Atrium / Headphone EQ / Campfire / Audio Alien Brain

Campfire Audio Alien Brain EQ settings

Parametric EQ correction for the Campfire Audio Alien Brain, derived from measurements by Jaytiss. It moves the measured frequency response toward a neutral target.

How the Audio Alien Brain sounds before EQ

Measured against a neutral target, the Audio Alien Brain comes out dark. The treble sits well behind neutral, so detail and air are muted.

The presence region, vocal clarity and attack, sits about 4.4 dB behind neutral, so detail and clarity soften. The bass region, punch and bass lines, sits about 2.0 dB forward of neutral, so bass lines carry extra weight. The mids region, vocals and most instruments, sits about 1.7 dB forward of neutral, so vocals push ahead of the mix. The treble region, cymbals, sibilance and sparkle, sits about 1.7 dB behind neutral, so cymbals sound blunted.

The largest deviation runs to about 4.4 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 dark 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 -6.0 dB offsets the boosts so nothing clips at full volume.

Parametric EQ settings

Preamp: -6.0 dB (prevents clipping from the boosts below)

#TypeFrequencyGainQ
1Low shelf105 Hz-0.1 dB0.70
2Peaking6.36 kHz+3.2 dB3.15
3Peaking151 Hz-2.7 dB0.77
4Peaking1.56 kHz-4.9 dB1.29
5Peaking3.74 kHz+5.5 dB0.87
6High shelf1 kHz-1.8 dB0.70
7Peaking561 Hz+0.4 dB1.69
8Peaking42 Hz-0.4 dB1.90
9Peaking3.31 kHz-1.6 dB6.00
10Peaking4 kHz+1.1 dB4.43

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 Alien Brain 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 Alien Brain vs other Campfire 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 Alien Brain (this page)dark+1.3 dB-3.0 dB
Audio Andromedadark-0.3 dB-3.5 dB
Audio Andromeda 2020dark+0.4 dB-3.5 dB
Audio Andromeda Golddark+0.3 dB-2.7 dB
Audio Andromeda SSdark-0.4 dB-4.5 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 Alien Brain is tuned and want alternatives.

More Campfire EQ settings