Comparison

Equalizer vs ChannelStrip

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Equalizer

This music player offers a powerful and accurate parametric equalizer with advanced playlist controls. Customize your audio experience with seven adjustable control points, separate left/right ear adjustments, and a spectrum analyzer. Share and import EQ presets for a personalized sound.

Highlights
  • Parametric equalizer with 7 control points
  • Separate left/right ear EQ adjustment
  • Customizable EQ presets
  • Spectrum analyzer visualization
  • Advanced playlist controls
  • Background playback with remote control
  • AirPlay and Bluetooth support
Features
Read full description

"... the sound quality blew us away."- Gearburn.com Music player with the most powerful and acurate equalizer in the app store as well as the most advanced playlist controls. + Play music directly from your Music Library including podcasts and music video (audio only) + Adjust the powerful parametric equalizer by moving the seven control points or type in the values directly. + Adjust the EQ curve for your left and right ear separately (now extends from -30 to + 30 dB. Use the StereoEQ setting for that) + Select from over 10 presets or save your own. You can even share them via email and import presets from other people via email. + Full background support including remote control (from docks, headsets, car stereos) + Visualize the music with the spectrum analyzer. + Use AirPlay to listen on your AppleTV, or your Bluetooth headsets and even a dock. + Use the pre-amp slider to adjust the overall boost or cut. Make sure to turn the slider down if you experience distortion. Use the auto-normalizer function to prevent clipping automatically and have the best dynamic range possible with your eq curve. (on/off in settings) + Curve screen: curve redraws as controllers are dragged. Pinch to modify Q. Three stage clipping signal on preamp slider. Keyboard entry for pre-amp. Twitter/Facebook/Weibo integration to share your current EQ curve. Bypass. + Crossfade between songs. Make sure to stop the music before changing the crossfade time slider. + Now playing screen includes repeat (all, single no repeat) button and shuffles like the music app. Improved stability of on the fly modifications of the playlist. Add more songs to the playlist at any time. Sort playlist alphabetically. + Music selection is very similar to default music app. + Turn landscape to display the frequency analyzer. + Built in sleep timer to stop Equalizer after a certain period if time. + Crossfeed option to blend audio between channels + Apple Watch support for eq curve selection incl. complications KNOWN ISSUES: No known issues. please contact support if you have any problems. COPY-PROTECTED MUSIC: Equalizer will not play copy-protected (DRM). You need to convert DRM songs. Apple Music Streaming uses copy-protected songs. iCLOUD: Only the Apple Music app can manage songs in iCloud (iTunes Match). You will need to make sure the songs are downloaded to your device to listen and enhance them via Equalizer. If you want to stream and eq your music, you can try our other app: CloudEQ. It allows you to stream and eq music from SoundCloud and your Dropbox account without the need for storage on your device. From the reviews: EXCELLENT PROGRAM I connect my iphone 4 to a car audio system, with the application the music began to sound incomparably better .... A little clear interface, but to understand it and understand need no more than 5-10 minutes. -- P_S_B_ *** LOVE IT This is the EQ I have been looking for, and because of bad ratings I almost passed on it! I consider myself an aspiring audiophile and have the equipment -- Klipsch, Sunfire, Nottingham, Denon, Paradigim, etc. -- (and debt) to back it up. This EQ performs flawlessly and is very easy to use. It enhanced my music dramatically. Yes, dramatically! Just make sure you are running the recommended IOS, as the developer suggests. -- J. Paul DiMaggio *** PLEASE if you have concerns or encounter problems with the app: post on http://www.audioforge.ca and we will explain how things work, until you can use all the features of the app to the fullest. Thank you

About

ChannelStrip

This app provides essential audio processing tools for music production, including a noise gate, equalizer, and compressor. It offers smooth control for mixing and tonal shaping, with a characterful output stage for adding warmth.

Highlights
  • Noise gate with adjustable envelope
  • PEV-modeled equalizer for tone shaping
  • Rough Rider-based compressor
  • Input/output gain control
  • Mute and bypass functions
  • AUv3 plugin support
Features
Read full description

ChannelStrip is, as its name implies, a channel strip app and AUv3 plugin. With a gate, equalizer, and compressor, ChannelStrip can provide a solid and easy-to-use channel control for your iOS mixing needs. GATE: The gate is of our own design, and very smooth. With envelope that vary from nearly instantaneous to ludicrously long, you can use it for both basic noise control and more extreme tonal shaping. EQUALIZER: Modeled on the PEV, a famous German "cartridge" equalizer, the EQ in ChannelStrip is super useful for basic tone shaping. A very smooth and forgiving general-purpose EQ. COMPRESSOR: The compressor in ChannelStrip is, at its heart, our Rough Rider model. We removed all the filtering from Rough Rider to make it cleaner, and changed the times to be more appropriate to general mixing duties. I/O: ChannelStrip has positive gain on both the input and output, to get your levels right. It also has a bit of a personality on the output stage if you drive it hard (with either or both the input and output gains). Nominally very clean, it picks up a bit of dirt with high levels just like a hardware console. Along with that, both mute (which mutes the input entirely) and bypass (which sends the inputs right to the outputs without passing the DSP stages) are available as automatable parameters. In short, ChannelStrip is a general utility mixing tool, with a bit of character and a lot of usefulness. We _strongly_ recommend you use the AUv3 version. The standalone is provided as a courtesy, but ChannelStrip is designed as an AUv3 plugin, and prefers to be hosted in a DAW or modular host like GarageBand, AUM, Cubasis, nanoStudio, etc.

Screenshots

Equalizer4 screens
ChannelStrip2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: ChannelStrip at 5.0 against Equalizer's 3.3. ChannelStrip also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 18.0). Equalizer's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 66 months) and review sentiment (61% vs 39%). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Equalizer costs $3.99 and ChannelStrip $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ChannelStrip holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Equalizer has 138 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 61% of Equalizer's written reviews are positive against 39% of ChannelStrip's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Equalizer ships an update every 2 months, ChannelStrip every 66 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and August 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Equalizer versus ChannelStrip: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEqualizerChannelStrip
Price$3.99$3.99
Rating3.3 (138 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews61.2% of reviews — better38.9% of reviews
Number of ratings138 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 66 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS18.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB17 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAudioforge Labs Inc.Audio Damage, Inc.

Customer experience

Equalizer

All ratings138 ratings
Positive54.3%
Neutral8.0%
Negative37.7%
Written reviews338 reviews
Positive61.2%
Neutral8.0%
Negative30.8%

ChannelStrip

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews18 reviews
Positive38.9%
Neutral16.7%
Negative44.4%

Bugs and requests

Equalizer

Reported bugs

10 issues
  • Crashes after iOS 11 update
  • Scroll bar progress stuck
  • Buffering doesn't adjust properly
  • App crashes significantly
  • Playback may freeze at end of track
Show 5 more
  • Songs not playing from Apple Music
  • Playlists don't load
  • Crashes immediately on iPhone 6
  • Doesn't work with podcast
  • Clipping issue causing distortion

Requested features

6 requests
  • Sort albums by date added
  • Tidal integration
  • Playlist support
  • Dark mode
  • Presets for different headphones/speakers
Show 1 more
  • Ability to save EQ settings per song

ChannelStrip

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Equalizer

No in-app purchases

None

ChannelStrip

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Equalizer free?
Equalizer costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is ChannelStrip free?
ChannelStrip costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Equalizer or ChannelStrip?
ChannelStrip is rated higher. Equalizer averages 3.3 out of 5 from 138 ratings, while ChannelStrip averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Equalizer or ChannelStrip have ads?
Neither Equalizer nor ChannelStrip shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Equalizer or ChannelStrip?
Equalizer ships an update every 2 months, and ChannelStrip every 66 months. Most recently, Equalizer was updated on September 24, 2026 and ChannelStrip on August 26, 2026.

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