Sweet Room

[JohnnySix]

I started using Room EQ about 3 years ago in JRiver, measured with a UMIK-1. Let me tell you, it is NOT a fit & forget solution! Too many people trust the measurements they made one time to be accurate, and yet it is critically dependendent on that. Most of it is too brutal and bleaches the sound. I have sat there easing off individual filters by half-dB's, and instrumental colour starts to return that was squeezed out by the measurement suggestions. There's a balance to be found betwixt measurement and perception. It's almost as if there's -something- in those uneven peaks that has to be preserved to refelect nature!

Funnily enough, one of the best rules of thumb I've discovered after all this time is to squish the main peaks by the same amount! As if you're applying a flat line attenuation, but only squishing the peaks down.
Also stick to <4dB alteration to avoid "bleaching". Boost is 5x harder to get right than cut... sometimes it can "thicken the soup" but then sounds too obvious when a track is heavy in the boosted area (I've given up on boosting).

I find the Devialet EQ very convenient and great-sounding, as it can be applied to DLNA streaming as well (which Roon can achieve, but JRiver cannot).