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Post by falcon802 on Feb 16, 2012 18:04:10 GMT -5
Has anyone experienced their audio calibration making the sound worst? When listening to a CD in pure direct mode I noticed that the sound is smoother, tighter, and less ear piercing. I thought the calibration was supposed to help it out. I'm using the MCACC calibration from a pioneer elite.
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geebo
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Post by geebo on Feb 16, 2012 18:30:11 GMT -5
All the time. Many people refuse to use it at all. The beauty of the UMC is that you can tweak the setting to your taste after EmoQ is run. Can't do that with Audyssey et al (that I know of).
On my system, it always seems to overboost the midrange and overcut the highs. So after EmoQ, I always adjust to suit me.
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jamrock
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Post by jamrock on Feb 16, 2012 19:03:10 GMT -5
Has anyone experienced their audio calibration making the sound worst? When listening to a CD in pure direct mode I noticed that the sound is smoother, tighter, and less ear piercing. I thought the calibration was supposed to help it out. I'm using the MCACC calibration from a pioneer elite. It is one of the reasons that automated calibrations that do not allow for manual tweaking are absolute crap. The human ear is less sensitive at the signal extremes. Flat FR (frequency response) sounds like crap. This is the reason I'm so excited about the TacT version slated for the XMC-1 over others such as Audyssey et al, that do not allow for manual tweaking and personalized settings  . |
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xki
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Post by xki on Feb 16, 2012 19:14:07 GMT -5
Yes! It does in a lot of setups. I find flat to be terrible. Calibrated a bit better. And tweaked after calibration far better. Like geebo said, the mids are overemphasized and with horns, that's unbearable!
Of course your source material has a lot to do with it. Quite a bit of older material is lacking on the lows and highs and rich in the mids. Tastes have changed and so has recording equipment. In the 70s and 80s, Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull said a few times that their albums were simply souvenirs of their concerts. He was right. In this day and age, I think he would not state that.
And like Jammer said, without the ability to tweak after calibration, correction can be useless. If I couldn't tweak after Emo-Q, I would never use it. Heck some don't!
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Post by Golden Ear on Feb 16, 2012 20:00:06 GMT -5
Yes! It does in a lot of setups. I find flat to be terrible. Calibrated a bit better. And tweaked after calibration far better. Like geebo said, the mids are overemphasized and with horns, that's unbearable! Of course your source material has a lot to do with it. Quite a bit of older material is lacking on the lows and highs and rich in the mids. Tastes have changed and so has recording equipment. In the 70s and 80s, Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull said a few times that their albums were simply souvenirs of their concerts. He was right. In this day and age, I think he would not state that. And like Jammer said, without the ability to tweak after calibration, correction can be useless. If I couldn't tweak after Emo-Q, I would never use it. Heck some don't! I find calibration to work well in movie but in music it just bad. It boost on high frequency and make the tweeter sizzle and bright. This is from audessey calibration. |
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xki
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Post by xki on Feb 16, 2012 20:51:01 GMT -5
Yes! It does in a lot of setups. I find flat to be terrible. Calibrated a bit better. And tweaked after calibration far better. Like geebo said, the mids are overemphasized and with horns, that's unbearable! Of course your source material has a lot to do with it. Quite a bit of older material is lacking on the lows and highs and rich in the mids. Tastes have changed and so has recording equipment. In the 70s and 80s, Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull said a few times that their albums were simply souvenirs of their concerts. He was right. In this day and age, I think he would not state that. And like Jammer said, without the ability to tweak after calibration, correction can be useless. If I couldn't tweak after Emo-Q, I would never use it. Heck some don't! I find calibration to work well in movie but in music it just bad. It boost on high frequency and make the tweeter sizzle and bright. This is from audessey calibration. Ya know, I've just not had the time - I estimate about 4 days - to really get everything set right. At this moment I'm using PLIIx for both movie and music. And I am loving it. But, I really need to get things set for 2 channel. I end up boosting the high end from flat and from Emo-Q. Never had the chance to use Audessey. People say it's completely different and from your description, I believe it! |
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jamrock
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Post by jamrock on Feb 16, 2012 21:01:04 GMT -5
Movies are all about effects. There is no critical listening for movies. The sounds are too random and varied. Only the center channel and the subwoofer offer reasonable but limited opportunity to be evaluated.
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xki
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Post by xki on Feb 16, 2012 21:17:22 GMT -5
Movies are all about effects. There is no critical listening for movies. The sounds are too random and varied. Only the center channel and the subwoofer offer reasonable but limited opportunity to be evaluated. Yup. True. Now.... push some music through PLIIx and tweak it. It is surprising. It also takes a while to get it right. People who I demo the system for just about always say "Holy SH....." I wonder what It will be like when I get it set for 2 channel?  ? |
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hemster
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Post by hemster on Feb 16, 2012 21:17:53 GMT -5
Yes! It does in a lot of setups. I find flat to be terrible. Calibrated a bit better. And tweaked after calibration far better. Like geebo said, the mids are overemphasized and with horns, that's unbearable! Of course your source material has a lot to do with it. Quite a bit of older material is lacking on the lows and highs and rich in the mids. Tastes have changed and so has recording equipment. In the 70s and 80s, Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull said a few times that their albums were simply souvenirs of their concerts. He was right. In this day and age, I think he would not state that. And like Jammer said, without the ability to tweak after calibration, correction can be useless. If I couldn't tweak after Emo-Q, I would never use it. Heck some don't! I find calibration to work well in movie but in music it just bad. It boost on high frequency and make the tweeter sizzle and bright. This is from audessey calibration. I agree, but IIRC, some here would run you out into the wild west for saying anything at all against Audessey... and if you happen to run it on an Onkyo receiver... Sacre bleu!  |
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jamrock
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Post by jamrock on Feb 16, 2012 21:56:29 GMT -5
Maybe that is a discussion (battle) which time has come. But I would prefer to wait until after July 2012 when I have some time to familiarize myself with TacT. As to the receiver part, what sets them apart are the features they offer. Their performance hype is by far, much greater than reality.
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Post by Golden Ear on Feb 16, 2012 22:36:39 GMT -5
I did try different curve from audessey but it doesn't sound good regardless how many times I run it or different curve. Altering frequency response maybe good for movie on big effects or explosion but it music nothing beat "pure direct."
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Post by rainier42 on Feb 17, 2012 4:12:02 GMT -5
I never auto calibrate. Much prefer balancing my HT speakers using a RadioShack sound meter. For CD playback this has always sounded best to me as well.
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Post by falcon802 on Feb 17, 2012 13:05:51 GMT -5
Thanks for all the GREAT replies. The "Pure Direct" mode is awesome, the only thing I can't do is use the Sub at the same time, but that's OK, the bass from my speakers sounds a lot more tighter with out it. I think the sub is more suited for movies anyway.
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Post by Golden Ear on Feb 17, 2012 20:11:26 GMT -5
Since the advent of auto calibration, many manufacturer came up with their own. It has positive and negative effect, although I find it pleasing on movie effect but for hardcore music lover it just doesn't sound right. I find it on my system bloated and bright. Good thing there is pure direct for us music lover.
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Post by roadrunner on Feb 17, 2012 23:51:45 GMT -5
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selkec
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Post by selkec on Feb 18, 2012 23:09:01 GMT -5
Has anyone experienced their audio calibration making the sound worst? When listening to a CD in pure direct mode I noticed that the sound is smoother, tighter, and less ear piercing. I thought the calibration was supposed to help it out. I'm using the MCACC calibration from a pioneer elite. After calibration it will have uaually 3 settings that were calibrated. Front allign, symmetry, and all channel adjust. They all have different sounds. But you can also go in to the mcacc and manually tweak it to your liking. |
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