How to load an AutoEQ or squig.link profile into your dongle

Before you start: fit the profile to your dongle

Each dongle takes its own number of bands and its own gain range: 10 bands on the FiiO and SnowSky DACs, the Protocol Max and the Black Pearl; 8 on the Protocol Micro, the Dawn Pro 2 and the Echo-A; 5 PEAK bands and no preamp on the Allegro Mini. Every limit is under Limits and troubleshooting.

A profile made within those limits goes in as it is.

From AutoEQ

• Open autoeq.app and type your headphones or IEMs into Select headphones.
• Under Select equalizer app, pick EqualizerAPO ParametricEq. It shows the filters in a table; count them against your dongle's bands.
• For a dongle with fewer bands or a smaller gain range, pick Custom Parametric Eq instead. It lets you add filters with ADD FILTER and set their types and their allowed frequency, gain and Q. For the Allegro Mini, use five PEAKING filters from 40 Hz up. The Allegro Mini takes no preamp, and a profile with one cannot be sent until you change it; the red line under HOLD TO SEND says what to change.
• Adjust Bass boost, Treble boost or Max gain if you like.
• Tap the download icon under the filter table. The file is named after your headphones and ends in ParametricEq.txt. The note about Equalizer APO above the table is for Windows; skip it.
• In Contour, tap the + card in the Library, choose OPEN FILE and pick the file. Or open it from your Files app: Contour shows up in Open with and Share for .txt files.

From squig.link

• Open squig.link or another squig.link site and pick your headphones or IEMs. If an advert covers the page, close it.
• Open the Equalizer tab. Pick your model in Choose EQ model and a target in Choose EQ target.
• Set Constraints if you want to limit the result, then tap Auto EQ.
• Tap Export. The file is named after the model and ends in Filters.txt. Use Export, not Export Graphic EQ (Wavelet): Contour reads parametric filters, and a graphic EQ file holds none.
• Open the file in Contour with OPEN FILE. If it has separate filters for the left and right channel, Contour takes the left ones and says so when they differ.

graph.hangout.audio is a graph tool of the same family. There the buttons are AutoEQ and Export Parametric EQ.

Pasting text instead

If you have the EQ as text, from a forum post or a file someone sent, copy it, tap the + card and choose PASTE. Contour reads the Equalizer APO format: a Preamp line and filter lines such as Filter 1: ON PK Fc 105 Hz Gain -2.5 dB Q 0.70. PASTE stays grey when the clipboard holds no EQ Contour understands.

Send it to the dongle

• Check the curve on the EQ page. Empty filters that only fill a file's unused slots are skipped; other 0 dB filters are left out only when the dongle has too few bands or lacks their filter type.
• Contour fits the file to the dongle that is plugged in. Depending on the dongle, it either leaves out what does not fit and says so, or keeps the file as it is and blocks HOLD TO SEND with a line that says what to change, such as 10 BANDS - MAX 8.
• On a DAC with USER slots, pick the slot in the row above HOLD TO SEND.
• Hold HOLD TO SEND until it fills. Contour writes every band and the preamp, reads them back and stores them only if everything matches. ON DAC means the profile is in the dongle.
• Use the dongle with any app. Each DAC's page says whether the EQ was confirmed to stay after unplugging. A quieter sound than before is the preamp making room for the boosts.

Questions