When shopping for new earbuds or headphones, you may have come across the term Adaptive EQ. It’s associated with the Apple AirPods 3rd generation, AirPods Pro and AirPods Max and is one of the most prominent features for such earbuds, but what does it mean? We’ll explain it for you.
What is AirPods Adaptive Audio and How Does it Work on iOS 17?
Adaptive EQ is a feature that Apple has on many of its in-ear and over-ear headphones. It's also in some Beats headphones (a brand that Apple also owns). It's essentially a marketing term to describe the system used to create an even sound that's tailored to the shape of your ear, giving you a personalized listening experience. Apple describes it as "[adjusting] the frequencies of your music to deliver a rich, consistent experience that faithfully reproduces every note."
The Apple AirPods Pro and AirPods Max have microphones that sit just inside the ear, which helps create the effect. The microphones adapt how sound is transmitted into your ear, because they realize that everyone's ears are shaped differently and adjust accordingly for that unique shape. The idea is that this will improve the audio quality because it's such a personal experience.
Some sources suggest that Adaptive EQ works in a similar way to high-end ANC headphones. If so, it would monitor ambient noise and make adjustments so that music sounds just as good no matter what’s happening in someone’s ear. Apple has never confirmed this, however.
