Most people know that the best equalizer settings for headphones can dramatically change your music’s sound quality and balance. But what is best for you?
Many different factors dictate the best headphone EQ settings, such as type of headphones (open or closed), personal preference, the genre of music, and more.
In this blog post, we will discuss how to find the best equalizer settings for your headphones so you can enjoy all aspects of sound!
Table of Contents
What is an Equalizer?

An equalizer is a frequency filter, which changes the volume of sounds at different frequencies to alter the sound we hear. It’s used in many devices such as headphones and speakers.
When you change your device speaker or headphone settings from “flat” to an “equalized,” it adjusts how each musical note sounds by boosting or reducing those specific sounds.
This makes certain songs sound better depending on the type of music you’re listening to.
An equalizer works by increasing or decreasing the amplitude of signals at different frequencies. This means that it boosts some sounds while attenuating others so you can hear them better.
Equalizers are used in many devices such as speakers and headphones to help users get a more pleasant experience when listening to music on their devices.
Most people do this by adjusting their device’s settings to an equalized setting, which adjusts each musical note by boosting or reducing those specific sounds. This makes certain types of music sound better depending on the type you’re listening to.
Why Do I Need to Have an Equalizer?
An equalizer is a valuable tool to have when you want to fine-tune your music—whether for style or just preference, having an EQ on headphones can allow you to achieve the best sound possible so that every note and beat is perfect sound.
It allows for the personalization of what songs might otherwise be too loud or quiet in certain areas. For example, the bass might be overpowering, and the treble could be too high: adjusting those levels is where an equalizer comes into play!
An example of a music app that offers an EQ would be Beats Music for Android or iTunes (if you can download it). It’s important to note that you cannot adjust the frequencies if your headphones do not have an equalizer.
It’s also important to note that not all songs and music will sound great: it might be too quiet, or maybe there’s a buzzing noise in the background of every song, even if they are perfect on another device.
Another example would be YouTube videos: if you’ve ever watched a video and the music was too quiet, or there were no audio features at all, that is because those videos do not have equalizers. An audio engineer creates this for songs to be heard as intended, but YouTube does not offer an option like that, although they are trying to change it.
The Benefits of Using an Equalizer App or Program
To get the most out of your music, you need a high-quality listening environment. In addition to headphones and speakers, this includes things like room acoustics or whether you are using studio monitors or consumer earbuds. While choosing the right headphone is also important for high frequency sounds quality, getting an equalizer app can help provide additional options for sound management.
Standard Benefits
Emotional Benefits
Technical Benefits
Visual Benefits
Aesthetic Benefits
The benefits of using an equalizer app or program are numerous, offering listeners more control over their music no matter what genre or listening environment they prefer.
How to Use an Equalizer?

Audio enthusiasts will tell you a lot of things about what the best EQ mode for headphones is. Here is a list with some great points to consider:
Which is the Best Type of EQ and Why?

You might be thinking that to have the best audio quality, you need an equalizer with numerous sliders and options. While it’s true that more sliders mean better control over your audio experience, having just a few can go a long way in making sure all of your music is sounding great.
One thing most people don’t know is that manufacturers create an EQ preset for each device. So, if you’re listening to the same music on your phone, computer, and Bluetooth speaker, you’ll notice a difference in sound quality depending on which one you use because of these presets. Here’s some more information about equalizers:
Bass
Boosting the bass can make your music sound boomy and unnatural. If you want to add some lower bass frequencies, it’s best to do this with a parametric equalizer or by using an octave bandpass filter (found under “advanced”). A general rule of thumb is that if you boost any frequency over 100 Hz, you’ll start to get the “muddy” sound.
Treble
With too much treble, you can end up with a harsh, high-pitched sound that seems overbearing and overpowering. To fix this, use an equalizer preset or parametric EQ for frequencies above 12 kHz (which is where most of your treble is found). Too much high-end is often mistaken for tape hiss or vinyl noise, so be sure to check your eq curve by enabling the “inverse” option.
Mid-range
There’s a lot of debate over the role of mid-range frequencies. Some people say that boosting them can make your music sound more natural, while others tell you to keep it flat and only adjust the high and low-pass filter ranges. But, for most genres, adding some mids (around 200 Hz) will give you a richer sound.
Parametric EQ
A parametric equalizer gives you the most control over your sound because it lets you adjust specific frequencies instead of making broad changes to a wide range of them like an equalizer preset would do. In addition, each slider represents one octave, so adjusting the first frequency will affect every frequency below it until you reach the next slider.
Octave Bandpass Filter
An octave bandpass filter will only let through the frequencies that are one full octave apart from each other, so if you have a slider at 120 Hz, it’ll affect all of the 60 Hz and 240 Hz sliders below it until you reach another “peak” in your eq curve. This can be useful for eliminating certain frequencies that you don’t want to hear, like 60 Hz, which is the rumble of a car engine, and 240Hz, which can be mistaken as tape hiss.
Equalizer Preset
An equalizer preset will have some pre-made filters set by the manufacturer, depending on what type of sound they think your device produces. You can adjust the levels of these presets to make your music sound different. Still, most people would recommend creating an equalizer preset by customizing each slider yourself, so you have more control over what frequencies are boosted or cut.
What are the Best Equalizer Settings for Headphones?

The Equalizer settings for headphones differ from individual to individual. For some people, a slight boost or cut of certain frequencies might be all that is needed, while others prefer more drastic changes in tone and pitch depending on what they are listening to.
For example, the bass range is sometimes extended in some music genres, whereas the treble range is often increased.
The best way to find the right equalizer settings for headphones is to experiment with different levels of bass, sub-bass, midrange, and treble until you come up with a sound that works well across all types of music genres.
In addition, you will need to use your ear to determine if any parts of the song become too muffled or have a harsh sound to them.
Equalizer Settings for Headphones:
How to Find the Right Equalizer Setting for You?
Equalizers are used to change the audio quality of your headphones. They can be found in almost every music player. However, not all equalizer settings are created equally. Check out our advice on how you should find the right setting for you!
Steps to Find the Right Equalizer Setting for Android
Below we will discuss how to find the right equalizer settings for your Android device. These steps should work with most devices, including music players such as VLC and stock Music player apps, but it is best if you can test these on a common app like Spotify or Pandora before applying them to other media players:
You should now have the right equalizer settings for Android devices. If you still can’t find a good sound, try different player apps or music genres until you are satisfied with the results. Keep reading here to learn more about finding the best EQ settings for headphones and using them effectively in all kinds of media.
Steps to Find the Right Equalizer Setting For iOS
Here are the steps you can follow to adjust the equalizer in your iOS device.
To choose a different preset, tap a preset, and a list of songs that have been saved with that EQ will appear. Then, choose a song to play it.
To make your equalizer settings:
Steps to Find the Right Equalizer Setting for Windows
Steps to Find the Right Equalizer Setting for Mac
Best Equalizer Settings for Music

Equalizer settings can vary greatly depending on the speaker system you’re using, your audio source, and what genre or types of music you are listening to. While there’s always a “right” answer for every situation, there are some commonly accepted settings that many people prefer:
Best Equalizer Settings for Classical Music
Classic equalizer setting options include bass cut around 100 Hz, Treble around 16 kHz, and a slight boost at 60 Hz.
Bass cut around 100 Hz is important to maintain the balance between bass and treble. This cut maybe even more important than the boost at 60 Hz, which helps the speakers resonate without overpowering the light frequencies of classical music.
Many digital equalizers do not have a bandpass for 60-100 Hz, but fortunately, most modern speakers have a bass reflex port that makes the 100 Hz cut without EQ.
As for treble, around 16 kHz is also crucial because the human ear loses sensitivity to high frequencies above 18-20 kHz.
Boosting them too much may lead to ear fatigue. A slightly greater boost at this frequency range will compensate for the loss of high-frequency response in the speakers and headphones.
Best Equalizer Settings for Hip Hop & Rap
Hip-hop’s bass plays an integral role in creating its mood and style, so a hip-hop EQ typically has a lot of boosting and cutting at the 40-100 Hz range. The same applies to pop music, except that the 100-200 Hz area is emphasized more for this genre while rap focuses more on the 100-300 Hz area.
The above setting is based on soft or small speakers, which cannot produce the exact frequencies of hip-hop songs. However, if you listen to hip hop through big speakers, you can boost up 200 Hz more to create a slightly deeper bass for more thump.
Another option that artists prefer is cutting at 100 Hz instead of boosting. This cuts the excessive bass and gives the song a clearer sound.
More treble is also necessary for rap songs, so we recommend emphasizing around 10 kHz, giving raps a crispier and livelier feel.
Best EQ Settings for Rock
The classic equalizer setting options include bass cut around 100 Hz, Treble around 10 kHz, and a slight boost at 60 Hz.
A bandpass of 30-80 Hz with average width is necessary for rock songs because they use more bass than treble. In addition, a narrow high-pass filter at 20 kHz helps clear the mud on the guitars and cymbals that can obscure guitars during solos.
Best Equalizer Settings for Reggae
As a music genre heavily influenced by Jamaican Folk music and other genres such as Soul and Mento, Reggae typically has a heavy bass line. As a result, the classic equalizer setting options include bass cut around 100 Hz, Treble around 10 kHz, and a slight boost at 60 Hz.
A bandpass of 30-80 Hz with average width is necessary because reggae uses more bass than treble. In addition, a narrow high-quality filter at 20 kHz helps clear away the mud on the guitars and cymbals that can obscure vocals during solos, etc.
Best Equalizer Settings for Pop Music
The classic equalizer setting options include Bass around 200 Hz, Treble around 10 kHz, and a slight boost at 2-5 kHz.
Pop songs have a strong rhythm section, so we recommend emphasizing this genre’s 100-200 Hz area. A narrow high-pass filter at 20 kHz helps clear away the mud on the guitars and cymbals that can obscure vocals when the choruses come in.
As for treble, around 10 kHz is also important to make the song sound livelier. A slightly greater boost at this frequency range will compensate for the loss of high-frequency response of speakers and headphones.
Special note: For many people experiencing issues with tinnitus (ringing in the ears), using an equalizer is one of the best ways to enjoy music again.
In addition to cutting certain frequencies that might be triggering the ringing, using an equalizer lets you boost those sounds, which can help mask or distract from the tinnitus frequency and bring your listening experience back to normal.
Best Equalizer apps for android, iOS, Windows, and Mac
There are a variety of mobile applications available for both android and iOS users and desktop applications for Mac and Windows users. Some of the most popular ones include:
Conclusion
The purpose of this article was to help you understand the different types of equalizers and how they work and offer some tips for finding EQ settings on any device. We also discussed the best apps to use with an Android phone, iOS device, Windows PC, or Mac computer.
Hopefully, by now, you know more about equalizer benefits and use, type of eq setting available in your favorite music player app or other devices so you can find your perfect sound quality quickly without wasting time looking through many reviews online. So now it’s up to you to decide which is best Equalizer Settings for Headphones?