[Tutorial] BEST Sony WF-1000XM5 EQ Settings

It’s much easier now than ever to tweak the Sony WF-1000XM5 buds’ sound to your tastes because of this new feature called “Find My Equalizer” in which you tell the App how you want your sound to be, and it generates a suggested EQ setting.

The one I got was close, but after a bit of tweaking I arrived at a much better one that works regardless of genre. In this article, I'm going to show you how to work the graphic EQ, so you can arrive at the best possible EQ for your personal taste in sound, and after that I’ll show you my personal settings so you can try it out for yourself.

What the numbers mean

The Graphic EQ has 6 bands, if you include the clearbass dial. It ranges from 400 hz all the way to 16khz. From 400 hz to 2.5 khz is what is considered the mid range frequencies, or the vocal range because this is where the range of the human voice is.

To adjust the fullness of body of vocals you’ll want to tweak the 400 hz band.

1khz is where the general loudness of vocals is, adjust it if you want to vocals to sound nearer or further away.

2.5 khz is where you find the sizzle and crispness of vocals. If you find voices to sound too piercing or sibilant, tone this down, if you want it to sound crisper, turn it up.

6.3 khz is what’s considered the ‘presence’ dial. This affects the loudness of many types of string and wind instruments, and it impacts how close and intimate or how relaxed and laid back your music sounds. This is a dial you want to be careful with because it can drastically change the character or your music.

The 16khz band affects the brilliance of the sound. This means how open the earbuds feel, the airiness of the soundstage, but it also affects certain instruments like hi-hats and cymbals. The higher this dial goes, the more sizzly it sounds, and if you turn it all the way down it cancels out the sizzle and you can barely hear the hi-hats.

The ClearBASS dial obviously handles bass which is anywhere from 60 hz to 250 hz. Sadly you can’t discriminate between sub, mid and high bass frequencies, but the dial does do a good job of manipulating the loudness and intensity of bass without losing detail.

But it still does sound quite boomy at higher levels which is why instead of a higher +8 setting, I opted to go for +4 instead.

My personal EQ settings

Yes, this is my personal custom EQ for the WF-1000XM5 earbuds.

Aside from increasing the bass, I increased the loudness of vocals a bit, as well as a slight bump up in the intimacy of my sound at 6.3khz.

I’ve also decided to go for more air and brilliance in the soundstage, which adds more sizzle to the upper end of winds, strings and percussions.

What I decreased was the 2.5khz band. I think there’s a bit too much sibilance in vocals sometimes, and I wanted it to be more mellow, and I set that to -2.

Try this setting for yourself, and let me know if it works for you.

Also, if you found a good balance for you, do share your own EQ settings in the comments below.

If you want to check the latest prices of the Wf-1000XM5, I’ve included links to their Amazon and Lazada pages here:

Sony WF-1000XM5 -

Amazon - https://amzn.to/3JGI1uN
Lazada - https://s.lazada.sg/s.bsAyl?cc

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