How to Bass Boost Headphones

Last Updated on January 5, 2023 by Norvan Martin

Headphones generally don’t produce high-quality bass. In this article, we will explore various ways to bass boost headphones to help you generate a much better bass response from your headphones. 

So, which are the simplest ways to bass boost your headphones? Read on for the methods you can use:

Method 1: Change Audio Driver Settings

This is one of the most helpful boost your headphone bass. Nonetheless, the procedure varies slightly depending on your device.

Let’s see how you can do this if you’re listening to your music or watching your movies on your windows computer, devices using Realtek HD Audio, MAC, or Beats Bass Audio devices.

Windows PC

If you’re listening to your music or watching movies on a Windows 10 PC, follow the steps below to change the audio driver settings:

Step 1:  Go to the taskbar’s system tray and right-click on the speaker icon. After that, select “Playback Devices” in the menu for the sound window to open up.

If you can’t find “Playback Devices” fail to open up, don’t worry. You’re using a different version of the operating system. So, instead of trying to figure out whether you’ve gone wrong or not, search “Playback Devices” or “Open Sound Settings” and a window will open.

In this window, scroll downwards and click on “Sound Control Panel.”

Step 2: Check under the “Playback” tab to see your connected playback devices. From the list, select your preferred headphones.

Step 3: Go to the properties window and then proceed to “Enhancements.” Here, tick the “Bass Boost” checkbox.

Step 4: Go to the lower-right corner of the window and click on Settings. Choose “Bass Booster” and click “OK.”

Step 5: Click on “Apply” and then hit “OK” to save the changes and close the properties window.

Realtek HD Audio

If you want to enhance your headphone’s bass on Realtek HD Audio, here’s what you need to do:

Step 1:  Open the properties window and Sound Settings by following the procedure we’ve seen above.

Step 2: Navigate to “Enhancements “and check the “Equalizer” box.

Step 3:  From the settings drop-down menu, change the sound effect as you want and click “Apply.”

Step 4:  If you want to adjust the bass manually, click on the ellipses next to the menu. Boost the bass to your desired level using the sliders that appear in the Graphic EQ window.

Beats Bass Audio Software

Step 1: Right-click on “Sound” in the notification tray. Follow the same steps as indicated above to open the Sound window.

Step 2: Select your headphones and then open “Properties.”

Step 3: Visit “Tone Controls” and move the bass slider as high as you want. Click “Apply” and then “OK.”

MAC OS 

If you’re using a MAC system. Follow these steps:

Step 1: Go to “iTunes.”

Step 2: Click on “Window” and then “Equalizer.”

Step 3: Adjust the bass settings (If you choose, use a ready preset). You will find frequencies ranging from 32 Hz to 16 kHz. To increase the bass, try reducing the frequencies to 32 Hz or a little higher.

If you master the above steps, you can enhance your headphones’ bass by adjusting almost any device’s audio driver settings. 

As we have seen, the procedures vary slightly from one device to another.  

Method 2: Use a Dedicated Sound Card and Amp

This method is more effective when used to complement the above solution. Besides, it works best when you’re playing your music or video directly from your computer using headphones.

This method is simple. Install the card as usual and configure the volume mixer settings. In addition, if you can afford it, consider using an external sound amp.

Why is this important? Most headphones have high impedance, hindering standard sound AUX ports from handling the power flow perfectly.

A suitable amplifier will help to reduce the power resistance, which might be all you need to boost your headphones.

Method 3: Upgrade your Headphones

If you consider the fact that headphones often have high impedance, this is especially true with older headphones.

As such, you can see that upgrading your headphones could help you solve the bass problem with greater ease.

Even some newer headphones may have this problem, so when searching for headphones, go for quality. There are many high quality affordable headphones on the market. 

It’s important to note that modern headphones are designed with this concept in mind. So, you can get the best bass response from modern, low-impedance headphones. This means choosing devices with a resistance rate ranging from 8-to-25 ohm is the best option.

However, never use highly powerful media devices with them. If you do, you risk blowing the devices when the volume increases.

High impedance headphones are 32 Ω ohm and above.

Method 4: Use A Quality Dedicated Media Player

If you’ve been using a smartphone, you probably need to shift to a media source player. They’re designed to produce high-quality bass.

Smartphones, on the other hand, are designed mainly for one-on-one communication. So, you miss out on a lot when you use them to listen to your favorite music.

That’s why music sounds much better with Cowon, FiiO, and other dedicated media players than most smartphones.

Method 5: Adjust Mobile EQ Settings

If you prefer to use your smartphone for any reason, you can still slightly enhance the headphones’ bass by adjusting its EQ settings. Like desktops and laptops, the procedures vary here depending on the type of phone.

How To Bass Boost iPhones

For iPhones, you should do the following:

Step 1: Go to “Settings” and then “Open Music.”

Step 2: Scroll down to “Equalizer”

Step 3: Select “Bass Booster”

How To Bass Boost Android Phones

For Android smartphones, follow this:

Step 1: Tap on “Settings”

Step 2: Navigate to “Sound Settings”

Step 3: Tap on “Audio Effects”

Step 4: Adjust the low-frequency settings

Note: Be careful as you boost the bass as it might fade out the high and mid-range frequencies. To prevent this, adjust the settings slightly as you notice any change in sound quality.

Method 6: Listen to Music from Audio CDs

The type of music files also determines your overall listening experience. For example, an audio CD listening guarantees a good outcome. Of course, this applies if your settings and sound system’s quality are up to date.

AAC, MP3, and other compressed file formats lack some crucial features. Apple iTunes uses AAC file formats, but the output is not comparable to an original WAV file format.

The concept behind compressions is to reduce the size of music files. While this helps to preserve space, the codec can remove some essential features to decrease size.

This is why your bass feels muddy when you try to boost it on lossy audio files like MP3 and AAC.

Feature	AAC	FLAC
File Extension	.aac	.flac
Support and Portability	Supported many music players and platforms. Strong Apple support	Supported by most modern audio devices
Compression	Lossy	Lossless
File Size	3 to 5 times smaller	3 to 5 times larger
Sound Qualiy	Good	Excellent

Some of the high-quality files that you can use are:

• Waveform Audio File (WAV)
• Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)

These two files are big in size and high-quality. When you use them, you boost the bass of your headphones with ease.

Method 7: Change Your Headphone’s Pads

The quality of your headphone’s pads can really hinder your efforts to increase the bass. Most inexpensive headphones use faux leather, which is well known for muffing headphones’ sound and reducing its ability to produce quality bass.

We said you could upgrade your headphones to match your impedance needs. However, this is optional since a suitable external amplifier can resolve the problem.

If you’re not planning to upgrade your headphones soon, you can replace the pads with leather or velour. 

You can order a pair of pads online at any time.

Once you receive your new pads, replace the old ones by following the steps provided below.

• Pull off the old pads (Do this gently. If it doesn’t happen easily, check whether they have been fixed using screws. Use a screwdriver to remove them.)
• Fix the new pads (Use the same method above in reverse)

Method 8: Wear Headphones in the Right Orientation

This is a simple tip, but many people ignore it. Your headphone has both the left and right channel. As the names suggest, the former is designed for the left ear and the latter for the right.

Listening to stereo the way the audio engineer intended may be enough to boost the headphones’ bass.

Method 9: Reposition Headphone Pads

This applies to music lovers who are using on-ear headphones. The in-ear users don’t need to worry about this.  

If you fall into the category, try to move the pads slightly up and down. If the pads have moved from their rightful positions, you are likely to get poor bass.

This happens since a slight change is enough to block some critical airwaves from reaching the ear.

Method 10: Seek Medical Attention

In some cases, the issue may be that you are suffering from some sort of health-related issue such as ear wax. So, this point deserves the attention of such individuals.

If none of the above methods seems to work for you, ask someone else to listen and give feedback. If you are the only one experiencing the problem, you may need to get yourself checked out. 

Is Bass Boost Bad for Headphones?

did you know that your headphone can produce too much bass? Bass boost has been a controversial topic for quite some time now. While it does increase the bass levels in your music, not everyone likes it.

In fact, many people believe that Bass Boost is bad for speakers and headphones.

But generally speaking, bass boost is not bad for headphones. That’s because it doesn’t damage headphones.

They will boost the low frequencies’ volume, but they won’t be strong enough to damage or break a pair of headphones.

To learn more, check out our guide on how to fix the issue of too much bass from your headphone. 

Do Headphones Lose Bass Over Time?

Yes, headphones tend to lose bass and the volume decreases over time.

The best way to prevent this is to stop using your headphones in full blast way too often.

Why is there No Bass in My Headphones?

Occasionally, you may hear sound in both ears but no bass with a tinny sound.

The first thing you need to do is find out whether your headphone plug has an issue. If it does, then it means you need to repair it.

You can also try a different set of headphones in the same audio jack to see if yours is the problem.

If you still can’t find out what the problem is, then you need to consult a professional technician to diagnose the issue.

Conclusion

That’s it, all the major ways of bass boosting your headphones. So, you don’t have to purchase new headphones whenever your current ones fail to give you the desired sound quality, just follow the above steps to increase your headphone bass quality.