Making The Argument for EQ

Digital manipulation can be a good thing.

I know. It’s a hot take, especially from traditional audio enthusiasts. But it’s true, EQ (equalization) isn’t evil. And in a lot of cases, it’ll actually help.

Of course, EQ is a wide descriptor that means different things to different people. So in this week’s story, I’m going to break down what I see as upsides to using EQ versus not.

The Basics

We (mostly) live in a digital world. Any sort of sound quality degradation would’ve already been made during the recording process. Digital mastering is, for the most part (with exceptions, of course), perfect. As long as the recording gets losslessly compressed, it will sound practically the same no matter where you play it.

With that in mind, EQ doesn’t hurt anyone. Sound is subjective. Every person on the planet hears things differently. I’m ready to admit that most of my music listening goes through some sort of EQ. It’s actually saved me a ton of money. Before, if I didn’t like the tonality of a speaker or pair of headphones, I would either sell it or try to return it. Nowadays, if it checks every other box (comfort, soundstage, etc.), I’ll just apply EQ and be on my way.

Of course, that doesn’t always work. Some speakers or headphones morph their other sound characteristics when you apply an EQ. In those cases, you either have to deal with what you’ve got or move on, unfortunately. I’ve been in those scenarios as well.

On the other hand, a lot of speakers and headphones, especially in the consumer space, now offer in-house EQ options that apply to the device directly. This is a significant day-to-day improvement over what we had before, where you either had a DAC that applies EQ at the hardware level (but you’re stuck with that specific DAC), or software-based EQ that was stuck to just that device. Having built-in EQ that applies directly to the headphones or speakers is the ultimate solution.

A great example of this is my beloved Focal Bathys ANC headphones. It’s already modifying the sound anyway for its ANC algorithms, so it can’t hurt to apply a level of EQ on top of that. Although, in this case, one could argue that it’s a downside, but the Bathys already require power to play audio, even when plugged in over a 3.5mm cable.

I will never advocate against an option for EQ for the everyday user. Hell, the most popular music streaming service out there, Spotify, offers an EQ (albeit a little limiting) for its users. That’s much better than zero sound customization.

Digital Headphones

And that brings me to my next point. In the modern era, more and more people are listening to audio on the go. And those people are likely connecting to their headphones over Bluetooth, which means that the headphones must have a DAC built into them. Most modern consumer headphones offer some form of ANC, which means the sound is already being manipulated in one way or another to block out environmental noise.

I think the best example of this is Apple’s AirPods Pro. I’ve been a fan of the AirPods Pro since they first came out and am now a super happy owner of the AirPods Pro 2. But guess what? Both iterations have ANC. That means the AirPods are already using some form of DSP in order to block out the outside world. On top of this, AirPods Pro applies its own in-house dynamic EQ curve to achieve its sound.

This can be done wrong, of course. But if done right, as is the case with AirPods Pro, dynamic EQ can actually ensure the same sound signature every single time. This is especially crucial for headphones that you take with you on the go. Unlike your home, where you have lots of control over the environment around you, on-the-go listening can vary substantially. One moment, you’re on a train where sound levels are over 90dB, and 20 minutes later, you may be at a library where environmental noise hardly crosses 30dB.

In both cases, I’m sure you’d want the sound signature to sound relatively the same. The last thing you want is to have to crank your headphones up and blow your eardrums out because there’s a loud jackhammer across the street that’s cancelling out any form of bass response your headphones are giving you.

Hearing Health

This last one is a subject I don’t know much about, but I’ll include it anyway because it’s important. It ties into what I mentioned above. If your headphones are able to run a hearing test on you or if you already know you have some form of hearing loss, being able to digitally manipulate and add that portion of the frequency curve back in will only help you. Whether that’s done automatically through some form of dynamic EQ, or manually doing it yourself, it’s a win.

For example, if you like to hear every detail of a song but you had no idea you had some hearing loss above 14K, you’d probably want to crank your music louder in order to hear those higher frequency details. However, if your headphones have a built-in hearing test and are able to inform you of said loss, you might be inclined to boost those frequencies with EQ instead.

Or, on the other end of the spectrum, if your low-end hearing is shot because you’ve worked around mechanical equipment all of your life, being able to boost the low-end would help tremendously.

The best solution, of course, would be to try and find headphones and speakers that boost said frequencies already. But that’s easier said than done. For example, a close friend of mine has significant hearing loss right around 8K. I had her try my pair of Sonos Ace, and she had no problem with them. If you remember from my review, I had significant issues with the Ace at around those frequencies. The Ace was perfect for her, but absolutely unbearable for me. In that case, it was a combination of both preferences combined with biological hearing.

Conclusion

I just want to reiterate, good EQ won’t hurt anybody. Much like anything else, it can be done poorly. But I’d wager most manufacturers won’t try and make their products worse. And users don’t want to intentionally do so either. EQ can be and is a good thing.

I completely sympathize with those who want the most pure listening experience possible. And for you, EQ is your worst enemy. But for me, I tend to err on the side of getting a consistent sound, regardless if I’m listening to a track in my car, on-the-go with ANC headphones, or at home at my treated listening space with a set of nice speakers. I achieve that with EQ in some areas, and without in others. Of course, there’s more to sound than just tonality, in which case, that can’t be easily controlled and I live with what I got.

Whether you like it or not, the age of DSP and digitally manipulated audio is here and is here to stay. With more and more people opting for ANC headphones, the option for EQ is becoming more and more prevalent. Will everybody use it? No, not even close. But giving users the option to do so doesn’t hurt anybody, as long as you know what you’re doing. If not, EQ presets are a great start for your audio journey.