Not interested in Equalizer APO, only physical equalizers in source chain
Been doing some research on equalizer tone control options. Seems the only 3 that are commonly recommended are the Schiit Loki, JDS Labs Subjective 3, and the Bellari EQ570.
I was just wondering if there any good alternatives or even upgrades over these at a reasonable price?
This one has more bands on it. but i’m not sure how it sounds. apparently some sound better than others.
Z found that the JDS labs didnt sound as good as the Loki. so idk
It’s mostly about how they sound when bypassed.
They need to be transparent, so you can leave them in a system.
Outside of that it the sensitivity of the pots and the frequency ranges they affect.
I believe the Schiit is 12dB for the outer bands but 6 dB for the more audible inner bands, probably giving you a bit more control.
That behringer eq has serious issues with mains noise and distortion. I forgot to mention that I researched that one.
The used pro audio market has a plethora of options, if you’re open to that. I can’t vouch for any because I’ve only ever used them in a pro setting. I admit to being tempted to snag a pro model and see how it does in a home setup.
The Bellari when the power is OFF applies absolutely nothing to the sound. When the power is on and knobs set to Neutral applies just the lightest amount of warmth, it is very enjoyable to me but noticeable when you A/B with the power off. The reason I personally picked the Bellari over the Loki is simply because the low boost is at 60hz vs 20hz for the Loki. The other tone controls are about equal. Hell I actually considered adding a Loki too simply to have a few more Frequency ranges to play with. Tops I use it 10% of the time and only have it set up to 4 out of 12 possible amplification sources. I seldom use it on the speakers but I do like it for certain headphones when I simply want to enjoy a slightly boosted bottom end or just add a little bit of warmth to my music.
Whatever your thoughts on adding EQ or not these offer value for their low price. I would love it if someone made a similar EQ with 8 bands of control 
I’m pretty sure the market is tiny for it but i would snatch one up just because I could.
No noise introduced into system via Bellari.
yeah theres a lot of equalizers out there. many for around 140$ with a tons of bands on them. But i worry they’ll color the sound. or they’ll somehow lower the quality
they are usually pretty transparent so that shouldn’t be a problem… but the point of it is to color the sound to get it to where you want it. like if a headphone is to dark just pump up tre treble and you get a brighter sound
That’s pretty much going to happen because the whole point of an eq is to color the sound.
Most likely no, you should be fine as long as you don’t max them out or anything
I agree, and if a company could find a way to manufacture and sell at a reasonable price, the prospects of people being interested would grow.
I prefer a physical equalizer because anytime I’ve used a software format EQ, I’ve noticed a lot of compression issues…not to mention that you HAVE to enable audio enhancements in Windows in order for it to work…which causes multiple issues.
eq’s have alwaysmade me feel a bit guilty for using them on headphones. but I kinda want one for my speakers cause… they aren’t really something I can change right away to suit the situation or music.
I’m the other way around and only want to use EQ for scenarios involving particular headphones that have a really bad peak in treble, or to apply a modest bass boost. 4 to 8 bands max. Other audiophiles confuse me when they EQ every headphone they own to match HRTC (or some other creative baseline). To me, it’s like owning every single year, make and model Corvette ever made, but painting them all the same beige color.
ah I just return the headphone if the treble bothers me.
And every time Windows updates equalizer APO breaks and you have to uninstall and reinstall it.
100% this.
This red beauty also exists:
Would I be able to use the Bellari with my current setup? I have the enog2pro going to the archel 2.5 through xlr. I guess I would have to do RCA instead from dac to EQ then RCA to amp? A tad confused here.
I mentioned that in my 1st post and it is something I definitely have considered. 
No don’t do that you lose any benefits of having a balanced system, If that matters to you.
If being balanced is of no concern then you go–source–dac- – eq- – amp.
Yeah I was worried about losing the internal balanced aspect of it. I guess I would have to find a balanced EQ?