Looking around for more thumping bass? You came to the right place. Don't worry, you're not alone - not everyone are using bassy PC speakers/headphones. Here's how you can add more bass without destroying the rest of the sound: keep the bass and reduce the rest equally. (See Picture 3)
/**Article updated on 19 Jan 2013*/
Checklist:
1.) foobar2000
Here is the portable version of v1.1.15 with some added stuff. No installation required, but may need admin privilege.
2.) Subwoofer physical inspection
Eliminate any physical barrier that stops the subwoofer from working harder. The Altec Lansing ADA885 was designed to have its heatsink protruding the reflex port. This heatsink blocks some air coming out of the subwoofer and therefore gives this annoying sound when cranked. I replaced the heatsink with compatible one which just cost 3 bucks on ebay and problem solved!
Other subwoofer like Edifier R501 and Cambridge Soundworks 550 came with protective filter or grill that prevent foreign object to enter the subwoofer chamber. I simply pull of the protective net or break the port grill so it doesn't block anything coming out of the port.
3.) Find your subwoofer sweet spot
Play around with your subwoofer location to check if the sub sounds better when it is facing the wall or placed nearer to the corner of the room. Every rooms have different sound characteristic, therefore there is no universal trick here.
Tilting the subwoofer may also help, especially if the subwoofer is downfiring ones. The Megaworks 550 has a downfiring sub and it causes the desk above it to rattle each time the bass hits. So I tilted the subwoofer -90 degrees and attach some rubber feet. Result? 'muddy' bass is less than before, and desk rattling is significantly minimized. (See Picture 9-10)
4.) DO NOT MAX the bass knob
Upon investigation, most bass knob only act as either attenuation knob or fixed equalizer knob. Maxing this knob doesn't help you get more optimal bass. Find out which position gives you the smoothest bass. And then foobar2000 will take it from there.
5.) Test your subwoofer frequencies response
Listen from 100Hz to 30Hz without changing your volume level. Then take note which frequencies you wanted more or less. If your subwoofer is smaller than 6.5" you can stop at 40Hz instead.
/**Article updated on 19 Jan 2013*/
Checklist:
1.) foobar2000
Here is the portable version of v1.1.15 with some added stuff. No installation required, but may need admin privilege.
2.) Subwoofer physical inspection
Eliminate any physical barrier that stops the subwoofer from working harder. The Altec Lansing ADA885 was designed to have its heatsink protruding the reflex port. This heatsink blocks some air coming out of the subwoofer and therefore gives this annoying sound when cranked. I replaced the heatsink with compatible one which just cost 3 bucks on ebay and problem solved!
Other subwoofer like Edifier R501 and Cambridge Soundworks 550 came with protective filter or grill that prevent foreign object to enter the subwoofer chamber. I simply pull of the protective net or break the port grill so it doesn't block anything coming out of the port.
3.) Find your subwoofer sweet spot
Play around with your subwoofer location to check if the sub sounds better when it is facing the wall or placed nearer to the corner of the room. Every rooms have different sound characteristic, therefore there is no universal trick here.
Tilting the subwoofer may also help, especially if the subwoofer is downfiring ones. The Megaworks 550 has a downfiring sub and it causes the desk above it to rattle each time the bass hits. So I tilted the subwoofer -90 degrees and attach some rubber feet. Result? 'muddy' bass is less than before, and desk rattling is significantly minimized. (See Picture 9-10)
4.) DO NOT MAX the bass knob
Upon investigation, most bass knob only act as either attenuation knob or fixed equalizer knob. Maxing this knob doesn't help you get more optimal bass. Find out which position gives you the smoothest bass. And then foobar2000 will take it from there.
5.) Test your subwoofer frequencies response
Listen from 100Hz to 30Hz without changing your volume level. Then take note which frequencies you wanted more or less. If your subwoofer is smaller than 6.5" you can stop at 40Hz instead.
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Boost the bass!
Now that you've known your subwoofer performance, it's time to alter the bass using SH-1 Equalizer.
Enable SH-1
- in foobar2000 press CTRL+P
- At the left column select Playback > DSP Manager
- Enable SH-1
- Click OK
Configure SH-1
- Go to View > DSP > SH-1
- Turn it on (left top corner lit)
- Reduce the input gain on top left bottom (see Picture 2)
- Boost the bass on 30hz and 40hz (see Picture 2)
- Play your favorite bassy music
Check for distortion
- in foobar2000, press CTRL+P
- At the left column select Playback > DSP Manager
- Enable Voxengo SPAN and make sure it is most below position
- Hit OK
- in foobar2000 go to View > DSP > Voxengo SPAN
- On top left corner select 2 (for 2 channels)
- Click Edit on top right corner, and adjust some sliders according to Picture 1
- Carefully read the clipping value and ensure it's always 0 even when the bass hits hard
Note that the input gain will need to be reduced each time bass is added. if you just add around 6dB of bass you most likely only need to reduce the input gain to 50%. But if you add something like 12dB you might need to reduce the input gain more to prevent clipping.
_________________________________________________________
Caution: I am not responsible for your subwoofer / headphone / ear damage if you set too much bass or allow too much clipping. You have been warned!
If you're using small speakers, you may want to use 63Hz or 100Hz point instead.
The 150Hz, 250Hz and 400Hz points are useful for adding some midbass that will be decreased as you add more low bass. Speakers with small satellites will benefit from some increment in those points. In my test using Logitech Z623, just a mere 2.0dB increment in those points give me better midbass coming out of the tiny satellites. Not as good as the Z Cinema, but certainly much better than original.
Now that you've known your subwoofer performance, it's time to alter the bass using SH-1 Equalizer.
Enable SH-1
- in foobar2000 press CTRL+P
- At the left column select Playback > DSP Manager
- Enable SH-1
- Click OK
Configure SH-1
- Go to View > DSP > SH-1
- Turn it on (left top corner lit)
- Reduce the input gain on top left bottom (see Picture 2)
- Boost the bass on 30hz and 40hz (see Picture 2)
- Play your favorite bassy music
Check for distortion
- in foobar2000, press CTRL+P
- At the left column select Playback > DSP Manager
- Enable Voxengo SPAN and make sure it is most below position
- Hit OK
- in foobar2000 go to View > DSP > Voxengo SPAN
- On top left corner select 2 (for 2 channels)
- Click Edit on top right corner, and adjust some sliders according to Picture 1
- Carefully read the clipping value and ensure it's always 0 even when the bass hits hard
Note that the input gain will need to be reduced each time bass is added. if you just add around 6dB of bass you most likely only need to reduce the input gain to 50%. But if you add something like 12dB you might need to reduce the input gain more to prevent clipping.
_________________________________________________________
Caution: I am not responsible for your subwoofer / headphone / ear damage if you set too much bass or allow too much clipping. You have been warned!
If you're using small speakers, you may want to use 63Hz or 100Hz point instead.
The 150Hz, 250Hz and 400Hz points are useful for adding some midbass that will be decreased as you add more low bass. Speakers with small satellites will benefit from some increment in those points. In my test using Logitech Z623, just a mere 2.0dB increment in those points give me better midbass coming out of the tiny satellites. Not as good as the Z Cinema, but certainly much better than original.
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Once the equalizer is ticked (enabled), you can increase and 55hz bar to get more bass, but remember to click auto-level each time you increase it.
hope this helps, good luck!
I was reading and I see papertube mod on Edifier MP300? :P
was happy to hear you still remember this mod :D
trebles sounded like plastic bag lol
and sometimes there's too much trebles and you can't reduce it :(
that dolby thing...I dunno lol
and for the DPLIIx, my laptop has it embedded. Doesn't sound good at all, perhaps they just reverse the matrix of front speakers for the rear channels. However, I turn them on so they upmix things from internet like youtube.
Is there any way to wire this so that it displays the spectrogram of a real-time line in or microphone? Or do you know of any other freeware real-time spectrum analyzers? I don't have a good way to visually monitor things in high detail when I'm mastering in Reason (the vocoder trick works, but it's not a large display).
Compared to WMP, of course foobar2000's EQ sounds much better. I have not touch WMP for music playback since i use foobar2000. lol
thanks and enjoy...
1) Single-band compression causing ducking of my low-end when the high end peaked, giving that obnoxious "wobbly" sound. (I'm a big audiophile)
2) It seems like it's been taking longer and longer to start up.
I use VLC, primarily for FLAC and streaming, but I don't like it's UI and lack of library support. I am giving foobar a shot and it looks like it's going to be a good match :)