Note
These settings are subjective, people don't all hear the same things in the same way. While the settings in these presets achieve the type of sound I desire when I listen to music, they may not fit the type of sound you like when listening to music. Feel free to adapt things to your own preferences and to your ears.
The included presets are based partially on Digitalone1's Loudness Equalizer Presets and generally follow the same layout and ordering when it comes to the effects that are applied, with some changes/tweaks, targeted mainly to prioritize music listening while retaining dynamics as much as possible.
Presets generally consist of the following effects (applied in this order, if present):
Usually configured as two filters, first a high pass to cut out frequencies below a certain level, and then a low pass applied after to cut out upper frequencies.
These are applied to limit the overall frequency range of the output to prevent over-driving speakers/headphones and to limit frequencies that are either not reproducible by the speakers/headphones being used, are not audible or that are distracting/annoying to the listener.
Used to remove unwanted low-level background noise/hiss/static from the input so that it is not passed on to the next stage of the effects chain (compressor) to avoid being boosted/amplified unnecessarily.
This is what raises the level of quiet parts of the input signal so they are more audible, it does however reduce some amount of dynamic range which is corrected/minimized as much as possible by the rest of the effects chain. This is different from normal compression, which works in the opposite manner, by making the loud parts of the audio quieter.
Used to lightly control the dynamic range of the output, by gently compressing different frequency bands individually, giving more precise control over how different parts of the spectrum are treated and helping to smooth out volume differences across each frequency range. Excessive use of this type of compression can reduce audio quality noticeably, so the presets favor a relatively low compression ratio to help preserve clarity.
The secret sauce and the most subjective part of these presets, the settings used here are highly personal and should be treated as a general guideline only. This is most likely where you will do the majority of any adjustments you make to the preset(s). The particular sound I like when listening to a broad range of music may not fit your taste.
Generally my equalizer settings could be possibly considered somewhat aggressive, I try to emphasize the low-end frequencies as much as possible without creating excessive booming/thumping, maintain warmth in the mid-range without making things sound thin/muddy, and make the highs as crisp/bright as I think is necessary to still sound good without creating undesirable stress on my ears when listening.
Bass Loudness is completely optional and disabled by default in all presets that use it, and can be enabled to give a small, but nice enhancement to the bass frequencies if desired.
The Speakers preset uses the Loudness effect instead which uses equal loudness contours to target frequency boosts/cuts based on the configured calibrated peak output desired from the speaker system being used. This ensures that all frequencies are perceived equally as loud by the listener, which helps when listening to music at lower volumes (such as at night).
Disabled by default in all presets, can be enabled to monitor the dynamics of the output and used as a tool to help make adjustments to other effects if necessary.
This effect is used as a last line of defense to prevent clipping of the output caused by sudden changes in the input source volume caused by things such as poorly mixed audio, resulting in increased chances of distortion being introduced by the other effects used above.
Ideally you never want the output to exceed 0db in any situation as this could damage your speakers/headphones. I use a slightly more conservative threshold setting of -1db to ensure that the limiter always takes effect as early and quickly as possible in these situations.
Completely optional, can be disabled if not desired. This effect helps to simulate the natural spatial effects of listening to music through speakers, and can make long listening sessions using headphones more comfortable and easier on your ears.
General preset for speakers, designed to work best with small bookshelf/monitor speakers or a mini-system.
Preset targeted at laptop speakers, designed mainly for my laptop (Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E540), may or may not work well for other similar ThinkPad models. Designed to enhance bass as much as possible without creating distortion or negatively effecting other frequencies.
The headphone presets have two variants each, the main differences between them are the equalizer settings.
The "Default" version of each is configured in a similar to the way I setup the equalizer for the Speakers preset, and the configuration of the "Reference EQ" version is based on reference EQ curves obtained from AutoEq
The following headphone models are included:
- LG Tone Free FP5
- Sony MDR-XB950N1