To EQ Or Not To EQ, Or Is EQ Taboo? Should You Use An Equalizer Or Tone Control? 

I have just sold my "Audiophile Modern Equipment" and went back to vintage audio. One of the main reasons was tone control, especially at different volumes. Since COVID, my wife works at home, so I cannot listen to music at louder volumes like I did before. I found with my Usher speakers that they really needed power to come alive. At low volumes, they just did not sound full and proper powered by the Rega Aethos. When connected to my Harmon Kardon 930, I was able to add a Contour (loudness) and boost the tones so that the sound is full at very low listen volumes. Then there is the challenge of my room which includes a Livingroom, dining room, large hallway, entrance to kitchen and stairway to the basement. The room itself acts like an equalizer, but outside of my control. I find that I quite enjoy having the ability to change that using my HK 930 combined with an EQ8 to compensate for my room and also the listening volume level. I also adjust for older recordings, tapes and cassettes to enhance my listening pleasure. I now believe that if you have a dedicated listening area designed for sound, and only listen to amazing recordings, then the Class A/B approach without tone adjustments would be desirable. I guess it comes down to what you enjoy and I am finding now that I am enjoying the music, all of it, without regard to the recording quality since I can easily adjust the sound to make it more enjoyable to my ears in my listening environment. Now its all about the music :)

The current crop of audiophiles are more often than not, posing purity for internet points. They are always upgrading, even after they swore the last, latest and greatest thing they bought and spent too much on, was end game. All one has to do is look at what they listen to. Mostly eccentric/eclectic stuff that nobody else listens to, some of which, is downright weird. Rock and pop heads are a whole other realm of audiophile, most of who, do not mind 'slumming it.' The other purity hounds have no listening friends, or even immediate family that want to listen with them. Back in the '80s, these types of audiophiles were pretty lonely, while everyone else could be found at my house on any given day, bringing the newest popular releases for sessions that could last hours, or even days on a furniture store grade rack system with EQ. The more audio active of us all knew how to work the EQ with the results often being unanimously agreed upon as to what the album needed. It was almost never the smiley config though. I have both new and old systems. I definitely like the old for mainstream music. The new works for better recorded material but can be a bit too revealing for iffy recordings. Nobody in my circle listens to music nearly as much as I do and are more about creating an audio poster child for whatever high-end audio magazine cover they are reading these days. Sparsely furnished rooms, void of all but some postage stamp sized rug, preamp and amps on the floor, and a myriad of (albeit limited in bandwidth) treatments on walls and ceiling, perhaps, with some somewhat centrally located chair/seating. To me it sounds dreadful and is just not cozy/inviting and yet these tend to be the people who eschew tone controls?

I really enjoy having an equalizer with memories as recordings have different presentations and I feel like some music that I would not listen otherwise it became enjoyable after some equalization. and an EQ with preset memories is an invaluable tool in my opinion.

I almost every day listen to rock or pop music using a 10 inch Bluetooth speaker and a tweeter , when I listen to music without eq I feel like too much midle sound, Then I downloaded 5ch equalizer on my smartphone and raised the bass a little, lowered the mids little bit and slightly raised the treble And I compare the sound before and after, I like the sound of my eq setting 😊

I’ve had an EQ since the 80s and just got another one to add to my hi end system and the audiophile community can do whatever they want I will😂😂😂😂😂

Tone control is very important tool

I'm a music producer and mix engineer so I have eq's in my racks. I actually learned how to mix using graphic eq's on my radios as a kid. But on my mains I run them without eq tho I'm now considering adding s stereo parametric eq before my monitor signal just to see if I can fine tune them. I will add that most people have no clue how to use EQ and make things sound horrible. I've lost count of how many friends cars I've goten into and they litterally turned all the bass, mids, and highs all the way up thinking that it would "enhance" the sound. It just makes everything break levels and sound bad. So it's probably a good thing that most systems have the eq section removed. It's sort of dummy proof now lol

Uhhh it's your equipment ...your house ..your music...do what you want who the hell can say otherwise

I've used an equalizer in the past, but I found that I was spending way to much time trying to "tweak" the sound from recording to recording, so I took it out of my system. It got to the point that I no longer was enjoying the music trying to get it just right. Even on an album, each individual song sometimes had to be EQ'd differently to make it sound better to my ears. I agree that the sound engineers and the recording studio play a huge part in the way the final product sounds, but there are so many other different variables, including equipment, type of listening area, etc.

I believe that EQ on a home theater system should be something that is discussed much more often and manufacturers should allow for much better sound control and ability to alter frequency settings. Everyone's listening characteristics are different and some tweaks need to be made in order to give that individual the best possible sound form your system. My Pioneer Elite SC receiver does give me the ability to play with the EQ (although minimal) it does help me create a better sound output (for me). My ears are not young anymore and I think the higher and lower ranges need a little boost :) Do you know of any really good EQ training videos for someone like myself and my system?

The big taboo is that you don’t use equalizers because you want to be as original as you can to the record producers intended it to be … but how do you know if the producers were any good? or if they just rushed the recording through skimping on engineers because they are already overbudget and the recording is like crap?! I’ve heard modern recordings where there were background noise or faded instrumentals or overbearing vocals… Modern recordings aren’t what they used to be. So many digital compressions and 3rd party editing now. I have a $30K system and when i slapped in a JVC vintage $80 equalizer it was just amazing… everything came alive. Now it makes me wonder if that $30K system was worth it when it took a $80 EQ to make it wake up hahha.

i love my eq

I look at an eq like I do my tool box. It doesn't hurt to have it there (unhooked) if I need it. What I don't do is purchase ANYTHING that is remastered. I want what the artist approved regardless, then if I want to "remaster" it myself, I just eq it, which is rare. I could care less what others think. While they are running their mouth arguing, I'm sitting in my chair with an ice-cold glass of tea and relaxing. Great video sir, well balanced and humble. I'd salute you, but I'm busy eq'ing :))

Sorry for the late reaction. I am a guitarteacher and have two systems in my living room. The first is a normal stereo system. The second is a mixer based system with two Focal studio monitors. In this system I can integrate myself and/or my pupils on electric guitars/basses. Of course my mixer has tone controls. At times I enjoy listening music on this system. Then it's great to have tone controls, for instance with a bright recording. Wonderful to be able to mittigate the top end with about three DB. I'm a lover of tone controls. Thank you for your thoughts, Andrew, I learn a lot, and that's wonderful!

I recently broke out of the NO EQ dogma. Some records absolutely need EQ and no amount of room correction will fix them.

I enjoy listening to most recorded media (TT/CD/HIRes streaming etc). I sometimes tweek the tone control to take the edge off high frequencies on poorly recorded pieces regardless of medium which helps reduce listening fatigue and to reduce nodes and reflections (the music is always on at our place). The only issue with tone is that it is a relatively crude tool). The one opportunity that I wish was available on modern equipment is correction for the perceived frequency imbalances at low levels. There certainly should be some way to apply adjustments suggested by the Fletcher-Munson Equal Loudness Contour that is more effective than the “Loudness” switches we had years ago without having to constantly adjust an equalizer…

Using EQ's for 35 years and don't plan to change, no smiley face presets here. I was in school bands from 4 - 12 grades, I know how live instruments sound and I adjust the EQ bands accordingly, to mimic the sound of live instruments. When using an EQ, it's about the sound of the individual instruments as opposed to the sound of the music/song.

I have a hifi system and currently use a Schiit Lokius EQ after my phono preamp and really enjoy it. I use it very slightly and it just gives me that little extra I love. That being said, I've always loved tinkering. Also it could be system/speaker dependent as well...lots of factors. Boosting the 2k range very slightly helps give me some more boost to vocals to help them cut through a little more which is very nice. Currently eyeing their Loki Max and thinking of trying to run both my phono preamp as well as dac into that to see if I like it. I use all tube gear otherwise (preamp, phono preamp and NOS R2R tube dac) so I kind of tone control with tube rolling (use NOS Telefunken/Siemens/Mullard/TungSol tubes, etc). Anyways, fun to tinker and I'm not ashamed of not being a "purist" if I get a thrill out of a touch of EQ:)

I have the Marantz PM8006 which has tone control’s but I keep them flat unless it’s something that’s very poorly recorded

i use vintage set up but more modern speakers at least part time. a graphic EQ is a big part of that. the speakers i have are darker so it’s a great tool! boosting just 10k only on recievers doesn’t do enough. w other speakers that are bright tho i’ve found the EQ unnecessary

It's the last Bastian of tactile rapid response integration before interactivity raised its ugly head with preset multiple button pushing options

My reason for wanting to add an equalizer to my vintage system without any tone controls....my hearing isn't as good as it once was and I notice this only when listening to music. I want to boost the high end to compensate for hearing loss above 6K. Taboo or not, I'm just trying to get that full range back.

I'm not sure why, but almost every video I watch where you have somebody that doesn't use an EQ, they always seem to leave out the reason most guys I know use one. They all claim they use their EQ to adjust for what the room needs. You see, some audiofiles treat their room by arranging everything around their stereo and putting panels on walls. Other guys find this backwards and use an EQ to adjust for the room. This is never mentioned in any video where a guy who doesn't use EQs lists why you could maybe use an EQ. It makes me wonder if they are the weirdos or the people I know are.

My T + A amp has tone controls and loudness options. Mostly defeat them but sometimes use the tone controls with thin sounding music and loudness to listen at low volume.

Can you please offer a suggestion on how to best implement EQ controls in a premium audiophile system that has the absolute least effect on sound quality? I was eyeballing the Helix Burr Brown DSP with optical input to keep all EQ in the digital domain, but am wondering if a premium analog EQ would be worse or better. My needs are such that I have some high frequency hearing loss and very flat sounding AKG headphones, and find a mild smile EQ curve to be perfect sounding, versus the mid-bass and mid-treble oriented tone controls on my receiver. On a side note, I’m using lossless Apple Music on my Mac, and found aftermarket Mac software EQ’s to add a slight but noticeable digital harshness in the highest treble, perhaps related to sampling/clocking? Thank you for all your knowledge sharings!

I was about to say that I haven’t used EQ since the 80s but then I thought; what about DIRAC and YPAO (and the like)? Don’t they include fairly elaborate EQs to adjust the frequency response of the individual speakers?

i can't not use an eq.i want the sound to match and enhance the frequencies that i can hear.such as bringing up frequencies over 10k since our ears naturally block these out and same with below 40 hertz. i notch out from 60 hertz to 180 hertz since my ears are more sensitive to these.

i have discovered eq in the last 6 years, even the free option was a huge upgrade in sound quality overall. i am sure there is some degradations somewhere but i could not detect it. i am digital source only so it is much easier for me. right now i have a all digital dsp unit between source and dac's, and it does room correction duty, crossover between two subwoofers and main 2 way speakers plus delays where needed. could say that i have a 3way stereo system with seperate boxes. I do the parametric equalization by ear to sound even to my ears from listening position, main areas are lowering around 3khz as i find that region sharp and annoying, even tho it measured flat. And i have a rise in output at about 100hz to 15hz. i do not use more presets for different content, perhaps one for movies since LFE seems a bit on the low side. but for music, especially old albums i listen to them as they are, anything with too much bass or too low i skip to something better.

I'm in the "it depends" camp. Some recordings sound great with no equalization - and sound worse when I try to get cute. Sometimes I use straight bass/treble, and sometime I use Yamaha's sound programs. That means I have something in the signal path (that I can shunt), so that's already a compromise; but I'm okay with that because I like options. And I confess as an audio child of the 70s I did have a graphic equalizer. And just like today, I had it all over the map, continually tweaking the sound. (My go-to was more of a McDonald's arch than the straight smile.)

In my multichannel home theater application, room correction EQ calibration works quite well. This has less to do with tone other than possibly LFE. That said, in my car I like to boost mid and lows to soften the highs as I find highs tiring which is bad when driving for long periods of time.

I have an Onkyo 5100 and if I leave it flat it sounds flat if I do some EQ presets to boost the treble mid-range and bass it sounds way better than the flat the flat sounds like a muddy mess

I keep a Technics sh-8017 equalizer to enhance the sound of a Dolby B cassette deck only. Works well.

I don't use tone controls, but my preamp does have Dirac room correction, that I would like to try.

So the mcacc on my pioneer avr leave it alone?

i can't say if its taboo or not. because personally i listen to my music both ways. sometimes with and sometimes without , and i enjoy listening to both. Don't know if It's just me but given a song or any song, i enjoy listening to it both in it's pure essence and with some enhancements. So i can say yes! I definitely wan some sort of equalization and sometimes i'd prefer it pure without any alterations.

I've owned a few equalizers but never found the results an improvement in my musical enjoyment. Fiddling with the frequency response forces you to concentrate on the process, looking for flaws in the system rather than actually listening to the music and enjoying the moment. Is it possible to have a speaker with fine detail that still sounds half decent with poor recordings or are those qualities mutually exclusive?

My speakers are more forgiving than my headphones. When I listen to my music collection over speakers, no tone controls at all. I can get it to sound right with just speaker placement and tuning my subwoofer crossover and levels. Headphones, however, will clearly show the differences between good and thin/dead recordings. Most of the time it's just right. But if a recording needs a low end boost, a couple db on the EQ (I have a Technics EQ that I bought in the 90's) and the recording is perfect. For a recording that sounds flat, a couple db at 6.3 Khz fixes it. EQ seems to be a better, and more enjoyable solution for my music collection.

I have a Rega Brio with the M5HPs…sometimes with older recordings I find they need a little help… looking at the Schitt Loki mini plus… anyone have experience with that unit.

I used to do the EQ. smile as a kid. Often on a boom box was treble and mids. flat with bass maxed Now haven't played with EQ in years. Have lots of C.D.s only listen to on Headphones/IEM. My M80s rip them to shreds. I had no idea how bad lots of my old disks really were. Muddy, and a really oddly separated soundstage is common with lots of indie. Hiphop /Metal. Sort of like a miss layered 4 track or a cassette tape that had multiple recordings on it and each time it left the last uses in the background. Some are quite entertainingly odd at times.

I use Sonarworks to find my rooms response, and then manualy adjust EQ curve to make it as flat as possible. Then I usually listen all songs 2 times - with EQ and in pure direct mode. Its double fun :)

What about EQ for room correction?

What's wrong with tuning to taste? Everyone has different ears and different tonal rages that we respond to. Is it blasphemy to make minor tasteful adjustments even if it means its not true to the recording... I have a "dbx 215s" graphic equalizer plumbed into my system. I can bypass it or inline it. Sometimes I like to add a touch of color. Please don't shoot me audiofiles! :)

There will even be modern video games that have very harsh voice over work and the sibilance is unbearable. And we’re talking about a game you have to sit through and listen to characters talk on and off for 20 hours or even hundreds of hours. Would be nice to have tone controls in such cases

As a fan of early 2nd wave black metal albums that sound like they were recorded on a potato by a potato, I'd be lost without an equaliser.

Only one thought. Room control. It’s all and great if one has a dead room. But that’s not the norm.

What if you have high freq hearing loss?

I think if it sounds good to you...then by all means use one.

If it is then dsp is taboo

I get tired of hearing "that was how it was intended to be listened to". No recording is perfect and sometimes the mastering is a mess. I have many albums that have very little bass, or the treble is rolled off. I try to keep the eq as flat as possible and boost or cut only as needed for my taste. In my experience with many CDs from the 80s they seem to be bass heavy, and treble is cut. When I add a little treble, they sound as good as the LP pressed at the same time. I believe that in the 80s they did flat transfers from the master tapes and they were eq'd for LP pressings that cut the bass and boosted the treble. You should adjust music to how you want to listen to it. We can go on all day about how it was meant to be heard but even that is an opinion. If you had the same engineer mix and album and then had him re-do it a few weeks later, it would sound different. Art is never finished, its only abandoned.

Then dsp is taboo

Absolutely not. I use a Marantz EQ-20 with a Marantz 2226B into a pair of Kenwood JL-630Ws and a Polk Audio Subwoofer. That EQ makes a HUGE difference. I don't give a single #@$% about tampering with the signal path. I want the sound to sound like I want it to. I would put my system up against others that cost 3 times as much. I also have my tape player running through a BSR 4000XR, which isn't as good as the EQ-20, but is still far and away better than the original signal. Both EQs have a defeater and you can hear clearly the massive difference in clarity and resolution. I was listening to The Talking Heads this morning and playing with the defeater, and there are elements you simply cannot hear in the un-equalized signal, particularly regarding the percussion. I'll never not use an EQ again.

is this correct (?): EQ is a creative tool. It is for experimental use for artists that want to DELIBERATELY mess the sound. Or at least, fine tune sounds to their PERSONAL liking. EQ is not for "enhancing" the sound. It doesn't increase quality. It doesn't make you a professional.

I like tone control as an option to adjust different content. I may like to exaggerate the bass for pop music or science fiction movies. However, without tone control, an AVR will lose its attractiveness because the audience has no intervention or sound control. It is the equipment manufacturer's aim to make its equipment versatile to meet market needs. Maybe not all music audiences like to have one single knob of volume control at the amplifier with a perfect equalizer built in. Maybe tone control is a playing staff for some listeners like me.

Customize your music to your ears, like fingerprints everyone's earring,room, equipment is different. Don't listen to audiophiles.

To the musical "purists" who say tone control is taboo, I say BALDERDASH! We as listeners who generally pay for our choice of music should also have the liberty to adjust ours. I'm plugged into my favorite music on Spotify on my cellphone and those wired ear buds need bass boost, mid-range attenuation and high freqs adjustment which is provided by an EQ in Spotify. The concept is the same with at-home listening with high end speakers. G'head, adjust the recipe to your own tastes.

I am an audiophile.. but the entire concept of buying/selling gear to eq your sound is ridiculous. I have friends that will do that and will say to me "I'd like to hear your system without the eq"... lol... it's ignorant, snobby, and annoying.