Before you drop $ 300 on the latest high - end earpiece to listen to music on your iOS twist , delay to see whether an leveling ( EQ ) app can make your current cans , or even earbuds , vocalise like a million Buck — or at least fill up enough to that flesh to satisfy your tastes .
In an ideal listening environment , with stark euphony files and perfect phone , you would n’t want to boost bass or tweak treble — so you would n’t need an equalizer for your music on your iOS twist .
But most of us spend prison term mind on the train , at the gymnasium , or while walking along metropolis street — situations that from an aural perspective fall far shy of perfection — and with less - than - thoroughgoing earpiece . That ’s where EQ can make a big difference .
EQ adjust the frequencies of sound — or more exactly , of audio signal at particular oftenness , relative to other frequency . A someone with fair pristine ear has a earreach cooking stove of from 20Hz to 20kHz ( 20,000Hz ) , with bass domiciliate in the lower oftenness and two-fold feel at the gamey end of the range . When you utilise EQ to music , you’re able to promote or scummy specific frequency . If you really like bass voice ( or have a hard time get a line it ) , you could jack up the lower frequencies in the premix . If treble grate your eardrums , you’re able to advertize the higher - end frequencies down .
iOS’s built-in EQ
Io hides its EQ option in the configurations card .
EQ adjustments come in in ready to hand when you ’re listening on the go , so it ’s a ignominy that Apple park its aboriginal EQ app in iOS 7 not within the Music app , as you might gestate , but in preferences .
Go toSettings > Musicand you ’ll see EQ just below Sound Check . iOS 7 offers 23 predetermined counterweight preferences , each based on a dissimilar combination of bass , midrange , and treble adjustments , and make ( usually ) for the genre of euphony Apple conceive they ferment well with : Electronic , Jazz , Hip Hop , and Rock , for example . The Bass Booster and Bass Reducer options do exactly what their names imply .
When you select an EQ choice in preferences , it apply to all song you meet in the Music app . ( Note that an EQ setting does n’t actually change the source file ; all of the allowance it makes come on the tent-fly as the Song dynasty roleplay . ) But if you crave greater tractableness in your EQ configurations , such as always using the Rock setting for Led Zeppelin but switch to Hip Hop for Eminem , you may turn to iTunes on your computing machine for help . Keep in mind , however , that iTunes Match and EQ do n’t appear to act well together .
Set EQ per song
To search the EQ setting in iTunes , first chooseWindow > Equalizerto see a visual delegacy of the affected frequencies . Try selectingTreble Boosterand then change over toBass Boosterand you ’ll see a substantial shift as the practical node dance around to their new spots . By default , iTunes use the EQ you select to all song , but you could assign EQ place setting on a per - Song dynasty basis .
Use iTunes ’ Equalizer window to pick an EQ setting that fits your taste .
To do so , select a song and wardrobe Command - I to spread out the Get Info windowpane . Click the Options tab , and you ’ll see several options that you could aline for the song . In the Equalizer Preset pop - up menu , break up the circumstance you ’d like for that song and clickOK . Not only will the birdcall always play with that EQ preset on your Mac , but the preset will carry over when you synchronise that song to an iOS gadget . If you produce a usage preset in iTunes through the Equalizer windowpane , however , those changes wo n’t carry over to your iOS gimmick . Also , if the EQ on your iOS machine is set to Off , thedevice will not play the preset you ’ve selectedfor any Sung . And keep in mind that using EQ can have a negative shock on your stamp battery life .
you may select a different EQ set for each song via iTunes .
Other EQ apps
If you need more ascendance over EQ in iOS 7 — and you ’re uncoerced to forgo using the build - in Music app for playback — you could choose one of several apps that pop the question lots of extra flexibility and functionality . For example , Onkyo ’s freeHF Playerbrings adjoin control to custom EQ options .
you may easily make detailed custom EQ setting for rail on your iOS gimmick with Onkyo ’s HF Player app .
In the app , you pick out the strain from your Music subroutine library , and then tap theEqualizerbutton . Push up on the frequencies you desire to boost or puff down on the 1 you want to lower . you could make detailed customs configurations and salvage them for late use . Like the built - in iOS EQ , the app applies that preset to all songs , but switch within the app among your choice while you ’re playing a Song dynasty is a lot light .
Aphex’sAudio Xcitertakes a different approach to EQ . Instead of have accession to specific frequencies , you control Tune , Harmonics , and commix stage setting , which the app uses to pick off the sound output . The reward of this method over a received EQ is that the app keeps all the levels in the song balanced , resulting in a mix that hopefully is more similar to the original . The app requires a $ 1 in - app purchase to unlock this functionality , but you may try it for 5 moment a twenty-four hours before you corrupt to see if it ’s deserving it .
The grownup drawback of most EQ apps is that they work only on DRM - free files hosted on your gimmick ; if you ’ve joined the pour medicine revolution from Beats , Spotify , Rdio , and others , you ’re out of luck . If , on the other hand , you ’re a buff of TuneIn ’s pour radio options , check out Elephantcandy ’s $ 5Radio EQu . It utilise predetermined or custom EQ to any place uncommitted through TuneIn . ( The developer says that the current interlingual rendition of the app has issuance with the 64 - bit architecture of the iPhone 5s and the iPad Air , but promises that a location is in the works . )
Whichever option you try , you owe it to your ear to give an EQ app a try . You may witness a whole fresh world of hear — no new headphones required .
