Sennheiser HD58X - speaker target V1N (Patreon)

I wanted to share my latest HD58X EQ with you which is based on my KH80 setup I demonstrated before, I will share more details on this target how it was achieved, what the purpose is etc in future when I have everthing working again. Just shortly: this EQ should represent the sound of a neutral speaker with the listener sitting exactly in the sweet spot of a standard stereo triangle with no averaging from other directions just 30 degrees to the left and right where the speakers are placed. I tried to recreate this particular spectrum I perceive from the equalised KH80s as good as possible with the HD58X. I chose this over the HD600 this time, because it’s way more affordable, it’s pretty popular and my unit is brand new thus also has fresh pads mounted and has a much stronger headband clamp than my old HD600 thus should better represent the sound among different units.

Keep in mind this EQ is based on my own ears and what they do from the perceived speaker spectrum, every other ear will alter the sound to a different degree but my EQ should still represent the speaker sound more faithfully than stock or any other EQ. I did some experiments and will also share more details on this soon.

This EQ needs some time to get used to itz It sounds slightly weird even to me if I switch it on from the default HD58X but sounds way closer to what I hear from the speakers. Once you “burn in” this particular spectrum you should get a very natural, speaker like sound with a headphone. It also departs a lot from most existing targets, but I need to measure it on a standardised rig first before being able to judge the final response properly.

Below you can see some measurements. Green is the measurement of the KH80 done with a moving microphone around the position of the listener’s head. Grey is the same measured with my ears (averaged for left and right), and black the measured HD58X with this EQ.

I tried to stay as close to the spectrum my ears measure from the speakers, but I need to depart in the area of 3-4khz and 8khz. There seems to be some break in the spectrum at this point comparing the headphone to the speaker measurement. You can see that I am still following the original graph but with a lower amplitude above 10khz. I tried versions filling up the dips at 3.4K, 8K and above 10K, but it just didn’t sound right. I tried to approximate the sound I was hearing from the speakers with the headphone and came up with this result, everything else sounded more wrong. I am not sure I can improve this EQ even more, it’s my final approach not simplified yet, thus I may try to approximate this response with less filters in future.

You can also notice that my headphone measurement follows my speaker measurement done with my ears quite closely down to 200hz but then raises again and gets above the original speaker measurement in amplitude below 100hz. This was achieved just by ear, you can see that all 3 measurements deviate at this range, thus I cannot guarantee 100% precise results, still I think that this approximates a kind of “flat” sound through speakers really well.

Below you can also see my EQ compared to the stock HD58X in blue.

You will notice that the HD58X has way more upper bass, while lacking energy from 2-5khz, as well as too little treble above 13khz compared to my EQ.

Please give me your thoughts how this EQ works for you.