topic Re: What do Bass Boost and Surroundsound actually do? in Android

What do Bass Boost and Surroundsound actually do?

almix12 — Sun, 29 Dec 2019 15:06:36 GMT

Hey all, an Audio Engineer here. I have a few questions about the EQ on Spotify, specifically the Bass Boost and Surroundsound sliders. From a technical standpoint, what do they actually do? Are they reactive to the music? Meaning they would act differently depending on the song as opposed to an a standard graphical EQ which acts independently of the material one runs through it.

Does the surround sound use some sort of stereo widening or panning effect? Which frequencies does the Bass Boost effect alter?

And lastly, on some but not all of my devices (LG Nexus 5 with latest Spotify build) turning on the EQ and turning either of the two bass sliders up noticably lowers the overall volume from disabling the EQ. Why is this?

Thanks!!

Alex

Re: What do Bass Boost and Surroundsound actually do?

almix12 — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 12:51:32 GMT

Bump?

Re: What do Bass Boost and Surroundsound actually do?

almix12 — Tue, 14 Jan 2020 20:28:55 GMT

Anyone?

Re: What do Bass Boost and Surroundsound actually do?

9767 — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 19:59:09 GMT

I would actually really like this answered.

Re: What do Bass Boost and Surroundsound actually do?

MNowlan — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 00:44:07 GMT

I hope this thread gets more attention, but for now all I can do is say what I *think* (nothing confirmed, just a theory from observation): Bass booster increases the volume of the quieter, deeper tones (for example the bass guitar). as for surround sound, it spreads out the different frequencies, making them more directional (only works with multi-speaker setups that allow for it, but most headphones are comparable).

Increasing each slider strengthens the effect, from no modification to extremely potent effect.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, because I probably am 🙂