Merkurio
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2018
- Messages
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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:
With IEF neutral with bass EQ applied:
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!
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:
With IEF neutral with bass EQ applied:
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):
AutoEq/results_ief at master · iwalton3/AutoEq
Automatic headphone equalization from frequency responses - iwalton3/AutoEq
github.com
Link to the IEF neutral with bass database (my preferred):
AutoEq/results_ief_with_bass at master · iwalton3/AutoEq
Automatic headphone equalization from frequency responses - iwalton3/AutoEq
github.com
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!
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