Headphone EQ

Apple AirPods Pro EQ settings for Mac

Last updated: October 2, 2026

Apple AirPods Pro has 4 published AutoEQ corrections, from 4 measurement rigs, 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 Pro 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.
• What it cannot do: it changes frequency response only. It will not make up for a tip that does not seal 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: The first-generation AirPods Pro carries an H1 chip, so Apple's H2-only Custom EQ in iOS 27 does not reach it. Worth knowing too that the four published corrections disagree more here than on any other page on this site: roughly 11 dB apart at 16 kHz and 7 dB at 8 kHz. Treble is where sealed in-ear measurements diverge most, so it is worth trying two of them.

What the Apple AirPods Pro correction changes

These figures come from the measurement by crinacle, the one the picker below opens with. The largest boost is +5.2 dB at treble (8 kHz), and the largest cut is −4.0 dB at midrange (500 Hz). Total swing across the ten bands is 9.2 dB. Averaged over its bands the treble is lifted by 2.3 dB, more than the other two, which is where most of the audible change lands.

The 4 published measurements on this page, from 4 rigs, do not agree with each other, and the size of the disagreement is worth knowing before picking one. They differ most at top octave (16 kHz), where the ten-band figures span 10.7 dB, and least at presence (4 kHz), where they span 1.6 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.

The Apple AirPods Pro 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: -6.0 dB
Filter 1: ON LSC Fc 105 Hz Gain 2.6 dB Q 0.70
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 514 Hz Gain -4.4 dB Q 0.68
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 8903 Hz Gain 6.0 dB Q 1.66
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 183 Hz Gain 2.0 dB Q 0.77
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 4613 Hz Gain 3.4 dB Q 2.46
Filter 6: ON HSC Fc 10000 Hz Gain -0.5 dB Q 0.70
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 1517 Hz Gain -1.0 dB Q 2.33
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 929 Hz Gain 1.2 dB Q 2.75
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 44 Hz Gain -0.5 dB Q 2.16
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 618 Hz Gain -0.5 dB Q 2.86

Preamp: -3.2 dB
Filter 1: ON LSC Fc 105 Hz Gain 3.2 dB Q 0.70
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 436 Hz Gain -2.6 dB Q 0.90
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 4595 Hz Gain 2.6 dB Q 2.54
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 918 Hz Gain 2.4 dB Q 2.14
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 142 Hz Gain 0.7 dB Q 1.41
Filter 6: ON HSC Fc 10000 Hz Gain -7.0 dB Q 0.70
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 48 Hz Gain -0.4 dB Q 1.62
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 2445 Hz Gain 0.8 dB Q 2.39
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 1548 Hz Gain -0.5 dB Q 3.19
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 5376 Hz Gain 0.8 dB Q 6.00

Preamp: -3.2 dB
Filter 1: ON LSC Fc 105 Hz Gain 2.2 dB Q 0.70
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 283 Hz Gain -2.8 dB Q 0.47
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 817 Hz Gain 3.9 dB Q 1.10
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 4026 Hz Gain 3.8 dB Q 1.41
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 2305 Hz Gain -4.0 dB Q 1.77
Filter 6: ON HSC Fc 10000 Hz Gain -3.4 dB Q 0.70
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 9142 Hz Gain 2.9 dB Q 1.73
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 53 Hz Gain -0.7 dB Q 1.74
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 6081 Hz Gain -1.9 dB Q 6.00
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 167 Hz Gain 1.3 dB Q 6.00

Preamp: -5.8 dB
Filter 1: ON LSC Fc 105 Hz Gain 0.4 dB Q 0.70
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 570 Hz Gain -1.8 dB Q 0.71
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 3630 Hz Gain 2.4 dB Q 1.29
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 5833 Hz Gain -3.9 dB Q 4.63
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 7285 Hz Gain 1.7 dB Q 4.27
Filter 6: ON HSC Fc 10000 Hz Gain 5.8 dB Q 0.70
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 9507 Hz Gain -4.8 dB Q 4.27
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 54 Hz Gain -0.6 dB Q 1.84
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 1919 Hz Gain 0.7 dB Q 3.63
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 1936 Hz Gain -0.4 dB Q 4.16

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

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 crinacle's measurement, the ten-band version stays within 1.4 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 Pro an easier fit for ten bands than most. Outside that range the gap reaches 1.7 dB around 20 Hz, below the lowest band at 31 Hz, where the parametric low shelf at 105 Hz keeps lifting by 2.6 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 Pro 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 Pro correction on a Mac

To use the Apple AirPods Pro 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 Pro, 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 Pro 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 Pro is an in-ear monitor, and its bass depends far more on the seal than on anything in this correction. A tip that does not seal loses the low bass outright, and no amount of boost puts it back. If the bottom end still sounds missing after applying this, change tips and re-seat them before deciding the curve is wrong.

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 Pro 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 Pro numbers come from?

From 4 published AutoEQ measurements of the Apple AirPods Pro, made by crinacle, Rtings, Super Review and HypetheSonics. 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 Pro preamp negative?

The Apple AirPods Pro correction needs −6.0 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 4 EQ settings for Mac, 4 published measurements
• Apple AirPods Max 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
• Truthear x Crinacle Zero RED EQ settings for Mac, 22 published measurements

More Apple headphones: Apple AirPods Pro 2 · 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.

All headphone EQ pages · Does macOS have a built-in equalizer? · Room correction on a Mac