Helps you manage equaliser settings in Music.app.
$ ./music_auto_eq help
usage:
./music_auto_eq [-f PATH_TO_PLIST]
list all EQs
./music_auto_eq [-f PATH_TO_PLIST] show NAME
show EQ setting with name NAME
./music_auto_eq [-f PATH_TO_PLIST] autoeq [-n] NAME PATH_TO_EQ.TXT [PREAMP_HEADROOM]
update EQ setting with name NAME using the fixed band EQ
settings specified. Defaults to 0.5 dB of headroom.
Specify -n for a dry run.
Example input file: https://git.io/JLKUa
I didn't use a proper argument parser so the order of options is non-negotiable.
$Let's see what equalisers come with the system:
$ ./music_auto_eq
#0 Acoustic [ -0.0 dB] 5.00 dB 4.90 dB 3.95 dB 1.05 dB 2.15 dB 1.75 dB 3.50 dB 4.10 dB 3.55 dB 2.15 dB
#1 Bass Booster [ -0.0 dB] 5.50 dB 4.25 dB 3.50 dB 2.50 dB 1.25 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB
#2 Bass Reducer [ -0.0 dB] -5.50 dB -4.25 dB -3.50 dB -2.50 dB -1.25 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB
#3 Classical [ -0.0 dB] 4.75 dB 3.75 dB 3.00 dB 2.50 dB -1.50 dB -1.50 dB -0.0 dB 2.25 dB 3.25 dB 3.75 dB
#4 Dance [ -0.0 dB] 3.57 dB 6.55 dB 4.99 dB -0.0 dB 1.92 dB 3.65 dB 5.15 dB 4.54 dB 3.59 dB -0.0 dB
#5 Deep [ -0.0 dB] 4.95 dB 3.55 dB 1.75 dB 1.00 dB 2.85 dB 2.50 dB 1.45 dB -2.15 dB -3.55 dB -4.60 dB
#6 Electronic [ -0.0 dB] 4.25 dB 3.80 dB 1.20 dB -0.0 dB -2.15 dB 2.25 dB 0.85 dB 1.25 dB 3.95 dB 4.80 dB
#7 Flat [ -0.0 dB] -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB
#8 Hip-Hop [ -0.0 dB] 5.00 dB 4.25 dB 1.50 dB 3.00 dB -1.00 dB -1.00 dB 1.50 dB -0.50 dB 2.00 dB 3.00 dB
#9 Jazz [ -0.0 dB] 4.00 dB 3.00 dB 1.50 dB 2.25 dB -1.50 dB -1.50 dB -0.0 dB 1.50 dB 3.00 dB 3.75 dB
#10 Latin [ -0.0 dB] 4.50 dB 3.00 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -1.50 dB -1.50 dB -1.50 dB -0.0 dB 3.00 dB 4.50 dB
#11 Loudness [ -0.0 dB] 6.00 dB 4.00 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -2.00 dB -0.0 dB -1.00 dB -5.00 dB 5.00 dB 1.00 dB
#12 Lounge [ -0.0 dB] -3.00 dB -1.50 dB -0.50 dB 1.50 dB 4.00 dB 2.50 dB -0.0 dB -1.50 dB 2.00 dB 1.00 dB
#13 Piano [ -0.0 dB] 3.00 dB 2.00 dB -0.0 dB 2.50 dB 3.00 dB 1.50 dB 3.50 dB 4.50 dB 3.00 dB 3.50 dB
#14 Pop [ -0.0 dB] -1.50 dB -1.00 dB -0.0 dB 2.00 dB 4.00 dB 4.00 dB 2.00 dB -0.0 dB -1.00 dB -1.50 dB
#15 R&B [ -0.0 dB] 2.62 dB 6.92 dB 5.65 dB 1.33 dB -2.19 dB -1.50 dB 2.32 dB 2.65 dB 3.00 dB 3.75 dB
#16 Rock [ -0.0 dB] 5.00 dB 4.00 dB 3.00 dB 1.50 dB -0.50 dB -1.00 dB 0.50 dB 2.50 dB 3.50 dB 4.50 dB
#17 Small Speakers [ -0.0 dB] 5.50 dB 4.25 dB 3.50 dB 2.50 dB 1.25 dB -0.0 dB -1.25 dB -2.50 dB -3.50 dB -4.25 dB
#18 Spoken Word [ -0.0 dB] -3.46 dB -0.47 dB -0.0 dB 0.69 dB 3.46 dB 4.61 dB 4.84 dB 4.28 dB 2.54 dB -0.0 dB
#19 Treble Booster [ -0.0 dB] -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB 1.25 dB 2.50 dB 3.50 dB 4.25 dB 5.50 dB
#20 Treble Reducer [ -0.0 dB] -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -1.25 dB -2.50 dB -3.50 dB -4.25 dB -5.50 dB
#21 Vocal Booster [ -0.0 dB] -1.50 dB -3.00 dB -3.00 dB 1.50 dB 3.75 dB 3.75 dB 3.00 dB 1.50 dB -0.0 dB -1.50 dB
$Hmm, looks like the AutoEQ project has some suggestions for the headphones I normally use. Let's try them out.
First, open Music.app and open the Equaliser (Window → Equaliser, or ⌥⌘E). Create a new preset by selecting "Make Preset…" from the top of the dropdown menu:
Quit Music.app. You might have to wait a few seconds for it to be saved to disk, but it should eventually appear in the music_auto_eq output:
$ ./music_auto_eq
[…]
#15 qc35 II ANC 2 [ -0.0 dB] -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dBThe numbers might look different if you had a different EQ preset selected when you created a new one. That's fine.
Now let's try replacing that with the presets from AutoEQ. Choose the FixedBandEQ.txt variant for your headphones (I'll use this one) and download it. First we'll try a dry run with -n:
$ ./music_auto_eq autoeq -n 'qc35 II ANC 2' 'Bose QuietComfort 35 II (wireless, ANC 2) FixedBandEQ.txt'
Before: #15 qc35 II ANC 2 [ -0.0 dB] -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB
After: #15 qc35 II ANC 2 [ -5.10 dB] -5.50 dB -2.70 dB -2.30 dB -1.90 dB -0.70 dB 1.30 dB 0.50 dB -0.0 dB 4.60 dB -0.40 dB
dry run, not touching disk
$So far so good! The preamp is calculated to offset the EQ to avoid clipping (per AutoEQ's readme); we offset by the highest band adjustment plus 0.5 dB of headroom, but you can configure the headroom by adding it as the last parameter.
Let's say we like this. Drop -n and run for realsies:
$ ./music_auto_eq autoeq 'qc35 II ANC 2' 'Bose QuietComfort 35 II (wireless, ANC 2) FixedBandEQ.txt'
Before: #15 qc35 II ANC 2 [ -0.0 dB] -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB -0.0 dB
After: #15 qc35 II ANC 2 [ -5.10 dB] -5.50 dB -2.70 dB -2.30 dB -1.90 dB -0.70 dB 1.30 dB 0.50 dB -0.0 dB 4.60 dB -0.40 dB
backed up /Users/kameliya/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Music.eq.plist to /var/folders/qs/vs29_zxx1qdf7lhmk09sth8r0000gn/T/music_auto_eq.plist20201222-21446-16gqx6r
saved new EQ at /Users/kameliya/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Music.eq.plist
$Fingers crossed it worked! Open Music.app and find out:
Looks good! Enjoy your EQ!
music_auto_eq tries hard not to eat your plist, but no promises are made. It makes a backup of the target file before overwriting it.
The Unlicense covers this work.