iPhone equalizer

I have an iPhone 6S Plus and I use it, among other things, to listen to book from Audible.com. I recently purchased a set of bluetooth headphones and I found that, as nice as they are, the sound of the books through the headphones is not very clear and I wanted to try to fix this with an equalizer. There are very many equalizers on the iPhone App Store but all of them mention music and all that I tried (the free ones ) only work for music, not the sound from the Audible player.

I was wondering if anyone knew of any App Store equalizers that would work for more than just music. I know that it could work because have an old Android phone and one of the equalizers from the Android Play Store lists the apps it works for, including the Audible Player. I would like something like that for the iPhone but worry that I will end up going through a dozen apps, having to pay for all of them, and still not find what I am looking for.

If anyone knows of any equalizer that is likely to work with the Audible Player on the iPhone I would appreciate hearing about it. Thank you.

Have you tried changing the Download Quality setting in the Audible app from Standard to High?

Ember1205 said:

Have you tried changing the Download Quality setting in the Audible app from Standard to High?

Click to expand...

I have been using high for a long time now so that is not the problem, but thank you for the suggestion.

I switched to a set of Bose over-ear headphones and the audio sound frequency through the better speakers is much lower than I am comfortable with. I want to boost the treble but the built-in equalizer on the iPhone does nothing to the sound from the Audible app. I assume the equalizer is hooked up to the music player on the iPhone and not to the sound from the Audible app. I have downloaded perhaps 6 free equalizers and they do nothing to control the frequency reproduction from the app. There probably is an equalizer app that will work but I have pretty much run through all of the free ones and, while I don't mind spending money to get an equalizer that would work, I have no idea which one that might be.

On my old Samsung S5 phone, which still works as an Audible player, I can adjust the controls on several of the free Android equalizer apps and listen to the sound reproduction from the Audible app change, but nothing like that happens on the iPhone.

Have you tried setting Treble Boost in Settings/Music/EQ. I'm pretty sure that's a global setting, and not just for the Music app.

And a list of choices just in case you missed one, but no sign of the age of the page. There should be a law against that!!!

https://www.igeeksblog.com/best-equalizer-apps-for-iphone-ipad/

KevinJS said:

Have you tried setting Treble Boost in Settings/Music/EQ. I'm pretty sure that's a global setting, and not just for the Music app.

Click to expand...

Yes. I tried both Treble Boost and Spoken Word. Neither made any difference in the sound that I could hear. In fact I ended up just moving from setting to setting in the equalizer page and nothing made any difference I could hear. I am sure it makes a difference in the music, but nothing noticeable for spoken books.

pm-r said:

And a list of choices just in case you missed one, but no sign of the age of the page. There should be a law against that!!!

https://www.igeeksblog.com/best-equalizer-apps-for-iphone-ipad/

Click to expand...

I had already tried some on that list but also downloaded some I had not tried. Still no luck.

It could be that the Bose headphones are not really for the spoken word, but only for music, but I can control the sound properly on my Android phone with some of the free equalizers.

Perhaps I need to contact Audible and ask them how to control the sound on their app. Thanks for all of the research.

I wonder if you could get them to work better with your iPhone using some of the info here, but probably ignoring any jailbroken comments:
http://lifehacker.com/5855746/how-to-ditch-your-iphones-ipod-app-for-a-better-listening-experience

Or even more googling…???:
https://www.google.ca/search?client...er+for+Audible.com+books&safe=active&start=10






- Patrick
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pm-r said:

I wonder if you could get them to work better with your iPhone using some of the info here, but probably ignoring any jailbroken comments:
http://lifehacker.com/5855746/how-to-ditch-your-iphones-ipod-app-for-a-better-listening-experience

Or even more googling…???:
https://www.google.ca/search?client...er+for+Audible.com+books&safe=active&start=10
======

Click to expand...

Interesting because I had not actually done a Google search for an equalizer for the iPhone Audible app and I keep asking myself why I did not. I did repeated searches in the iPhone App Store but never an internet search.

The articles were interesting (thank you for that) but gave me no information about what might work. I finally sent a help request to Audible asking them directly about any equalizer that will work for the iPhone but don't really expect any help from them. I am beginning to think that the only solution is to use my old Android phone as the playback device for my Audible books. That seems a shame for a variety of reasons including the need to carry two devices, but I have begun to think that is my only real solution.

Thanks again for your help. If you have any other ideas please post them as I am completely out of them myself.

Thanks again for your help. If you have any other ideas please post them as I am completely out of them myself.

Click to expand...

I find it hard to believe that an old Android phone can outperform any iPhone when Apple prides itself on all its media and audio stuff. But maybe they just lost interest.

I'd probably check with the earplug manufacturer and see if they have some suggestions.

I also wonder if a set of bluetooth earphones specifically made for dictation use wouldn't give better results than those created for music. Most of the general made for music ones I've tried (seldom, I will admit) all seem to be way to base oriented and boosted for my hearing and taste.

Good luck with your search and queries.






- Patrick
======

pm-r said:

I find it hard to believe that an old Android phone can outperform any iPhone when Apple prides itself on all its media and audio stuff. But maybe they just lost interest.

I'd probably check with the earplug manufacturer and see if they have some suggestions.

I also wonder if a set of bluetooth earphones specifically made for dictation use wouldn't give better results than those created for music. Most of the general made for music ones I've tried (seldom, I will admit) all seem to be way to base oriented and boosted for my hearing and taste.

Good luck with your search and queries.






- Patrick
======

Click to expand...

Apple cares about Apple apps. Audible isn't an Apple app.

They only give you control over audio WITHIN Apple apps.

> I find it hard to believe that an old Android phone can outperform any iPhone when Apple prides itself on all its media and audio stuff. But maybe they just lost interest.

When I use my earbuds the audio from the iPhone is noticeably better than that from the Samsung, but a bit too high in bass. When I use the earphones the result is just that much more out of balance and there seems to be no way to fix it. The sound is richer in the iPhone, but there is just no way to adjust it.

> I also wonder if a set of bluetooth earphones specifically made for dictation use wouldn't give better results than those created for music. Most of the general made for music ones I've tried (seldom, I will admit) all seem to be way to base oriented and boosted for my hearing and taste.

I am not sure about dictation headphones, but I have decided to look for a less music oriented set of earphones. When I was looking I saw comparable BT earphones from Sony, JBL, Beats and some other manufacturers. The demos play music rather than voice and I think the Bose are just too music oriented and, as you say, bass boosted and that is the last thing I need.

Audible called me back to try to help me fix this problem (a surprise for me) but they also were unable to help. However they did confirm that the audio output from the iPhone app uses its own compression mechanism and is probably not affected by the equalizers available for iTunes. They are still looking into a solution for this problem but I am not expecting that there is much they can do other than incorporate their own equalizer in the app and I don't expect them to overhaul their software because of a problem that the customer service and tech folks said they had not heard about from anyone else.

I am never sure if it is good thing or not when I hear one of them say something like "I have never heard of that problem from anyone else".

Ember1205 said:

Apple cares about Apple apps. Audible isn't an Apple app.

They only give you control over audio WITHIN Apple apps.

Click to expand...

Then why doesn't the iTunes audio work properly for the OP assuming they have tried using that method, but one should never assume:

How can I use iTunes to listen to my Audible audiobooks?
http://audible.custhelp.com/app/ans...se-itunes-to-listen-to-my-audible-audiobooks?






- Patrick
======

pm-r said:

Then why doesn't the iTunes audio work properly for the OP assuming they have tried using that method, but one should never assume:

Click to expand...

Yes, I had already tried using iBooks for the audible books before I posted. The equalizers still didn't work and I am not sure why. I have to assume that there is something about the compression Audible uses that is causing this issue and that is also what the Audible tech suggested.

MikeFromMesa said:

Yes, I had already tried using iBooks for the audible books before I posted. The equalizers still didn't work and I am not sure why. I have to assume that there is something about the compression Audible uses that is causing this issue and that is also what the Audible tech suggested.

Click to expand...

iBooks is not iTunes, though. The article is about using iTunes for audio books.

Ember1205 said:

iBooks is not iTunes, though. The article is about using iTunes for audio books.

Click to expand...

What I did was attach my iPhone to my Mac and select it using iTunes. I then downloaded a book from Audible, added it to the iTunes library and copied it over to iBook. That allowed me to listen to the book using iBook. I am not aware of any way to use iTunes directly on the iPhone to listen to Audible books and neither was the Audible tech but perhaps I am missing something.

I have looked over the web page at the link and it seemed to be about listening to books on the computer. My issue has to do with using the iPhone.

Good point.

Might be worth (if you haven't already) downloading the same book into iTunes and listening to it through iTunes on your computer using your headset. That should help you to validate that the issue is, in fact, something about the audio controls on the iPhone.

Ember1205 said:

Good point.

Might be worth (if you haven't already) downloading the same book into iTunes and listening to it through iTunes on your computer using your headset. That should help you to validate that the issue is, in fact, something about the audio controls on the iPhone.

Click to expand...

That seemed like a good idea so I opened iTunes on my Mac and played the book I had already imported into iTunes when I added it to my iPhone. I then opened the iTunes equalizer and, without any problem, I could control the playback frequency mix and boost the treble and reduce the bass. Works well on the Mac and it is too bad that I can not get this to work on the iPhone.

It is too bad that I can not just carry my Mac around with me and use it to listen to the books but, besides the trouble of carrying it around, I would need a very long electric cord ...

For what it is worth:

I returned the Bose headphones and replaced them with the JBL equivalent because the spoken word was easier to understand with the JBLs. I would not just post that statement as it offers no insight into this problem, but the JBLs referenced an App Store app (My JBL Headphones) which contains an equalizer that does adjust the sound in the headphones. I am unsure as of this time whether or not it will adjust the sound for other headphones as it requires that the headphones be connected and the app understand that they are connected before you can access the equalizer and I have to figure out how to do that with some of the simple BT earbuds I have. Still, I thought it might help anyone who is facing a problem like this if I let people know that there is an app that will modify the frequency mix of Audible books, if only with a specific make of headphone.

It will never happen

When Amazon bought Audible, the iOS app was allowed to become a dinosaur. When looking through Audible to find a good book, I cannot buy it from the Audible app. I’d like to think I’m doung something wrong, but I have never been able to purchase a book from the iOS Audible app. A notice in the Audible app tells me, “How to purchase this book;” this is a set of instructions telling me to purchase it from Amazon; then switch back to Audible to read the book I located in Audible. Weird.

That’s a poor user experience, and I’m sure many audiobooks are left wanted, but not purchased, thanks to the dog and pony show. Before the developers can even consider how to create an EQ, they first must make the iOS version of Audible a standalone application.