Rogue-Architect t1_j6oieic wrote on January 31, 2023 at 7:58 PM

Reply to comment by thatcarolguy in r/NoStupidQuestions: theoretically, could one access the Moondrop Quarks DSP's DSP code and edit it, changing its sound, in the manner of a "native EQ"? by Fernando1dois3

You can’t EQ detail, slam, soundstage, etc. and any smoothed graph you are looking at won’t tell you that. So if it sounds good to you, that is awesome but even with DSP they are lacking quite a bit. I would be curious of your thoughts on the Dusk if you EQd them to the same target.

thatcarolguy t1_j6op2kj wrote on January 31, 2023 at 8:40 PM

You can EQ all of those things if you have no un-EQable flaws. For example the Quarks DSP and the Dusk are the only 2 IEMs I have heard that do not have a timbre killing treble spike somewhere after 10k.

As for EQing them to the same target, it doesn't matter. I would never get it perfectly right and they are already close enough that it comes down to a matter of preference which one I think is better for what music depending on the production (EG, if there is tons of sub bass already I will prefer the Dusk, if there is a lot of warmth in the lower mids I will prefer the Quarks) but mostly I can take either so by default it goes to the one that is 1/20th the price, fits more comfortably and is not fragile.

If I were actually able to EQ them exactly the same they would just be the same IEM and sound exactly the same.

Rogue-Architect t1_j6p6d11 wrote on January 31, 2023 at 10:27 PM

So let’s see here, you absolutely cannot EQ those technicalities with our current extremely smooth graphs because you cannot even tell me where they are. So that is an outright lie.

Yes, if your hearing is not capable of discerning details then I would certainly buy the one that costs way less. Also, if they are already close enough then why would one be better than the other given a certain song?

Yes I would agree that they would be the same if we could perfectly measure a headphone (we cannot) and we could perfectly EQ a headphone (we cannot) so why even make the statement? If they both had the same FR, they would be the same headphone. The point is that even if you EQd the to try to match the smooth target you are missing the fine grained details that make all of the difference.

The quarks are a great budget IEM with excellent tonal balance. Nothing more.

It sounds like tonal balance is all that matters to you which makes sense why the quarks are all you need. Makes you look like a fool for owning those HD800 though. Why even own it?