You surely have seen this thing called an equalizer before. Yeah, I'm talking about that weird line graph found in audio apps like Spotify. When I came first came across one, I had absolutely no clue what to do with it. Sure, you can raise or lower the volume of specific frequencies using it - but now what? As it turns out, the whole thing can be configured based on scientific findings.
Introducing: Auto EQ
Over the course of the last days, I happened to come across the AutoEQ project while researching audio equipment online. It contains a list of equalizer settings to make your headphones sound more neutral in a way that appeals to the majority of people. The science behind this is based on the harman target curve.
The fundamental part of this is that headphones which are more aligned with the harman target curve sound better on average. And AutoEQ is here to get your headphones closer to that.
My experience using AutoEQ
Every now and again, I felt like there was something missing when listing to music with my Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro. The sound is very spacious, but lacks in the bass department, since they are open headphones by design.
Using a preset for my DT 990 Pro, managed to noticeably improve my listening experience. The spacious sound I criticized earlier is now a thing of the past. In fact, the sound has changed so much that my headphones don't really feel like open ones anymore.
Don't expect to like the different sound immediately, though. At first, I was quite unimpressed by the different sound. It sounded nothing more than strange to me. Considering that I've been using the same headphones for the past 3-4 years, this is not surprising. Only after half an hour, I became aware of how the equalizer settings were actually making my headphones sound better.
I highly encourage anyone to give this a shot. You can always go back if you don't like it, but it might help you put off buying new headphones for a bit longer.
