Waves Nx vs RRS EQ3
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Waves Nx
Experience truly immersive 3D sound with any headphones. This technology uses head tracking and scientific models to recreate the acoustics of a room and speaker system, transforming your listening experience for music, concerts, and local media.
- Immersive 3D sound
- Head tracking technology
- Recreates room acoustics
- Enhances local media playback
- Supports Spotify Premium
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Waves Nx is a ground breaking audio technology that finally bridges the gap between speakers and headphones. With the Waves Nx App and the Waves Nx Head Tracker device you can use any headphones and listen to all of your content in truly immersive 3D sound, everywhere you go! The perception of spatial sound in the real world is a complex phenomenon. It combines the interactions between the acoustic sound waves and the room or space, the interaction with our head and ears, the reaction of our middle and inner ear and the audio nerve, and finally our brain’s cognition and interpretation of the acoustic scene. The perception of sound over headphones is a completely different experience. If we take listening to stereo headphones vs. listening to speakers as our example, there are several major differences: Waves Nx uses head tracking and scientific models of the way our brains and ears perceive audio to create an amazing sounding fully immersive 3D audio experience that turns any pair of headphones into a high quality Speaker Setup, it not only models the speakers, it models the entire room! • With Waves Nx any pair of headphones will deliver the same listening experience a GREAT speaker system does. • Get the ideal acoustics of a recording studio– inside your headphones! • Spotify Support - stream music directly from Spotify using Spotify Premium service with Waves Nx – enjoy a wealth of content in immersive 3D audio using Waves Nx. • Live Concerts and Music all sound more authentic with Waves Nx! Experience all of your favorite content the way it was meant to be heard! • Reduces the inconvenience caused by listening through headphones over extended periods of time. The Waves Nx Head Tracker can also be used with the Waves Nx applications for Windows and Mac and even with the Waves Nx – Virtual Mix Room plug-in for professional audio workstations, check www.waves.com/nx for more information! Currently Waves Nx App only supports playing back local media files, check back soon for updates adding support to popular streaming services!
RRS EQ3
This audio effect plugin offers vintage-inspired tonal adjustments with five broad, interacting bands. It emulates an '80s approach to frequency shaping, allowing for precise control over your mix's clarity and low-end response. A demo version is available for trial before unlocking the full unlimited experience.
- Standalone and AUv3 plugin
- Modeled vintage EQ
- Multiple fixed and boost-only bands
- Stereo, Mid, or Side EQ modes
- Undo/Redo and A/B comparison
- Scalable GUI
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EQ3 AUv3 plug-in — comes as time-limited Demo-version for you to try. It gives you 5 minutes of Free play time. (You can reload the EQ3 AUv3 plug-in as many times as you want, thereby you get the Demo period again and again.) Unlimited version of EQ3 AUv3 plug-in comes as In-App Purchase. In the '80s it was the first to use a different approach to tonal adjustments. In conventional analog equalizers, whether they are shelving, sweepable, graphic or parametric types, various sections of the audio spectra are boosted or attenuated by adding or subtracting bandpasses. In this case, frequency shaping is achieved by summing bandpasses. Our emulation of this method is quite similar to the original and improved with additional possibilities of digital technology. Now you can hear it for yourself. There are five broad, overlapping, interacting bands: 10 (Sub), 40, 160, 650 and 2.5 кHz, along with the «rock (airy) band» control, which is an HF boost-only control. Features: • Standalone and AUv3 plug-in; • Precise port of Rack Extensions plug-in; • Modeled vintage EQ; • Boost only shelf at 2.5 kHz, 5 kHz, 10 kHz, 20 kHz and 40 kHz; • 2.5 kHz fixed boost and cut shelf; • 650 Hz fixed boost and cut bell; • 160 Hz fixed boost and cut bell; • 40 Hz fixed boost and cut bell; • SUB (10 Hz) fixed boost and cut bell; • Stereo (Mono), Mid or Side EQ modes; • Undo/Redo; • A/B comparison; • 2x/4x/8x Upsampling; • Macro controllers; • Built-in Gain Match; • Scalable GUI. When using the EQ3, remember that the bands are broad, approximately 2 octaves. They overlap one another. For example: when boosting the 10 kHz «rock band» to a +6 position on the knob, to keep the response flat through in 2.5 kHz region you should rotate the 2.5 kHz coarse knob to about a -1 position. The amount you back off the 2.5 kHz control should, of course, be set by ear. Following this kind of procedure will accomplish a more airy sound, with much more clarity. You can accomplish the same thing for the low frequency response by applying the same principles. The EQ3 will reach further into your mix than you've ever heard before with minimal phase distortion. As a result, you may need to take a little time and «play around» with the controls on the EQ3 before you can make intuitive adjustments. To use EQ3 as a plug-in, you need an AUv3-compatible host app like GarageBand, Auria, AUM, Cubasis and more — EQ3 will appear in the list of Audio Unit extensions for effect plug-ins in the host app.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: RRS EQ3 at 100% against Waves Nx's 47%. RRS EQ3 also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.4) and update cadence (monthly vs every 10 months). Waves Nx's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On price, ratings volume, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. RRS EQ3 sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Waves Nx asks for nothing beyond the download.
RRS EQ3 holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 29 and 25 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 47% of Waves Nx's written reviews are positive against 100% of RRS EQ3's.
Waves Nx ships an update every 10 months, RRS EQ3 monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Waves Nx | RRS EQ3 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.4 (29 ratings) | 4.8 (25 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 47.1% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 29 — better | 25 |
| Update frequency | Every 10 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 | 10.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 29 MB | 23 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Waves Inc. | RRS, OOO |
Customer experience
Waves Nx
RRS EQ3
In-app purchases
Waves Nx
No in-app purchases
RRS EQ3
- RRS EQ3 Unlimited$4.99









