Advanced Equalizer / AutoEQ

Notes

• Your device must embed the proper system libraries (Most do, but some exotic brands may embed broken ones).
• The equalizer is only applied when playing locally and not when casting to Chromecast or UPnP devices.
• The equalizer offers an expert mode that gives controls over all the bands and more settings, see the end of this article.
• On some devices it may be necessary to reduce the equalizer block size if audio stutters. See Settings - Playback - Advanced settings.

Equalizer settings are stored separately for each output device. Open Settings > Playback > Output settings, select an output, then open its Equalizer tab. The Equalizer action in the now-playing menu opens the same tab directly for the current output.

Configuration

• Each stage of the equalizer can be enabled or disabled by toggling its switch:
• You can easily reset each step by clicking the corresponding reset button:
• You can set precise values for each slider by pressing the value in the left column to open the configuration dialog:

Output devices and profiles

The Output settings list contains the current output and previously detected outputs, such as the phone speaker, wired headphones, individual Bluetooth devices, USB devices, and remote playback. Select the output you want to configure before changing its equalizer.

Symfonium saves playback, ReplayGain, and DSP settings for each output automatically. When the active output changes, its own saved configuration is used; you no longer link an equalizer profile to a device with a headphone button.

Named profiles remain available for reusing a complete equalizer configuration. Use Save as to create one and Load to apply one to the output currently being edited. If you modify a loaded named profile, Save updates that reusable profile. Device-specific changes themselves do not require a separate save action.

Returning to the phone output

Configure the built-in phone output in Output settings. Symfonium automatically returns to that output’s configuration when headphones or another device are disconnected.

Virtualizer

An audio virtualizer is a general name for an effect to spatialize audio channels. The exact behavior of this effect is dependent on the number of audio input channels and the types and number of audio output channels of the device. For example, in the case of a stereo input and stereo headphone output, a stereo widening effect is used when this effect is turned on.

The effect support 2 modes depending on your output.

Binaural for headphones and Transaural for speakers. Press the toggle button to alternate between the modes.

Preamp

The equalizer includes a classic preamp that lets you increase or decrease the volume. It can be useful if you want to push some equalizer bands while avoiding clipping. The compressor and limiter can also be used for that purpose.

AutoEQ

Symfonium downloads and caches the AutoEQ database (https://www.autoeq.app/ & GitHub - jaakkopasanen/AutoEq: Automatic headphone equalization from frequency responses), which contains advanced profiles tailored for many headphones.

Note

AutoEQ is a project for equalizing headphone frequency responses automatically and it achieves this by parsing frequency response measurements and producing equalization settings which correct the headphone to a neutral sound.

See also: Use a custom AutoEQ profile

AutoEQ notes

Note

• The embedded database ensures that there is no possible clipping with the applied values, which often results in lower volume. You can apply positive preamp to compensate.
• The engine can also import custom GraphicEQ.txt files generated by that tool.
• This is an external project. I cannot add support for your headphones directly. See their website.

Equalizer

Classic equalizer with 5,10,15 or 31 bands in normal mode. (Any number of custom bands in expert mode)

Compressor

You can read https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/audio-dynamics-101-compressors-limiters-expanders-and-gates.html for some documentation on compressor.

Limiter

You can read https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/audio-dynamics-101-compressors-limiters-expanders-and-gates.html for some documentation on limiter.

Volume boost

Volume boost is an audio effect for increasing audio loudness. The processing uses a target gain value, which determines the maximum amount by which an audio signal will be amplified. Signals amplified outside of the sample range supported by the platform are compressed.

This effect is simple but you can always achieve better results by using the pre amp and eventually the limiter settings!

Bass boost

Bass boost is an audio effect to boost or amplify low frequencies of the sound. It is comparable to a simple equalizer but limited to one band amplification in the low frequency range.

This effect is simple but you can always achieve better results by using the advanced equalizer and fine tuning the bands.

Expert mode

In playback advanced settings you can enable expert mode for the equalizer. (Settings - Playback - Advanced settings)

This enables full control over the equalizer bands and open more options for the compressor and the limiter.

You can add as many bands as necessary by pressing again the Add button. (Duplicated bands are automatically ignored)

Related pages

Use a custom AutoEQ profileTune an AutoEQ profile online, then export and import it into Symfonium.

Playback - Advanced settingsConfigure expert equalizer mode, equalizer block size, and other advanced playback behavior.

Playback - PlaybackConfigure Symfonium playback - playback settings, including the available options and related behavior for this part of the app.

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