Do they have an audition option? But, yeah, USB input would be a problem here. And the whole solution would drive you away from HQPlayer, the latter at the end does POP very well…
What does POP very well? HQPlayer or Lyndorf TDAI-1120?
I have meant HQPlayer, @Peter_Gregor
Your questions had really intrigued me to make a detour into POP listening. What can I say… good POP sounds awesome and I love it. I’ve been going through album after album of PINK, great! Sia, Rihanna… all are very intertaining.
Jussi took time to respond above, I echo his suggestion is great starting points. To my taste I throw “IIR” filter into the mix as well. Two modulators 7EC-light 512+fs or 7EC-Super 512+Fs. DAC correction enabled and simple room correction produced by HouseCurve. In fact I have made several EQ sets one against B&K curve, another one against Harman curve, and third one is my custom curve with boosted bass.
Coming back to “Two Steps From Hell” recordings and your question about settings. I have listened a little bit more of them on my two systems - “main” 5digits rig powered by HQPlayer and very good living room 3digits system powered by Roon and all type of other AirPlay streaming. Yep - 2digits in difference between two rigs. And let me be honest, at times I think that 3digits sounds much more alive then main listening that ate all my time and money, hahahaha. My wife definatelly thinks our 3digits rig is the top of sound quality engeneering! Haha!
OK, at first “Two Steps From Hell” music looks intriguing, but for me this hold for a very short time. But let’s talk about their sound. I listened to their “Live – An Epic Music Experience”. Once again at first looks like a very balanced recording and mix where you have everything at the same time, including drums. But only for a few moments. Untill… you hear vocals. It feels like in their production vocals are intended as yet another source of sound (or rather noise to make things sound Epic), but there’s no message in it! It’s empty and meaningless. And it feels like this is very conciously and on purpose. So for example “Wings for Ukraine (Live)” sounds very epic and, but… you cant make out anything that choir is singing. It is clear - this it is a choir, more over it sounds at first like Rakhmaninov type of voices, and you also hear orchestra well, but… but, but, but it impossible to tell a single word they say, I cant even tell or feel the language. Next thing is grand piano - notice how much louder it is compared to choir, in real life it is not like this by a mile. However drums are very clear and even the crescendo from the orchestra is there. But yet - the voice is totally absolutelly lost. So very weird experience, really.
This brings the question - can voices sound different when mixed with drums, loud low frequencies and synth and etc… on epic type of tracks. If you have time and interest I invite you to listen to Kenji Kawai - Ghost in Shell sountrack. This is equally epic, but what is impressive is how well defined are all type of drums and percussions and gongs and choir - you dont need to speak Japanese to understand that they sing in Japanese, not only that, if you make an effort you can repeat after them. Every single word is clear…
Only the curve from House Curve needs to be modified somehow, I suppose? Because I just did the measurement and imported the finished curve into Roon. I didn’t do any editing and that’s probably a mistake I just don’t know what and how to edit. Does that adjustment need to be done in House Curve?
There’s not much editing that you’d need to do in HouseCurve.
- Take measurements and don’t forget to save. I do separate measurement for right and left channels.
- In “plot set” up select the “Target Curve” - B&K or Harman
- Equalize as I showed you above
- Export the file (one per channel, if you measure per channel)
simple as that. you may think of getting calibrated mic later, measurements will be much better.
And you may want to later experiment by creating your own room curves, if you are fancy. But frankly B&K and Harman are enough for most cases. So not really necessary unless you are really into it.
That Kenji Kawai - Ghost in the Shell soundtrack thank you for the tip. I will definitely listen to it. I love the epic music of Two Steps From Hell so if it’s similar for me great.
The Wings for Ukraine track is the one I don’t miss them with and I have no problem with it. As it is a slow song with no drums. But try to play for example track number 2 Cannon in D minor.
It plays even worse in the album Myth specifically the second track Phantom.
Here, for example, I find it so muddy. Everything plays equally loud and no instrument is dominant. I would have liked to see the kick drums highlighted in this piece.
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Do I set separate measurements for left and right channels in the app?
I don’t understand this.
My dealer and I still decided to try replacing the amplifier. He sent me an EVO 150 to try as a replacement for the Advance Paris X-i75. So I’ll see if it sounds any different. I will decide whether to keep the EVO 150 and sell the old Adance Paris xi75 amp or keep it and buy the Eversolo DMP A8 that I already had for testing.
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I come to conclusion that it is really about their style, preference and choice of recording. I think with high quality players shall it be Roon or HQPlayer you always gonna find TSFH more and more disappointing. Because you will found more details missing.
you can choose to play test signal, into one channel only, and effectively you take measurement from one channel only. check the settings in the first screen - measurement screen
All is done automatically at equalize screen, you just need to make settings as I showed you earlier
I understand. If I measure one channel separately, how do I measure the other channel? When I change in settings and give a new measurement it will erase the previous one for example from the right channel or am I wrong?
Only one measurement (one file) can be uploaded to the roon I think and not one for the left and one for the right channel.
When you finish the measurement don’t forget to save it at the first screen. After that you can come back to it many times. And you will notice you can select the one you need in equalizer screen. So you can make a lot of experiments including adding a subwoofer.
And should I do the measurement with the subwoofer on or off?
I can tell that EVO 150 looks awesome, honestly, It will be interesting to learn how it sounds. But then you may want to try EVO speakers as well? For complete ecosystem. And add their CD later, if you are into CD’s…
BTW: I have Cambridge CD Transport - CX Black Edition. I’m so happy about this toy, so much, I think I go insane, I spent three zeros on CD’s over the last months. I play this thing via HQPlayer and the sound is so awesome I just cant stop 
I don’t want to change the speakers at the moment. I think the Xavian Perla ones are good and they are fairly new. So I just have to choose the equipment. Either the EVO 150 or the DMP A8. I’ll probably choose from those two.I’ve tried the DMP A8 but haven’t heard any difference. That’s why we are going to try EVO 150. It will arrive on Monday.
Yeah, I see your point. These Cambridge EVO speakers are not too far in specs from your current ones.
Honestly - get calibrated mic, Umik from MiniDSP
And Apple lightning to USB adapter (camera adapter)
Get hold of simpliest measurements with HouseCurve.
Throw your Focal Sub into the mix and you gonna get AWESOME system!!!
So you don’t recommend measuring with the built-in microphone on the mobile? And should I do the speaker measurement with the subwoofer on?