How to measure headphones against a harman target as house curve

[luizffgarcia]

Hey guys, i am looking for a tutorial on how to properly align my headphone measurements using a EARS device against a harman target as my house curve.

When i click the EQ button i can see my target and my headphone measurement, but i think i am missing some sort of conversion/compensation because they don't match even when i use an EQ preset which i know for a fact should put a specific pair exactly on the harman target.

The image above is an example of what i am talking about, oratory has a red and an orange line, one is raw and the other compensated, you can see that he can compare the orange one against harman but not the red one, i feel like i am comparing the red one when i try to do the same thing with REW.

I appreciate any advice.

 

[luizffgarcia]

Here it how it looks on REW for me after oratory's EQ, it should match harman pretty closely but it is nothing like that:

 

[John Mulcahy]

The red trace looks to be showing the difference between the raw measurement and the Harman curve. The appearance of the measurement you make with EARS will depend on which cal file you load for it. With the HEQ file you end up with the equivalent of the red trace as your measurement, the target is then to get a flat result after applying EQ.

 

[luizffgarcia]

The red trace looks to be showing the difference between the raw measurement and the Harman curve. The appearance of the measurement you make with EARS will depend on which cal file you load for it. With the HEQ file you end up with the equivalent of the red trace as your measurement, the target is then to get a flat result after applying EQ.

Ok i think i follow part of what you explained.

Let me change my question a bit and maybe narrow down the answer so i can better understand. If you look at oratory's measurement after EQ you can see that it follows the harman low shelf perfectly, while in mine the bass is mostly a flat line even with his EQ settings.

Is that caused by my calibration file? I am using the ones provided by miniDSP based on my serial number.

 

[John Mulcahy]

If you look at oratory's measurement after EQ you can see that it follows the harman low shelf perfectly

You are being a bit selective, the red oratory post-EQ line is largely flat. Your EARS measurements with an HEQ cal file are the equivalent of those red traces, they should not and are not meant to look like raw measurements. It would be worth reading the miniDSP headphone EQ application notes and EARS user manual.

 

[luizffgarcia]

You are being a bit selective, the red oratory post-EQ line is largely flat. Your EARS measurements with an HEQ cal file are the equivalent of those red traces, they should not and are not meant to look like raw measurements. It would be worth reading the miniDSP headphone EQ application notes and EARS user manual.

I actually did but i lack the necessary knowledge about the entire thing to properly understand it all

So, my goal is to be able to put my measurements against the harman target which is my house curve, for that i would need raw measurements somehow? If so, how would i be able to produce that?

Sorry, i know my questions are kind of annoying since i am trying to achieve specific results without actually knowing what i am doing here, lol

 

[John Mulcahy]

my goal is to be able to put my measurements against the harman target

You won't be able to do that, because the Harman curve is specific to the equipment and ear simulator used to measure it. MiniDSP's idea with the HEQ cal file is to produce the equivalent of a measurement that is corrected for the Harman target, so that a flat response means the Harman target is matched. They have done the work to make life easier for people wanting to apply EQ.

For more discussion on headphone measurement and EARS there is this and this.

 

[luizffgarcia]

You won't be able to do that, because the Harman curve is specific to the equipment and ear simulator used to measure it. MiniDSP's idea with the HEQ cal file is to produce the equivalent of a measurement that is corrected for the Harman target, so that a flat response means the Harman target is matched. They have done the work to make life easier for people wanting to apply EQ.

For more discussion on headphone measurement and EARS there is this and this.

Oh nice!!! Thanks for pointing me in the correct direction, much appreciated!

 

[AudiocRaver]

A lot of the HF variations with headphones result from ear resonances. If you flatten them all out, the overall result will most likely sound pretty horrible. You might try very gentle EQ in that range, just enough to correct for overall trends that you find objectionable.

Or ditch the Harmon Curve all together. They don't really know what they're doing.

 

[luizffgarcia]

A lot of the HF variations with headphones result from ear resonances. If you flatten them all out, the overall result will most likely sound pretty horrible. You might try very gentle EQ in that range, just enough to correct for overall trends that you find objectionable.

Or ditch the Harmon Curve all together. They don't really know what they're doing.

The Harman target happens to match my preferences for sound, i never used it as a guideline. It was more about discovering that i can use that as a reference since it almost always makes my cans more to my liking.
In the end i use the EQ that sounds the best to me, but i use Harman as a starting point.

 

[ddude003]

Have you ever thought of using something like https://www.waves.com/plugins/abbey...MIlrbulZKP_wIVK41MCh0JsguBEAAYASAAEgL3LPD_BwE...

I'm not a cans kind of guy, although I have tried some mixing and mastering with some cans... Always gone back to monitors somewhere along the way... Some frenz use that plugin and swear by it...