Why EQ mostly kinda sucks.

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Doge

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I've tried a number of different DSP treatments out there to flatten out my headphones; Audeze Reveal, True-Fi, Sonarworks Reference 3, and even using just a single band parametric EQ to target only the largest offence to a flat frequency response.

Now I got to the last option because correction always sounded "weird" and I couldn't put my finger on it, I wanted to get flat as possible with as little interference to the signal as I could and generally I found that approach to get the best and most natural sounding result.

I recently gave Sonarworks Reference 4 a spin and noticed, like the Audeze software that, you could apply less of the signal processing, took it down to about 70% as per usual, seemingly getting rid of much of the weirdness without changing the FR shape too much.

Listening for a while I still wasn't happy, giving up on the thought of DSP all together and taking solace that two of my headphones are relatively flat,
then I noticed a little "Zero Latency" toggle (which I believe is a new feature in v4), pushed it saw an option for "Linear Phase" and there it was! Actual. Reference. Sound.

Turns out our ears are far less tolerant of uneven phase responses as they are to uneven frequency responses, and correcting actually has the potential to makes things worse.

I don't know how many solutions out there that correct for phase changes in EQ but if you're not ready to fork out the $green$ for professional stuff that can? It's probably best to watch your EQ usage. Be responsible, or perhaps even abstain if it's effecting your work and/or personal relationships.
 
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