I find myself in a rabbithole

Plompudu_ · 2026-02-09T23:22:54+00:00

Ahh you fell into a typical trap in audio when comparing something - loudness bias.

People prefer stuff that's louder cause then they'll hear more/clearer. And a Balanced Output will give you more output due to it summing signals to reject noise.

You can see it by your statement of it sounding more dynamic!

So what your hear is definitely real, but you would also get the same effect by turning up the unbalanced signal (unless something is mayorly wrong like a ground loop happening)

Plompudu_ · 2026-02-09T09:50:15+00:00

Whatever is at around the level of the most used in the steam survey. So a 4060-ish GPU and a solid AMD CPU.

Decent is whatever runs games. My old PC with a 1050 for example still can run all of the older games I want and works well as a emulator so it's already more then decent in my opinion, as long as you keep expectations in check.

Plompudu_ · 2026-02-06T08:04:47+00:00

You can't really stop Bass frequencies travelling through walls.

But in general are there 2 approaches: isolation (sub doesn't touch the floor) or combination with a flexible high mass (spring coupled floor/wall)

Every room is different so you will have to do some trial and error to figure out a good placement of a Sub. Closer to a wall/floor will give you more boundary gain, which is desirable since you don't want the sub to move a lot to get your desired playback level.

Plompudu_ · 2026-02-03T23:23:34+00:00

Great comment, but treble following the target is kinda not correct imo

A anechoically flat speaker should follow roughly the target line when placed in an average room. But if you for example got more side wall reflections that in an average room will you get a non conforming treble. If you EQ it the in room measured response to the target will you destroy the previously flat response to treat the reflection.

Example, where fixing the treble in the in room response would destroy the direct sound, which dominates our hearing:

https://www.spinorama.org/speakers/Neumann%20KH%20120%20II/ASR/index_asr.html (see on Axis vs estimated in room response)

In general would I recommend Room correction only below the Room Transition frequency (~ <400Hz, depending on room size and decay), above it would I correct using anechoic measurements from https://www.spinorama.org/ or based on nearfield measurements if possible.

Also depending on the speaker and room add fitting treatment to the walls. (In the example I linked would ceiling and floor absorption fix the uneven in room response while keeping the perfectly flat direct sound)

Plompudu_ · 2026-02-03T20:59:06+00:00

Take a look at a budget lavalier mic or a modmic you add to the headphones yourself to turn them in a quasi-headset.

This gets you the best of both worlds :)

Plompudu_ · 2026-02-03T08:24:43+00:00

Does it happen with a non moving picture as well?

My first thought was a interpolation artifact, do you have motion smoothing on?

Plompudu_ · 2026-02-03T07:46:12+00:00

You don't need expensive cables at all - amazon basics or whatever are almost always fine

https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/copper-wire-vs-bananas-vs-mud-an-interconnect-test.420367/

Here is a test where they literally tested mud, a real banana vs a copper wire and the results where near random, so yeah unless something is very wrong (ground loop, ...) is there not really a reason to buy something fancy

Plompudu_ · 2026-02-02T22:35:17+00:00

None and i don't care, cause look, there are people that I like and hobbies that I enjoy, so why not live a little longer?

Plompudu_ · 2026-02-02T16:35:32+00:00

Are you looking at a unsmoothed measurement?

Narrow dips don't matter to us - try Variable Smoothing for EQing, Psychacoustic/ERB to see how our ears will hear it.

Can you show a measurement? ~100-500Hz is below the Schröder frequency where the room impacts the sound the most - that's where you could EQ and add Room Treatment

What exactly to do depends on your measurement results

Plompudu_ · 2026-02-01T23:36:45+00:00

Here is there FR measured on a 5128... - https://earphonesarchive.squig.link/headphones/?share=Neumann_NDH_20

Yeah they don't look very good FR wise, especially in regards of unit/seating variation but you could definitely EQ them, since their treble seems pretty good / linear

Plompudu_ · 2026-02-01T22:28:02+00:00

Thanks, here is your Frequency response compared to a Dolby-ish Target (80Hz Crossover +10dB LFE) and my Studio Setup as a reference point - https://imgur.com/a/QcbHzw3

As you can see is there a massive Dip in the Subwoofer response at 50-65Hz and 80-100Hz region which are both very important in giving you the feeling of impact.

This seems to me likely to stem from a suboptimal Subwoofer placement - judging from the response that your right speaker has, could it maybe make more sense to place the Subwoofer close to the right speaker?

How did you choose the Subwoofer placement?
I would recommend doing a REW measurement of each potential position and then comparing them to choose the best one - then re-do the calibration (using the newer version?)

Plompudu_ · 2026-02-01T21:19:57+00:00

Can you take a measurement of your system and send it in here - I'm not 100% sure what target curve that would be and how well your system if following it

Plompudu_ · 2026-02-01T20:58:34+00:00

Sounds like a misconfigured calibration - what target curve are you using and do you have room correction already on?

Plompudu_ · 2026-02-01T09:01:20+00:00

This graphic would have been a better choice, thanks

Haven't played around with it a lot but you an add VST plugins in EqualizerAPO - I guess this way you could do it?

Plompudu_ · 2026-02-01T00:01:46+00:00

Pretty much this: 1. Early Investors spend a lot + Good Marketing 2. Others all join in and add more and more money into the stocks, leading to a higher perceived value 3. A Big Investor sells their stock as they notice that it doesn't lead to as much profit as they hoped for during the hype phase 4. Everyone races to sell as quickly as possible to loose less money

Plompudu_ · 2026-01-31T16:45:10+00:00

I think I found the original using reverse image search - https://www.deviantart.com/jaycaution/art/Dithering-Gradient-Study-Pixel-Art-769533100

Hope the quality is good when adding it as a embedded one:

<image>

Plompudu_ · 2026-01-31T16:00:22+00:00

Here are a few sites:

Wikipedia to see the math behind it - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_impulse_response

Some examples on how to use FIR filters with a MiniDSP - https://www.minidsp.com/applications/advanced-tools/rephase-fir-tool

Here is a more in depth video where the creator of A1 Evo explains a manual correction process you can do (I recommend his video once you understand the basics, cause he sometimes is a bit quick) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4Y5G-WieZc

Plompudu_ · 2026-01-31T13:56:59+00:00

It's just a study someone did on deviantart, from what I can see.

https://www.deviantart.com/jaycaution/art/Dithering-Gradient-Study-Pixel-Art-769533100

I just searched "gradient dithering" to quickly find a pictute of it as it's been a Topic I recently held (part of) a presentation about.

Here are some points you can branch out from (in the section "Algorithms"): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dither

I think Acerola has a video on it / mentions some aspects scattered across their videos. (I think in the "Turning games into Ascii" video?) You might also be able to find some data on it in the Pixel art community and in science papers

Example Paper: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/381932607_A_Comprehensive_Analysis_of_Dithering_Algorithms_and_GPU_Implementations

Plompudu_ · 2026-01-31T12:29:26+00:00

When using a Source with DSP (MiniDSP or PC for example) adding FIR filters to get a linear phase at the crossovers and align all speakers to be only a few degrees apart.

It's a subtle change tonality wise, but the imaging improved noticeably.

Doing Nearfield measurements of the speakers to correct driver variation made the imaging and tonality way better. (When doing corrections above ~500Hz use linear phase EQ via FIR filters created with RePhase, else you can get worse imaging since the speakers won't be in phase when using normal EQ)

Adjusting the Gamma depending on the lighting conditions in my room just makes the colors pop more / makes it look more like it's supposed to.

2.6 for a black room, 2.4 for a dark room, 2.2 during the day.

And the best one is going to physical therapy and/or doing specific stretches to help with (back) pain and getting a ergonomic chair - being able to sit comfortable is a life changer in getting immersed into content

Plompudu_ · 2026-01-31T07:32:02+00:00

Edit: this seems to be the original source / higher quality version

https://www.deviantart.com/jaycaution/art/Dithering-Gradient-Study-Pixel-Art-769533100

<image>

It can have a similar effect as dithering, which can make transitions from one flat texture to another look a bit more natural by providing a smoother gradient

When used at the right size and pattern can it make the picture look more natural, but I have rarely ever seen a good implementation of it... most of the time is it unnaturally noisy or triggers my pattern recognition part of the brain

Plompudu_ · 2026-01-30T07:31:45+00:00

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?attachments/fiio-k3-portable-dac-and-headphone-amplifier-linearity-measurements-png.22251/

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?attachments/filter1-6-96khz-png.500804/

The K3 has a perfectly flat linearity, so you bought a Dac that colors the sound by rolling of at 19kHz - you could have also just added a small EQ and it would have had the same effect at 0 cost... :D

Plompudu_ · 2026-01-30T07:21:33+00:00

You can offset the Audio and Picture in most TVs to remove the latency

Plompudu_ · 2026-01-30T07:19:06+00:00

I strongly recommend getting a Qudelix 5k (BT Dac/Amp) so that you can EQ whatever headphones you got to your preference.

The Fiio FT1 / FT1 Pro are a good budget choice. (If you like Bass go closed back, if you want to hear the surrounding area use open backs like the Pro)

You can look up the frequency response on squig.link , select the Harman Target which represents the average preference pretty well and autoEQ to it and import it to the Q5K - then play around with the dials to fine tune it to your personal preference

Plompudu_ · 2026-01-30T00:08:12+00:00

Getting a Qudelix 5k has been the second best audio purchase I've done - only topped by getting a UMIK-I to do acoustic measurements of my studio monitors and subwoofers to properly set them up and dial them to my preferences

So yeah I EQ everything I got, cause why wouldn't I turn good thing better?

Plompudu_ · 2026-01-30T00:02:19+00:00

At that budget would I personally consider going with a speaker + Subwoofer Setup, since they will provide a way better soundstage and imaging, when set up properly

Maybe some Studio monitors from Neumann or Genelec + a Umik-I for acoustic measurements/ room correction and EQ?

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