Mac Music app equalizer not working … again! This time in Big Sur

Well I had this issue last year, and now with the Mac OS 11 Big Sur upgrade it's reared its ugly head again: the equalizer in Music is not working. If you have the EQ set to a specific setting, or a customized setting, it doesn't apply it to the audio stream until you turn it off and turn it off again. It decides to turn itself off (even though the checkbox says it's on) intermittently after that, as well. I suspect it turns off every time you select a new playlist, radio station, or album in your Library.

The last time this happened it took months for Apple to issue a fix. Anyone have a fix in the interim? Other than selecting all your Library's songs and applying an EQ setting to them; that won't solve the issue with streamed music.

Posted on Nov 20, 2020 3:49 PM

Top-ranking reply

madanosliw

Level 1

4 points

Posted on Apr 21, 2021 9:29 AM

In Big Sur 11.2.3, Apple Music 1.1.3.3, M1 Macbook Air I experience this problem as well.

Changing EQ settings while a song is playing will have them take effect but any kind of break in the stream: a pause, a next track, etc. will cause the EQ settings to not be applied to the audio. The UI for the settings will display that they are still in effect.

Making any kind of change to the EQ (disabling/enabling, changing a preset, moving a slider) will cause the to be audio to again become modified by the EQ settings. This means that to keep the EQ working you have to mess with it every single time you pause.

This feature (when working) is one of the few advantages that Apple Music has over Spotify. It's a shame to see this regression.

View in context

Similar questions

47 replies

Feb 3, 2021 7:32 AM in response to Dark2019

Well, Big Sur 11.2 did not fix this. Having the same issue on iMac 2019, MacBook Air 2019 and MacBook Pro 2014.

Mar 1, 2021 6:50 PM in response to DenverDesigner

Same exact problem I'm having as of March 1st, 2021 on macOS 11.0.1.

Mar 4, 2021 2:27 PM in response to DenverDesigner

Same issue for me.

Mar 26, 2021 8:39 AM in response to DenverDesigner

Same issue for me. Really tedious. If it was fixed earlier, then. should be easy to resolve again.

andyfx

Level 1

9 points

Mar 27, 2021 6:35 AM in response to DenverDesigner

Oh, and for all the bug reports I've filed to Apple they say that no-one else has reported this issue. I can't believe that.

benpro01

Level 1

8 points

Apr 1, 2021 5:15 AM in response to andyfx

Unfukenbelievable

Apr 13, 2021 5:45 AM in response to DenverDesigner

Same here, radio stations and videos are impacted by a not working equalizer. How difficult can this be...

AMCarter3

Level 2

234 points

Apr 18, 2021 5:53 AM in response to benpro01

Does Retroactive work with Big Sur? it's site only refers to Catalina.

Apr 18, 2021 9:06 AM in response to Joseph_S.

I can't get the equaliser to work at all. Whatever I do makes no difference to the sound. It's the same on my 2020 M1 MacBook Air and my 2014 MacBook Pro. EQ only seems to work on iPhone.

Apr 21, 2021 12:52 PM in response to DenverDesigner

The equalizer function doesn't work, neither on my MacBook Pro's with Big Sur v. 11.2.3 or my Iphone X 14.4.2.

Apr 21, 2021 2:07 PM in response to madanosliw

It's literally the only reason I use Apple Music instead of Spotify. I like the sound on my Macbook and headphone much more with the EQ on.

Apr 21, 2021 2:26 PM in response to madanosliw

I don’t seem to have any problems

Apr 28, 2021 8:59 AM in response to DenverDesigner

UPDATE: Submitted a bug report via Feedback Assistant yesterday. A potential fix has been identified for distribution in a future OS release. We shall see...

Apr 28, 2021 9:01 AM in response to DenverDesigner

Hero!

Apr 28, 2021 9:02 AM in response to nickrlucas

Same. It's not working since almost two years now. So annoying.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Mac Music app equalizer not working … again! This time in Big Sur