Equalizer APO has made me love (and kinda hate) my DT770 Pro's. Anyone have a similar experience?
These have been my headphones for about 5 months now and I really enjoyed the sound of them, but as someone that spends a lot of time in production you definitely start to become very self concious about its bass and treble boost, especially when working with decent monitors. Some songs also just sounded a bit over-the-top when they created it with scooped mids (like a lot of metal).
I spent forever trying to get Equalizer APO working on my interface but finally managed it and have spent the last few days tweaking the EQ while also using a lot of material from others who have done similar research. This thing really spikes at 0-100Hz and 5-7KHz!
The difference is so much better, it's annoying. My goal wasn't to completely flatten the sound, but to bring its peaks to a reasonable level and to actually let some of the scooped frequencies breathe with slight boosts. I'd say it's still got a v-shaped sound profile, but no longer does it have that almost compressed sounding treble that makes vocals, recorders and violins too sharp. Or that bass that made me feel like I was being physically poked.
I listen to a lot of music, and have yet to find a single piece that sounds better with this adjustment off. Whether it's rap, metal, classical, folk, 90's japanese anime pop, 8-bit music, whatever! Everything just sounds (and this is the key thing for me) far less fatiguing now. It's kinda annoying though, right? It's made me realize that I'd no longer feel comfortable doing any work with these headphones without such an adjustment. It's really just a straight upgrade to me rather than a trade-off.
Anyway, I absolutely love these headphones but I don't want to listen to them default anymore (it's really that 5-7KHz peak that gets me). So I kinda hate them. But I recommend them either way so...
Posted Mar 14, 2020, 8:49 AM UTC · edited
Just a reminder, keep continually checking the bass level, as it will get lower over time as the earpads start to flatten out. After a year of use you‘ll hear a distinct difference already (it‘s like 6 dB different, so not exactly subtle)
Oh yeah, I noticed that there were two distinct EQ profiles for year old velour pad compared to new. I suppose through time I'll have to subtly readjust the EQ. I have it set at -6db right now which seems well balanced, but these are over 5 months old too with a lot of use and travel too.
Thank you for the reminder.
Does this apply only to velour, or to pleather pads as well?
it's not the cover material that is the problem here, it's the foam core that deteriorates.
Ah, I see. Also, is it possible that people begin to perceive a certain frequency range less, once they start to get "used" to their headphones?
people have written long posts about "mental break-in" or "mental burn-in" before. Getting used to a heapdhone's sound is very much a thing, and it's the main explanation why people begin to think that a headphone sounds better after some time, even though nothing quantifiable has changed about the headphone itself.