Equalizer vs iEQ
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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"... 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
iEQ
Adjust the sound of your music library with a ten-band graphic equalizer. Fine-tune audio for headphones or speaker systems by manipulating ten frequency sliders. Compare your custom EQ settings with the original sound to achieve your desired listening experience.
- Ten-band graphic equalizer
- Adjust music library tracks
- Control overall volume
- Compare EQ settings
- Works with headphones and speakers
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Fine-tune the tracks in your music library. In your headphones or any speaker system, anywhere. iEQ is a ten-band graphic equalizer for iOS that provides clean, transparent equalization through ten two-pole cascaded bi-quad IIR filters, centered at sonically and musically useful frequencies. After opening iEQ, simply select the song, playlist, audio-book etc. from your Music Library, Device Files, or iCloud Drive, hit play, and move the sliders up or down until you like what you hear. The Attenuation slider on the left lets you control the overall volume and helps keeps the sound from distorting (NOTE: since the ten frequency cut/boost controls may be used to add more gain to a track already be close to "clipping", it's possible to create distortion with your EQ settings. If this occurs, remove the distortion by lowering the overall signal level with the attenuation control). Use the On/Off switch to compare between the original sound and your EQ’d settings. iEQ your will help your music sound its best, anywhere.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Equalizer at 61% against iEQ's 17%. Equalizer also leads on rating (3.3 vs 2.8) and ratings volume (138 vs 5). iEQ's advantage is price ($2.99 vs $3.99) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.0). On update cadence, 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
Equalizer costs $3.99 and iEQ $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Equalizer holds the better App Store score, 3.3 against 2.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Equalizer has 138 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 61% of Equalizer's written reviews are positive against 17% of iEQ's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Equalizer | iEQ |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 | $2.99 — better |
| Rating | 3.3 (138 ratings) — better | 2.8 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 61.2% of reviews — better | 17.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 138 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Audioforge Labs Inc. | Engineered Stuff |
Customer experience
Equalizer
iEQ
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
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- 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
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- Ability to save EQ settings per song
iEQ
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Equalizer
No in-app purchases
iEQ
No in-app purchases







