Best Equalizer App for Android: Check Your Phone First

The thing to check on any Android equalizer is which apps it reaches. Android’s developer documentation says an equalizer is attached to one app’s audio session, and that attaching one to the phone’s whole output is deprecated. So an equalizer app relies on your music app cooperating, and the careful listings on Google Play promise most or many apps, not all of them.

We went through Samsung’s, Google’s and Spotify’s help pages for what is already built in, then through the Google Play listings of the equalizer apps. Start with the built-in options. They cost nothing and show no ads.

What your phone already has

Samsung Galaxy: an equalizer in Settings

Samsung’s support site gives the path: open Settings, tap Sounds and vibration, then Sound quality and effects, then Equalizer. The presets are Normal, Pop, Classic, Jazz and Rock. Choose Custom and you can drag the bars yourself.

The same screen has Dolby Atmos and Adapt sound, which builds a sound profile from your age group or from a hearing test taken with headphones on. Samsung notes that the screens vary with the carrier and software version. Its audio features guide has the steps.

Google Pixel: no equalizer on the help pages

Google’s Pixel help pages for sound settings cover Adaptive Sound and Spatial Audio, and neither is an equalizer. Adaptive Sound adjusts the phone’s own speaker to the room, and Google says it does not work with headphones or external speakers. We found no equalizer for the phone itself on those pages.

The equalizer Google does document is for its earbuds. Pixel Buds Pro 2 and Pixel Buds 2a have five bands you can slide, plus presets such as Heavy bass and Vocal boost. On a Pixel it is under Settings, Connected devices, then the buds’ own settings, Device details, Sound and Equalizer. On other Android phones it is in the Google Pixel Buds app.

Inside Spotify

Spotify has its own. Tap your profile picture, then Settings and privacy, then Playback, and switch Equalizer on under Listening controls. You can pick a preset or drag the dots. Spotify’s help page adds a note for Android: if your phone has a built-in equalizer, the changes also affect the sound of other apps.

Your earbuds’ own app

If you listen on wireless headphones, look at the maker’s app before a general equalizer. Sony | Sound Connect and JBL Headphones both list an equalizer you can customise for the headphones themselves. Both are free with no ads label on Google Play.

Equalizer apps compared

Wavelet and Poweramp Equalizer

These are the two to try first. Neither carries an ads label, and both are free to install with in-app purchases. Neither listing says what the purchases unlock.

Wavelet is built around headphones. Its listing says it holds more than 5,000 AutoEq profiles, each one a correction for a named headphone model. There is a graphic equalizer for adjusting by hand, along with a bass tuner, a limiter and channel balance. The headphone features show up when wired, Bluetooth or USB headphones are connected, and your saved profile loads again when you switch between pairs. It calls itself system-wide, then words the claim carefully: it works across many audio sources.

Poweramp Equalizer comes from the developer of the Poweramp music player and suits people who want to shape the sound by hand. You can set anywhere from 5 to 32 bands, or switch to a parametric mode where each band is configured separately. It has AutoEq presets too. On compatibility it is the most candid listing here. Most player and streaming apps are supported, some need the equalizer enabled in the player’s own settings, and an Advanced Player Tracking mode covers almost any player in exchange for extra permissions.

SoundID: free, and built on a hearing test

SoundID comes from Sonarworks, and its listing says the technology behind it is used in professional recording studios. It does not give you sliders. You run a quick setup or a fuller test, choose your headphone model from its library, and the app builds a profile from both. The listing says plainly that it is not a regular equalizer.

It is free, with no ads label and no in-app purchases. The listing names the apps it supports, among them Spotify, YouTube, YouTube Music, Tidal, Amazon Music, Deezer, Apple Music and VLC, and adds that it concentrates on apps other than games.

The four with ads

Precise Volume is a volume tool first. Its listing says Android has 15 to 25 volume steps by default and that the app replaces them with a number you choose. It also has a 10-band graphic equalizer and Auto EQ for headphones. The parametric equalizer, bass, reverb and virtualiser are on the Pro list, and Pro removes the ads. The listing says there are no subscriptions.

Flat Equalizer has 10 bands, genre presets and a bass booster. Music Volume EQ offers a 5-band or 10-band equalizer, 15 presets, Auto EQ for supported headphones and a Quick Settings tile. Equalizer FX has 12 presets, bass boost and home screen widgets, and switches itself on and off as your music player starts and stops.

All four do roughly what the ad-free apps above do, so the reason to choose one is a specific extra, such as the finer volume control in Precise Volume. Two of these listings warn you to be careful with their own volume boosters. Take them at their word.

RootlessJamesDSP: capable, and awkward to set up

RootlessJamesDSP is free with no ads and nothing to buy, and its listing opens by telling you about its limitations. Setting it up needs a tool called Shizuku on Android 11 or later, or a computer connected over ADB. Apps that block audio capture are left unprocessed, and the listing names Spotify and Google Chrome. It also cannot run alongside Wavelet.

What you get for the trouble is a deep toolkit that includes a graphic equalizer, a convolver, crossfeed, AutoEq profiles and a scripting engine for writing your own effects. It suits people who enjoy that sort of thing and listen through YouTube Music or a local player.

If your music is files on the phone

A music player with its own equalizer sidesteps the compatibility question, because the equalizer sits inside the app doing the playing. The catch is that it only helps with music that player plays.

• Poweramp Music Player plays local files and radio streams, with a graphic equalizer of up to 32 bands. It has no ads. The download is a full-featured 15-day trial, after which you buy the full version.
• Neutron Music Player is paid, with a free evaluation version listed separately. Its parametric equalizer runs from 4 to 70 bands.
• BlackPlayer is free with ads and has a five-band equalizer. BlackPlayer EX is the paid version without ads.

Which one to pick

• You have a Samsung: the Equalizer in Settings, before any app.
• You mostly use Spotify: Spotify’s own equalizer.
• You want your headphones corrected with little effort: Wavelet, or SoundID if you would rather take a listening test than choose a profile.
• You want to adjust many bands by hand: Poweramp Equalizer.
• Your music is stored on the phone: Poweramp Music Player.

If an equalizer app seems to do nothing with one particular music app, open that music app’s settings and look for an equalizer or audio effects switch. Poweramp Equalizer’s listing says some players need it turned on there.

What happened to the old list

This article listed ten apps in 2019. Neutralizer no longer turns up when you search Google Play. Sonarworks True-Fi was a beta at the time, and the Sonarworks headphone app on the store today is SoundID. Viper4Android, which the old article described as for rooted phones only, does not turn up on Google Play either.

Four entries had names so generic that we could not match them to a single listing: Band Equalizer, Bass Booster & Equalizer, Equalizer and Bass Booster, and Music Equalizer. Search for any of them and Google Play returns a page of near-identical titles. Equalizer FX and Music Volume EQ are still there, and so are the three music players.

Quick answers

Does Android have a built-in equalizer?

It depends on who made the phone. Samsung puts one under Settings, Sounds and vibration, Sound quality and effects. Google’s Pixel help pages describe Adaptive Sound and Spatial Audio but no equalizer for the phone.

Is there a system-wide equalizer for Android?

Wavelet describes itself as system-wide and says it works across many audio sources. Poweramp Equalizer says most player and streaming apps. Android attaches an equalizer to one app’s audio at a time, which is why coverage differs from app to app.

Which Android equalizer has no ads?

Wavelet, Poweramp Equalizer, SoundID and RootlessJamesDSP carry no ads label on Google Play. SoundID and RootlessJamesDSP have no in-app purchases either.

Which equalizer works with Spotify on Android?

Spotify’s own, under Settings and privacy, then Playback. SoundID and Equalizer FX both name Spotify in their listings. RootlessJamesDSP says it does not process Spotify.

Do equalizer apps work with Bluetooth headphones?

Wavelet’s listing says its headphone features appear when wired, Bluetooth or USB headphones are connected. For wireless earbuds, check the maker’s own app as well.

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