I have the original Hifiman HE-1000 (“V1“, in-official designation), and it doesn’t need much EQ.
I have it for it’s special, bright but not hard characteristics, which is great for most music stiles except “loudness war”-damaged pop (still OK on these).
I like to add a bit of bass:
• Shelving,
• Gain +3 to +4 dB,
• F 85 or 115 Hz,
• Q: 0.7
The Oratory and Auto-EQ project’s EQ settings have one thing in common:
They are much too detailed in the range above 2kHz.
The measurements they are based on do use very course targets (“Harman” or “IEF Neutral”).
These targets don’t have such a high resolution, they are a smoothed average for their specific ear simulator, which by itself uses an averaged version of multiple human beings pinnae.
You cannot EQ more precise than you measure.
If you do, you just end up with a bunch of strange colorations.
Only below ca. 2 kHz the pinnae and ear canal do not influence the measurement, this range can favorably be used as base for an EQ.
The more above 2 kHz you go, the more you need to individualize your settings.
A measurement and it’s “Auto-EQ” can still show a tendency, e.g. resonances, so:
• Start with the upper band’s gains halved at least.
• Fine-adjust one band at a time, in the order frequency, gain and Q-factor.
• Dial in and our each band, judge if it‘s an improvement.
• If in doubt, dial it off.
• When you think you have something good, store it in a preset, and take notes about the setting outside ADI-2, just in case.
(The brain adjusts to every coloration fast, might happen the next day you listen you think: “what the f...”.)
• From there you can work yourself further, tweaking and fine-tuning.
• You end up with a bunch of presets, finally you will settle on one that’s your favorite.
The process takes some time.
• The big advantage of EQ:
With every improvement, every new preset you create, you can make a true step forward in sound.
Like buying a new headphones model, but at no cost.
Much more effective than buying another amp (for “synergy“, that in fact hardly ever exists), or other expensive “tweaks” with questionable effect.