iPhone iPod EQ Off or Flat?

Question

iPhone iPod EQ Off or Flat?

What's the difference between setting the EQ to Off as opposed to Flat? Is Flat simply amplification accross the soundstage without enhancing any one particular attribute?

Windows Vista

Posted on Jan 3, 2009 12:21 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 3, 2009 12:32 PM in response to Joseph Albanese2

I'm not sure about the technical difference between off and flat, but if you use an EQ setting for a song in iTunes that is transferred to an iPod or iPhone, the EQ setting gets transferred with the song. I use a default EQ setting for all songs in my iTunes library - Rock, R&B, etc., so I have the EQ setting off on my iPhone, which helps conserve some battery consumption when playing music.

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Answer 2

Jan 3, 2009 1:03 PM in response to Allan Sampson

Thanks Allan. I had to ask because I can hear no difference between the two settings, so I guess Off is better when it comes to battery life.

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Answer 3

modular747

Level 6

19,674 points

Jan 3, 2009 4:57 PM in response to Joseph Albanese2

When the iPhone EQ is off, the EQ circuitry is turned off, theoretically saving battery drain. When set to "Flat", the EQ circuit is on but doesn't change the frequency response and should sound the same as off. You can see the effects of all the EQ presets when you open the EQ window in iTunes ("Show EQ" under View for WIn iTunes).

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Answer 4

Jan 3, 2009 9:43 PM in response to Joseph Albanese2

Here's Apple's information from http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html

"Applying an equalizer setting to song playback on your iPhone can decrease battery life. To turn EQ off, go to Settings > iPod > EQ and tap Off. Note that if you’ve added EQ to songs directly in iTunes, you’ll need to set EQ on iPhone to Flat in order to have the same effect as Off because iPhone keeps your iTunes settings intact. Go to Settings > iPod > EQ and tap Flat."

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