Did you equalize your sound or just left it at default with whatever software you use?

[Tail_TL]

I have "Realtek HD Audio Manager" and I've been playing around for the last month with the Equalizer and I just can't seem to be satisfied with anything. I've tried quite a few things but it doesn't seem that it sounds better.. I've been listening with the default non-EQ'ed sound and I've always felt like the music wasn't very "alive", EQ'ing fixed that for only some songs, kind of, but it also ruined my directional sound and in competitive games like CS:GO I couldn't tell where the footsteps were coming from clearly. +some of the gun sounds made my ears "bleed". So I ended up turning all my EQ settings to default, and just making the volume alot louder made the songs sound alot better and so called "Alive". And it felt all around more balanced. Good sound in games music and movies. Its hard to maintain everything good if you EQ well atleast for me.

So the question is, what are you using, are there any tips & tricks you could share? are you using the default EQ with the volume turned all the way up? I'm curious and I want to improve my sound as best as it can be.

 

[atmos929]

Equalization is a very subjective topic as it depends a lot on each listener's taste. Also, I wonder if Realtek is a good device. I've used Creative sound cards for 15 years now. I know that latest integrated audio that come in nowaday MoBos is very close in quality, but I've never been one to buy a MoBo more expensive than 150 bucks, so I've always prefered to get a creative card for that matter, and some good speakers/headphones.

In the end, the quality depends in everything: the music source, the decoder, the audio card, the speaker/headset. And after that, comes equalization which is more a matter of personal taste. Audio purists will tell you that you need a different EQ for each music genre .

 

[WyomingKnott]

I may be a little extreme, but I deal with sound quality by buying the best sub-$200 components I can get. Instead of onboard sound, I installed an Asus Xonar Essence STX. I spent several months road-testing headphones before I settled on my two main pairs.

What kind of music do you listen to? Source quality is crucial. A CD will sound better than an iTunes download or other MP3 file. A well-mastered CD will sound better than a rock CD which was mastered at such high levels that detail is lost to "clipping." There's an enormous amount of quality available waiting for those who want to pursue it.

With good source music, I've never felt the need to use an equalizer. If the recording engineer did a good job, and your equipment can reproduce what's in the source, it's not necessary. EQ is to compensate for poor quality in your sound chain, to compensate for hearing problems (I've lost my hearing above 2 khz, and am missing the best part of one of my favorite recordings), or to allow for personal taste that prefers sound not quite like the original. I'm not mocking that last choice; one should listen to music the way one likes.
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True story. My personal trainer used to build high-end speakers, before the market dropped out for hand-built high-end speakers. His son is a musician, studying saxophone on college. So he knows what instruments sound like.

So the dad brought home a pair of speakers and amp that had been gathering dust for 20 years and attached them to his son's PC. The young man was absolutely floored by the output - he had no idea recorded sound could sound so good. And he's still missing two components at the beginning of the chain - well-mastered hi-res sources and a fine digital-to-analog converter.

 

[Tail_TL]

I'm the kind of guy who wants to set it up once and never touch it again, so I'd rather not change my EQ every time I listen to a different genre. And my headphones sound fairly decent by themselves, and if I leave it at default it feels more balanced for everything I listen to. + The artist I'm listening to already makes the songs sound fairly good and yeah, I don't feel like it needs to be EQ'd that much, I'll just turn the volume up and its all good. So I guess I'll stick with this for now, my taste for music probably might change next month. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Don't know if I should pick a solution, and if I do I don't know who to pick since both answers are very interesting