Equalizer APO Experience
A system-wide equalizer for Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10 / 11
Brought to you by:
jthedering
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1 Many thanks to Mr. Thedering for this "dreams come true" software.
2 My current strategy for equalizing:
2.1 Measure and equalize with REW.
2,2 Import the parametric equalizers data in Equalizer APO (EAPO)
2,3 Measure again with REW, with EAPO ON !
2.4 Correct (if needed) the responce by adding in the NewConfig a "Variable Graphic Equalizer" and inserting there new fine corrections.
2.5 Go back to 2.3 and repeat as many times as needed.
I present the result for my main home system, 1/3 octave averaged. 27 Hz to 13.5 kHz ±1 dB
Last edit: Panayotis Kritidis 2015-11-04
Besides EAPO and REW, it is very important to use the excellent and free Loudness Meter of Orban.
http://www.orban.com/meter/
To check for possible clipping, use the two peak meters in bottom.
Last edit: Panayotis Kritidis 2015-11-03
A simple and nice automation.
Changing the current EAPO configuration with a new one requires two steps from within EAPO:
The above operations can be automated by creating a batch file, which does this for us without the need to run the EAPO editor. To create this batch file:
1 Open a new text with Notepad.
2 Insert there the following commands:
@echo off
copy /Y "The Path Of NewConfig.txt" "The Path Of config.txt"
The quotes are necessary in order to execute paths with parts, containing spaces, like "Program Files". The parameter /Y suppresses the question for confirmation of the file replacement.
An examlpe from my computer:
@echo off
copy /Y "C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\config\configAthensJBL.txt" "C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\config\config.txt"
3 Save this text to the Desktop as SomeName.bat . To do this, use Save As Type = All Files. A good batch file SomeName is the NewConfig name.
4 A click in the new batch file icon will result in replacement of EAPO config.txt with your NewConfig.txt. A small DOS window will appear very shortly, in the up/left region of the screen.
5 Repeat steps 1 - 3 as many times as needed. A good practice is to have also a "filter-empty" configuration, containing only a Preamplification element, with value equal to this in NewConfig. Creating a batch file for this configuration will allow a quick A/B test - with and without equalization.
But this is not the whole story. It will continue in the next post.
Last edit: Panayotis Kritidis 2015-11-03
If you followed the instructions in my previous post, you have now a number of batch shortcuts in your Desktop, able to change the actual EAPO config.txt according to your predefined configurations. There are two more steps to make these controls more elegant:
Create a new desktop folder, name it "EAPO" (or something like this) and send all the batch files in it. This will save some desktop space. But there is a more elegant continuation:
Lock the Taskbar and create a New toolbar ( Taskbar Right Click / Toolbars / New toolbar ) and select your new EAPO desktop folder for it. This will create a new tiny control at the right end of the existing taskbar buttons. Next to it's name there is a narrow rectangle with a >> sign in it. Clich there and you will see a drop-list with your EAPO batch commands. Click one of them - the command will be executed and the drop-list will close automatically. NOTE: this is a feature of Windows 10 and may be not available in earlier versions of Windows. But it may be..
You may hide your EAPO batch folder from the desktop by copy/paste to other location, e.g. C: In this case, you have to repeat again step 2, pointing to the new location of the folder.
Illustration: the new toolbar folder (named APO) in normal and open position.
Last edit: Panayotis Kritidis 2015-11-05
An "ideological" remark on "personal taste configuration".
I think that a reasonably FLAT equalization is the only one somebody needs. But if you prefer a special "target set", like "Bass +6 dB" or "Trebble -3 dB" or "Presence +4 dB" etc. etc., it's a good practice to separate the tasks.
1 Create an equalization as flat as possible - MyConfigFlat.
2 Add to MyConfigFlat a new Graphic Equalizer (GE), tuned to your personal taste. By activating or desactivating it, you may switch between the Flat think and the My Taste thing. You may create two variants of MyConfigFlat: one with the new GE OFF and a second, where it is On. This is the case in the illustration of my previous post: the configurations with added "H" differ from those without "H" only by the the fact that the additional GE (a 6 dB treble boost) is turned ON or OFF respectively.
By the occasion: when adding new .bat files to an existing batches directory, they will be sorted by name there, but not in the new toolbar - they will be added there "chronologically". To have them sorted in the toolbar as well, remove it and open it again. ++
++ Another option is to drad the items in this mini-toolbar in order to re-arrange them. This works, at least in MS W10.
Last edit: Panayotis Kritidis 2015-11-05
One more example of domestic equalization: my computer sound system. The original satellites have been replaced by the nice JBL Control 1 Pro speakers.
Initial equalization: 44 - 12200 Hz ±1.5 dB (1/3 octave average)
Fine tuned equalization: 44 - 12200 Hz ±0.7 dB (1/3 octave average) (Dotted curve)
Equalizing within a band less than ±0.7 dB (1/3 octave average) will be not percepted as an improvement by the typical human ears. I don't know about the "golden" ones.. ;)
Last edit: Panayotis Kritidis 2015-11-04
Using REW to obtain information about EAPO frequency curves.
The usual use of REW is as a source for EAPO filters adjustment. But we have also the possibility to use REW as a display of the EAPO frequence curve. This is done by performing the soundcard Calibration in REW with the EAPO filters ON ! (Preferences/Calibrate/Next..Next...). To do this, one has to connect the computer's sound output to it's sound input.
When we measure the sound card's native frequency response (FR), all EAPO filters have to be OFF. When they are ON, we measure the sum of the soundcard and EAPO FRs. As long as the FR of a modern soundcard is very linear, in fact we are measuring the EAPO FR.
In the illustration: my laptop's soundcard FR (black line, 20 - 20000 Hz at -0.3 dB), my A JBL configuration curve (red line) and the same configuration curve with added +6 dB treble boost (A JBL H, blue line). The two A JBL curves coincide below 1000 Hz. I use the +6 dB treble boost to listen to some classical recordings, sounding too "velvet". (continues)
Last edit: Panayotis Kritidis 2015-11-04
Another use of the results, obtained by the procedure described above, is the derivation of a frequency adjustment for a graphic equalizer in a configuration which is out of the EAPO control. An example is the nice Atomic player, which ignores EAPO, but has it's own 30-band graphic equalizer. To do this, we have to apply in REW a 1/3 octave smoothing. If targeting 20- or 10-band equalizers, we have to select 1/2 octave or 1/1 octave smoothing respectively. But using 30 bands where possible provides the lesser deviation from the "true" response.
Illustration: the same EAPO responces as above, with 1/3 octave smoothing.
Last edit: Panayotis Kritidis 2015-11-04
One more use of the procedure described above is to observe the response of various filters, available in EAPO. In the illustration we can see four filters, all adjusted at 12 dB level. The "classic" 30-band equalizer filters are fixed to a basis width of -/+ 1/3 octave (so having an 1/3 octave width at half height) and have standard predefined frequency bands, while the simple+ Variable Bands equalizer filters can have adjustable frequencies and basis width. We can see also the responce of a filter from the 15-band equalizer of EAPO, having a constant basis width of -/+ 2/3 octave.
Last edit: Panayotis Kritidis 2015-11-05
After I found that my VIA HD soundcard is characterized by good frequency responce, low THD (0.01 - 0.02% within the audible sprctrum) and low noise ( -80 dB RMS, measured with Adobe Audition), I realized that good on-line recordings from high quality internet stations and other web sources are possible. In order to listen to what I am recording, I made a simple cable arrangement, which splits the audio output of the soundcard in 2 directions, one for the amplifier input and another - for the soundcard input. This allows to record anything that I listen - internet stations, the sound of Youtube clips, the sound of on-line TV transmitions etc.
Well .. is this related to EAPO? Yes, it is! It is important to remember that during this way of recording, the EAPO corrections have to be OFF! It is good to make a special "empty" configuration file, containing only a text label, e.g. "EAPO Off". During recording, the material will be listened unequalized, which may make more difficult the evaluation of it's quality. But the things will be OK after the activation of EAPO during reproduction. A good 'Save As' of the primary recorded material (which is typically of CD-quality or better) is 320 kbps.
Talking about good quality internet stations, I will post a short list of audiofile ones, most of which are emitting in 320 kbps, while one of them - even in 1000 kbps! I hope that there are some forum colleagues, for which this will be news. I was glad to find that the stations with the label "Audiofile" are based in my town - Athens, Greece. Here is the list:
Linn Radio (320 kbps)
http://89.16.185.174:8003/autodj.m3u
Linn Jazz (320 kbps)
http://89.16.185.174:8000/autodj.m3u
Linn Classical (320 kbps)
http://89.16.185.174:8004/autodj.m3u
Hi On Line Classic (320 kbps)
http://82.94.166.107/stream/hionlineclassic.pls
Hi On line Latin (320 kbps)
http://mediaserv33.live-streams.nl:2199/tunein/hionlinelatin.pls
Hi On Line Jazz (256 kbps)
http://213.125.15.82:88/broadwave.m3u
Hi On Line Pop (320 kbps)
http://82.94.166.107/stream/hionline.pls
Audiophile Jazz (320 kbps)
http://50.7.173.162:2199/tunein/jazz.pls
Audiophile Classical (320 kbps)
http://50.7.173.162:2199/tunein/classical.pls
Audiophile Baroque (320 kbps)
http://50.7.173.162:2199/tunein/baroque.pls
Naim Radio (320 kbps)
http://37.130.228.60:8090/listen.pls
Soma FM Left Coast 70s (320 kbps)
http://somafm.com/seventies320.pls
Dance radio (320 kbps)
http://ice-06.lagardere.cz/dance-radio320.mp3.m3u
Smooth Jazz (1000 kbps)
http://www.europaradiojazz.org/stream.flac.m3u (not always available)
Photo: the VIA HD frequency responce and THD.
Last edit: Panayotis Kritidis 2015-11-04
Thank you for sharing your experience. Especially the .bat file method to switch between configurations can be very useful and is a nice way to exploit E-APO's event-based configuration reloading.
The loop-back cable method was very helpful to me when I was implementing the different filter types of REW to make sure that E-APO's implementation produces exactly the predicted results.
For recording internet radio, I would not use the loop-back method. I did never try them, but there are many programs available to record internet radio directly from the stream into a file, without reencoding. That should avoid any quality decrease through reencoding and analog transmission and you also do not need to disable E-APO.
Last edit: Jonas Dahlinger 2015-11-07
Mr. Thedering, thank you for the comments. I hope that you will find proper to include a "Switch Config" command in a new version of the Configuration Editor, replacing the sequence Open SomeConfig.txt / Save As config.txt. It would be very nice if this would be accompanied by a small desktop applet (freely movable), in order to do the same job, but also to allow to see always the currently active config version. I give a rough idea below.
One of the next versions of E-APO will bring an optional tray icon application that starts automatically. This will be used to easily open the Configuration Editor, but it will also be possible to add some elements to its menu. I will also see if it is possible to show some information over the tray icon if the user configures it to do that, like the number of the active configuration.
I prefer this solution to a desktop applet because it will always be accessible without minimizing the active applications.
i use some sort of config1 config2 in other way
1) define en eval variable say "test"
2) in config.txt made multi config possibilities with if: test="value"
3) change the test value with an external program
(for me i use autoit and use something like
$a=StringRegExpReplace($a,'Eval: test="\d"','Eval: test="' & $choix & '"')
where $a = the config.txt file read and convert in a string
$choix = the value of the test you want to use
4) for me i affect the autoit program to a key in my remote control and i can test the choice from my seat.
5) other possibilty is to affect the $choice as an input and use the program like a .bat
by the way, with autoit, i automate the including of rew measure in config.txt
-do manually the measure and save it as channel.txt (6 for me)
-load each file, suppress the phase, invert, normalize, and put it in config.txt with the right Channel:
-compute the preamp for each channel as they sound all the same mean db , (i test different solutions)
-use the benchmark program to see the cliping for each channel
.....
i program it with my feet but it works
PS i use your method : compute a flat equalisation AND with if: test="value" choose between several differents home curves
Last edit: michel 2015-11-08
A new batch file, to be used with the 10-channel equalizer interface created by Znuff. I have described in details the batch automation in my postings of 2015-11-03, so I post here only the new batch file. Note, that it does not only change config.txt according to Znuff's suggestion, but also runs its equalizer interface, with the START command + .
REM @echo off
copy /Y "C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\config\configZnuff.txt" "C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\config\config.txt"
START "Znuff" /D "C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\config" "eq-config_x64.exe"
Where the contents of configZnuff.txt are:
Preamp: 0 dB
Include: eq.txt
The detailed Znuff's instructions:
http://linge-ma.ws/equalizer-apo-config-gui/
Last edit: Panayotis Kritidis 2015-12-08
@ Panayotis, why not use the Peace GUI? With it you can switch configuration by a mouse click, a hotkey or by tray. Besides, I'm sure that Jonas will come up with his own switch feature in the Configuration Editor.
Why not use the Peace GUI? Because I did not know about it! :) Thank you for the information. I found it, I will install it and I am shure it will be a fine solution for the configuration switching. Greetings!
You're welcome. Many people don't know the Peace GUI exists. Sorry about that.
An interesting and "acid" comparison between the original sound and this reproduced by my system (equalized thanks to REW and Equalizer APO) and recorded with my AKG mike. One can not avoid the room reflections effects, but the comparison of the "early" signals is quite satisfactory.
https://youtu.be/JNmOXF41xmk
Happy New Year to Mr. Thedering!
Best strategy to avoid sound clipping.
If with Equalizer APO (EAPO) - and I can't imagine my future life without it.. - one has (typically) 4 independent ways to control the sound volume.
The first control is this of the sound source. It is present almost always, but my beloved Adobe Audition 1.5 does not offer this control.
EAPO offers its "Preamplification" control.
The soundcard has its "Master Volume" control, which stands after EAPO in the "sequence of events".
Finally, we got the external power amplifier volume control.
To minimize the risk of sound clipping, in the case we have not fully compensated the highest EAPO positive peak with equal EAPO preamplification decrease, we have to follow the next strategy:
Near to maximum value of the soundcard Master Volume and reasonably high level of the external amplifier volume.
Moderate level of EAPO preamplification, of the order of -6 to -8 dB. Even if this results in some small red peaks in the new Analysis Panel.
Medium level in the Source Level Control.
Main volume controller - the soundcard's Master Volume.
I propose to Mr. Thedering to include, in a future version of Analysis Panel, a simple Real Peak meter, so that everybody could check, in real time (now playing material) the effects of the current equalization.
Last edit: Panayotis Kritidis 2016-01-16
Further EAPO automation.
In my posts of 2015-11-03 I described a simple way for fast change of the current equalizer configuration. Now I continue with an addition, allowing to know permanently the selected (current) configuration* .
The method: we create a desktop directory shortcut, which will change its name every time we change the configuration with "my method" (MM).
This is done by creating a number of PowerShell scripts (XXX.ps1), equal to the number of batch files, described in MM. They have to reside in a directory different of that of the batch files. It helps to name each ps1 with the same name as the batch file, to which it corresponds.
The content of the script file XXX.ps1, where XXX is the configuration name:
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Force -Scope CurrentUser
get-childitem -Path C:\Users\UUU\Desktop!* | rename-item -NewName "! XXX"
where:
The second part of the job is to add in each batch file of MM a new line, calling the respective script. The new batch file for XXX looks like this:
@echo off
copy /Y "C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\config\XXX.txt" "C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\config\config.txt"
powershell -file "C:\The Scripts Directory\XXX.ps1"
where the last line calls XXX.ps1 by naming its exact location.
https://youtu.be/AaJ9TzxX60w
Last edit: Panayotis Kritidis 2016-01-21
All you guys looking for an easy way to switch between configurations, why not do this...
Create a text file for each configuration - config1, config2, config3, etc. You can open each one in its own tab.
In the main config.txt tab, create an 'include' control for each configuration. Four configurations, four 'include' controls. Turn on the one you want, and turn off the rest...
Last edit: Michael W. Gilbert 2016-01-25
an other easy way is to use the "if " function offer by eqAPO
do something like this :
Eval: variabl="1 "
If: variabl=="1"
define config1 in the text or via an include
EndIf:
If: variabl=="2"
define config2 in the text or via an include
EndIf:
.....
all you have to do is to change the first line (variabl = value) to execute the config you want.
For me, i use a autoit script to change the value with a command line but you can do it with an editor
you can even merge more config by using more variables and if
Or you can use the Peace GUI. Then you can switch by a mouse click, a hotkey or desktop icon.
Hi, I expanded on that idea
https://sourceforge.net/p/equalizerapo/discussion/general/thread/59ef14ba09/