Headphone EQ

Apple AirPods (1st generation) EQ settings for Mac

Last updated: September 15, 2026

Apple AirPods (1st generation) has 2 published AutoEQ corrections, from 2 measurement rigs, and this page carries every one of them. Below is the curve, the exact parametric filters behind it, and a one-click preset for EQBase. macOS has no system-wide equalizer of its own, so applying a correction to everything your Mac plays, rather than inside a single player, needs an app that sits on the system audio path.

Worth knowing: The two rigs that measured the original AirPods disagree in the midrange and not only at the top, which is unusual: oratory1990 asks for 3.3 dB of cut at 500 Hz where Rtings asks for a decibel of boost, and they finish 6.5 dB apart at 8 kHz. Their preamps differ by more than 2 dB for the same reason. Try both rather than deciding one is wrong, because an earbud that does not seal gives a measurement rig very little to hold on to.

Each measurement below carries four things: the correction curve, its parametric filters, the same filters as copy-paste text in AutoEQ's format (which Equalizer APO and Peace, REW and most desktop parametric equalizers import, and which EQBase's own Expert EQ reads and writes), and EQBase's ten-band fit of that correction. The ten-band figures are what the downloadable preset applies, so what you hear matches what is written here. AutoEQ publishes its own ten-band file on the same grid, fitted to the raw measurement rather than to these filters, so the two agree closely through the midrange and can differ at the extremes.

The correction, measurement by measurement

Preamp: -3.9 dB
Filter 1: ON LSC Fc 105 Hz Gain 3.2 dB Q 0.70
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 9383 Hz Gain 4.7 dB Q 0.74
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 526 Hz Gain -3.3 dB Q 1.28
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 1979 Hz Gain -2.0 dB Q 0.92
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 4485 Hz Gain 2.9 dB Q 2.30
Filter 6: ON HSC Fc 10000 Hz Gain -3.0 dB Q 0.70
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 154 Hz Gain 0.9 dB Q 1.15
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 47 Hz Gain -0.8 dB Q 1.53
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 308 Hz Gain -0.6 dB Q 1.95
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 102 Hz Gain 0.3 dB Q 2.03

Preamp: -6.2 dB
Filter 1: ON LSC Fc 105 Hz Gain 6.2 dB Q 0.70
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 8916 Hz Gain -4.0 dB Q 1.30
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 985 Hz Gain 2.4 dB Q 0.95
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 1873 Hz Gain -4.1 dB Q 1.27
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 401 Hz Gain 0.9 dB Q 0.34
Filter 6: ON HSC Fc 10000 Hz Gain -3.0 dB Q 0.70
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 4273 Hz Gain 1.4 dB Q 2.96
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 75 Hz Gain 0.8 dB Q 3.69
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 5606 Hz Gain -1.8 dB Q 6.00
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 8681 Hz Gain 1.3 dB Q 2.83

What this correction changes

The largest boost is +3.4 dB at treble (8 kHz), and the largest cut is −3.3 dB at midrange (500 Hz). Total swing across the ten bands is 6.7 dB. Averaged over its bands the bass is lifted by 2.0 dB, more than the other two, which is where most of the audible change lands.

The 2 published measurements on this page, from 2 rigs, do not agree with each other, and the size of the disagreement is worth knowing before picking one. They differ most at treble (8 kHz), where the ten-band figures span 6.5 dB, and least at upper bass (125 Hz), where they span 0.0 dB. A spread that wide usually means the rigs disagree about the seal or the coupler rather than about the headphone, so prefer the measurement whose conditions match how you actually wear them.

Applying this on a Mac

The Apple AirPods (1st generation) sits in the ear without sealing it, so there is no seal to lose and no pad to wear out, and equally no way to hold low bass in. Every correction here asks for a large bass boost to make up for that, and how much of it reaches you depends on the shape of your own ear more than on the curve. If the bottom end still sounds thin afterwards, that is the form factor rather than the measurement.

The Apple AirPods (1st generation) connects over Bluetooth, so the Mac's own headphone amplifier never enters the picture: macOS encodes the audio and the headphone's electronics drive it from there. Nothing about amplification applies here, but the preamp does. Leave the headroom the preset asks for, because a boosted band that clips does so before the signal ever leaves the Mac.

In EQBase the fastest route skips this page entirely: open the Headphones pane, search for your model, and apply the correction. The Apple AirPods (1st generation) is in the built-in catalog along with 8,665 other models. The preset above exists for people who want to see the numbers first, or who want a specific measurement rather than the default one.

Either way the correction applies to every app at once, and the free tier carries it with no time limit. The Apple AirPods (1st generation) preset above sets the ten-band curve, which is what the free tier applies, so nothing on this page is behind a purchase.

Common questions

Do these EQ settings work on any Mac app?

Yes, if the equalizer runs on system audio rather than inside one player. EQBase processes everything the Mac plays, so the same correction applies to Spotify, Safari, YouTube, games and calls. The Music app's own equalizer only affects Music.

Where do the Apple AirPods (1st generation) numbers come from?

From 2 published AutoEQ measurements of the Apple AirPods (1st generation), made by oratory1990 and Rtings. Each one is a real frequency-response measurement compared against a target curve, and each produces its own set of filters. They are all on this page rather than averaged together, because a measurement belongs to the person who made it.

Why is the Apple AirPods (1st generation) preamp negative?

The Apple AirPods (1st generation) correction needs −3.9 dB of headroom on its default measurement, so the preset pulls the signal down by that much before the boosts are applied. Boosting a signal that is already near full scale would clip it, and the negative preamp is what buys the room. Skip it and loud passages distort.

Can I use these filters in a different equalizer?

Yes. The filter table is a standard parametric list: type, frequency, gain and Q. Any parametric equalizer that accepts those four values per band will take them, on any platform. The one-click preset is only a shortcut for EQBase users.

Other headphones with published corrections

• Apple EarPods EQ settings for Mac, 4 published measurements
• 7Hz Salnotes Zero EQ settings for Mac, 10 published measurements
• Apple AirPods 2 EQ settings for Mac, 2 published measurements
• Apple AirPods 3 EQ settings for Mac, 2 published measurements
• Moondrop Chu EQ settings for Mac, 11 published measurements

Credits

Correction data from the AutoEQ project by Jaakko Pasanen, used under the MIT licence. The measurements themselves are the work of the people credited on each curve above. EQBase ships the same catalog in the app, with the same attribution.

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