what's your opinion on EQing?

[bearjew]

I watched r/audiophile get into a little argument over this, and it made me curious.  Personally, I don't like messing with the EQ when I'm listening to music because then I feel obligated to change it for every single song I'm listening to.  I obviously want my setup configured well from the start, and then I want to leave it alone.  According to reddit, I am "naïve" for wanting to hear it the way the engineer made it.  Thoughts?

[OldiesButGoodies]

I think there is a silly religious tone to this debate - "thou shall never violate the purity of the original signal...".  The bottom line for me is that the purest signal does sound cleaner and that becomes more obvious with better equipment,  but there is nothing wrong with tweaking the signal with an EQ (or plain old tone controls) if you feel there is something missing in the spectrum.  Eqs can you help you fix some of the issues with the listening room, it can help you address issues with your hearing as you age, etc. If you like the effect, I say use it,  and ignore the naysayers.  Ditto for loudness contour controls.

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

Ditto Pepe.   Not every piece of gear compliments every mastering and not every mastering sounds good to every listener.   I hardly ever use the tone controls, but have been known to cheat with the loudness button on a thin recording.

[non-prophet]

I am a purist, I like hearing the production of the various artists, it's sometime shocking how good production is on "bad" music.  I do like to make fun of the "audiophiles" who choose to use an eq and any/all of the knobs are north of zero (because it is possible to add music to the source, not distortion), if you have a system worth a damn and use an eq, all knobs should be south of zero.  Just saying.

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

In pro audio, I was taught that the average of all knobs should be zero.   In other words, a VU meter would show the same output with the EQ engaged or bypassed.   This is achieved by having some knobs above and some below, but most at zero.   A really good EQ will have metered output and a bypass switch for comparison.   If your system is properly adjusted, adding signal with EQ can introduce distortion.   However, lowering signal with EQ can raise your noise floor.

[schwarcw]

If it feels good, do!

I mean sound good 

[MacGeek]

I use eq to voice the room.  Some spaces I have measured have standing waves boosting certain low frequencies up to 20 db or more, muddying and even masking some the bass frequencies and with harmonics, also affecting the mid range.  Using the eq to fix the room gets its affect out of the listening experience.  Some will argue an equalizer will introduce phase distortion.  Everything is a trade off, but I'll suggest getting a 20 db hump out of a room has a bigger impact on sound than the potential introduction of some distortion.

Once the room nodes (humps and dips) are smoothed, I leave things alone and use the tone controls on the pre to adjust specific recordings to taste.  I have found with properly set up speakers, use of the tone controls is necessary less often and/or to a lesser degree. 

Using eq to adjust every song is like using the eq as a tone control, which is OK, but not necessarily equalizing the room.  I agree using eq to cut humps is preferred to boosting dips.

All that being said, some hobbyists prefer to tame room problems with various treatments, a different way to solve the same problem.  Whatever works is all that matters.

I have eq'd every channel in my stereo and home theater.  If anyone wants to listen, let me know (there is always cold beer in the fridge)

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

I use eq to voice the room. 

Yes.   Exactly.   That goes back to pro audio thinking as well.   The idea of a touring band having a PA with no EQ would be preposterous.   First you set the mics, then you "zero out" the room.   Of course, you already mentioned treatments as one alternate solution, I will mention speaker placement as another.   In live sound, you put the stuff in front or overhead.   You hang it quickly.   In "audiophilia" you move speakers an inch at a time or five degrees at a time and listen for changes.   EQ is a much faster solution in those situations.   Of course, some of us have rooms that limit placement options, so why is EQ any less "proper" of a solution in that circumstance?

[MacGeek]

My placement options are limited, but the biggest contributor to standing waves in my case is the ceiling height.  No matter where I may put the speakers, the hump is about the same.

[ataudio]

EQ'ing Part 2.... What's better?  An EQ with individual sliders for each octave or a parametric EQ.  I've never used the latter but have read they are preferred. I've only owned a couple of EQs and enjoyed tweaking here and there.  Ultimately I sold them off.  I fell into that trap of EQing each song like bj mentioned.

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

The advantage of a parametric (sorry if you already know this) is that you can not only adjust the frequency being altered, but also the width of the frequency.   Useful for something like high frequency feedback (usually a very narrow width tone) or something like your bass standing waves (usually a wider tone).   If you cut too narrow a bandwidth, you leave some of the problem.   If you cut too wide a bandwidth, you remove frequencies that are already "playing nice".   Of course the skill level in using a parametric is also greater than using a graphic.   A multi band parametric is useful in these situations too because there is often a "hot harmonic" a fifth or an octave above the primary offender, and it is usually narrower than the main problem frequency.

[Kingman]

In reality, it only matters what it sounds like to YOU!

[bearjew]

I just can't imagine EQing every single track or album I listen to.  It sounds exhausting.  Like STaL said, I like to keep things as close to 0 as possible, and that was the rule I applied when I was in school for audio recording.  If that's the method I used in the studio, why wouldn't I apply it at home?  I agree that using EQ to set up your system to your room can be necessary though.  Maybe I'm just too lazy to EQ everything I listen to.

[RnR]

I have an EQ but it is rarely hooked up.  Even in bypass mode I feel like it still effects the signal.  I start tweaking like BJ mentioned and It takes away from my listening experience.  I even run my car stereo EQ off ha.  Ill sometimes use the EQ on a junk stereo, and on pro audio too but I tend to keep most things pretty flat, except for rolling off the extreme lows/highs slightly.  Idk why but that sounds right to me.

[audiokingman]

Anyone ever get a frequency response graph of their own hearing ability?
I doubt it very much that anyone over 40 years old has hearing that is 20-20kHz +/- 3db.