A Petition to Schiit for Making a 10+ Bands Loki

Discussion in 'General Audio Discussion' started by TomNC, Mar 17, 2019.

  1. TomNC

    TomNC Friend

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    Thanks for the response. 3 parametric bands is still going to be significantly more flexible and useful than the Mini. If it has 6 fixed bands, I wish that they match largely 100, 1K, 2K, 4K, 6K, and 8K Hz. These band options are from my experiences with various headphones and with the usability of the Mini.

    Best wishes.
     
  2. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    Parametric EQ is quite a learning curve. I do believe those studio guys actually do have to put in some learning to do what they do!

    I hate to go on about being deaf but I use EQ on the PC to assist my hearing. Still, it is actually difficult, when you start with it, not to screw up the sound completely. You think maybe you're doing ok, then bypass and breath a sigh of relief!

    So whether soft, firm or hardware, this thing is never going to be a magic pill. As I understood Loki, it was not much more than the tone control we all had on amplifiers once. Parametric gets complex. Even with the wonderful graphic displays. But hey, nothing ventured nothing gained :)
     
  3. Aklegal

    Aklegal Friend

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    I'd be interested in a balanced Loki. Four bands is OK. Give me 10 bands and I'll just f**k everything up.
     
  4. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    bang for the buck: incorporate a 6-band Loki board with Freya/Saga? No EQ adjustments from remote.

    edit: also just make eq adjustments available only via micro-pots at the back like old AudioControl or PPI PrecisionPower 12v gear. Having to break out a mini flat head screw driver to fiddle with stuff will cut down on EQ-paranoia.
     
    Last edited: Mar 18, 2019
  5. julian67

    julian67 Facebook Friend

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    +1
    My very modest Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 loudspeakers, spiked and on stands, are so much better sounding than any headphone that it's hardly even a fair comparison. But still I use headphones as much as loudspeakers. Sometimes the way to get lost in the music is for every other sound, however minimal, to vanish. Also I don't want to annoy my neighbours as much as they annoy me. I guess I'm some kind of f'ing saint. Golden Ears and a Halo too.
     
  6. dmckean44

    dmckean44 In a Sherwood S6040CP relationship

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    Yes.

    A parametric Loki would end up with a high return rate because most people wouldn't figure it out before the 15 day return window. I'd rather see a Loki 2 someday in the future with the same bands it has now but with a remote control and loudness contour (for late night listening).
     
  7. julian67

    julian67 Facebook Friend

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    I'm replying to myself. Oh shit. Is this evidence of a personality disorder, schizophrenia, narcissism? Or maybe it just means that perfect can become more perfect. Ha!

    Platinum ears?

    I have some good quality speakers even more modest that my Wharfedale 9.1: the truly tiny 9.0s. These are bookshelf speakers for the kind of bookshelves intended for Penguin Classics. They sit on a bookshelf above my computer desk. They have the same astonishingly brilliant tweeter (see stereophile reviews and measurements of Wharfedale Diamond 9 series) as all the bigger Wharfedale Diamond 9s but a correspondingly tiny woofer. These are the kind of speakers that you might use as rears use in modest sized domestic 5.1 setup, or as an unambitious but refined stereo pair that is a step up from horrible PC audio desktop "solutions". In a medium or large domestic environment, as a stereo pair, they are inadequate, even with a subwoofer. But in a small room they still embarrass any headphone out there. They cost me £40 brand new. That's a little over $50 US.

    On the other hand it's 00:15 here and I'm using and enjoying headphones because my neighbours probably don't want their sleep disturbed, not even by a constant loop of Rasputin, Ma Baker, and Daddy Cool. They have no taste.
     
  8. JohnBooty

    JohnBooty New

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    Yes. This is really one of the most important uses of EQ, and one I think a lot of audiophiles are embarrassed to talk about.

    For most of us in our 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond our high-frequency hearing is rolled off to some extent.

    Whether it rolls off at 7Kkhz, 9khz, 14khz or whatever... it rolls off.

    Adding a few dB of treble boost at the right frequencies is so important for some of us to be able to enjoy music the way it was meant to be heard; the way it sounded in our 20s before our ears started to go.

    The Loki is a great start but we could use a little more fine-grained control for this purpose. Loki's treble EQ, centered at 8khz IIRC, is perfect for some... but too early in the frequency range for some and too late for others.

    (To anybody who's thinking, "just get a hearing aid"... for a variety of reasons, that's not a great solution for the sort of mild hearing loss that isn't enough to affect your functioning, but is enough to affect your music listening)
     
  9. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    Welcome to the world, as one writer put it some years ago, of your wonderful hifi sounding like a cheap radio alarm clock from 1970-something.

    Hearing aids (except perhaps for the very rich?) are not just lofi, they are pretty-much no-fi.

    But my trusty HD800, with EQ applied to the vocal frequencies and above (treble peak? I can't hear it
    , is still working well for me. At least for speech. I don't find so much pleasure in listening to music at home any longer (sob). But at least I can still enjoy it live.

    I don't see why hearing-aid/hifi-iem technology can't be combined. It probably can, probably is, and I probably can't afford it. And there is some stuff that hearing aids do, like translating frequencies we can't hear into frequencies we can hear (I can't hear most electrical-equipment beeps without them) that can do weird things to music.
     
  10. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I vote for parametric, only 3 bands needed, x3 for frequency, Q, and level, for a total of 9 knobs. Learning curve will be shallow. Knobs, one of the best UIs ever invented among the steering wheel and gas/brake pedals, make it easy to learn.
     
  11. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    There's an API lunch box for you. Or splurge for the Pultec or Manley Massive Passive.
     
  12. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    Well, knobs...

    [​IMG]

    Sure, I know it isn't exactly tactile (real men like real knobs) but what software lacks in all the qualities of physical thingness, it makes up for in easy graphical display.

    OK, OK... sliders would be nice!
    [​IMG]
     
  13. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    Some software players have options to add VST plugins. Some of those plugins have some great sounding EQ's. Much cheaper than a real box.
     
  14. Riotvan

    Riotvan Snoofer in the Woofer

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    When i used it i really liked Equilibrium, it's expensive and i'm cheap so i found other ways to get what i want. But still if you're willing to pay more for a better loki and your setup is digital or you have a good adc then this is worth a shot.
     
  15. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    What you see above is Calf Studio Gear. Free. It's made for Linux, but just saw on their site that it can be compiled on a Mac. All sorts of stuff.
     

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