This App Makes Your Music Sound Much Better When You Turn The Volume Down (Competition)

There are many factors that affect the sound quality of the music you listen to, many of which simply can’t be fixed without spending more money on new equipment. However, there are ways to improve your listening experience without buying new equipment, such as learning about audio equalization (EQ). One of the best equalizer apps for Android is called Wavelet, and with its latest update, it added a feature that fixes a problem you probably didn’t know about.

Need for equal volume

In the 1930s, a pair of scientists named Harvey Fletcher and Wilden A. Munson measured how loud a sound of one frequency had to be to be perceived as equally loud as a sound of another frequency. These measurements were compiled into graphs known as Fletcher–Munson curves, which showed that humans perceive certain frequencies as louder as the actual loudness of the sound decreases (and vice versa). In 2003, the Fletcher–Munson curves were revised and codified in the ISO 226 standards document, which specifies “combinations of sound-pressure levels and pure continuous-tone frequencies that are perceived as equally loud by listeners.”

You don’t need to know what’s in ISO 226 to understand the implications of its equal loudness contours. It proves that when you listen to audio at a low volume, mid-range frequencies sound significantly louder than low or high frequencies. This is especially noticeable, at least to me, at lower frequencies; when I turn down the volume of my music, much of the “thumping” bass disappears because it’s drowned out by the mids. Personally, I didn’t even realize it was a problem until I tried the new equal volume feature available in the latest beta version of the Wavelet application.

Wavelet is an equalizer app for Android that quickly became a favorite among audio enthusiasts after its release in mid-2020. Its standout feature was support for AutoEq, a way to easily equalize your headphones to the Harman standard using device-specific presets. The community-created AutoEq database contains presets for thousands of headphone models and is constantly updated with new additions, so it’s really easy for novices with no audio processing knowledge to adjust the audio profile of their headphones to the Harman standard.

How to use equal loudness in Wavelet

And with the upcoming v24.05 update to Wavelet, which is now in beta, the app will add an Equal Loudness mode that preserves the sonic signature of your music no matter how loud you’re listening. This means that the volume of the low and high frequencies won’t drop more than the mid frequencies when you lower the volume, correcting the issue I mentioned earlier. Under the hood, Equal Loudness mode applies loudness adjustments based on ISO 226 equal loudness contours. The app provides a nice visualization to show how the sound changes as you change the volume on your device. To set up the feature, simply follow these steps:

1. Download, install, and go through the Wavelet setup process.
2. Connect your favorite headphones to your phone.
3. Turn on some music and set the volume to the level you usually listen to.
4. Click on Equal Loudness to open the page. You should see a toggle to enable equal loudness, a slider to adjust the loudness threshold, and a curve showing how the loudness of the frequencies will be affected.
5. Set the volume threshold slider to its lowest setting before the graph starts to change. In other words, if the graph is flat at -13 dB, but you start to see it dip slightly as you increase it to -12 dB, then you should set it to -13 dB.
6. That’s it! You don’t need to change these settings for your preferred headphones again, but if you connect another pair later, you’ll need to repeat step 5 because Wavelet saves the settings for each device separately.

Personally, I noticed an immediate difference when I put on some music, turned the volume down, and then turned Equal Volume on and off. Suddenly, I could hear the bass clearly in many of the songs I listen to, even at really low volumes. In the short time I’ve been using this feature, listening to music has become more enjoyable for me, especially when I’m working. I highly recommend just trying Equal Volume in the Wavelet app if you’re skeptical.

Wavelet Giveaway

Equal Loudness joins several other useful audio tuning features in Wavelet, including the aforementioned AutoEq, a 9-band graphic EQ, a limiter, a channel balance, a reverb, a virtualizer, and a bass tuner. To fund the app’s development, the developer has made some of its features, including the new Equal Loudness mode, available exclusively to those who purchase the pro version of the app. With a one-time in-app purchase for $4.99, the pro version of Wavelet unlocks the reverb, virtualizer, bass tuner, and equal loudness features.

To celebrate the release of equal loudness in Wavelet 24.05, which also brings a huge expansion of the AutoEq database, a Quick Setting tile, and a significant reduction in RAM usage, the developer has given us 100 promo codes to give away! To enter the giveaway, simply visit my profile on X, Threads, Mastodon, or Telegram. I will be giving away 35 codes for X, 35 codes for Telegram, 20 codes for Threads, and 10 codes for Mastodon half an hour after this post goes live.

To redeem the code, open the Google Play Store app on your phone, tap your profile picture, tap Payments and Subscriptionstouch Redeem the codeand then enter the promotional code in the text box that appears.