Have you ever wished there was something you could do to make your favorite music sound a bit better — something that didn’t require purchasing new gear? Or maybe you’ve read that advanced EQ tuning could transform your headphones but felt out of your depth and overwhelmed by the technical complexity? If so, we’re got just what you need! In this installment of How to Roon, we’re exploring OPRA (Open Profiles for Revealing Audio) — a feature that makes professional-grade headphone optimization accessible to everyone.
What is OPRA?
OPRA is like having a personal audio engineer on hand 24/7 who knows exactly how to make your headphones sound their absolute best. It’s a recent addition to Roon’s MUSE audio suite that instantly optimizes audio quality for hundreds of different headphone models. No complex setup, no technical knowledge required — just ready-to-use advanced audio excellence, right at your fingertips.
Throwing headphones a curve
Every pair of headphones has its own unique sound signature — some might emphasize bass, others may be neutral, or “detailed” with more pronounced treble. OPRA uses carefully crafted EQ (equalization) curves to fine-tune your headphones to sound their absolute best. These curves, or presets, are created by audio experts and equalization enthusiasts who use specialized equipment to measure and perfect the sound for each specific headphone model.
Audio alchemists, the experts who shape sound
OPRA highlights one of the greatest aspects of the HiFi community: the river of free knowledge shared among its members — demystifying audio esoterica, revealing music’s hidden treasures, and aiding each other’s sonic adventures. OPRA gives that kind of generosity its own home — it’s an open-source initiative that brings together expertise from audio professionals and enthusiasts worldwide. We’d like to introduce one of them to you now…
Meet Konstantin Davy, better known as oratory1990
Konstantin Davy is an acoustic engineer with a diverse music and technical background —touring musician, recording & mixing engineer, as well as transducer design and applications engineering. He’s contributed countless headphone EQ presets over the years as oratory1990 and has been an invaluable adviser and contributor to OPRA.
In this section he reveals additional insights about acoustic research, headphone tuning, equalization, and how a touch of additional personalization can perfect a preset:
“While every headphone manufacturer does their own research, Harman’s research has drawn the most attention. Not that Dr. Olive’s results are in any way surprising or unexpected. They align with largely internal unpublished research from other headphone manufacturers, and — again expectedly so — they do generally show that headphones which had previously been described as “good sounding” don’t stray all that far from the Harman Target Curve.
Will two headphones sound identical when both have their OPRA presets applied?
The best way to find out is to try for yourself — but it would generally be considered a surprise if they do end up sounding identical. While the EQ presets will mostly reduce the headphone’s idiosyncrasies, a generalized preset will not make different headphones sound fully identical — not that this isn’t possible at all, it’s just not possible on a preset.
When creating an EQ preset, I do my best to identify which parts of the headphone’s frequency response are independent of the user’s anatomy, and reduce that impact as much as reasonable. Not every peak can be reduced (and it doesn’t necessarily have to be).
We have a good theoretical basis on the goal of applying EQ to a headphone. Doing it in practice isn’t actually all that hard — you just have to keep in mind that the measurement results of a headphone on a head simulator will not 1:1 be the same as on your own head.
Expect having to do some manual finetuning at high frequencies – some of which will be caused by the user’s ear anatomy, some of which will simply be caused by individual preference. And lastly, no two headphones — even if they’re the same model — will be truly identical, so even if both your anatomy and preference perfectly aligned with the average, your particular headphone might deviate just enough from that model’s average to warrant some finetuning.
So, if you take one thing away from this it’s that EQ presets are a great starting point, but they won’t eliminate the need for personalization entirely.”
How OPRA works in Roon
Now that we have the benefit of Konstantin’s expert insights, it’s time to experience OPRA’s magic and discover how your favorite headphones and music can sound even better. Browsing OPRA’s presets and experimenting with different options is refreshingly simple — whether you’re using it with Roon or ARC.
Here’s how to transform your headphone listening with just a few clicks:
- Open MUSE in Roon or ARC
- Click the Headphone EQ filter
- Search for your headphone model or browse by manufacturer
- Select from available EQ presets for your model
- Luxuriate in optimized audio tuned specifically to your headphones!
- To remove a preset, press CLEAR
Many popular headphone models offer multiple preset options, letting you find the perfect sound for your taste. Think of them as extended sonic accessorizing for your headphones — with each selection carefully tailored to accentuate unique audio attributes and deliver a specific listening experience.
Why OPRA matters
Before OPRA, getting the best sound from your headphones often meant extensive experimentation or searching specialized audio forums, manually copying EQ settings, and hoping you did everything correctly. It was a bit like memorizing a series of secret knocks, infiltrating esoteric equalization sects, and escaping with encoded acoustic riches. All the while wondering if you’d grabbed the right stuff and whether you even knew how to put it into action! It took a lot of effort! OPRA changes all that by making professional-grade headphone tuning available to everyone.
Hone your own EQ expertise
As Konstantin mentioned above, while EQ presets can help retune a headphone to specific target curves, they can’t precisely predict or nail your specific sonic tastes. They can, however, provide a perfect springboard for dialing in what you like.
OPRA, and Roon’s MUSE audio processing suite, make it easy to save and modify a preset you love. Simply click the arrow in the lower right-hand corner of the EQ display, give it a name, and save it. Your preset will be stored in your Parametric EQ settings, where you can use it as is or customize it further.
Once you’ve saved a preset you can view all its settings and use it as a template for experimentation and increasing your familiarity of how EQ changes sound.
Here’s a quick explanation of EQ settings:
- Band: this pulldown shows the number and signal processing of frequency bands being affected
- Frequency: this window displays the frequency being equalized
- Gain: displays how many decibels the frequency is being increased or cut
- Q: adjusts bandwidth — it controls how wide or narrow the gain setting is applied. High Q values affect a smaller range and pinpoint specific frequencies, low Q values affect a wider range of frequencies and sound more subtle because of their wide dispersion
- Type: this specifies the kind of EQ filter being applied, Shelf or Peak/Dip.
- Shelf: think of an EQ shelf as a gentle boost or cut that affects all frequencies above or below your chosen point, resembling a plateau or valley
- Peak/Dip: A peak or dip targets a specific frequency, creating a sharp peak or ravine that exerts minimal impact on neighboring frequencies – depending on Q
If you’re just beginning to experiment with EQ, it’s very important to use caution when increasing gain — you don’t want to harm your ears or equipment. Start out with small increases, around 3 to 5dB to get a feel. Or decrease the gain -3dB to safely observe how volume adjustments impact frequencies and instrumentation when experimenting.
If you’re comfortable with equalization and have created EQ settings in the past you can still craft your own in MUSE or import settings from other sources. All those tools are still in place.
But now, thanks to OPRA, getting great sound from your headphones only a few clicks away and easier for everyone.
Transformative listening experiences for all
Whether you’re new to the world of audio optimization or a seasoned enthusiast, OPRA makes it easier than ever to get the absolute best sound from your headphones. It’s another example of how Roon simplifies sophisticated audio technology and brings music to life in ways that everyone can enjoy.
Ready to discover how much better your headphones can sound? Fire up Roon — or sign up for a free trial — find your headphone model in OPRA, and prepare to fall in love with your music all over again!