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EQ Software for Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS/iPadOS and Android.

Sal1950 said:
I find it very curious why full range EQ is totally accepted in the headphone world, while only bass range EQ gets wide acceptance for speakers?
Click to expand...
It's ridiculous. The ear likes what the ear likes.
 
Sal1950 said:
I find it very curious why full range EQ is totally accepted in the headphone world, while only bass range EQ gets wide acceptance for speakers?
Click to expand...
Accepted by whom?
 
Blew said:
Accepted by whom?
Click to expand...
A large number of posters here, everywhere.
How many times have your read that DRC should only be used in the bass range below the Schroeder frequency?
Hell even Google AI say so, LOL, search "digital room correction below the Schroeder" :p
Honestly I'm not trying to make any statements here one way or the other, I'm simply asking the question.
Amir does often use EQ to try and improve the sound of a speaker that showed some negative measurements and listening room sound.
Maybe I'll just start a new thread to get some input from various members.
 
I've gone ahead and started a separate thread on the question so as to not take this one too far off topic.
I'd love to have everyones input, thanks.
www.audiosciencereview.com

Speaker EQ, Full Range or Bass Only (with Poll)

I'd like to start a general discussion on the topic of Speaker EQ. As I posted elsewhere, I find it very curious why full range EQ is totally accepted in the headphone world, while only bass range (below Schroeder) EQ gets wide acceptance for speakers? Whether done with DRC applications or...
www.audiosciencereview.com www.audiosciencereview.com
 
obsessive9119 said:
There's a new Mac PEQ option - Vizzdom: https://www.krisdigital.com/en/blog/2018/08/23/vizzdom-mac-system-audio-spectrum-level-analyzer/

It's free, takes autoeq settings and (for what the author describes as an alpha) seems to work really well.
Click to expand...

Sadly Vizzdom doesn't support Sequoia at the moment, and recommends Element as an alternative for those on the latest macOS.

I used to just use AU Lab, but when I replaced my M1 Mac Mini with an M4 Mac Mini, I started to have problems: after a few minutes the audio would start distorting. I originally had the same problem on the M1 but I have no idea how I resolved it. I'm currently trying out Hosting AU (see the first post of this thread) to host AUNBandEQ and that seems to be working alright. CPU usage seems to be pretty low, despite it not being compiled for Apple Silicon.

Hosting AU combined with Blackhole seems to be a good solution, and gives you proper system-wide parametric EQ for free.

Also worth noting is that AU Lab was "always on" and consuming CPU whether there was any audio output or not. Hosting AU is only active when audio is playing and CPU usage drops off when paused.

I haven't tried Element, in part because it's a .pkg that requires installing, whereas Hosting AU is just a regular application. Probably the reason Element needs installing is because it seems to have its own driver that performs the function of Blackhole. I tried Element to solve other issues (detailed below) but it consumes CPU even when nothing is playing.

I have both my Mac Mini and my work laptop connected to my Sabaj A30a through a USB switch. Whilst AU Lab handled this gracefully, Hosting AU and Element don't. Workaround: create a multi-output device that routes to the USB device, set the output of Hosting AU or Element to that.

Additionally, Hosting AU doesn't remember its last configuration on startup. Workaround: in System Settings > Login Items, add the .hosting configuration file. It'll start up with the correct configuration.

tl;dr: it is possible to get proper EQ working on a Mac at no cost, with seamless support for disconnecting and reconnecting USB devices, and near-zero CPU usage at idle.
 
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Is there anything that works ahead of DIRAC live 3 .? I curtain off @ 400hz, but do play around abit beyond my curtain with a pro eq I have in chain. It would be nice to just do it on my Lenonvo laptop. I don't know how to leave uncorrected above curtain in Dirac or I would just do it there. I don't think you can actually. I did install APO /Peace but it doesn't recognize the NAD C658 running Dirac.
 
ohnonotagain said:
Sadly Vizzdom doesn't support Sequoia at the moment, and recommends Element as an alternative for those on the latest macOS.

I used to just use AU Lab, but when I replaced my M1 Mac Mini with an M4 Mac Mini, I started to have problems: after a few minutes the audio would start distorting. I originally had the same problem on the M1 but I have no idea how I resolved it. I'm currently trying out Hosting AU (see the first post of this thread) to host AUNBandEQ and that seems to be working alright. CPU usage seems to be pretty low, despite it not being compiled for Apple Silicon.

Hosting AU combined with Blackhole seems to be a good solution, and gives you proper system-wide parametric EQ for free.

Also worth noting is that AU Lab was "always on" and consuming CPU whether there was any audio output or not. Hosting AU is only active when audio is playing and CPU usage drops off when paused.

I haven't tried Element, in part because it's a .pkg that requires installing, whereas Hosting AU is just a regular application. Probably the reason Element needs installing is because it seems to have its own driver that performs the function of Blackhole. I tried Element to solve other issues (detailed below) but it consumes CPU even when nothing is playing.

I have both my Mac Mini and my work laptop connected to my Sabaj A30a through a USB switch. Whilst AU Lab handled this gracefully, Hosting AU and Element don't. Workaround: create a multi-output device that routes to the USB device, set the output of Hosting AU or Element to that.

Additionally, Hosting AU doesn't remember its last configuration on startup. Workaround: in System Settings > Login Items, add the .hosting configuration file. It'll start up with the correct configuration.

tl;dr: it is possible to get proper EQ working on a Mac at no cost, with seamless support for disconnecting and reconnecting USB devices, and near-zero CPU usage at idle.
Click to expand...
I tried Hosting AU and Blackhole and could make it work. It wasn't easy to figure out but I managed with some frustrations. I was able to achieve the bass cut I needed.

But I have uninstalled it all now because it's too much fuss. After sleep and wake I have to toggle the output in MacOS and in Hosting AU. And changing output (BT speaker, built in, etc) is a similarly manual process. Without Hosting AU and Blackhole switching outputs and sleep-wake is seamless.

All I want is a bass cut when using the Bose SoundLink Mini 2. Afaik this is not easy.
 
Multicore said:
But I have uninstalled it all now because it's too much fuss. After sleep and wake I have to toggle the output in MacOS and in Hosting AU. And changing output (BT speaker, built in, etc) is a similarly manual process. Without Hosting AU and Blackhole switching outputs and sleep-wake is seamless.
Click to expand...
Yes, you're right! Sleep-wake is annoying. My current workaround, before I have the time to figure out something better, is to have a Terminal window open with this line in it:
killall "Hosting AU" && open -n /Applications/Hosting\ AU.app --args ~/path/to/configuration.hosting
There will be a way to automatically run that command on wake, and when I make it work I'll post it. :)

I don't have the problem of switching outputs, but there's probably a way to automate that as well. Still, it'd be nice if MacOS allowed you to configure Audio Units as part of the audio output. Maybe they just consider our use case too niche.
 
propaganda1 said:
Anything free or cheap for system wide Convolution EQ on MacOS?
Click to expand...

Mitchco's $20 Hang Loose Convolver App hosting the free 2ch MConvolutionEZ plugin by Melda combined with free Blackhole app.

Edit: for a IIR plugin try Qrange - a free 12 band PEQ where you can just input results from REW or similar.
 
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propaganda1 said:
Anything free or cheap for system wide Convolution EQ on MacOS?
Click to expand...
I near always recommend these but I'm not up to speed on the convolution stuff.

eqMac - System Audio Equalizer and App Volume Mixer for macOS

System Audio Equalizer for Apple macOS (OS X) System. Professional grade Parametric EQ with Unlimited Bands, Volume Mixer (per Application volume control), Spatial Audio (Reverb effect). The last and only tool you will need for your Mac.
eqmac.app eqmac.app

SoundSource - A Superior Sound Control

Access your Mac's audio devices, control per-app audio, and much more, all from the menu bar.
rogueamoeba.com rogueamoeba.com
 
I've used Element in the past but it became unstable. I haven't looked into the latest build but it looks like the developer has done some recent work.
 
And of course, there is always Apple's own AULab. I found it a bit confusing to use (I'm not a DAW user in general), and liked Element a lot better.
 
I wrote a guide for multi channel XO/EQ Element here on ASR a couple of years ago but, as I said, an OS update destroyed compatibility, if the app works properly again it might be worth resurrecting. Mitch's HLC is also based on the JUCE framework so is very similar to Element the way plugins are linked and displayed but much more robust. But it's also not free. AULab is a hot mess even for people who run DAWs.

There are a few other free plugin hosts out there but mostly for Windows.

In the last few hours I helped (a little) @propaganda1 get systemwide EQ going via the suggestion on post 673 above. Lots of ways to get from A to B.
 
Multicore said:
All I want is a bass cut when using the Bose SoundLink Mini 2. Afaik this is not easy.
Click to expand...
I discovered a paid-for solution that should work. Sound Control isn't in the main list on page 1, but I'm trying it out and it handles automatically switching audio devices as well as having custom audio effects (including AUNBandEQ) configured per-device. It has a fully-featured 14-day trial; it's cheaper than some of the other paid-for software at $30.75; and it doesn't require any shenanigans with Blackhole or anything - it integrates properly into the Apple audio system.

The only issue I've found with it is that it doesn't behave predictably when changing devices while the Settings page is open. Testing when the Settings page is closed seems to work well. If I can forget about its existence now I've got it set up, I'll probably pay for it. I'm not a fan of paying for ones and zeroes, but if this solves everything properly then it's worth it.
 
ohnonotagain said:
I discovered a paid-for solution that should work. Sound Control isn't in the main list on page 1, but I'm trying it out and it handles automatically switching audio devices as well as having custom audio effects (including AUNBandEQ) configured per-device. It has a fully-featured 14-day trial; it's cheaper than some of the other paid-for software at $30.75; and it doesn't require any shenanigans with Blackhole or anything - it integrates properly into the Apple audio system.

The only issue I've found with it is that it doesn't behave predictably when changing devices while the Settings page is open. Testing when the Settings page is closed seems to work well. If I can forget about its existence now I've got it set up, I'll probably pay for it. I'm not a fan of paying for ones and zeroes, but if this solves everything properly then it's worth it.
Click to expand...
I got part way through the installation of Sound Control and then

1741351498459.png

I don't suppose Iris, the vendor, has sold many copies of Sound Control if installing it is this difficult and hacky. Thanks Apple for making it so easy!

I don't mind paying for software that's good, if the price corresponds to my sense of its value. Producing good apps takes a great deal of time and effort and the people who make it got living costs too.
 
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