Unless you want to get deep into controlling every aspect of how the EQ is performed, I would suggest DMG Audio’s “EQuick”, which is about $100 or so.
It’s overkill for what you want to do, but it’s the cheapest commercial solution I can actually recommend (i.e. have used extensively). I’m sure there are other, cheaper, options.
I personally use EQuilibrium as my primary EQ solution (both for listening and production work).
I’d bet the a typical symptom first time EQ’ers associate with degrading SQ is phase shift. 4+ dB in a specific band and BAAAM, it starts to sound weird. Been there and done that.
I’m not a EQ’er in these days but if I go back I’d stick with mastering EQ tools that already have some classical presets. Since you mentioned TDR Labs, check this preset out from their free version (even though screenshot is from a paid one):
Above preset just sounds good with everything. No wonder why this preset was named that way. 
Cheers. 
Any one played used / have an opinion of Equalify Pro?
Just looking for something that integrates nicely with Spotify
I downloaded the nova but can’t figure out how to use it. I configured it in the settings, where do I pull it up?
Are you using it with Audirvana player (not the studio version)? If so you can find it in the list of plugins of you equaliser.
Let me know and if you need further help drop me a line.
That raises the question. JRMC or Audirvna as the cleanest player??
I just answered my own question. Audirvana is cleaner on my immediate impression.
I did what all you guys told me to do. I installed JRMC, Audirvana, Roon and I had Foobar2000. Roon obviously plays with my Qutest the best for the best soundstage and imaging. I’m having a great deal of fun with Roon! Now to learn how to configure it to work with HQPlayer…
Fun software experiment for Metallica “Black Album” 2021 remaster:
Mac mini M1 → Apple Music → (SoundSource) → EQuilibrium (FIR, Analogue, 262k impulse, x8 padding, Kaiser, 0.50 center) → Ghz Tube 3 → Ghz Midside 3 → Ghz CanOpener Studio 3 → Mark Levinson ML585 → Susvara
Plug-in settings as below (with link to the specific settings via the IMHO ingenious Goodhertz URL sharing):
All Goodhertz plug-ins have 30 day trials - if you start now time to play and buy with Black Friday discount before expirations (typically 35% in prior years). Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Goodhertz …
Link to software being referenced below.
I am glad that EQ is becoming more prevalent in reviews but a few aspects sometimes go by the wayside. Producers often use ‘transient designers’ and mid-side processing to make music so why not evaluate headphones using these features? Eventide have just dropped a product that combines these tools. By no means is anything within this VST unique (EQ on transients only has been done by oeksounds VSTs and mid side has been around forever) but the combination is quite nice for my production. I was thinking that it might be interesting tool for headphone reviewers to be able to hear what a headphone is actually doing to the mid side info then switch to listen to how it handles transients then switch to the tonal tails of sounds. i.e one headphone might be great with one but not the other but until you have the ability to solo these (which this plugin does allow) then how do you know?? It’s not something I think would be practical to reference in a mainstream review but behind the scenes it could potentially yield interesting insights.
Do you worry about the phase shift that occurs when shaping tone via an EQ or other type method?
If your EQ tool uses proper FIR filters, then they can be implemented to operate in linear phase - so there are no phase shifts. Most of the good EQ tools either do this by default, or have options for FIR vs IIR.
Also, minimum phase filters on DACs are quite common, in fact a number of them claim it as a feature … so you could be facing such issues even without EQ.
Do you know if the convolution filter - implemented in Roon for specific headphones such as mine introduce a ‘significant’ phase shift? I know that I am really enjoying the filter that I am using right now for my 880S set. That’s a FIR filter, isn’t it?
The Convolution filter in Roon operates on user-provided convolution filter definitions (files). So the phase behavior of the convolution depends on the filter definition itself.
I don’t know where you got/how you generated the convolution filter for your 880S, nor what it is actually doing, so it’s impossible for me to say whether it is phase correct or not. The Roon convolution engine will just do what the filter it is given tells it to. It can’t make a non-linear convolution definition linear automatically.
I believe AutoEQ has options for this, and you can control it using something like rePhase (or use it to adjust a non-linear phase filter generated from, say, REW).
In general, Roon’s Parametric EQ is IIR (low latency, non-linear phase). Or it was the last time I asked about it. Which was probably four years ago now.
Using Roon’s Procedural EQ you have some control of IIR vs. FIR.
EQ implemented via convolution is dependent on the filter definition you’re using to determine phase behavior (true for the Roon’s convolver and others).
And then just to be complete, the Roon Audeze pre-sets can be configured to be either FIR or IIR (where as I think Reveal+ is just IIR … but I haven’t tried it in a while, since it’s a PITA to use with Roon, so options may have been added there).
Depending on your DAC (no idea what you use), it may be giving you minimum phase (i.e. IIR and non-linear) output anyway …
Thanks for your reply. I use the Qutest, output to a Phonitor x. You may know what the Qutest does to the phase… What I feed that path does tend to alter the soundstage and imaging for me more than other parameters. Those impressions are important for my enjoyment of the music and its emotional impact. I have found that the parametric EQ does ‘mess up’ the sound’ so I got the .wav files here to see how the result would sound - AutoEq/results/oratory1990/harman_over-ear_2018/Sennheiser HD 800 S at master · jaakkopasanen/AutoEq · GitHub
Put both the wav files into a zip file. That zip file was accepted into the Roon convolution engine. For what ever it does to the phase, I know that I have really been enjoying the result.
Keep in mind that headphones are a minimum phase system. So if you are correcting the FR using EQ, then a minimum phase filter is the correct choice. For example if you are using a filter at 5khz to correct a headphone resonance at 5khz, then you actually want to affect both the FR and phase as you want to correct both.
Great Point. I will look carefully into the processes that I am experimenting with.
Chord DACs are linear phase.
…
Depending on what, and why, you are applying EQ … it is simply a case of “the right tool for the right job”. Which is why professional EQ tools let you control how things are done.
I’ve heard a lot of people say that. And yet, in a proper blind test, they can’t tell the results apart at all. My favorite claim was “just enabling EQ, but not specifying any changes, ruined the sound”. Blind test? Couldn’t tell the difference at all*.
But then, a lot of the people I know that have issues with EQ aren’t using it properly. Doing stupid shit like boosting the bass by 12 dB but not adjusting pre-gain/headroom to compensate … and getting obnoxious (and unmissable) digital clipping as a result.
Doing EQ via convolution allows more control, and more precision, over frequency and phase responses. It introduces more latency, requires more processing power, is more complicated to setup, but it’s a more powerful tool. You have to apply it properly to get the results you are after.
*I could do a whole thread on this. So many different things, that people frequently cite as being significant affects in their listening, and yet when they are compared under proper test conditions … magically evaporate.
You could look into the Fabfilter ProQ3 setting called ‘Natural Phase’. They claim this solves the issue of slight phase common in minimum phase mode and the pre ringing issue in liniar phase mode. It introduces slight latency but that is not an issue when just listening to music for pleasure. Honestly I would not worry about the amount of phase being introduced in minimum phase mode. It’s negligible unless you are using sharp shelves which you wouldn’t be for headphone use.
Great info. I looked at it and it has a gorgeous interface. I’m would have to find out if Roon accepts VST/VST3 plugins and I also must take some additional time with the convolution that I am using (and enjoying). I do serious listening, but it is for pleasure and not a business. Thanks again!
