To keep things short and sweet: what was originally known as the “Crinacle Target” will now be replaced with the “IEF Neutral Target”, which adds on a little extra ear gain at 2-6kHz (creating a peak centred at 3kHz that is roughly +8dB relative to 800Hz) so as to keep it more in line with what I find to be “perceptibly neutral”.
Do note that the IEF Neutral Target differs between headphones and IEMs due to a combination of different rigs being used as well as what I believe to be the in-ear occlusion effect resulting in some psychoacoustic differences when listening to an in-ear versus an over-ear.
The free version of the IEM Graph Comparison Tool will now allow the use of the IEF Neutral Target. Other target curves remain locked to subscribers, and free users are still limited to only 2 comparisons at a time. Note that this will also be the case for the Headphone Graph Comparison Tool come November (2 comparison points + only the IEF Neutral Target unlocked for free users).
With that out of the way, here are some more measurements for your viewing pleasure:
Headphones
Added
Audio Technica ATH-EW9
Harman Kardon FLY ANC
Massdrop x Koss ESP/95X
Neumann NDH 20
Precide ERGO 2
Sennheiser Amperior
Sony MDR-CD900ST (+ Yaxi pads)
Sony MDR-MA900
Updated
Sennheiser HD800 (stock)
All data has been uploaded to the Graph Comparison Tool (for headphones).
IEMs
Updated
Astell & Kern T8iE (Mk1 Sample 2)
All data has been uploaded to the Graph Comparison Tool (for IEMs).
Apologies for the lack of content recently, I’m trying to keep parity between the graph database and the respective ranking lists. However, there are a lot of extra entries to sift through so it’ll take some time to add them in (and even longer to properly rank them all). So… look forward to that.
Support me on Patreon to get access to tentative ranks, the exclusive “Clubhouse” Discord server and/or access to the Premium Graph Comparison Tool! With current efforts to measure more headphones, those in the exclusive Patreon Discord server get to see those measurements first before anybody else.
My usual thanks to all my current supporters and shoutouts to my big money boys:
“McMadface”
“Galactus”
Will
Man Ho
Denis
Alexander
2 thoughts on “In-Ear Fidelity’s IEM Neutral Target Gets an Update (+ Database Updates)”
Just a note with the Target on you can only compare one IEM on the free version now.
Amazing work on this comparison tool and related undertakings. Thank you for implementing the IEF target curve in the free version, as it is the most “perceptibly neutral” of the IME target curves to my ears as well. Once again, great job!