To DSP or not to DSP? Does DSP break the rules?

Posted by AbeCollins (A) on December 29, 2021 at 15:33:53

Long Post

It begs the question, to DSP or not to DSP?

Old School

* Purist audiophiles do not use tone controls.

While being able to boost or cut bass and treble, old school tone controls in the signal path can audibly reduce the overall sound quality. I've owned a couple integrated amps with tone controls and sometimes the benefit of tone controls (or even the Loudness switch) outweigh the drawbacks. The drawback was a clearly audible reduction in overall SQ with a 'veil' over what was previously crystal clear or transparent.

A Modern Twist

Anyone here running Digital Signal Processing (DSP) to alter frequency response? I'm not talking about DSP for sample rate or PCM to DSD conversion but more along the lines of EQ to shape frequency response?

I've been running with no DSP for decades except for the very occasional "loudness bump" for low volume level listening similar to engaging the Loudness switch on older integrated amps. DSP works very nicely here w/o affecting overall sound quality.

Going Beyond the Loudness Switch

More recently I've been playing with the DSP Parametric EQ that is built into the ROON player software. HQPlayer has the same capability and more. These offer modern high quality DSP using the power of a PC or Mac.

I'm finding it very interesting that I can tailor specific bands of the frequency spectrum to help 'voice' the overall presentation without affecting overall sound quality. The music remains highly transparent or crystal clear unlike old tone controls that threw a veil over the music.

It can be very satisfying to slightly enhance or de-emphasize certain frequency ranges to compensate for speaker or room deficiencies - or to just play around with the 'voicing' while not affecting the overall SQ.

Am I breaking audiophile rules while running DSP?

My most recent DSP experiment is to give a little smooth boost to frequencies below about 30-Hz which is the bottom end range for my speakers. So I'm forcing more power at lower freqs to compensate for the reduced speaker response that low. It's certainly no substitute for running a couple big subwoofers but it appears to offer a no-cost enhancement and doesn't take up additional space on the listening room floor.

In a sense, anybody running a PC/Mac software based player is running DSP aren't they? After all how do we explain the differences in sound among the different software players? Aren't they all DSP 'voiced' to some extent by the software developer?

Just some of my rambling thoughts on DSP. What's your take?

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* True purist audiophiles swap various expensive interconnects as tone controls ;-)

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Topic - To DSP or not to DSP? Does DSP break the rules? - AbeCollins 15:33:53 12/29/21 (41)

DSP is the path to better sound - Analog Scott 07:46:08 02/18/22 (0)

RE: To DSP or not to DSP? Does DSP break the rules? - Tuckers 15:25:27 01/07/22 (1)

RE: To DSP or not to DSP? Does DSP break the rules? - AbeCollins 17:19:33 01/14/22 (0)

RE: To DSP or not to DSP? Does DSP break the rules? - Jim Treanor 08:35:46 01/04/22 (0)

RE: To DSP or not to DSP? Does DSP break the rules? - BIOMAN 04:30:01 01/04/22 (3)

Confused about Dirac / Dirac Live, compatible devices..... - AbeCollins 15:58:48 01/04/22 (2)

Dirac Live is perhaps best run on miniDSP device. - Feanor 17:18:30 01/04/22 (1)

Thanks! Great info - AbeCollins 08:14:06 01/05/22 (0)

Its all fake so pick the fake you like - Dawnrazor 15:42:44 01/03/22 (0)

I used Pure Music's parametric EQ with good results. - G Squared 15:11:00 12/31/21 (0)

If you find DSP makes your system sound better you could always wear a hair-shirt when you listen (nt) - 13th Duke of Wymbourne 23:47:31 12/30/21 (5)

Utter nonsense - Feanor 06:22:10 01/01/22 (2)

RE: Utter nonsense - racerxnet 08:43:58 01/02/22 (1)

Thanks; interesting - Feanor 13:27:13 01/02/22 (0)

My punishment for breaking the rules ? ;-) - AbeCollins 13:06:50 12/31/21 (0)

Don't need a hair shirt.... - Ivan303 08:57:19 12/31/21 (0)

DSpeaker Antimode has been center piece of my system for a decade - longtimequadowner 12:42:57 12/30/21 (0)

ASP and DSP here - Bill Way 11:28:48 12/30/21 (9)

Manley Massive Passive EQ *PlugIn*??? - Feanor 13:46:23 01/02/22 (7)

RE: Manley Massive Passive EQ *PlugIn*??? - Bill Way 16:30:31 01/02/22 (6)

Room mods are impractical in my case - Feanor 04:19:08 01/03/22 (5)

RE: Room mods are impractical in my case - Dawnrazor 18:30:24 01/03/22 (4)

Near field has its place it's not practical everywhere -nt - Feanor 04:56:05 01/04/22 (3)

RE: Near field has its place it's not practical everywhere -nt - Dawnrazor 17:16:54 01/04/22 (2)

Thanks for your helpful thought ... - Feanor 03:57:34 01/05/22 (1)

RE: Thanks for your helpful thought ... - Dawnrazor 12:36:01 01/05/22 (0)

Looks like serious pro-audio stuff to me! - AbeCollins 12:35:12 12/31/21 (0)

Rules? Whatever works for you! - E-Stat 10:24:34 12/30/21 (0)

RME has separate DSP EQ for each channel. nt - oldmkvi 03:44:24 12/30/21 (1)

I haven't played with it much..... Roon is much easier - AbeCollins 12:56:25 12/31/21 (0)

RE: To DSP or not to DSP? Does DSP break the rules? - soundchekk 01:31:28 12/30/21 (1)

"To me all the DSP stuff, which includes sample-rate conversion, is a NoGo" - Chris from Lafayette 10:48:23 12/30/21 (0)

I don't understand why experimenting with DSP would be a probem - Chris from Lafayette 00:50:08 12/30/21 (0)

RE: To DSP or not to DSP? Does DSP break the rules? - Skip Pack 17:30:46 12/29/21 (1)

RE: To DSP or not to DSP? Does DSP break the rules? - Kurtle 18:12:19 12/29/21 (0)

good DSP is awesome - DrChaos 17:21:57 12/29/21 (0)

Modern digital DSP is where it is - Feanor 16:55:34 12/29/21 (2)

RE: Modern digital DSP is where it is - PaulN 09:36:15 01/04/22 (1)

I'm likely to go with Dirac on miniDSP for simplicity - Feanor 10:52:25 01/04/22 (0)

Your DAC may be doing DSP and you wouldn't even know it.... - Ivan303 15:50:06 12/29/21 (1)

Yes, most all DACs are running DSP in hardware... - AbeCollins 15:52:54 12/29/21 (0)

To DSP or not to DSP? Does DSP break the rules?

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