_gl: Easy UES / Ownluxe A1 EQ Correction Impulses

 
After my Sennheiser HD600 Bass recovery curves, here are my new Easy UES (aka Ownluxe A1) EQ Corrections, as impulses to be used with convolvers.
 

 
 
I'm a musician/audiophile, used to studio sound.  I look for balanced/neutral-ish (no it doesn't have to sound clinical or anaemic, that's usually due to bad gear).
 
OOTB with stock-tips, the Easy UES sounded badly muffled due to horrible treble rolloff - to my ears bordering on defective.  They got slightly better after ~50hours burn in, but not much.  They also have bass bloat and a mid boxieness, and a painful 6dB spike at 4.4k.
 
I designed this correction to reverse that and restore (to my ears) pretty decent audiophile-quality sound (within the limitations of the dynamic drivers).
 
The correction is in impulse format - this is a 'snapshot' of the precise linear-phase EQ curve I created, and can be applied with any audio convolver.
 
('linear-phase' EQ preserves more detail than standard minimum-phase, useful with these lower-resolving drivers - but it also means you can't fade (wet/dry adjust) the impulse).
 
On Windows, you can use for example the Foobar 2000 audio player with the free convolver plugin (below).  There are also many free VST plugin format convolvers.
 

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New Jun 20: 1.0 Release!
 
- finale new 'Open' curve (based on 'Balance'), corrects slightly recessed vocals.
- two variations, 'Warm' (similar to Balance) and 'Clean' (bright)
- all sample rates above 44.1k.
 
- 'Dry (-4db)' - volume-matched raw sound, for better comparisons (works at all sample rates).
   (all curves drop 4dB volume to reduce clipping risk)
 
 
Download:  (use the included 64-bit float version if your convolver supports it for best SQ)
 
mono:
 
stereo:
 
 
EQ Curves (linear-phase):
 
 Open (warm):
 
 
 
 Open (clear) :
 
 
 

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Foobar2000 instructions:
 
The files can live anywhere - just install the Convolver plugin the usual foobar way, add it in Preferences->DSP Manager, and then 'Configure selected' and load the desired impulse .wav file:
 

 
 
The plugin is slow to update, any changes seem to take a few seconds to kick in (audio usually glitches when it does).
 
As the correction is linear-phase EQ, you cannot reduce the correction strength with Mix Adjust - leave it at 100%.
 
The Impulse causes a deliberate drop in output volume, to avoid clipping/audio limiting (as the correction boosts some frequencies).  Untick 'Auto level adjust' to preserve that level.
 
If you still get occasional clipping/limiting, reduce Level Adjust a little.
 

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My main reference tracks:
 
- Dashboard Confessional's 'Stolen' (album version from Dusk and Summer) - lots of deep warm bass and crisp cymbals/hihats.
- Taylor Swift's 'Love Story (from Fearless) - warm, vocal presence and splashy cymbals.
 
 (tracks like this with wide spectrums show the differences best).
 
Let me know how it sounds to you.

BTW, when comparing the correction to dry, don't get confused by the quieter sound of the correction (necessary to avoid clipping).  Our ears are hard-wired to hear louder = better, quieter = worse, regardless of the SQ.  Even small volume difference give that impression (many audio processors use this trick to sound impressive).
 
Edit: download now lincludes a 'Dry (-4dB)' impulse, which gives the raw sound, volume-matched to the corrections.

EDIT: I guess it disables the WAV every time I close Foobar so it wasn't working when I switched from my Maples to UEs but had closed foobar by accident

As to the sound, YUP! Sounds awesome! Only downside is that it only will work in FooBar and not portable but oh well, these IEMs have hit the drawer to collect dust anyways so they are my pull out once in a while IEMs. On that note, I also don't mind the sound without the convolver applied but I can def hear the difference.

This is the correction curve - I'm boosting ~6db at 22k:
 

 
 
From the correction I'm estimating the Easy UES freq response curve is something like this:
 

 
 
That's pretty heavy treble rolloff!  I'm not sure how Easy can describe them as 20khz phones.
 
Note this is all done by ear (stock tips), I have no way to measure them.
 
Agreed, it sucks that you can't correct portables.  If they have EQ you can at least do something, but it will not be as precise as my curve.  I wanted them mainly as stage monitors so EQ'ing is OK there, I prefer my clip-on KSC75's for outdoors.

lurk650 said:

  EDIT: I guess it disables the WAV every time I close Foobar so it wasn't working when I switched from my Maples to UEs but had closed foobar by accident

Click to expand...

 
You mean the convolver is not remembering the impulse on a Foobar restart?  It works for me here.
 
You can also try saving a 'DSP chain' once you've set the convolver up, maybe that will help.  I made a few chains to quickly switch between Easy UES / HD600 / no correction.
 

lurk650 said:

  As to the sound, YUP! Sounds awesome! Only downside is that it only will work in FooBar and not portable but oh well, these IEMs have hit the drawer to collect dust anyways so they are my pull out once in a while IEMs. On that note, I also don't mind the sound without the convolver applied but I can def hear the difference.

Click to expand...

 
Great, so they don't sound too bright to you?  If so I think my copy is probably the same as yours and not defective. 
 
I also found that listening to them raw, loud, is a bit painful, there's a mid harshness that I really don't like.  With my curve that goes away.

Nope, sound a lot more balanced with the curve correction
 
Yeah, the convolver not remembering the Pulse. I'll try saving the DSP preset. Thanks!

I can confirm the Easy UEs do sound much better using this method. Pity I rarely use them with my PC.   On a positive note, I'm glad I finally got around to installing Foobar.

crabdog said:

  I can confirm the Easy UEs do sound much better using this method. Pity I rarely use them with my PC. 

 On a positive note, I'm glad I finally got around to installing Foobar.

Click to expand...

 
Thanks crab.  I'm just working on a new version that fixes a resonance and gets slightly more fidelity out of it.

Agreed on FB2K, I tried it years ago and didn't like its Windows-looking GUI at all, and gave up.  I recently gave it another shot, and ended up designing a custom GUI from scratch that works well on touch screens.  Steep learning curve, but very flexible and capable.  So if this got you into it, that's not a bad thing : ).

Holy resonance Batman!  Last night I listened to Taylor Swift's 'Love Story', and her slightly squeaky voice on that track revealed a resonance at around 4k.  Extremely painful listening loud - so I corrected it by ear (actually nailed the exact frequency as it turns out) and it was better.
 
Today I ran a sine generator sweep (something I've not tried before) to see exactly how bad the resonance is, and it was worse than I thought - around 6dB!  Ouch.  I'm just burning-in the updated correction, which sounds really nice and balanced now, even loud.  Will upload when it's fine-tuned.
 
It will be interesting to see if you guys hear it the same way, or of it's copy/ear specific.

*patiently waits*

Haven't heard that song but I do have her radio songs from 1989 as well as "Knew You Were Trouble" and the mastering on her albums seems to be off. I can listen to the songs but most if not all sound odd to me. Idk what it is. All of them I have in 320

On that note, after listening to your curve the other night I swapped in the UE cable and it didn't make a difference and it was also clear the sound is not good. I'm sending it back today, 47 cents, and getting an old style cable in exchange. If that one is the same then I'll return it for a full refund.

lurk650 said:

*patiently waits*

Haven't heard that song but I do have her radio songs from 1989 as well as "Knew You Were Trouble" and the mastering on her albums seems to be off. I can listen to the songs but most if not all sound odd to me. Idk what it is. All of them I have in 320

On that note, after listening to your curve the other night I swapped in the UE cable and it didn't make a difference and it was also clear the sound is not good. I'm sending it back today, 47 cents, and getting an old style cable in exchange. If that one is the same then I'll return it for a full refund.

Click to expand...

 
Nearly done, should be up in the next hour.
 
Love Story is from Fearless, which I have here lossless (almost all my music is lossless CD rips).  It's amazing how the smallest EQ change, and I mean tiny fractions, sound different to me.
 
I've also thought this album (Fearless) sounds strange before, but with a couple of EQ tweaks now (and on a good day) it sounds quite good.  Well her voice is still a little shrill on that track, and there seems to be occasional mic distortion.  I also have Red (Knew You Were Trouble is on it), like some of the tracks a lot, will have to listen to it for mastering again.

_gl said:

Nearly done, should be up in the next hour.

Love Story is from Fearless, which I have here lossless (almost all my music is lossless CD rips).  It's amazing how the smallest EQ change, and I mean tiny fractions, sound different to me.

I've also thought this album (Fearless) sounds strange before, but with a couple of EQ tweaks now (and on a good day) it sounds quite good.  Well her voice is still a little shrill on that track, and there seems to be occasional mic distortion.  I also have Red (Knew You Were Trouble is on it), like some of the tracks a lot, will have to listen to it for mastering again.

Click to expand...

Trouble just sounds quiet, mastered that way I guess. Shake it Off sound echoey to my ears

Glad ol' Lurk650 is testing things out here for you _gl.   I don't use my IEMs with my computer setup relegating them to portable DAP use only.  Regardless it appears you've scored here again!   Great stuff.