Flat Pink

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The first SmaartLive test for every EQ involved looking at how it handled pink noise at idle. This should be a very simple job for a line-level audio device. Generally, you want a flat frequency response and a smooth phase response. But flat response isn't always the design goal. For instance, if the frequency response has a gentle tapering off of the high frequencies we might call it 'mellow.' Or if the low freqs are somewhat attenuated the EQ might be more appropriate for underpowered wedges. Certainly, any trace that is not smooth indicates deeper signal path problems.

The following composite screenshots tell their own story. Clicking on any one will bring you to its original large 1024x768 screenshot. Personally, I think the best performances at idle are captured by the Ashly GQX, Ashly Protea, Audient, Audio Logic (which didn't get a nice screenshot), BSS, dbx 3231L, KT DN360, KT Helix, Lake Contour, Rane DEQ, Rane MQ 'Mojo' (surprise!), Sabine GRQ 3102 and XTA. Not so impressive are the Rane ME 30 [early unbalanced version] with its high LF phase swing, the Presonus with what looks like two filters engaged even though positioned at the detent, the dbx iEQ31 which appears to have a shallow, wide dip near 200Hz and one of the vintage UREIs which shows a grainy, uneven trace. The Sabine 3101 isn't as pretty as the 3102 -- two possible reasons being the '02 is much newer and has the latest revision of software. This particular 3101 is still chugging along with v1.1 of the software. An update is in order, I'm sure.

The Yamaha curve stands out as the only one with HF boost. Up about 2dB at 16kHz. Is this 'brilliance' or HF distortion artifacts adding to the original signal? The phase trace is reasonably flat at that point so I'm inclined to think that Yamaha designed in a bit of 'sizzle'.

As a latecomer to the Shootout the IRP TEQ DG-4023 transversal EQ was not part of any of Mike Allen's bench tests and it didn't have the stage wedge crew listen to it but nevertheless, it is a very interesting pup. Here in Flat Pink you can see that its linearity is somewhat uneven in the middle and both the lows and the highs are rolled off. Worth noting is that the faders don't need to hang out at the center detents for maximum performance. The end user can start with all the faders lined up at whatever level is preferred. I posted an additional Flat Pink graph which shows the same linearity with every single fader shoved fully to the top. Wait, look again. It's more linear if you start with all the faders at the top!