Many users have been waiting years for it—while just as many probably never felt the need—but Apple is finally adding EQ controls to its AirPods. The feature will arrive with iOS 27 later this year.
Apple has always carefully tuned its AirPods at the factory, a practice common among many in-ear headphone manufacturers. At the same time, plenty of competing brands also offer a user-adjustable equalizer within their companion apps, simply because customers ask for it.
Apple has traditionally resisted that approach, arguing that its audio tuning is already fully optimised. There is certainly some logic to that position. While users with hearing-related requirements have long been able to choose from a small number of preset sound profiles, a fully adjustable equalizer has never been available—until now.
With the arrival of iOS 27, Apple is finally introducing EQ controls for AirPods. Predictably, some users are already complaining that the implementation consists of only a simple three-band equalizer.
In this case, however, the criticism may be somewhat unfair. The EQ adjustments are applied before the AirPods’ internal signal processing takes place, meaning that even three controls can have a significant impact on the final sound. Apple has also made it quick and easy to reset custom settings back to their factory defaults.
Whether the new EQ options will improve the sound is ultimately a matter of personal taste. As with any equalizer, excessive adjustment does not necessarily result in better audio quality.
The new EQ functionality will only be available on Apple AirPods models based on the H2 chip, including the AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Max 2 and AirPods 4.