How Much Do tonal colorations matter?
Been playing with Roon DSP Convolution filters for various headphones I own. Think of convolution filters in this case as room correction for headphones. I find they take much of the things that make various headphones sound different and make them all sound more the same and more like what one hears listening with more "reference" level headphones. My headphone collection is nice but I do not consider any of these reference level. I own various Sennheiser, Grado, Sony, Audio Technica and Klipsh headphones/earbuds. The convolution filters makes them all sound quite a bit more similar when applied.
Over the holidays I plan to expand my application of Roon convolution filters and create my own to use in various rooms of my house.
So with the headphones the tonal colorations of each are essentially gone and all are more similarly enjoyable now.
So I am finding that proper use of DSP essentially eliminates the issue of tonal differences.
Then the question becomes: Is that a good thing for everyone? Probably not. I doubt everyone likes the same end result sound even if it can be demonstrated to be technically more accurate as a result of being calibrated using pink noise as a reference signal.
So what do you think?
For anyone interested applying convolution filters for most any model headphone via Roon DSP is a very easy thing to try. All you need is Roon and a pair of headphones. The convolution filters are provided by an external site for most headphone models. You just enable a convolution filter in Roon DSP and set it to use the convolution filter file you download, then listen and compare with and without.
@mahgister if you ever want to try and see there is a download available for those headphones along with many others available here: AutoEQ Web | Results | Recommended (killdozer.uk) Note that the always appropriate YMMV disclaimer is nicely applied. More info on targeted results: Harman Target Curve Explained - Audiosolace
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Easier perhaps because you can use filters already created for most headphone models but equally applicable for room correction and other primarily audio production use cases. See this:
The Basics of Convolution in Audio Production (izotope.com)
A convolution filter merely allows one to digitally impose one signal upon another over a chosen frequency range. In case of room correction, the signal imposed is that created to compensate for room acoustics across the entire frequency range that human ears hear.
In the case of room correction, each room is unique and requires a custom filter be created somehow. Here is the recipe I plan to follow to do it with Roon. For this in addition to Roon you just need a suitable microphone and to download some freeware. I’m hoping the mike I bought for $139 will be one the best investments ever for my sound at home and save me a lot of time and money potentially twiddling with components otherwise.
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