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[Parametric EQ] AutoEQ database with IEF neutral target presets

Merkurio

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Hello there!

For those familiar with PEQ and the AutoEQ project, I'd like to share another repository with presets to the neutral IEF target (with and without bass boost) instead of the Harman target.

IEF neutral target is somewhat the ideal of @crinacle for, well, "neutral" response and their variant with bass boost resembles the best I've heard from Diffuse Field, Etymotic and of course, Harman target.

Let's take an example to see the differences, with the revered Etymotic ER4SR equalized to both Harman and IEF neutral with bass targets, taking the crinacle's measurements as reference (you could also opt for the oratory1990 ones if you prefer):

With Harman target EQ applied:

Etymotic ER4SR-2.png


With IEF neutral with bass EQ applied:

Etymotic ER4SR.png


As you can see in the blue line, both are pretty similar in their fundamentals, with bass boost under 200 Hz and considerable gain in the critical pinna region between 1 and 5 kHz.

However, the key differences are a more "linear" mid to bass transition and less pinna gain compensation with a more noticeable decay from 3 kHz in the case of IEF neutral target compared to Harman target, as well as a bit more treble extension in the former.

For young folks or those who find the gain in the mid-high region of the Harman target to be exaggerated with the AutoEQ presets, it might be worth taking a look at this, which personally nails my listening preference unlike any other preset I've heard before.

Link to the IEF neutral database (not bass shelf):


Link to the IEF neutral with bass database (my preferred):


Of course these are just online presets with measurement discrepancy between rigs, unit variation and so on, it is always good to take them only as a reference/starting point for a more elaborate personal equalization, but in my personal experience using IEMs (AirPods Pro, iSINE LX, ER4SR) and a couple of wireless over-ears (AirPods Max and Soundcore Life Q30) the results are OUTSTANDING with minimal to no tweaking at all, unlike the presets I've used from the Harman target on AutoEQ in the past, which have required a high amount of adjustment to leave the 1-5 kHz region to my liking.

With this I'm not criticizing the Harman target at all, perhaps the good results with the neutral IEF target are only due to a better scale in the equalization curve, but trust me, it is worth trying if you have found the upper-mid region of the Harman targets presets "too hot" and you want more body/linearity in the mid-bass region.

I hope you like the results as much as I do! :)
 
Last edited:

_thelaughingman

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Hello there!

For those familiar with PEQ and the AutoEQ project, I'd like to share another repository with presets to the neutral IEF target (with and without bass boost) instead of the Harman target.

IEF neutral target is somewhat the ideal of @crinacle for, well, "neutral" response and their variant with bass boost resembles the best I've heard from Diffuse Field, Etymotic and of course, Harman target.

Let's take an example to see the differences, with the revered Etymotic ER4SR equalized to both Harman and IEF neutral with bass targets, taking the crinacle's measurements as reference (you could also opt for the oratory1990 ones if you prefer):

With Harman target EQ applied:

View attachment 199247

With IEF neutral with bass EQ applied:

View attachment 199246

As you can see in the blue line, both are pretty similar in their fundamentals, with bass boost under 200 Hz and considerable gain in the critical pinna region between 1 and 5 kHz.

However, the key differences are a more "linear" mid to bass transition and less pinna gain compensation with a more noticeable decay from 3 kHz in the case of IEF neutral target compared to Harman target, as well as a bit more treble extension in the former.

For young folks or those who find the gain in the mid-high region of the Harman target to be exaggerated with the AutoEQ presets, it might be worth taking a look at this, which personally nails my listening preference unlike any other preset I've heard before.

Link to the IEF neutral database (not bass shelf):


Link to the IEF neutral with bass database (my preferred):


Of course these are just online presets with measurement discrepancy between rigs, unit variation and so on, it is always good to take them only as a reference/starting point for a more elaborate personal equalization, but in my personal experience using IEMs (AirPods Pro, iSINE LX, ER4SR) and a couple of wireless over-ears (AirPods Max and Soundcore Life Q30) the results are OUTSTANDING with minimal to no tweaking at all, unlike the presets I've used from the Harman target on AutoEQ in the past, which have required a high amount of adjustment to leave the 1-5 kHz region to my liking.

With this I'm not criticizing the Harman target at all, perhaps the good results with the neutral IEF target are only due to a better scale in the equalization curve, but trust me, it is worth trying if you have found the upper-mid region of the Harman targets presets "too hot" and you want more body/linearity in the mid-bass region.

I hope you like the results as much as I do! :)
Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t IEF target suited mostly to just IEMS ? I hardly listen to my critical listening with IEMS but definitely worth trying it out for few times I use IEMS.
 

staticV3

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Crinacle has two different IEF targets, one for headphones and one for IEMs.
The IEF Neutral target for headphones is basically OE2018, but flat from 800Hz downwards:
https://crinacle.com/graphing/toolh...e=Harman_AE_OE_2018_Target,IEF_Neutral_Target

FWIW, I previously A/Bed about 35 different IEM targets using the individual ra0045 report card that came with my ER4XR and I preferred the Monarch MKII's bass boost plus IEF mids and highs. That's what sounds right to me.
 

staticV3

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Why don't they just provide the target file so I can create these myself?
Crinacle provides his targets in form of the "cringraph" graph tools.
You can either use Webplotdigitizer or get the raw graph by pressing F12 in your browser.

Out of curiosity, does Harman provide official downloads for their targets?
 
OP
Merkurio

Merkurio

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Crinacle has two different IEF targets, one for headphones and one for IEMs.
The IEF Neutral target for headphones is basically OE2018, but flat from 800Hz downwards:
https://crinacle.com/graphing/toolh...e=Harman_AE_OE_2018_Target,IEF_Neutral_Target

FWIW, I previously A/Bed about 35 different IEM targets using the individual ra0045 report card that came with my ER4XR and I preferred the Monarch MKII's bass boost plus IEF mids and highs. That's what sounds right to me.

In fact, the Monarch MK2 is basically the IEF neutral target with bass from the AutoEQ repo above:

ThieAudio Monarch MKII.png


A tad more presence in sub-bass and 3 kHz regions, but you get the picture.
 
OP
Merkurio

Merkurio

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Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t IEF target suited mostly to just IEMS ? I hardly listen to my critical listening with IEMS but definitely worth trying it out for few times I use IEMS.

I don't have many over-ears around, just the AirPods Max and a Soundcore Life Q30, and both sound amazing EQ'd to that target.

Here's the preset for the DCA Stealth, which is the most Harman compliant headphone right now:

Dan Clark Audio Stealth.png


As you can see, very similar to Harman target, just with a bit less pinna gain at 3 kHz (which has been a common complain with the Harman target by certain people) and more linear bass transition into mids at around 200 Hz.

It would be worth a try no matter if you have IEMs or over-ears. ;)
 
Last edited:

Saikou

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Would be neat if we could have this for the USound target.
 

Jose Hidalgo

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All right, so according to the mentioned crinacle's graph, IEF neutral target is really, really close to Optimum HiFi target (which is basically Harman without the bass boost, to better emphasize the midrange). I'm pretty sure most people would have a hard time hearing the slightest difference between IEF and Optimum HiFi.

3. Harman & Optimum HiFi.png

(blue = Harman AE-OE 2018, red = Optimun HiFi)​

With that said, let me just remind everybody that Optimum HiFi target presets are included among the 15.000 presets of my free Windows EQ app, for nearly all existing headphones on Earth. The EQ database includes most if not all presets from AutoEQ, Oratory, crinacle (those included in AutoEQ) and so on, plus many exclusive presets. Just try it out, it's absolutely free ;)
 
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_thelaughingman

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I don't have many over-ears around, just the AirPods Max and a Soundcore Life Q30, and both sound amazing EQ'd to that target.

Here's the preset for the DCA Stealth, which is the most Harman compliant headphone right now:

View attachment 199494

As you can see, very similar to Harman target, just with a bit less pinna gain at 3 kHz (which has been a common complain with the Harman target by certain people) and more linear bass transition into mids at around 200 Hz.

It would be worth a try no matter if you have IEMs or over-ears. ;)
I applied the IEF target to my Hifiman He400se and gave a good hour of listening time, and definitely sounds different. I tried the EQ without the bass shelf, and it's more balanced, whereas the EQ with bass shelf distorts the bass a bit.
 
OP
Merkurio

Merkurio

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I applied the IEF target to my Hifiman He400se and gave a good hour of listening time, and definitely sounds different. I tried the EQ without the bass shelf, and it's more balanced, whereas the EQ with bass shelf distorts the bass a bit.

Makes sense, with over-ears the bass shelf should be less prominent, although I don’t have problems at all with either the AirPods Max nor the Soundcore Q30.
 

digitalfrost

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I didn't appreciate it at the time when you posted this, but since I just got my first IEMs, I obviously stumbled over crinacle again and also the IEF neutral target. For me it is clearly better than the others. Harman sounds too harsh for me. I was using the oritory1990/usound target before, but I think the iem neutral with some bass boost is the nicest one so far.

I don't know where the guy got his data from but I assume he downloaded the raw data from crinacle and created the results that way. I parsed the graphs on crinacles site, and while I was close the files here are slightly different in the treble. Anyway, fantastic resource thank you for posting.
 
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