Stereo Tool

Interesting. There are many factors to sound that could cause fatigue. From compression ratios/speeds, to the amount of punch, to bass distribution, etc.

For me, I find too much sub-bass gives me a specific type of headache. If this is the cause, try messing with True Bass or the Sub Bass Synthesis slider on the main page to reduce the effect.

Also, is Natural Dynamics on? This is an expander that causes extra punch that doesn't always feel great, depending on the settings.

I'm the person who posted about this last year; I've never figured out a solution. The nearest I can tell is that it MIGHT have to do with the flat band tops, since, if you turn them off you see a curve that's similar to what I think I hear across the board - bumped up lows and very top end. I've tried turning these off and manually redoing the EQ, but then nothing ever really sounds great on the top end.

I had my hearing checked several years ago and while I have strong ability left (I'm in my 50s) on the top end, my middle range has an enormous hole in it around 2k I didn't realize I had. I've wondered if this is ultimately why StereoTool is very fatiguing to me, it's irritating the place in my spectrum that isn't there, or is deficient. My wife, a Berklee grad, can't hear the problems nor apparently can most of the users of the software. So why do a few of us find it painful and we're not able to find ANY settings that work for us? I've been trying for at least two years!

I've made some progress since my post last year.

I've found the hearing discomfort (the sense of a pressure on the ear) is more noticeable on laptop speakers rather than full range hi-fi speakers. I had assumed the problem was too much low end bass, but you obviously can't hear that on laptop speakers.

I have found, that turning off the peak limiter removes the problem. You then get level trying to go above 0dBFS so I need to work out how not to push that limiter so hard.
There doesn't seem to be a way of adjusting how hard that final limiter is pushed.

Although I haven't solved it completely, it does seem to come from pushing everything too hard, especially that final limiter.