Touched by an IEM guru, running the SBAF Dick Gauntlet, and why target curves for IEMs won't work

Isn't most EQ minimum phase where the phase changes the EQ makes would be exactly the same as physical mods? In theory there shouldn't be a real measurable difference between the EQd and modded phones.

With the RE400 I used EQ to get an idea for the response I wanted and then used mods to get close to it. The modded version almost sounds better.

@TomHP how big was the variance? I'm sort of wondering if it's really mostly HRTF influencing our tonal preferences for headphones or if preferences mostly translate from speakers to headphones. I'm betting it's the latter.

 

It gets more complicated when there are many things that measure great and have almost the same physical characteristics that a great pair of speakers should have, as that is how it is in reality. John, not knowing what a pair of neutral speakers sounds like, will have to resort to letting people try his design out and take statistics to see if he actually got something neutral, because he knows the definition of "neutral" means most people will like it. So John's problem is far worse than it actually is.

Wayne's problem is far more straight forward: if he tries something and it doesn't sound closer to what he knows, he'll just steer in the other direction.

Yeah, I won't dismiss that it can't be achieved, but I know it has to be very hard, and I am still skeptical that its result is quite "there" since I have yet to hear a single implementation of DSP that is actually as good as acoustic tuning.

Basically, because I have yet to experience it, I can't quite tell whether EQ is a feasible method. I know it is in theory, but... coming back to this, I'm just being John in this case. I wish I was Wayne... i.e., I wish I have heard an EQ implementation that actually sounds as good as acoustic tuning.

So until then, I'll keep my mind open, but still remain skeptical based on my lack of experience.

 

Audeo PFE 232?

 

Good guess, but no. It's older and (was) waaaay cheaper.

 

I'm pretty confident it's a Phonak. Is it a PFE 112?

 

Nope . It's not Phonak.

 

@bartzky I just added another graph

 

So no Phonak, then I'd say it's the good old Apple In-Ear (ME186). I'm slowly running out of guesses...

 

Ups, too late

 

I still have a pair somewhere. Always felt they lacked transparency and sounded somewhat artificial, despite their balanced FR (maybe due to the filter circuit). Apart from that, I think they're well designed IEMs.

Spinfits may affect treble response, due to a narrowing inside their tube.

 

Here's a video of Paul Barton and Tyll discussing the variability of ear canals and its effect on HRTFs: