9/22/2019 Equalizer App For Mac
The handcrafted equalizers and presets bring you the power to shape your sound at your fingertips. Whether you want more punch, a deeper sound, or thundering bass, with the equalizers and presets you can simply dial in the audio that suits you best.
Before you drop $300 on the latest high-end headphones to listen to music on your iOS device, check to see whether an equalization (EQ) app can make your current cans, or even earbuds, sound like a million bucks—or at least close enough to that figure to satisfy your tastes.
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In an ideal listening environment, with perfect music files and perfect headphones, you wouldn't need to boost bass or tweak treble—so you wouldn’t need an equalizer for your music on your iOS device.
But most of us spend time listening on the train, at the gym, or while walking along city streets—situations that from an aural perspective fall far shy of perfection—and with less-than-perfect headphones. That’s where EQ can make a big difference.
EQ adjusts the frequencies of sound—or more precisely, of audio signals at particular frequencies, relative to other frequencies. A person with fairly pristine ears has a hearing range of from 20Hz to 20kHz (20,000Hz), with bass residing in the lower frequencies and treble tones at the higher end of the range. When you apply EQ to music, you can raise or lower specific frequencies. If you really like bass (or have a hard time hearing it), you can jack up the lower frequencies in the mix. If treble rankles your eardrums, you can push the higher-end frequencies down.
iOS’s built-in EQ
EQ adjustments come in handy when you’re listening on the go, so it’s a shame that Apple parked its native EQ app in iOS 7 not within the Music app, as you might expect, but in Settings.
Go to Settings > Music and you’ll see EQ just below Sound Check. iOS 7 offers 23 preset equalizer settings, each based on a different combination of bass, midrange, and treble adjustments, and named (usually) for the genre of music Apple thinks they work 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 option in Settings, it applies to all songs you play in the Music app. (Note that an EQ setting doesn’t actually change the source file; all of the adjustments it makes occur on the fly as the song plays.) But if you crave greater flexibility in your EQ settings, such as always using the Rock setting for Led Zeppelin but switching to Hip Hop for Eminem, you can turn to iTunes on your computer for help. Keep in mind, however, that iTunes Match and EQ don't appear to play well together.
Set EQ per song
To explore the EQ settings in iTunes, first choose Window > Equalizer to see a visual representation of the affected frequencies. Try selecting Treble Booster and then switch to Bass Booster and you’ll see a significant shift as the virtual knobs dance around to their new spots. By default, iTunes applies the EQ you select to all songs, but you can assign EQ settings on a per-song basis.
To do so, select a song and press Command-I to open the Get Info window. Click the Options tab, and you’ll see several settings that you can adjust for the song. In the Equalizer Preset pop-up menu, pick the setting you’d like for that song and click OK. Not only will the song always play with that EQ preset on your Mac, but the preset will carry over when you sync that song to an iOS device. If you create a custom preset in iTunes through the Equalizer window, however, those changes won’t carry over to your iOS device. Also, if the EQ on your iOS device is set to Off, the device will not play the preset you’ve selected for any song. And keep in mind that using EQ can have a negative impact on your battery life.
Other EQ apps
If you want more control over EQ in iOS 7—and you’re willing to forgo using the built-in Music app for playback—you can choose one of several apps that offer lots of additional flexibility and functionality. For example, Onkyo’s free HF Player brings touch control to custom EQ settings.
In the app, you select the song from your Music library, and then tap the Equalizer button. Push up on the frequencies you want to boost or drag down on the ones you want to lower. You can create detailed custom settings and save them for later use. Like the built-in iOS EQ, the app applies that preset to all songs, but switching within the app among your choices while you’re playing a song is a lot easier.
Aphex’s Audio Xciter takes a different approach to EQ. Instead of having access to specific frequencies, you control Tune, Harmonics, and Mix settings, which the app uses to tweak the sound output. The advantage of this method over a standard 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 can try it for 5 minutes a day before you buy to see if it’s worth it.
Free app for mac. The biggest drawback of most EQ apps is that they work only on DRM-free files hosted on your device; if you’ve joined the streaming music revolution from Beats, Spotify, Rdio, and others, you’re out of luck. If, on the other hand, you’re a fan of TuneIn’s streaming radio options, check out Elephantcandy’s $5 Radio EQu. It applies preset or custom EQ to any station available through TuneIn. (The developer says that the current version of the app has issues with the 64-bit architecture of the iPhone 5s and the iPad Air, but promises that a fix is in the works.)
Whichever option you try, you owe it to your ears to give an EQ app a try. You may find a whole new world of listening—no new headphones required.
Popular Mac audio app Boom 3D gives you complete control over your Mac’s audio including advanced EQ settings with built-in presets and the ability to customize volume on an app-by-app basis. The company also makes an iOS companion app that lets you continue the experience on your iPhone or iPad.
Head below for a full look at Boom 3D. And thanks to our sponsor Boom, for a limited time 9to5 readers can get Boom3D for Mac for $11.89 (Reg. $16.99) w/ code 9TO5BOOM. Or start with a 7-day free trial. App for mac like windirstat. Best free meeting minutes app for mac.
While many of Boom 3D’s 5 million users use the app to improve the listening experience on devices like MacBooks and iPhones that have smaller speakers, the app also brings advanced EQ settings and a cross-platform audio player that lets you keep your EQ settings across your devices including Mac, iPhone and iPad.
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3D Surround Sound. One of the most popular features of Boom is its 3D Surround Sound feature that offers an immersive virtual surround sound experience that works with any pair of existing headphones. For many users this one-click setting will be enough to vastly improve audio for things like movies and gaming. But then there is also advanced EQ settings that are handy for more fine-grained control over all of your audio output…
EQ controls, presets & effects. Boom comes preloaded with a number of EQ presets and audio effects that let you quickly and easily dial in your sound depending on your device and what type of audio you’re listening to. For the more advanced user, a 31-band Advanced Equalizer (pictured above) can be fully customized manually if you want to create your own presets.
Audio Player & Remote. In addition to being able to control all of your Mac’s audio system-wide or for apps individually, Boom 3D includes a full-fledged audio player built-in that lets you manage all of your music from one place. There is also a companion Boom Remote app for iOS that lets you control your Mac’s default volume level, Boom 3D’s Equalizers and Effects right from your iPhone or iPad.
Having control over volume on an app-by-app basis is another extremely powerful feature of Boom 3D. For instance, you can easily mute or lower the volume of applications in the background or enable only what you want to hear when you want it without having to close apps you need running.
Boom for iOS
When you’re ready to move over to your iPhone or iPad, Boom for iOS allows you to have the same 3D Surround Sound, EQ settings, effects and presets, and also utilize the audio settings for streaming music from apps like Spotify and Tidal.
You’ll also find the same built-in audio player where you’ll be able to access all of your playlists and stored music as well as 20,000 local and international Radio and Podcast stations from across 120 countries that Boom recently added. The iOS app is available for $6.99 (reg Price $11.99) for six months and $11.99 (reg price $23.99) for one year.
Best Equalizer App For Android
For a limited time 9to5 readers can get Boom3D for Mac for $11.89 (Reg. $16.99) w/ code 9TO5BOOM. Or start with a 7-day free trial.
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