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Topic: Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Equalizer Preset (Read 15628 times) previous topic - next topic
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Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Equalizer Preset

In case someone else has a pair of Sennheiser HD 280 Pro headphones and find that they sound uncolored I've made a preset with Foobar's equalizer that attenuates the problem. The preset was tested on the 64 Ohms model...

If anyone has suggestions let me know!


download EQ preset v.2


2nd EDIT: The sound stage is now drastically improved (if your headphones have the same frequency response as mine!) and some annoyances were fixed, so this should be the last version of this preset. Enjoy!

EDIT: the preset was updated since the 50 Hz frequencies were kind of annoying for songs that made extensive use of them, and other improvements were made.

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Equalizer Preset

Reply #1 –
Thanks ^^ too bad you couldn't do this for my Grado 325is, but I suppose a lot of it has to do with what each individual listener enjoys.

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Equalizer Preset

Reply #2 –
Thanks for this. I absolutely love my Sennheiser HD280 Pro headphones, and this eq profile seems to create a richer ambiance.

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Equalizer Preset

Reply #3 –
I'm sorry if I sound rather negative, but I'm of the school that doesn't believe any amount of adjustment will help the fact that you're basically listening through bad or not-that-great headphones.

I have a subtle EQ "fix" for my bookshelf speakers, but the real fix is moving the whole setup into a better room, or padding my walls.

> richer ambiance

It's more likely that EQ fiddling will reduce the technical clarity of the audio signal. I'm also not sure what "richer ambiance" means.

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Equalizer Preset

Reply #4 –
Quote from: dhromed on
I'm sorry if I sound rather negative, but I'm of the school that doesn't believe any amount of adjustment will help the fact that you're basically listening through bad or not-that-great headphones.

I have a subtle EQ "fix" for my bookshelf speakers, but the real fix is moving the whole setup into a better room, or padding my walls.

> richer ambiance

It's more likely that EQ fiddling will reduce the technical clarity of the audio signal. I'm also not sure what "richer ambiance" means.



> technical clarity of the audio signal

I think the technical clarity you are referring to is the amount of noise induced by the equalizer, or the loss of precision due to multiplications/divisions/subtractions/additions used to perform the FFT or apply the FIR filter on the signal (depending on how the equalizer is implemented). However increasing the precision of the variables (the # of bits) fixes this problem, so only bad equalizers implementation suffer from a loss of "technical clarity", whatever it means.  Or if you are criticizing the math behind it you might want to read more on transfer functions, inner product spaces and the z-transform.

> any amount of adjustment will help the fact that you're basically listening through bad or not-that-great headphones.

I define the quality of headphones by its ability to play frequencies without distortion, and of course with a relatively constant response over the frequency spectrum. So it might be possible according to this definition to use an equalizer on a good pair of headphones to make them sound more appropriate to what frequencies you prefer to listen to. The Sennheiser 280 Pro are flat and usually used for mixing, where an objective and uncolored sound is necessary, which is why an equalizer is useful to make them sound more subjective. But I agree that there are better headphones out there

thanks for the comments

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Equalizer Preset

Reply #5 –
Quote
I'm sorry if I sound rather negative, but I'm of the school that doesn't believe any amount of adjustment will help the fact that you're basically listening through bad or not-that-great headphones.


What justifies your assessment that the Sennheiser HD280 Pros are "bad" headphones? Bad for what purpose? It just so happens that they provide a very flat frequency response. If this isn't what you're interested in, fine; however, comparing the Sennheisers against a nonexistent objective standard and concluding they sound bad is nonsensical.

The headphones are available for around $100. In this price category, they excel.

Quote
> richer ambiance

It's more likely that EQ fiddling will reduce the technical clarity of the audio signal. I'm also not sure what "richer ambiance" means.


By richer ambiance, I simply meant more colored. I associate color with visual signals, so I used "rich" to describe "colorful" audio. I hope that makes sense.

To the OP: In my opinion, the equalizer setting improves my listening experience. Thanks

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Equalizer Preset

Reply #6 –
improved version available, take a look at the first post.

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Equalizer Preset

Reply #7 –
...

You know, I kinda like it.

...I think I need to lay off the drugs.

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Equalizer Preset

Reply #8 –
Quote from: Canar on
...

You know, I kinda like it.

...I think I need to lay off the drugs.


i assure you, your ears are not hallucinating:P with that being said, you can resume your normal drug consumption habits peacefully... until that day comes!
 

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Equalizer Preset

Reply #9 –
Quote from: dhromed on
I'm sorry if I sound rather negative, but I'm of the school that doesn't believe any amount of adjustment will help the fact that you're basically listening through bad or not-that-great headphones.

I have a subtle EQ "fix" for my bookshelf speakers, but the real fix is moving the whole setup into a better room, or padding my walls.

> richer ambiance

It's more likely that EQ fiddling will reduce the technical clarity of the audio signal. I'm also not sure what "richer ambiance" means.


just to say that after playing around with better audio equipment I noticed the lack of "clarity" you were talking about... which is like if the locations of the instruments were kind of mixed together and subtle details (mostly from high frequencies like cymbals, or guitar distortion, etc.) disappeared... The only EQ I've seen so far that didn't have much loss of precision was Algorithmix Linearphase Red, which costs around 1800$ (for a good reason). however i find the HD280 to be not accurate and not detailed enough for the listener to hear the loss of clarity induced from a respectable EQ.

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Equalizer Preset

Reply #10 –
Anybody still have this sitting around?  The link doesn't work any more and I would really like to check it out.  Thanks in advance.

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Equalizer Preset

Reply #12 –
Code: [Select]
0
3
5
4
2
0
0
-1
-1
0
1
2
2
2
3
0
2
3

Save it as "HD280Pro-v.2.feq" and load it with equalizer

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Equalizer Preset

Reply #13 –
Quote from: Jean-Mikael on
I define the quality of headphones by its ability to play frequencies without distortion, and of course with a relatively constant response over the frequency spectrum. So it might be possible according to this definition to use an equalizer on a good pair of headphones to make them sound more appropriate to what frequencies you prefer to listen to. The Sennheiser 280 Pro are flat and usually used for mixing, where an objective and uncolored sound is necessary, which is why an equalizer is useful to make them sound more subjective. But I agree that there are better headphones out there

The Sennheiser HD280 are closed back cans and therefore never used when mixing. At least not by a pro.
And saying that these cans have a flat frequency response either have little know how of pro audio or tried very few sets of headphones. Take a look at Grado cans, HD600 or HD650 if you're looking for headphones with good detail, frequency response and stereo image.

Cheers.

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Equalizer Preset

Reply #14 –
Thanks 2E7AH.
God Bless U.S.A

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Equalizer Preset

Reply #15 –
Quote from: trashcan on
Quote from: Jean-Mikael on
I define the quality of headphones by its ability to play frequencies without distortion, and of course with a relatively constant response over the frequency spectrum. So it might be possible according to this definition to use an equalizer on a good pair of headphones to make them sound more appropriate to what frequencies you prefer to listen to. The Sennheiser 280 Pro are flat and usually used for mixing, where an objective and uncolored sound is necessary, which is why an equalizer is useful to make them sound more subjective. But I agree that there are better headphones out there

The Sennheiser HD280 are closed back cans and therefore never used when mixing. At least not by a pro.
And saying that these cans have a flat frequency response either have little know how of pro audio or tried very few sets of headphones. Take a look at Grado cans, HD600 or HD650 if you're looking for headphones with good detail, frequency response and stereo image.

Cheers.




well for the mixing part, i haven't done any survey on how they're used in general but still HeadRoom agrees with me about their usage if that can be considered as a fact based on the website reputation (http://www.headphone.com/headphones/sennheiser-hd-280-pro.php)

the HD280 frequency response isn't totally flat but they do sound flat, i believe because of how the bass is a bit recessed below 200 hz whereas most headphones has bass compensation around 100hz to “simulate” the bass resonance of speakers

i also have the Sennheiser HD600 and they sound great and yeah i definitely prefer them over the HD280 but they are not always practical when there's a lot of noise around...

Best regards

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Equalizer Preset

Reply #16 –
Quote from: Jean-Mikael on
well for the mixing part, i haven't done any survey on how they're used in general but still HeadRoom agrees with me about their usage if that can be considered as a fact based on the website reputation (http://www.headphone.com/headphones/sennheiser-hd-280-pro.php)

I don't know who 'HeadRoom' is neither could I find any info on that link you sent that would indicate a strong pro audio mixing usage.
The reason why we don't use closed back's is simply because of the increased sound pressure. It gets extremely tiresome for the ears. With an open back design however, pressure doesn't build up like it does in the former.
Closed back on the other hand are always used when you need isolation. Both incoming and outgoing.
But to be honest I've rarely seen the HD280's in a studio what so ever. In DJ context, yes.

Quote from: Jean-Mikael on
i believe because of how the bass is a bit recessed below 200 hz whereas most headphones has bass compensation around 100hz to “simulate” the bass resonance of speakers

Bass and headphones is a tricky subject altogether. If you think about it from the laws of physics side of it, a 100Hz tone needs about 3.43 metres to be able to develop a full waveform, or close to 86cm before it reaches it's fullest power. Obviously a pair of headphones sitting on your head can't provide these conditions. Neither would the small membrane be able to push as much air. Instead tricks are used to give an illusion of lower frequencies. This means that the lower frequency range on a pair of headphones can never be considered "accurate". And then we've also left out the visceral sensation of low bass frequencies which indeed plays a major role in our perception of bass.
Psychology and psychoacoustics. Both tricky subjects.

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Equalizer Preset

Reply #17 –
Give Scrith's HD280 feq settings a try:

0 -1 -2 -4 -5 -6 -7 -6 -6 -5 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 0 -1


They still work the best ofthe ones I have seen over the years.  The OP's settings have + values which don't seem to work well on standard low power soundcard output in my humble experience.