this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2023
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Headphones

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Hello, i just got the WH-1000XM4 thanks to the black friday and my brother advice. I bought it principally for listening audiobook. But i'm a bit overwhelmed by all the settings, especially for the equalizer it's my first time meeting something like that. And i was wondering what would be the best equalizer settings for audiobooks. I'm asking here because it seem a lot of people are really full of knowledge when it comes to headphones, thanks in advance!

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[–] Choice-Counter-1166@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You do not need any EQ for audiobooks. It's just a person narrating, right? You don't need anything specific for that.

[–] Born-Respond-2926@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Oh i didn't know i thought i could optimize the listening with the equalizer, in a sense to make it better.

[–] Pristinox@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You don't need any EQ for podcasts.

If you want to try something anyway on that basic Sony app EQ, here's this:

400 leave it at zero

1K +4 notches

2.4K +6 notches

6.3K and 16K leave at zero

Clear bass -1 dot

This is the way to make it sound as neutral as possible, but it will still be a warm-sounding headphone even with these settings. No, reducing the clear bass setting further does not help.

Fully-parametric EQ would be much better, like the Wavelet or PowerampEQ.

[–] Born-Respond-2926@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I'll try this configuration once i'm at home. When you mean Wavelet or PowerampEQ i saw they are android apps, do they work with my headphone? Are they better than the Sony app?

[–] Pristinox@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I think they are on Android only. iPhones are largely shit out of luck when it comes to free parametric equalizers (thanks, Apple).

Parametric EQ is significantly better than what the Sony app has because it's more precise. You'd clearly hear the difference on your favorite songs if you could swap back and forth between both options.

[–] Pristinox@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I think they are on Android only. iPhones are largely shit out of luck when it comes to free parametric equalizers (thanks, Apple).

Parametric EQ is significantly better than what the Sony app has because it's more precise. You'd clearly hear the difference on your favorite songs if you could swap back and forth between both options.

[–] upbeatelk2622@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

In the equalizer section, try the Mellow preset first, that's not bad for audiobooks. Usually we don't want too much treble for spoken word stuff.

1kHz and 2.5kHz are common human voice frequencies, 6.3kHz can also be harsh, turning these bands down would make the sound more mellow. I also like to bump up the bass on spoken word stuff. The Mellow preset has low bass (clear bass set at -3) so you can try adding more (clear bass +5 for instance).

If you want to change it, click on the gear at the bottom right corner of the panel, it'll show you the 5 bands and the clear bass slider. If you change anything you'll see the name turn into "Manual" and it'll be saved under "Manual" in the main screen.