Headphone EQ

Apple AirPods 4 EQ settings for Mac

Last updated: October 2, 2026

Apple AirPods 4 has 4 published AutoEQ corrections, from 2 measurement rigs across 3 variants of the model, and this page carries every one of them. 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.

• Who it is for: anyone listening to the Apple AirPods 4 on a Mac who wants its measured tonal balance pulled toward a neutral target.
• What a correction is: a set of equalizer filters that the open-source AutoEQ project computes by comparing a published measurement of the headphone with a target curve.
• What this page holds: for every measurement, the curve, its parametric filters, the same filters as copy-paste text, a ten-band version and a one-click EQBase preset.
• Which variant is yours: the 3 variants in the measurement picker are different versions of the Apple AirPods 4, so pick the one that describes your own pair before choosing a measurement of it. Standard means the measurement was published without a revision or condition noted.
• What it cannot do: it changes frequency response only. It will not make up for the way it happens to sit in your ear or for distortion, and it was measured on someone else's pair, not yours.
• What you need: any parametric equalizer takes the filters, on any platform. The preset needs EQBase, free on macOS 14.4 or later.

Worth knowing: Apple sells two different AirPods 4, one with active noise cancelling and one without, and this page carries both plus a transparency reading, because they stop being the same headphone once the electronics are running. Both have the H2 chip, so iOS 27's own three-band Custom EQ does reach them, and because it is stored on the hardware it follows to a Mac. What is here is ten bands, or fully parametric in Expert mode, which is a different instrument from tilting lows, mids and highs. The two rigs disagree most about the bass, 4.9 dB apart at 31 Hz, which on an earbud that does not seal is really the question of how well it happened to sit.

What the Apple AirPods 4 correction changes

These figures come from the measurement by Rtings, the one the picker below opens with. The largest boost is +6.5 dB at presence (4 kHz), and the largest cut is −1.9 dB at upper bass (125 Hz). Total swing across the ten bands is 8.4 dB. Averaged over its bands the treble is lifted by 1.5 dB, more than the other two, which is where most of the audible change lands.

The 4 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 sub-bass (31 Hz), where the ten-band figures span 4.9 dB, and least at midrange (500 Hz), where they span 1.5 dB.

The Apple AirPods 4 corrections, measurement by measurement

Pick a measurement to see its 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 version, which is what the downloadable preset applies.

Preamp: -6.2 dB
Filter 1: ON LSC Fc 105 Hz Gain 12.7 dB Q 0.70
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 49 Hz Gain -13.2 dB Q 0.44
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 3573 Hz Gain 6.0 dB Q 1.40
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 1318 Hz Gain -2.8 dB Q 1.16
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 5138 Hz Gain 3.2 dB Q 2.82
Filter 6: ON HSC Fc 10000 Hz Gain -2.0 dB Q 0.70
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 166 Hz Gain 1.2 dB Q 3.49
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 100 Hz Gain -0.7 dB Q 2.50
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 438 Hz Gain -0.8 dB Q 2.38
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 654 Hz Gain 0.6 dB Q 2.93

Preamp: -6.2 dB
Filter 1: ON LSC Fc 105 Hz Gain 6.5 dB Q 0.70
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 3779 Hz Gain 5.3 dB Q 1.30
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 71 Hz Gain -6.8 dB Q 0.82
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 1675 Hz Gain -4.1 dB Q 1.93
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 31 Hz Gain 1.8 dB Q 2.57
Filter 6: ON HSC Fc 10000 Hz Gain -7.0 dB Q 0.70
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 9663 Hz Gain -1.5 dB Q 2.67
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 5577 Hz Gain 2.5 dB Q 4.13
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 240 Hz Gain -1.3 dB Q 3.05
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 171 Hz Gain 1.4 dB Q 3.44

Preamp: -6.4 dB
Filter 1: ON LSC Fc 105 Hz Gain 11.4 dB Q 0.70
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 4622 Hz Gain 6.0 dB Q 1.39
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 49 Hz Gain -11.7 dB Q 0.39
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 1277 Hz Gain -2.6 dB Q 0.86
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 3036 Hz Gain 4.1 dB Q 2.43
Filter 6: ON HSC Fc 10000 Hz Gain -1.9 dB Q 0.70
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 354 Hz Gain -1.4 dB Q 1.50
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 176 Hz Gain 1.5 dB Q 2.04
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 618 Hz Gain 1.0 dB Q 2.35
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 106 Hz Gain -0.9 dB Q 2.47

Preamp: -6.3 dB
Filter 1: ON LSC Fc 105 Hz Gain 6.5 dB Q 0.70
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 1753 Hz Gain -5.4 dB Q 2.26
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 75 Hz Gain -5.7 dB Q 1.47
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 5120 Hz Gain 5.1 dB Q 3.84
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 2976 Hz Gain 2.6 dB Q 2.42
Filter 6: ON HSC Fc 10000 Hz Gain -6.7 dB Q 0.70
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 10000 Hz Gain -2.5 dB Q 1.67
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 450 Hz Gain 0.8 dB Q 1.03
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 5652 Hz Gain 2.0 dB Q 5.93
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 7457 Hz Gain 1.7 dB Q 5.95

Ten-band or parametric EQ for the Apple AirPods 4?

A parametric equalizer lets every filter take any frequency, gain and width, where width is written as Q and a higher Q means a narrower filter, so it can reproduce AutoEQ's filters exactly. A ten-band graphic equalizer has ten fixed bands an octave apart, from 31 Hz to 16 kHz, all the same width, so it can only approximate them. EQBase's ten-band version sets those ten gains to match the parametric curve at the band centers, allowing for how the bands overlap, rather than reading the curve off at each center.

On Rtings's measurement, the ten-band version stays within 1.9 dB of the parametric curve between 40 Hz and 10 kHz. Across all 8,666 corrections in EQBase's catalog the median for that range is 3.3 dB, which makes the Apple AirPods 4 an easier fit for ten bands than most. Outside that range the gap reaches 4.8 dB around 20 Hz, below the lowest band at 31 Hz, where the parametric low shelf at 105 Hz keeps lifting by 12.7 dB all the way down and the 31 Hz band rolls off beneath its center.

Use the parametric filters if your equalizer accepts them: they are the correction exactly as published. The ten-band version is for equalizers with fixed sliders, EQBase's free tier among them, and it is what the downloadable preset applies. On EQBase Pro, applying the Apple AirPods 4 from the Headphones pane uses the parametric filters directly, and the preset carries them as well, one switch to Expert EQ away. 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.

How to use the Apple AirPods 4 correction on a Mac

To use the Apple AirPods 4 correction on a Mac, apply it with an equalizer that runs on system audio, so it reaches every app at once. In EQBase the fastest route skips this page: open the Headphones pane, search for the Apple AirPods 4, which is in the built-in catalog of 6,033 models, and click the measurement you want. The preset above does the same from a file, for anyone who wants to see the numbers first or a specific measurement rather than the default one.

Either way the free tier carries it with no time limit. The Apple AirPods 4 preset above sets the ten-band curve, which is what the free tier applies, so nothing on this page is behind a purchase.

The Apple AirPods 4 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.

Most of the measurements behind this page were made with the headphone in its normal listening mode, and active noise cancelling changes the response it is correcting. Switching ANC or transparency on and off is not a small tone change, so a correction that sounds right in one mode may not in another.

Common questions about Apple AirPods 4 EQ

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 4 numbers come from?

From 4 published AutoEQ measurements of the Apple AirPods 4, made by Rtings and Regan Cipher. 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. The 3 variants (ANC on; Standard; Transparency) are measured separately and corrected separately.

Why is the Apple AirPods 4 preamp negative?

The Apple AirPods 4 correction needs −6.2 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. That is a large figure by the standards of this catalog, which is normal for a model whose correction lifts the bass a long way.

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 AirPods Pro EQ settings for Mac, 4 published measurements
• Apple EarPods EQ settings for Mac, 4 published measurements
• Apple AirPods (1st generation) EQ settings for Mac, 2 published measurements
• Beats Flex EQ settings for Mac, 1 published measurement
• Sony WH-1000XM4 EQ settings for Mac, 3 published measurements

More Apple headphones: Apple AirPods Pro 2 · Apple AirPods Max · Apple AirPods 2 · Apple AirPods 3

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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