I have a few old albums from the ‘80’s that benefit from a bit of EQ tweaking, usually a bit of bass boost. I’ve saved a preset EQ which I can apply when listening to them.
I wondered if it would be possible for Roon to allow us to ‘associate’ an album wirth a preset EQ so when Roon plays it, it turns on and applies the EQ settings to it. For any music that doesn’t have an EQ associated with it, it would keep EQ turned off.
If we extended this thinking a little it might provide a means of avoiding the need to switch off all DSP when playing MQA albums, something I’m funding an increasing nuisance (and have previously suggested as a feature request)
The built in EQ option is great for those who wish to apply a preset for their room, but I would love to be able to create and assign an EQ preset to an album.
Some albums I have remastered to EQ out the obnoxious sound (thin and bright, mostly 80s albums) but that is time consuming and permanent. (and yes i do keep the original)
By being able to create a preset for an album and assign it to that album, or many albums whenever they are played back would be fantastic. Yes that would involve Roon constantly changing and even enabling and disabling EQ, but doable I would think.
Maybe… you could maybe turn the option off in Radio Mode, or make sure you design your EQs to not affect perceived loudness. The Parametric EQ in DSP has an overall Gain control which can be used, along with Enabling/Disabling it to hear and correct for any perceived loudness difference.
I think if I go to the trouble of re-EQing certain old albums, I could quite happily tweak the overall gain to loudness match it to the original sound. But… I am a geek!
If they go to the trouble of creating an EQ, tagging it to an album, turning on ‘Album EQ’ or whatever Roon want to call it, and then being upset due to volume differences on Radio play, then they’ve only got themselves to blame.
I really think it’s a non-issue Tony. It would be a feature one could use, or not, the results of which would to some extent depend upon some kind of technical proficiency.
There are quite a few features in Roon that, if used with poor understanding of the results, would degrade the listening experience. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have them.
My 2-penneth, but then I am biased, because it’s a feature that I would love to have.
I agree Dan, there are a number of ways to create level problems and ultimately distortion with Roon’s many tweaks available, no one can cover off the many stupid things that people can do. So PLEASE Roon add this feature for those of us willing to ‘take our chances’ with it. And for others, remember, cut not boost, is the best way to go when EQing.
I agree with Dan and Steve.
For me, part of the experience of moving to hi-res music has been discovering the varying quality of mixes (especially on rock albums that may have been mixed in a very loud control room, or tailored for radio play). An optional EQ preset associated with each album would seem like the best way to address that.
I also remember iTunes having that feature, and me using it.
At first I thought this would be a valuable asset and can see how helpful this would be, although without the benefit of a waveform display may quite easily introduce undesirable clipping, which under normal circumstances may not be an issue; but as we are in the land of the audiophile, messing with eq without a waveform analyser is not a good idea - better to open and edit the audio files so they are just as you want them without clipping then re-import into Roon.
There is also the clipping indicator in Roon. Can be enabled in the Headroom dialogue. Some albums wouldn’t clip even if one adds 3dB in the bass, but digital clipping is rather nasty so it must be avoided.
