf or bell. When we hear  music and want to cut treble (lean, presence region forward with straight signal), it’s almost always better to do the boosts mentioned above than cut. But only if the EQ is up to snuff. You really need analog EQ to do this right. And almost every audiophile uses digital. Which doesn’t boost well, particularly in 2 or 3 places in the FR. Gotta be analog!

I had it in my chain for a month. Loved it. It performs wonderfully as an outboard tone box. It has incredibly clean and powerful treble boosting ability (which was comparable to my beloved CO EQ. Bass more than adequate for most applications. And it could execute very seamless effective gentle cuts when called for. Excellent noise floor. Transparent on flat. I think you’d love it. If I didn’t like my Charter Oak PEQ-1 a smidge better I’d still own it. 

I had MOSFET version, BTW

I am not an ‘only booster’ anymore. Better power delivery to PEQ-1 with better power cables has me experimenting. I have found there are several ways to EQ to taste, some of which involve gentle cuts. And they all sound great. Love the aftermarket cable on the EQ. Its Audience F3. Saturation, dynamics and ‘pop’ is off the charts now. PEQ-1 can do anything pretty much anything and sound good. 

@mijostyn ,

can you give me a brief update on your progress with DEQX?  I am still very interested in hearing the final smoothed out product at its best. I would love to hop a flight/ plan a little trip around paying you a visit to meet you and hear a demo of exactly what state of the art DSP is capable of doing. 😊🎶