[buencamino]

Hi guys, just thought if anyone knows how to EQ a headphone, mine specifically the HD800S. I use EqualizerAPO and I used autoeq's presets for the HD800S and found them a little weird sounding so I wanted to try Oratory1990's settings for EQ, but when I searched for his presets it only led me to a pdf file with graphs and not settings for EqualizerAPO. How do you use Oratory's EQ settings? Or if there are any better eq settings out there can you lead me to it and how to use it? Thanks.

 

[ADUHF]

Given all the HD800S fans here, I'm surprised noone has responded to this.

I have never used the EqualizerAPO. But can try to get you started with some fixed 10-band EQ settings. I don't have a pair of 800S's to listen to though, so I'd be going only by what's on the graphs.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

I first tried the Oratory 1990 parametric presets I found on reddit. That didn't sound good to me. Then, I found the AutoEQ site.

jaakkopasanen / AutoEq

If you click on that link, you will find 10 different HD800S profiles with parametric and graphic equalizer settings. You can copy and paste the parametriceq.txt data into a file onto your laptop and import it into the Peace interface of Equalizer APO.

I tried several of them and I like this one the most: Sennheiser HD 800 S by Crinacle, Ears-711

It works great when playing Equalizer APO on my laptop USB to my Chord Hugo 2 with the HD800S plugged directly into the 6.3mm port.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Here is the head fi thread started by Jaakko for all the discussion and details regarding AutoEQ

EQ Settings for 700+ Headphones

 

[ADUHF]

Some fixed 10-band EQ values you might try...

32 Hz: +3.5
64 Hz: +2
125 Hz: +0.3
250 Hz: -0.6
500 Hz: -0.8
1 kHz: +0.4
2 kHz: +1.7
4 kHz: -0.1 (or -0.1 to -1.2, see note below)
8 kHz: -4
16 kHz: -1.3

Preamp: -3.5

The 4k setting is based on an average of the values at 3.15k, 4k, and 5k. It may need to be set a bit lower though, to compensate a little more for some of the brightness in the 5-6 kHz range. A reasonable range might be between about -0.1 to -1.2.

Also, I've cut the suggested EQ values above for 32, 64 and 125 Hz in the bass region in half, because I'm afraid the bass will distort with higher values than that. (A +3.5 correction at 32 Hz could even be a bit too much.) These were my actual computed values though in that range based on the difference curve (which assumes a +6 dB boost in the bass, similar to the 2018 Harman over-ear headphone target), in case you or anyone else are curious...

32 Hz: +6.9
64 Hz: +3.9
125 Hz: +0.6

If you prefer a little more brightness in the treble, then you can try reducing the correction at 8k slightly from -4, to about -3.5 or -3.0... Or less, if you prefer.

 

[buencamino]

Some fixed 10-band EQ values you might try...

32 Hz: +3.5
64 Hz: +2
125 Hz: +0.3
250 Hz: -0.6
500 Hz: -0.8
1 kHz: +0.4
2 kHz: +1.7
4 kHz: -0.1 (or -0.1 to -1.2, see note below)
8 kHz: -4
16 kHz: -1.3

Preamp: -3.5

The 4k setting is based on an average of the values at 3.15k, 4k, and 5k. It may need to be set a bit lower though, to compensate a little more for some of the brightness in the 5-6 kHz range. A reasonable range might be between about -0.1 to -1.2.

Also, I've cut the suggested EQ values above for 32, 64 and 125 Hz in the bass region in half, because I'm afraid the bass will distort with higher values than that. (A +3.5 correction at 32 Hz could even be a bit too much.) These were my actual computed values though in that range based on the difference curve (which assumes a +6 dB boost in the bass, similar to the 2018 Harman over-ear headphone target), in case you or anyone else are curious...

32 Hz: +6.9
64 Hz: +3.9
125 Hz: +0.6

If you prefer a little more brightness in the treble, then you can try reducing the correction at 8k slightly from -4, to about -3.5 or -3.0... Or less, if you prefer.

How do i use this in equalizer apo?

 

[ADUHF]

How do i use this in equalizer apo?

Not sure, buencamino. Because I've never used it. I think some people use the graphical interface in Peace though with it. But don't quote me on that. (EDIT: See the links a couple posts down for a possible graphic EQ interface that may already be built into the Equalizer APO, so you don't need something like the Peace add-on.)

The interface for a graphic (aka "fixed-band") EQ will usually look something like this...

There may be ways of entering the info into Equalizer APO numerically though as well. But I wouldn't now how to go about that. Just about any EQ extension or app that looks something like the above should do the job though. (And I'm pretty sure that Peace includes a graphic interface like this as well.)

 

[ADUHF]

The preamp setting of -3.5 is somewhat important btw. Because that ensures that audio isn't clipped in the louder music passages. If your graphic EQ app does not have that option, then you should probably lower all the EQ settings so none of them go above zero, as I've done here. Just to be on the safe side...

This will reduce the overall volume a bit. But it will ensure that the audio isn't clipped in the louder passages. All the values above have been reduced by the preamp amount of -3.5 dBs.

 

[ADUHF]

It looks like there may be some type of fixed band graphic EQ interface or function built directly into the Equalizer APO btw. So you may not need the Peace add-on for that. How easy it use to use, I have no idea. Here are a few images of it though...

https://a.fsdn.com/con/app/proj/equalizerapo/screenshots/Screenshot1_2.png/max/max/1
https://a.fsdn.com/con/app/proj/equalizerapo/screenshots/Screenshot3_2.png/max/max/1

It looks like it has presets for 15 or 31 frequency bands. But not 10, like the pictures I've posted above. The "Variable" setting may allow to enter as many frequency bands as you like though, and define them yourself.

I can try to re-calculate the settings for 15 or 31 bands though, if you think that would help.

 

[ADUHF]

There may be ways of entering the info into Equalizer APO numerically though as well. But I wouldn't now how to go about that.

Fwiw, this looks pretty simple to do. It appears that all the audio effects for Equalizer APO are stored in a simple config.txt file located in the ProgramFiles\EqualizerAPO directory. The documentation for that file is here...

https://sourceforge.net/p/equalizerapo/wiki/Configuration reference/

For a simple 10-band EQ, it looks like all you need are the following two lines of instructions in that config.txt file. Just be sure that the GraphicEQ values shown below are all in one single line of text with no breaks or returns...

Preamp: -3.5 dB

GraphicEQ: 32.00 3.50; 64.00 2.00; 125.00 0.30; 250.00 -0.60; 500.00 -0.80; 1000.00 0.40; 2000.00 1.70; 4000.00 -0.10; 8000.00 -4.00; 16000.00 -1.30

 

[buencamino]

Fwiw, this looks pretty simple to do. It appears that all the audio effects for Equalizer APO are stored in a simple config.txt file located in the ProgramFiles\EqualizerAPO directory. The documentation for that file is here...

https://sourceforge.net/p/equalizerapo/wiki/Configuration reference/

For a simple 10-band EQ, it looks like all you need are the following two lines of instructions in that config.txt file. Just be sure that the GraphicEQ values shown below are all in one single line of text with no breaks or returns...

Preamp: -3.5 dB

GraphicEQ: 32.00 3.50; 64.00 2.00; 125.00 0.30; 250.00 -0.60; 500.00 -0.80; 1000.00 0.40; 2000.00 1.70; 4000.00 -0.10; 8000.00 -4.00; 16000.00 -1.30

Yes this is what I do too.. change the values of the config.txt file..

 

[ADUHF]

Yes this is what I do too.. change the values of the config.txt file..

Right on.

It looks like there's no smoothing or "Q" function between the different frequency values in a GraphicEQ effect though... Which means that more frequency bands are probably better. And will deliver a more accurate result. So I will go ahead and figure out what the 31-band settings would be, and post them in a little while. And hopefully that will work a little better than the 10-band settings.

The downside is that more bands also equals more values to edit if you want to make further adjustments to the EQ settings.

Parametric settings might be a little easier to edit. But I haven't figured out how to use those effectively yet.

 

[buencamino]

Right on.

It looks like there's no smoothing or "Q" function between the different frequency values in a GraphicEQ effect though... Which means that more frequency bands are probably better. And will deliver a more accurate result. So I will go ahead and figure out what the 31-band settings should be, and post them in a little while. And hopefully that will work a little better than the 10-band settings.

The downside is that more bands also = more values to edit if you want to make further adjustments to the EQ settings.

Parametric settings might be a little easier to edit. But I haven't figured out how to use those effectively yet.

Ok can you post the config.txt form again too because that would be better..

 

[ADUHF]

Ok can you post the config.txt form again too because that would be better..

Yes.

Now that I understand a little more how this APO works, I may also DL it, and give it a try on my system.

 

[buencamino]

I first tried the Oratory 1990 parametric presets I found on reddit. That didn't sound good to me. Then, I found the AutoEQ site.

jaakkopasanen / AutoEq

If you click on that link, you will find 10 different HD800S profiles with parametric and graphic equalizer settings. You can copy and paste the parametriceq.txt data into a file onto your laptop and import it into the Peace interface of Equalizer APO.

I tried several of them and I like this one the most: Sennheiser HD 800 S by Crinacle, Ears-711

It works great when playing Equalizer APO on my laptop USB to my Chord Hugo 2 with the HD800S plugged directly into the 6.3mm port.

Where is the HD800S by Crinacle, Ears 7-11? I read the github page of autoeq and the only options for HD800S were the original HD800S and the HD800S with dekoni sheepskin presets..