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Other What EQ Setting Do You Use on Your iPhone?

ghsDUDE

ghsDUDE

macrumors 68030
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May 25, 2010
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What EQ setting do you use on your iPhone? I love Rock music (I’ve always had that EQ setting on my iPhone) but I turned it off today and it was noticeable “louder” on my AirPods.

Any advice feedback on what settings you use while listening to music?
 
RadioGaGa1984 said:
Personally I don’t use an EQ setting at all. Much cleaner sound to me.
Click to expand...
Dang, it sounds a lot “flatter” with it off. I mostly listen to alternative music so assumed that made it sound better.

Toggle between Flat and Off and there’s basically no change (when using headphones) but you can definitely hear the difference with Rock selected.

Now I’m torn haha.
 
ghsNick said:
Dang, it sounds a lot “flatter” with it off. I mostly listen to alternative music so assumed that made it sound better.

Toggle between Flat and Off and there’s basically no change (when using headphones) but you can definitely hear the difference with Rock selected.

Now I’m torn haha.
Click to expand...

To me no EQ is more natural sounding the way it was recorded. Not artificially boosted.
 
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If you really love EQ (and it does compensate for whatever earphones you're using and the ambient environment), I highly recommend the Equalizer by Audioforge Labs Inc. app.

It does require you to play your music from inside the app, but it is the very best Parametric EQ on iOS, bar none. You can fine tune to your exact tastes.
 
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I would use my phone's EQ if I could set custom EQ curves.

I made a file in Audacity of sine waves, played in sequence of about one second each, that matched the EQ sliders in iTunes. Whenever I bought a new laptop, new speakers, or new earphones, I'd play that file on Repeat and play with the EQ until there were no "peaks" in the sound (peaks color the sound worse than holes, and are more annoying to my ears). Once satisfied, I saved the finished EQ curve with the name of whatever device I was using.

It worked pretty well. Music was more natural and stereo separation seemed better.

I tried saving custom settings to music files on my iPods and iPhones so they'd be available, or at least correct the sound output, but it never worked. I pretty much gave up.
 
drzen said:
If you really love EQ (and it does compensate for whatever earphones you're using and the ambient environment), I highly recommend the Equalizer by Audioforge Labs Inc. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/equalizer/id321267949?mt=8 app.

It does require you to play your music from inside the app, but it is the very best Parametric EQ on iOS, bar none. You can fine tune to your exact tastes.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I had downloaded this a long while back, but I'd forgotten about it. I had used EqualizerEverywhere when I was jailbroken. This is a pretty good stock equivalent.
 
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drzen said:
If you really love EQ (and it does compensate for whatever earphones you're using and the ambient environment), I highly recommend the Equalizer by Audioforge Labs Inc. app.

It does require you to play your music from inside the app, but it is the very best Parametric EQ on iOS, bar none. You can fine tune to your exact tastes.
Click to expand...
Sweet!

Now if it worked in CarPlay...
 
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ghsNick said:
What EQ setting do you use on your iPhone? I love Rock music (I’ve always had that EQ setting on my iPhone) but I turned it off today and it was noticeable “louder” on my AirPods.

Any advice feedback on what settings you use while listening to music?
Click to expand...


Personally I use normal on my iPhone 8 plus
 
The only way EQ off will sound boosted or unnatural is if you are used to a boosted or unnatural EQ all the time. This is typical if you use cheap and/or non neutral sounding headphones that are more biased towards being bassier/warmer, or potentially brighter/more highs focused.

Secondary bias can come in the form of personal preference which will lead you to say oh I like the treble boosted EQ because it makes the guitars pop, and I personally like that. Likewise for bass boost, etc.

I have headphones that are good at treble, and a pair that is more warm for various genres, so I keep my EQ off, and let me headphones do the veiling.

If you only use earbuds and just listen to music on your phone for mobile use, then you can use whatever, and the usual preference will apply based on the genre of music too.
 
I gather the stereo sound is impressive then, which is good.

But I thought there were 2 speakers on the base of the phone. Apples website though, doesn't indicate what the left set of holes are for...does anyone know?...
214412C9-79F6-4613-8057-3AC8F3F30101.png
 
Ralfi said:
I gather the stereo sound is impressive then, which is good.

But I thought there were 2 speakers on the base of the phone. Apples website though, doesn't indicate what the left set of holes are for...does anyone know?...
View attachment 724294
Click to expand...

It clearly indicates that the left grill is for the microphone. There is no speaker on the left.
 
Gathomblipoob said:
It clearly indicates that the left grill is for the microphone. There is no speaker on the left.
Click to expand...
The confusing thing is the microphone is being depicted as the central area, not the left set of holes.

The 'built in stereo Speaker' is clearly marked buy the bracket covering the right set of holes, but the microphone covers a much larger area, without clearly covering the left.
 
Ralfi said:
The confusing thing is the microphone is being depicted as the central area, not the left set of holes.

The 'built in stereo Speaker' is clearly marked buy the bracket covering the right set of holes, but the microphone covers a much larger area, without clearly covering the left.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have to admit upon closer inspection that the bracket is confusing.
 
I don't generally bother with EQ.

The mastering on the different genres of music I listen to varies massively; and there isn't such thing as a "one size fits all" EQ setting, so I'd have to keep adjusting it all the time.
 
If I'm listening using my iPhone's speakers (7 Plus JB), then I change the equalizer to Small Speakers, to counter the tinniness. When it's connected to my JBL or to my car, I have it turned off. I wish there was an easier, quicker way to get to the EQ setting.
 
ghsNick said:
What EQ setting do you use on your iPhone? I love Rock music (I’ve always had that EQ setting on my iPhone) but I turned it off today and it was noticeable “louder” on my AirPods.

Any advice feedback on what settings you use while listening to music?
Click to expand...
Idk what iPhone you have but I’ve found that the ‘Late Night’ EQ option provides the clearest and crispest sound out of all of them. Check it out.
 
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