Atrium / Headphone EQ / Austrian / Audio Hi-X55

Austrian Audio Hi-X55 EQ settings

Parametric EQ correction for the Austrian Audio Hi-X55, derived from measurements by oratory1990. It moves the measured frequency response toward a neutral target.

How the Audio Hi-X55 sounds before EQ

Measured against a neutral target, the Audio Hi-X55 comes out warm. The low end sits ahead of the treble, which flatters bad recordings and rounds off detail.

The presence region, vocal clarity and attack, sits about 3.0 dB behind neutral, so detail and clarity soften. The sub-bass region, rumble and the weight under kick drums, sits about 2.9 dB behind neutral, so kick drums lose their weight. The bass region, punch and bass lines, sits about 2.3 dB forward of neutral, so bass lines carry extra weight.

The largest deviation runs to about 3.0 dB, which is impossible to miss. This model benefits clearly from correction.

These figures are read from the correction itself: whatever the EQ lifts, the headphone lacked, and whatever it cuts, the headphone had too much of. The target is the community's neutral reference, and how far above 10 kHz you can trust any measurement varies by rig. More warm models.

The correction curve

1001k10k+80-8 full measured correction what Atrium applies

The solid line is the full measured correction (all 10 filters). The dashed line is what Atrium applies: the same shape at 65 percent strength, capped at 6 dB per band, so the headphone keeps its own character instead of being forced flat.

What the EQ fixes

The biggest moves in this correction, and what they do:

The preamp of -6.7 dB offsets the boosts so nothing clips at full volume.

Parametric EQ settings

Preamp: -6.7 dB (prevents clipping from the boosts below)

#TypeFrequencyGainQ
1Low shelf105 Hz+1.6 dB0.70
2Peaking138 Hz-7.0 dB1.32
3Peaking2.37 kHz+7.7 dB1.17
4Peaking1.28 kHz-7.8 dB2.01
5Peaking53 Hz+2.7 dB0.80
6High shelf1 kHz-0.9 dB0.70
7Peaking472 Hz+2.6 dB1.22
8Peaking234 Hz-1.7 dB2.33
9Peaking946 Hz-1.7 dB3.22
10Peaking6.61 kHz-1.8 dB6.00

This is the full measured correction in AutoEq format. It pastes straight into Equalizer APO or Peace on Windows, and into most parametric EQ apps.

How to use these settings

Manually: enter the preamp and each filter into any parametric EQ. On Windows that is usually Equalizer APO with the Peace interface. On a Mac, eqMac or SoundSource. Set the type, frequency, gain and Q exactly as listed.

With Atrium: pick your Audio Hi-X55 in the app and it applies a tuned version of this correction: 65 percent strength with a 6 dB per-band cap, which fixes the rough spots without erasing what the headphone does well. Atrium also measures how you hear with a short listening test and layers your personal hearing profile on top. Two people with the same headphones do not hear the same sound. Headphone corrections are part of Signature Edition; the app itself is free.

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Audio Hi-X55 vs other Austrian models

Bass and treble are each model's average distance from the neutral target in that range. Positive means more than neutral, negative means less.

ModelSignatureBass vs neutralTreble vs neutral
Audio Hi-X55 (this page)warm-0.3 dB-1.4 dB
Audio Hi-X15V-shaped+2.1 dB+3.2 dB
Audio Hi-X20V-shaped+4.0 dB+2.7 dB
Audio Hi-X60warm+1.0 dB-0.1 dB
Audio Hi-X65bass-light-2.8 dB+1.0 dB

Headphones that sound similar

Closest matches across all 4,332 measured models, by distance between their deviation curves. Useful if you like how the Audio Hi-X55 is tuned and want alternatives.

More Austrian EQ settings