A Confused streaming system - Mutec / SOtM Ultra

[Hifi_swlon]

....and I am now waiting to see if he is happy to do a sixth version.

Ok, well I guess I’ll go back for my PEQ adjustment guilt-free then. TBH I’ll probably remeasure and get a new set as I’ve tweaked positions slightly

It is interesting that you use PEQ on top of the convolution.  I can see how this could work very well in terms of providing a little user fine tuning on top of a reasonably satisfactory convolution.  I would worry that this is a little extra processing though, something else in the signal path.  I am a bit of a purist, so part of me does not like the idea of adding convolutions, let alone PEQ on top. 

I used to think that but now I just enjoy the flexibility. In my imperfect room, having the ability to play with the balance far outweighs any SQ processing worries. Also once you’re applying convolution you’re along way from purist signal path and may as well just embrace the DSP functionality. I’ve found I tweaked much more at the start, and have ended up with something I rarely touch. It’s tricky to do by ear obviously as adding bass on some material means bloated bass on others, etc etc, but after quite a few rounds of adjustments over several months you settle on something that works best for all music as a compromise. This is pretty impossible to do from graphs and is the only aspect of HAF I don’t like - ie you’re locked out of user adjustments. So PEQ is the only way to do it really. You also learn a lot about what frequencies do what, many of which I guessed wrongly. And can experience phenomenon like adding bass to remove bass and vice versa.

Just to add even after asking for a more steeply slowed curve (more bass) I still added bass, but also removed a range of bottom end frequencies. I then titled the treble down slightly more. Probably a 3db slope increase. Maybe 6 in a small bass region. I also found Thierry’s filter removed a little too much room, which in my case gave too dry a sound compared to Dirac etc. May have been correct but I preferred to keep a bit of the room.

Anyway I plan to send Thierry back my PEQ and see if he can incorporate into the main convolution. It just feels ‘better’ to have the bulk of the processing in one place. FWIW some people say the PEQ engine in Roon lowers SQ (even if enabled but no settings). Personally I haven’t found either to be true but my system and room are far from perfect which is why I’m doing so much DSP.

The killer for me is going to be if I ever get the CI and use other sources direct (which would be nice). I really don’t like the raw sound in my room, so having to drop the convolution and PEQ will be harsh. At that point I might be looking at other options anyway.

There is a risk here of getting sucked in and end up worrying about PEQ rather than just enjoying the music.  I know that I might be susceptible to this, which is the key reason I would like to get the convolutions 100% as I would like them, then when satisfied these are optimised, it can just be set and forget.

I think you might be slightly susceptible

Anyway you’ve got a lot more to worry about, and on that note will revert back to your topic in hand.