Does Every Track Sound Great on Your System?

@baylinor , I understand and have said all I have to say. Oh other than if you used a better sounding more powerful EQ with more headroom then you’d euphorically use it a lot more than 5 % of the time. These things can be magic boxes. Not Loki though. I had it all of one day and returned it. It took about 10 minutes to determine that either with small or larger adjustments that sonically it couldn’t TOUCH what my CO was doing. 

There is a piece, called NGTUBEEQ by Wes Audio that is all analog and with stereo link to automatically match sides when one dial is turned. It uses a digital software to control the unit from your computer. Or you can turn dials yourself. It probably sounds utterly incredible for a cool 6 grand. Insanely over the top for home hi fi. But would integrate fine. XLR balanced. One day…

I poured my heart and soul into that other thread I mentioned. I’m pretty passionate about the benefits that can be obtained from such devices. Heck, there’s even a guy on that thread who posted about his Manley Massive Passive in his very hi fi rig. Another has the legendary Mark Levinson Cello Palette preamp and EQ. These wonderful pieces of kit can be every bit as high end as any audiophile component. 

As does @bigwave1 , I also own a Charter Oak PEQ-1. Two, in fact. One for my headphone chain and one for my big rig. A lot is written about this in Equalizer in a Hi Fi System thread over there. Pages and pages comparing and contrasting digital vs pro analog EQ (like our CO PEQ). Schiit vs other pro analog pieces. It’s a great thread for anyone who wants to deep dive into this subject. I have been using my Charter Oak PEQ-1 for 10 years. I LOVE it. @bigwave1 and I have shared positive experiences with this device. Not all recordings are created the same. A pro analog EQ can really shine up dull recordings. I use mine for old rock records all the time. 

The LM and Lokius don’t play in the same ballpark as the aforementioned pro pieces. They are sonically inferior. I won’t elaborate here but I’ve done so EXTENSIVELY on the Equalizer in a Hi Fi System thread. As have others there. If you just limit yourself to Schiit equalizers and never hear any pro gear then you have no idea what you are missing. Please, if you want the highest fidelity in an equalizer, then please do yourself a favor and read the other thread. 

@katzenjammer27 , both of my CO’s are about 10 years old. They sound phenomenal. They were worth 2700 new in 2013. They are rare to pop up used online. But they do. That’s how I got my 2nd. That’s how @bigwave1 got his. You’ll pay approximately 1800 give or take for a used one. Other options are simply other pro pieces new or used. Gearspace is a great forum for recording pros with threads. Like here of Head Fi. Great resource. Also, look for deals and lists of pro gear for sale at stores online like SoundPure, B H Photo, Front End Audio etc. 

one of my CO  has a new hiss in left channel. It’s subtle. Not heard while playing music. And SQ as stunning as ever. But may be early age related decline of capacitors or such and may worsen and eventually affect SQ. So I am going to demo in my home in about 2 weeks the Hendyamps Michelangelo. Way easier to use than the Wes Audio piece and more akin to my CO in functionality and cost. Will provide feedback once I’ve done so. Front End Audio sells them. Made to order. Can be either high output MOSFET SS or tube. 

Actually (I think I stated this earlier) you can completely control the Wes Audio piece from your listening chair with the provided software app and a laptop. There’s your remote. 

I felt at this point since I’m using the piece with synergistic success in two separate chains that I’d post some history on it. I initially bought it from SoundPure pro audio to insert in the tape loop of my Bryston B135 SST2 integrated amp with onboard dac. That was about 2013. About 3 years after Mike Deming at Charter Oak started producing it. Mike was well know for using highest quality parts and hand crafted attention in making his mics compressors and equalizers and his equipment has always sounded highly musical with excellent resolution and staging. I felt immediately I had struck gold having that EQ of his in my tape loop on my hi fi amp. The sound has always been magical. Even on the best recordings I preferred looping it in with the click of a button. Talk about a true bypass. Clicking out the tape loop you have the true straight source line in. The sound though with loop in has always been preferable. Even as I advanced recently my headphone chain rapidly and my listening skills advancing as well. 
So, after years of enjoying this magic sauce in my big rig, I made a friend here on head fi when I purchased the Fostex TH900 and a Mojo2 and started chatting about them on Fostex forum. A really good guy many of you know named Geoff. We have remained close as “odd fellows” because I like to EQ a lot, mainly tone shaping, but Geoff doesn’t do much. Yet we share stories. We share listening observations. I read his excellent reviews, we totally respect each other’s differences in our respective approaches to developing our hi fi chains. It was because of my friendship with Geoff that I built out a much better desktop headphone chain than my Th900 and Mojo2. I now have Matrix Audio X Sabre 3 serving analog high end balanced source material to my Headamp GSX Mini balanced amp and out to my Hifiman HE1000SE, otherwise known affectionately as HEKse. While the sound quality was super, I still felt compelled to try the professional balanced analog mastering EQ by Charter Oak in my chain. Fell in love with it there too. Bought another one used in top notch condition from a studio engineer on Reverb and now I own 2. 
Simply put, this piece has uniquely amazing musicality for pro gear and amazing synergy therefore with the robust full throated beautiful mids found in high fi gear. It’s worth noting that I’ve had the pleasure of comparing it in my big rig to multiple analog EQ pieces renowned in mastering circles as well as the Schiit Loki Max. It beat the Avalon AD2055 as well as the Millennia NSEQ4 by a noticeable margin in the more musical and less analytical department. Margins close here though, as all pieces well known in studios across the globe. It TROUNCED the Loki Max. Schiit Loki Max and Lokius are the only “hi fi analog” EQ devices made specifically for audiophiles and home playback systems that I’m aware of. If any of you are acquainted with these EQ’s, I will simply tell you that you have no idea how good tone shaping analog EQ can sound in a high Fi configuration until you’ve heard the Charter Oak. The Schiit products, I’m sorry to say, just aren’t in the same ballpark. The Charter Oak handily beats my my Auralic Aries DSP parametric. Same with Roon’s. Just no contest. 
There is one unfortunate caveat though. Mike Deming no longer makes them and hasn’t for at least a few years. A California company has taken over the name and production of the last several years’ units. Mike Deming stays in occasional touch with me and has verified that these units don’t sound as good as his production era ones. So if you look for one online used, check to see if the beautiful gloss faceplate finish has disappeared as well as the numbers on the left and right master gain dials. If so, don’t purchase! Check serial number and bounce it off me. I’ve attached two pics. It’s a beautiful piece. This thread is simply my paying homage to a uniquely synergistic and transformative piece that never quits thrilling me for a decade now. I felt I owed it to Mike and Charter Oak to write about it here, as it’s meant so much to me in my hi fi endeavors. Oh, and Cardas Clear Sky XLR cables highly recommended in connecting your CO to your hi fi amp. 
Thanks for letting me share!

sorry so long. Gear in here. 

So the speakers are Martin Logans. That’s not in there. I use Transparent speaker cable. The short coaxial digital cable connecting my source streamer Auralic Aries is a Bryston cable. As mentioned in the post, I have 1000 dollars worth of Cardas Clear Sky XLR balanced cable connecting the EQ to the tape loop of the amp. 
if you’ll humor me and wade through all of the post, you’ll find a quite respectable and quite hi fi headphone chain. Used same Cardas cabling to insert the EQ between the source and the desktop amp. The HEKse, by the way, are simply AMAZING headphones. The headphone chain honestly sounds freaking unbelievable. Particularly with CO EQ in there. 

My apologies so long. It answers your questions about me. I really do need to update equipment in proper manner here. Haven’t done it because I’m over Head Fi more. 
oh, as far as getting up and adjusting and sitting down. I do it easily once in a while if I change an album and the tonality is different. It’s really not hard. Just adjust bass and treble dials usually 

@wsrrsw , so this doesn’t become a repeat of the other thread, I really recommend reading IT before concluding that a Schiit equalizer is best for you. Or personally reach out to @jtcf ​​@bigwave1 @mirolab @ellajeanelle ​​​@dgarretson. The last one has the Massive Passive. @mirolab records in his own home studio. They will give you a wealth of information. It’s all on the other thread though. 

@12many , I prefer EQ to solve the inter recording bass variance problem. To each their own. 
@baylinor , I’m not putting down Schiit equalizers. I just saying there’s a world of better sounding and more powerful studio equalizers that can creatively but easily be implemented in a hi fi playback environment to get incredulous results. Audiophiles often won’t go there as Loki Max is the only “audiophile “ EQ out there. Just trying to broaden audiophile’s horizons to a better way is all. 

Amen!

@wsrrsw , thanks. There was a lot said about digital vs analog and BACCH on the other thread I had mentioned. I won’t repeat here. Suffice to say here that I prefer analog EQ for preserving naturalness, soundstage, transience, 3D and timbre. It’s simply more hi fi than digital. I have compared Roon and many others to my analog piece. Vastly prefer analog. Sound is incredible. 

Oh, there I also described my one listening experience with BACCH preamp. Is the real deal. See other thread. 

Just search “equalizer in a hi fi system Audiogon on google. That’s how I pull it up

The biggest difference between analog and digital EQ is the naturalness and decay of cymbal strike, those attributes being much better with analog. But there are great advances recent years in digital algorithms, and the gap is closing. I still prefer a treble boost or “air band” boost on analog hardware. BUT…I was quite impressed by what I heard with BACCH preamp. 

I recommend all audiophiles try both the LM and a studio piece. As I have done. I’ve tried LM, CO, Avalon, Millennia, Skyline, and soon to be Hendyamps Michelangelo. Only your ears can tell you what’s sonically best to you. But when you hear it, it will be obvious. 

Do we

1: Optimize to bring the very best out of the very best recordings, or

2: Optimize to bring the best out of the broadest range of recordings.

i quite literally do both all the time. Easily.