To Equalize or Not to Equalize

+1 for a studio analog EQ. Have one and it’s the most important component in my two audio chains. Cannot live without it!

I have stated all this before elsewhere here, but briefly, I have also owned Loki Max. It’s extremely transparent and a good minimal boosting of cutting device. But studio EQs are FAR more versatile and sound a good bit better. Although no remote with most studio. A good studio EQ can give the most tasty lovely air band boost you could ever imagine. Loki Max cannot do that and sound good. BUT if your only goal is to cut treble, LM is fine. Just my two cents. For what it’s worth. 

I use EQ to compensate for mild hearing loss at specific frequencies. I started by matching the gain settings to the results of my hearing tests, then fine-tuned them by ear.

I’ve also experimented with listening through my hearing aids in their Music mode. After some comparison, I found I prefer listening without hearing aids and making subtle EQ adjustments instead.

The EQ is built into my McIntosh MA352, which makes comparisons easy; I can switch the EQ on and off from my listening position. The only limitation is that the individual EQ controls themselves aren’t remote adjustable.

Depending on your system and your source or sources (analog tt vs. streaming in the digital domain), perhaps consider using a miniDSP, fed by PEQ filters from REW.

This way you’re actually measuring the room interaction with your system, across your entire frequency range. Then if you so choose, you can generate filters that you load into the miniDSP.

Even if you don’t want to insert a Digital Signal Processor into your audio chain, I recommend that you download REW, which is free, and learn a bit about how it works and do some measurements. You need a PC/laptop and a calibrated microphone, like an affordable uMIK-1 ($80).

At at a minimum, it will give you a good, objective view of your frequency response in your listening position and then you can go from there. 

another happy Loki Max owner here, but to tell you the truth, since I put my LTA Aero dac into the system, I've not needed it. And I don't run my phono through it at all. I need to pull my system apart and get a new rack, rewire things, clean up some of the wiring. When I do that, I might try and put the EQ post pre-amp, then it will have everything running through it. As others said, the Loki Max has a single button  defeat, so you don't have to use it. I'm going to play with it...

@cathat What speakers are you running?  Edge diffraction and some tweeters can cause brightness and harshness.  Treating the baffles and areas around the tweeters can help if those are causes.  Other sources can be poor quality connections and crossover parts...tougher to fix, but possible if you're ambitious.  Cleaning up the signal path is worth pursuing IME vs trying to just EQ the problem up or down. 

Many DSP units offer both graphic EQs and parametric EQs, along with a bunch of other useful features.  I use DSP with a PEQ on my subs and woofers in a bi-amp setup to cut room nodes only in the lower regions, but it’s not even in the signal path for mid and high frequency at all.