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DynamicEQ, When to use it?

post #1 of 7
6/5/11 at 5:26pm
Thread Starter 
First off I am new to this hobby so I am learning as I go. Earlier today I ran Audyssey MultiEQ on my Onkyo 708 for the first time. Now I have the option to use DynamicEQ which from what I understand in the manual makes the dynamics sounds like they should when playing at reference even though the volume is below reference. Do I understand that correctly?

So my question is, should I use DynamicEQ for movies when listening at low volumes and when should I use it or turn it off? What is the advantage / disadvantage of using it? I have noticed that it greatly increased the volume of the LFE channel. I also experimented with using it for music and I much prefer the pure audio setting on the Onkyo because it produces a much more open sound, if that make sense. I am sure this question has been answered in the Audyssey thread but that thread is huge I was too lazy to search through it .
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post #2 of 7
6/5/11 at 6:25pm
There is this "phenomenon" about sound that has been out there since animals have had ears...

Lower volume sounds, have less "lower frequency impact"...in the ears of animals(including us)

Audyssey Deq takes care of that millions of years old phenomenon.
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post #3 of 7
6/5/11 at 7:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by schan1269 View Post

Audyssey Deq takes care of that millions of years old phenomenon.

And dbx processors beat them to it about 4 decades earlier .

OP, just listen to your sources in the mode that you like the best. But yes, it simply manipulates different bands of the audio spectrum. It can be similar to a "loudness" button, or a "night listening" mode on some TVs or AVRs. Just keep in mind that at higher volume levels, these settings will tug on your amp a bit harder.
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post #4 of 7
6/5/11 at 8:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dbx123 View Post

And dbx processors beat them to it about 4 decades earlier .

OP, just listen to your sources in the mode that you like the best. But yes, it simply manipulates different bands of the audio spectrum. It can be similar to a "loudness" button, or a "night listening" mode on some TVs or AVRs. Just keep in mind that at higher volume levels, these settings will tug on your amp a bit harder.

Exactly.

I dislike these modes if you're going to listen at a high volume, but otherwise they can be perfectly fine (in that they shouldn't bugger anything up too bad). Let your preference be the judge though - you won't hurt anything either way (at high levels you can run the amplifier into clipping sooner, but I'm guessing you won't be turning things up that loud at night).

With respect to music, and I'm taking a leap here and assuming you listen to at least somewhat modern (last 20-30 years) - the dynamic range is usually much more narrow, so compressing it further usually doesn't "help" much. Movies and some television can be much wider (quiet sounds can be much quieter than loud sounds) - thats when this kind of function can help.
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post #5 of 7
6/6/11 at 5:19am
Just to be clearm DEQ does nothing to dynamics unless you count slightly raising levels of surrounds. It's Dynamic Volume that affects dynamics.

The "dynamic" in DEQ means it scales its frequency corrections to the volume you're listening at, so that it should never be necessary to turn it off, at least with movies. When you reach reference level, DEQ does nothing. As you reduce from there, DEQ increases the bass and treble to accouont for how humans hear.

Because there's no such thing as reference level for music, the system is a less perfect fit for music. Basically, it causes DEQ to make less correction at any given volume control setting than it would for movies. Works well, IMO.
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post #6 of 7
6/6/11 at 1:40pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the explanations! I will continue to play around with it to see what I think sounds best. It sounds like as the volume increases Dynamic EQ has less effect. Basically the closer I get to reference the less Dynamic EQ in manipulating the sound?
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post #7 of 7
6/6/11 at 3:33pm
that's right. The coser you get to reference, the less you need to correct for how far you are from reference.

Google equal loudness curves and you'll see how much less sensitive our ears are at low frequencies. Once you know how loud the sound was when mixed (at reference) you can apply the curves (Audyssey uses similar but different curves developed from its own research) to correct for the change in how your ears hear the sound. Of course, we'd have to know the digital level and spectrum of the sound moment by moment to correct for orselves. Lucky there are reasonably effective technologies like Audyssey to do it computer fast and automatically.
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