Update to the HitFi target
Over the past day, and new testing, I've once again decided to update the HitFi preference curve, in addition to introducing a new curve: HitFi Neutral.
The choice to rename "HitCoder Target" to the "HitFi Target" comes more from the idea of this being my review preference target, and while it was created by me, it belongs to the HitFi domain.
The HitFi neutral target is by no means an objective definitive definition of neutrality, and should not be taken as such. It is instead, more of what I personally consider to sound neutral. If you disagree with it, that's perfectly fine and justifiable, and I don't expect you to agree with it. In fact, I want you to disagree, because if you blindly agree with everything I say, it means you're not making your own decisions. Everything here if just for you to be able to learn my take on things, and that is mostly just to enjoy the hobby and share my opinion with others, to allow for discussion and so that everybody can help each other to learn new things.
With all that said and done, allow me to explain the choices made here:
Pinna gain peaking at 3k as typical, but anything below slopes in. The emphasis is on 3k, and anything lower is just to enter smoothly into that region, because otherwise, when boosting those frequencies too much between 1kHz up to anything prior to 3kHz leads to bloat, in my opinion. Everything afterwards tapers off as expected.
Sub-bass boost on the preference target is to taste. This is not my neutral target, it's my preference target. The bass boost is really the only difference here though.
The bass isn't as tight as many might think, it isn't pulled down flat, it's left to gradually taper into the mids. I feel that doing this allows for more warmth, making overall sound fuller. It's not too emphasized as that usually makes for frequency masking (which often is a trade off towards warmth so is normally more preference related. not everyone wants analytical bass and mids.)
Compared to other targets it is also much less emphasized; HitFi Neutral is leaner than IEF Neutral
and here it is compared to a diffuse field target
now, with regards to my preference curve, compared to harman it has much less of an emphasis on the bass and the upper mids, which I personally prefer as it makes the mids feel much fuller.
Notably, the new HitFi target has a pinna gain in a very similar location to the Harman target, which I find sounds far cleaner, and less honky and bloated than other targets with a higher gain at around 2kHz. As usual, all targets have a focus around 3kHz, and the HitFi target shows that yet again here.
Additionally, the Harman target tends to tighten the mid-bass a lot more than the HitFi preference curve. I find that this tends to sacrifice a lot of warmth, and leaves things sounding a little hollow.
Lastly, I'd like to add that through testing and trying this new target, I finally have an explanation for why I enjoy the Moondrop Crescent's upper mids a lot;
As shown here, the Crescent follows my target for my upper mids extremely well, while the Aria is a tad more bloated in comparison. That being said, the Aria is definitely still better overall IMHO.