[Joe Bloggs]

Executive summary: free new simple installer for making PC audio sound "out of your head" on headphones, like (ahem) Out of Your Head, Dolby Headphone, DTS HP:X, Smyth Realiser, etc etc. Freeware EqualizerAPO employed for simple setup, actual convolution filters independently researched by Joseph Yeung.

Recently I've come to notice that the free PC app EqualizerAPO has evolved into a powerful beast capable in principle of turning any PC sound card into a full-fledged loudspeaker virtualization system for headphones via its new(ish) channel copying / mixing and convolution capabilities, and all this potentially with zero time lag and very little CPU load. The means to convert this potential into reality, however, has thus far been barred behind either paywalls or esoteric individual research. Having carried out the requisite bookworming and experimentation, together with a light dose of original acoustic research (for creating the actual BRIRs for use with the convolution config), I present to you the borne fruits for free download as follows:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/34tcat3ge7sg5j7/EqualizerAPO EFO audio pak.zip?dl=0
Password: "by Joseph Yeung"

Credits: ARISE, EFOtech, Fanoble Meng, HiByMusic, Mr. D, Kyle "sonophilos" Joyce, Christopher Blomeyer, Jordan "Ephexxis", James Fung (JamesDSP), and anyone I forgot!

Installation instructions:
1. Install EqualizerAPO 32 or 64 bit (according to your system bitness) from the install directory (or obtain latest from https://sourceforge.net/projects/equalizerapo/).
2. Use the Configurator during installation to install APO drivers on your primary sound device.
3. Reboot as prompted by the installer if necessary.
4. Set your primary sound device's Default Format (under Sound->Playback->Properties->Advanced) to 48000Hz and 8 channels if available otherwise 2 channels, and your choice of bit depth. (Devices called "speakers" won't come with a channel config and will simply support whatever audio streams come up, up to the maximum number of channels the device supports.)

5. Copy the files from "7.1 (8) channel config" (if 8 channels) or "two channel config" (if 2 channels) to C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\config\ . Confirm overwriting the existing config.txt.
6. Enjoy!

Note: Only audio passing through Windows system audio stack (MME, DirectSound, waveOut, etc.) can be processed by the system. That means no WASAPI or ASIO tomfoolery. The sample rate of your sound device (if not your music player app) *must* also be set to 48000 for effects to render.

Additional tweaks:
1. Raise audiodg.exe process priority to raise priority of audio processing to potentially prevent stutters.
2. Use a virtual audio cable program to grant 7.1 channel capabilities to 2 channel audio devices (...but with a bit of latency and very sensitive to CPU loads. Might as well get a 7.1 channel sound card for real. The Terratec Aureon 7.1 seems to be a good cheap solution for USB portable audio)
3. To restore stock sound, simply rename C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\config\config.txt temporarily.

EqualizerAPO can be configured using the included "Configuration Editor" program, of which there are the following tweaks for the 7.1 config:

4. The 7.1 audio chain includes a step (3) that reverses the order of the RL RR rear channels to the SL SR side channels, because it seems both channel assignments (FL FR C Sub SL SR RL RR AND FL FR C Sub RL RR SL SR) are in use. The bundled impulse will process for FL FR C Sub SL SR RL RR without the reversal. The
reversal step is enabled by default, making FL FR C Sub RL RR SL SR the default accepted channel assignment.
5. And because so much material out there is 5.1 rather than 7.1, a step (4) is included that evenly distributes SL, SR or RL, RR channel sound (whichever is fed sound, again, this seems to be up in the air) among both S(LR) and R(LR) channels, for a better filled out backstage. Disable this step when listening to real 7.1 content.

Unlike most commercial speaker spatialization solutions out there this setup is tuned to sound at its best even with stereo music material.

Looking forward to everybody's thoughts!

 

[Muinarc]

I think we need to test this and get @miceblue to try it on his fancy new PC

 

[mindbomb]

I already use your foobar plugin, which I think is great for music. Now with this, since it supports 7.1, that raises the question: how good is it for gaming?

 

[Joe Bloggs]

I already use your foobar plugin, which I think is great for music. Now with this, since it supports 7.1, that raises the question: how good is it for gaming?

I'd love to know too, but I haven't got around to playing games with it just yet :hmm: Why don't you try it and tell us?

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

I will probably give this a try, being a person that enjoys virtual surround sound even for stereo music when done properly (for me on Realtek onboard using 5.1 speakers gives slight enhancement in the stereo music in terms of soundstage becoming more around-head and the subtle nuisance it brings works wonders for me for example without any audio quality impact, it just enhances it soundstage-wise). I also used a custom foobar2000 config for Dolby Headphone (linked in description) but since it's too much of a bass impact hit for loudness wars EDM kind of music I started going more away from it but yea it's mostly because I'm more into modern electronic music these days, with anything acoustic it's still a bliss to listen to.

Having said that, and testing out many different algorithms, (Dolby Headphone, Razer Surround, Dolby Atmos, SBX Surround and all the older versions and many others I cannot remember probably, kX Audio custom Soundblaster drivers surround plugin etc) I guess I'm the right kind of test subject for this. I'm a bit busy right now but will give it a go sometimes later and give my feedback.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Short feedback is that I think it sounds a bit too reverby and muffled and introducing metallicness to certain sounds and removes a bit too much impact off of bass.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

I find that listening at a suitably sufficient volume with this setup is essential for getting the feeling of "being there" as opposed to a feeling of something playing off in the distance. But when you get there it is much more "there" than other brands of surround. For me anyway.

 

[mindbomb]

I did feel the 7.1 version was too echoey, and sounded a lot different than the foobar version.

 

[musicreo]

Very nice work. Now I have more than 30 options for virtual surround in EQ-APO and with the Peace extension I can switch between different presets easily.

edit:
Now I listened with my AKG 701. For me the soundstage sounds like a smaller room. A bit to much reverb for my taste but still enjoyable. I have added a additional Filter for my AKG701 and this reduces the reverb and it sounds more natural. I did not really notice the difference between 5.1 and 7.1. LS and LB seem to have the same direction?

For me this sounds better than the rooms of "Out of your head" and "Dolby Headphone". But it is not my favourite BRIRS.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Very nice work. Now I have more than 30 options for virtual surround in EQ-APO and with the Peace extension I can switch between different presets easily.

edit:
Now I listened with my AKG 701. For me the soundstage sounds like a smaller room. A bit to much reverb for my taste but still enjoyable. I have added a additional Filter for my AKG701 and this reduces the reverb and it sounds more natural. I did not really notice the difference between 5.1 and 7.1. LS and LB seem to have the same direction?

For me this sounds better than the rooms of "Out of your head" and "Dolby Headphone". But it is not my favourite BRIRS.

I wonder how an additional filter can reduce reverb? :hmm:

For the change from 5.1 to 7.1 you have to disable the channel mixing step, which if you got the 1.1 version is in a separate file.

I've also updated the "app" to 1.2 by changing the BRIRs to address the concerns about reverb, which I suspect are caused by a less than completely solid front center soundstage. I.e. you will get a BRIR with more solid centre soundstage in 1.2

 

[Pazz]

Always appreciate your contributions Joe. I tried this one out and did some quick listening tests, and in my opinion it's not as "realistic" sounding as the Foobar config you last made. In comparison, this one sounds more "closed in" as well. Seeing as you can use this for 5.1 channel content, and you can't do the same with the Foobar config, is there a way to get that old sound back here?

 

[musicreo]

I've uploaded some free Brirs for using with EQ-APO in combination with peace and vb audio cable.
If someone is interested you can find the files and installation instructions here:

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AnbO8YLUAW6Jh1XaISDxGiV5Mlym