Airpods Max Headphone Accommodations On/Off?

[pugxiwawa]

Just curious, for those who are using APX, are you turning on Headphone Accommodations setting for tuned audio? I am not an audiophile but I found that without Headphone Accommodations on, APX sounds a bit muffled at default setting, which was kind of disappointing. Just curious if you are using this option as well.

This setting is under General -> Accessibility -> Audio/Visual option for those who are not familiar. Thanks.

 

[jterp7]

yeah theres like a 150pg thread on head fi about the airpods max and people messing with that setting. I have not tried it yet myself

 

[redRAYZA]

I tried it out, but eventually turned it off. The frequency boost enhanced details in a lot of tracks, which was great. The downside is that it also introduced hissing in the quiet parts of many other audio tracks, which I simply couldn’t tolerate.

At the end of the day, it comes down to personal preference.

 

[BaddAdvice]

Been playing around with the settings - Balanced, Vocal, and Brightness in combination with the Slight, Moderate, and Strong slider, haven't convinced myself that any of those sound better to my ears than having it all off. I also changed the EQ in Music to 'Off' from 'Latin' to get everything as neutral as possible. I'll run this config for a bit and see how it all sounds.

 

[AppleRobert]

Haven’t tried it after posting a link to the discussion on headfi, I am quite happy with the APM out of the box honestly. Nothing stopping me from trying it and maybe eventually I will.

 

[UBS28]

I have it turned off because the settings applies also to the Airpods Pro. It is not something that is applied only to the AirPods Max.

I will only consider using it if Apple makes it headphone specific, because the same settings on the AirPod Max can sound really bad on the Airpods Pro.

 

[F23]

it's great. use balanced tone on strong

 

[NewMagsafe]

I leave it turned off, wasn't a fan of the processing and extra noise etc.
I also found if you use a sound limit, reduce loud sounds.. it changes the sound quality ever so slightly too.

 

[Elektrofone]

People over on head-fi we’re saying that it was using a compressor to get the effect rather than an EQ so you’re missing out on some frequencies. I’ll leave it off.

 

[Coltaine]

Been playing around with the settings - Balanced, Vocal, and Brightness in combination with the Slight, Moderate, and Strong slider, haven't convinced myself that any of those sound better to my ears than having it all off. I also changed the EQ in Music to 'Off' from 'Latin' to get everything as neutral as possible. I'll run this config for a bit and see how it all sounds.

Absolutely the same here. At the moment I have disabled any Software EQ settings and any Headphone Accomodations, just relying on the Adaptive EQ.

 

[BaddAdvice]

Absolutely the same here. At the moment I have disabled any Software EQ settings and any Headphone Accomodations, just relying on the Adaptive EQ.

So far, this setup sounds best to me. I'm keeping things leveled out and enjoying my music the way the artist/engineer intended things to sound!

 

[xapp]

I noticed the "volume" is different with Accommodations on/off - with on I need volume at ~25-30% for good sound, with off it's like 50-60%.

 

[F23]

One thing to note, with using the headphones accommodations enabled, on balanced tone, set to strong, I played music in my car, and holy jesus. It sounds like 50 HomePods are in my car. The quality and the bass and everything is incredible. The only change I experience with this setting while using headphones is the sound stage is wider, the music is less muffled, and the volume is increased without needing to turn it loud. Overall it has more advantages than being off. The compression or whatever that has been theorized has not been proven.

 

[devil]

I'll throw my vote in for the Balanced/Moderate setup. Seems right to me now but might play around more.

 

[JasonHB]

Off for sure.

Tried it for some time, experimenting with all of the options and with the accommodations on, it sounds artificially harsh and slightly edgy. Initially more impressive, but fatiguing to listen to and much better with all of that turned off.

Easier to listen to, more relaxed presentation whilst not lacking any detail.

Jason

 

[kevroc]

Just curious, for those who are using APX, are you turning on Headphone Accommodations setting for tuned audio? I am not an audiophile but I found that without Headphone Accommodations on, APX sounds a bit muffled at default setting, which was kind of disappointing. Just curious if you are using this option as well.

This setting is under General -> Accessibility -> Audio/Visual option for those who are not familiar. Thanks.

Just got my headphones as was hugely disappointed. I have a pair of Audeze cabled headphones and they're amazing but the cable is a PITA. So that's what I'm comparing too...obviously unfairly I guess.

So the muddiness was pretty confounding. The Audeze's have an EQ so I thought I'd check there on the APX's and stumbled across Apples post on how to enable it. BAM what a crazy and amazing difference! I figured I couldn't be the ONLY one that felt this way and a quick search led me here. I have to agree with OP. I know it's based on the listeners preference, but thank you Apple for these settings!

 

[artfossil]

I thought the sound of my APM was terrific.

Then I did the Custom Audio Setup and took the Mimi hearing test using my AirPods and generated an Audiogram.
So now my audio is tuned for that custom audiogram.

Wow! The sound now is superb! There's a BIG difference for me. So much more clarity and presence!

I encourage everyone to experiment with Headphone Accommodations, either the presets or an Audiogram. It's easy to compare the result as all you have to do is turn Headphone Accommodations off.

 

[Pug72]

That's great thanks. 👍

 

[Pug72]

I was impressed with them before, but now they're even better!!!
Cheers @artfossil

 

[mfram]

I am in a special situation. I have a known hearing loss and wear hearing aids. My hearing loss is considered moderate to severe and most of my loss in in the upper frequencies. The problem is that I definitely can't wear AP or AP Pro with hearing aids. AP Max will work physically, but they will cause a low amount of feedback in the hearing aids at all times. So I tried my AP Max without my hearing aids using the Mimi Hearing Test and Headphone Accommodations with Audiogram. It's actually not too bad. The sound isn't quite as good with the hearing aids, but now I don't have to worry about the feedback in the aids. I'd say I get 85% of the sound quality back. I'm very happy with the feature!

 

[Cashmonee]

These are only active when playing from the iPhone as I understand it correct? So playing from an iPad, Apple TV, or Mac will revert to the normal adaptive EQ.

 

[dandrewk]

These are only active when playing from the iPhone as I understand it correct? So playing from an iPad, Apple TV, or Mac will revert to the normal adaptive EQ.

It works for for iPads and iPhones, but it won't store the settings in the cloud. So you have to do the setting for both devices.

Headphone accommodations are not meant to replace EQ settings. They are a separate control. My understanding is adaptive EQ takes this setting into account. PSA - don't use EQ setting for Apple Music if you are using accommodations.

The good news is accommodations apply to everything you listen to via APMs. I have mild hearing loss in the high frequencies. With headphone accommodations, the sound is so much clearer. Dialogue as well, so I don't have to resort to screen captions.

 

[Cashmonee]

It works for for iPads and iPhones, but it won't store the settings in the cloud. So you have to do the setting for both devices.

Headphone accommodations are not meant to replace EQ settings. They are a separate control. My understanding is adaptive EQ takes this setting into account. PSA - don't use EQ setting for Apple Music if you are using accommodations.

The good news is accommodations apply to everything you listen to via APMs. I have mild hearing loss in the high frequencies. With headphone accommodations, the sound is so much clearer. Dialogue as well, so I don't have to resort to screen captions.

But using the hearing test to have iOS create the accommodations is iPhone only from my understanding since there is no Health app on the iPad. Maybe I am missing something.

 

[dandrewk]

But using the hearing test to have iOS create the accommodations is iPhone only from my understanding since there is no Health app on the iPad. Maybe I am missing something.

I have an iPad. It has headphone accomodations.

If you want to use a custom audiogram (Mimi, etc,), it only works with the health app. But you can still use the integrated test, which works quite well.

 

[Cashmonee]

I have an iPad. It has headphone accomodations.

If you want to use a custom audiogram (Mimi, etc,), it only works with the health app. But you can still use the integrated test, which works quite well.

Got it. Thanks!