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Topic: Kameleon Headphone EQ / Filter (Read 4368 times) previous topic - next topic
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Kameleon Headphone EQ / Filter

Does anyone use or own one of these units? Essentially it's a custom EQ for specific headphone models. I'm thinking about purchasing one for my HD600s as I've always found them a little lacking in bass (<40hz). It will be in the chain consisting of a MOTU 24IO and an Objective2 headphone amp.  Used mainly for listening, but will be used for mixing/recording too.

Anyone have thoughts?  Thanks guys!

link: https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/kameleon/
attached: freq response of HD600. Red = before

Re: Kameleon Headphone EQ / Filter

Reply #1 –
Why don't you just use a normal eq?

Re: Kameleon Headphone EQ / Filter

Reply #2 –
Quote from: saratoga on
Why don't you just use a normal eq?

Two reasons;

1, this comes pre calibrated for the HD600s, so I don't need to make my own measurements or adjustments. Also, with an EQ it's not as easy to get flat results like this. Depends on what slopes/Qs are available.
2, I don't want another EQ sitting on my desk. This is lovely and compact

Re: Kameleon Headphone EQ / Filter

Reply #3 –
I don't trust their treble corrections. Rin Choi measured new vs. 1-2 years old pads, and the old pads cause a treble reduction similar to this EQ. Attached new and old FR graphs, from: http://rinchoi.blogspot.ca/2012/04/introduction-it-is-generally-known-that.html ("Discussion" section).

The fact that you can get that much FR variation from different pads (or as the pads wear down) means it's probably pointless to EQ in that range based on a measurement of someone else's headphone, because you might just be moving further from neutral on your specific pair.

That said - I've thought about getting a miniDSP and a headphone amp to flatten the bass on mine.

Re: Kameleon Headphone EQ / Filter

Reply #4 –
Quote from: Funkstar De Luxe on
Quote from: saratoga on
Why don't you just use a normal eq?

Two reasons;

1, this comes pre calibrated for the HD600s, so I don't need to make my own measurements or adjustments. Also, with an EQ it's not as easy to get flat results like this. Depends on what slopes/Qs are available.
2, I don't want another EQ sitting on my desk. This is lovely and compact

I meant an EQ running on your source device. Hardware EQs are fine if you have to use some source that can't do DSP but it doesn't sound like that is the case here, so I probably wouldn't recommend one.
 

Re: Kameleon Headphone EQ / Filter

Reply #5 –
Quote from: saratoga on
Why don't you just use a normal eq?

More specifically, if you are running on an Android device (phone or tablet), there is a free piece of software called Neutralizer that makes it pretty easy to work out your own eq, that not only compensates for the headphones but also your ears.

If your target device is not an Android phone, Neutralizer can be used to estimate a pretty good eq curve on an Android device that you can read out from Neutralizer and implement on your PC, perhaps using APO Equalizer (freeware).

Re: Kameleon Headphone EQ / Filter

Reply #6 –
Quote from: eric.w on
I don't trust their treble corrections. Rin Choi measured new vs. 1-2 years old pads, and the old pads cause a treble reduction similar to this EQ. Attached new and old FR graphs, from: http://rinchoi.blogspot.ca/2012/04/introduction-it-is-generally-known-that.html ("Discussion" section).

The fact that you can get that much FR variation from different pads (or as the pads wear down) means it's probably pointless to EQ in that range based on a measurement of someone else's headphone, because you might just be moving further from neutral on your specific pair.

That said - I've thought about getting a miniDSP and a headphone amp to flatten the bass on mine.

Thank for the graph, very interesting results. I have just put some new pads on my HDs, so I guess I would compare them to new ones. I still feel that the 3-5khz range is very upfront.

Quote from: Arnold B. Krueger on
Quote from: saratoga on
Why don't you just use a normal eq?

More specifically, if you are running on an Android device (phone or tablet), there is a free piece of software called Neutralizer that makes it pretty easy to work out your own eq, that not only compensates for the headphones but also your ears.

If your target device is not an Android phone, Neutralizer can be used to estimate a pretty good eq curve on an Android device that you can read out from Neutralizer and implement on your PC, perhaps using APO Equalizer (freeware).

It's a studio with multiple hardware sources. I run a MiniDSP 4x4 balanced on the main output, I need want something similar to that for headphones.  At this level, a software solution is not an option for me.

Quote from: saratoga on
Quote from: Funkstar De Luxe on
Quote from: saratoga on
Why don't you just use a normal eq?

Two reasons;

1, this comes pre calibrated for the HD600s, so I don't need to make my own measurements or adjustments. Also, with an EQ it's not as easy to get flat results like this. Depends on what slopes/Qs are available.
2, I don't want another EQ sitting on my desk. This is lovely and compact

I meant an EQ running on your source device. Hardware EQs are fine if you have to use some source that can't do DSP but it doesn't sound like that is the case here, so I probably wouldn't recommend one.

See above.

Thanks!

Re: Kameleon Headphone EQ / Filter

Reply #7 –
I found a software solution which does something similar, called Sonarworks True-Fi [https://www.sonarworks.com/truefi].

Works well enough, but uses quite a lot of CPU and unforgivably is €80. So I''m going to buy the hardware. I'll post back when I receive it.