Sometimes the best EQ is none at all.
Sorry to break it to you, but adjusting EQ settings, especially on high-end headphones, can actually do more harm than good.
This habit, often carried over from mid-fi setups, can easily become an addiction. You’d think you’re making things sound better. In reality, you could actually be adding distortions that undo years of meticulous tuning by audio engineers.
Why Many Audiophiles Become EQ Addicts
It’s easy to understand why so many audiophiles, especially those transitioning from mid-fi gear, become reliant on EQ adjustments.
And why not? During those days (or years), EQ was our best friend, helping us iron out the kinks in our less-than-perfect headphones. A boost here, a cut there, and suddenly that $100 pair sounded almost passable.
So when we finally save up for those dream headphones, it’s only natural to bring our EQ habits along for the ride. Perfecting the sound signature becomes second nature as we attempt to tailor the audio experience to our preferences (A.K.A. what we’re used to).
The thing is, high-end headphones are a whole different ballgame. These aren’t your run-of-the-mill cans that need “fixing.” They’re carefully made by experts who’ve spent a long time perfecting every part of the sound.
So, applying EQ too liberally can disrupt the careful balance they’ve created. Suddenly, the habit that once improved a mid-fi setup becomes a liability.
But old habits die hard, right? We get our fancy new headphones and start messing with the EQ right away, thinking we can make them even better. It’s like trying to “improve” a Stradivarius violin with some duct tape and a prayer.
How Over-EQing Can Ruin the Hi-Fi Experience
Less is often more when it comes to high-fidelity headphones.
Unlike their mid-fi counterparts, these headphones are designed to deliver accurate, balanced sound straight out of the box. Every frequency, from the deepest bass to the highest treble, has been carefully calibrated for an optimal listening experience.
Over-EQing can mask or even distort this natural sound, leading to a loss of clarity, detail, and soundstage.
Take it from me. I once fell into the trap of obsessively EQing my Audeze LCD-5 headphones, which were my first truly high-end headphones ever.
As someone who’s used to having mostly mid-fi gear, I had the habit of playing around with EQ, even before taking my time to learn the ‘personality’ of the headphones. And, I brought that habit with me with my new Audeze.
I was like a kid in a candy store. Every day was another endless tweak: a little boost in the mids here, a tiny cut in the treble there. And, I was convinced I was “perfecting” the sound.
But you know what happened? I lost the music. I was so obsessed with tweaking that I couldn’t just sit back and enjoy a track anymore.
It got to the point where I couldn’t listen to an album without thinking, “Should the bass have a bit more punch?”
Then one time, while listening to a live jazz recording, something snapped.
Instead of being transported to a smoky club, I was stuck in EQ hell. The warm saxophone sounded thin, the vocals were buried, and the upright bass was a bloated mess. In short, the sound was just… off.
I was ready to blame the headphones. After all, I’ve spent hours trying to ‘perfect’ them. So, they should have been better than my mid-fi cans, right?
So, I turned off all EQ settings. And, lo and behold, everything sounded better. (I had a huge facepalm moment right there.)
That’s when I realized: my obsession with “fixing” had taken away the real sound of the music and what my headphones actually offer.
Plus, let’s not forget about digital clipping.
When we boost frequencies willy-nilly, we risk pushing the audio signal beyond what our amps can handle. This is especially true if you’re using a laptop or smartphone as your source.
The result? Distortion city, population: your ears.
Learning to Trust the Gear
I know it’s hard to hear, but sometimes the best way to enhance your listening experience is to just… trust the gear.
High-end headphones aren’t tuned like consumer models. They’re designed to reproduce sound accurately, which might seem underwhelming at first if you’re used to bass-heavy regular headphones.
But here’s the secret: your brain needs time to adjust.
You may not believe in burning in your headphones but brain burn-in is a thing.
Your brain gradually adjusts to the unique sound signature of high-end gear. What might initially seem like a lack of bass or an overly bright treble often turns out to be a natural, balanced presentation that only becomes more enjoyable over time.
The more you listen, the more you’ll start picking up on details and textures you never noticed before.
On the other hand, the more you keep adjusting and tweaking, the less time your brain has to adapt to those changes.
So, instead of immediately reaching for the EQ, spend some quality time with your headphones as they are. Try different genres and recordings. You might be surprised at how versatile and capable they really are.
Before long, instead of focusing on what’s wrong, you learn to appreciate what’s just right.
Patience is key.
Learning to trust your gear, especially when you’ve spent a lot of money on it, can be really rewarding. So give yourself time to really hear your headphones as they were made to sound.
Who knows? You might just find that the sound you’ve been chasing was there all along, waiting for you to stop tweaking and start listening.
This is just personal opinion here, but if I have to pay more than 500 for a pair of headphones, I want them to have very low distorsion.
The Audioquest headphones are known to have questionable sound profiles but very low distorsion, so EQ can be achieved to taste.
I also have an Oppo, low distorsion, great for EQ.
Maybe it’s more the fact that when you buy Hifi, you have to dig, even a little, into graphs.
I go 100% with you – EQing will destroy the manufactors setup – and you are going to in- or decrease parts of the Music, you didn’t want to while correcting a miss you might hear.
I tend to change a HP against a better/correcter when i am no longer satisfied with my actual Model – in stead of eqing the Sound!
It lets you dive deeper into the music in stead of changing equing every Album!
My max. allowed Eq is the Bass boost Button on my ifi gryphon on very very old and week recordings – 1 of 100 or even less may be