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Between listening to music, watching videos and taking calls, audio quality plays a big role in how you use and enjoy your iPhone. So whether you’re playing sound straight from the device’s speaker or through headphones, you’ll of course want the audio to be as clean as possible. 

Luckily, there are several ways to improve your iPhone audio experience, and your options go far beyond adjusting audio settings on AirPods. The Settings app (and individual app settings) offer a smorgasbord of options for improving audio quality, from noise cancellation to equalizers and lossless audio.

Naturally, having the right hardware for the job is important for optimizing audio quality; there isn’t too much you can do with software to make an ultra-cheap speaker sound amazing. Then again, even high-quality equipment can sound better by tweaking some options, so it’s wise to look at the issue from both sides of the coin.

Major streaming apps have settings that adjust the audio quality delivered to your device. For Apple Music, go to Settings > Apps > Music, then tap Audio Quality and choose your settings for mobile data, Wi-Fi and downloads. High Quality is the best balance of data and sound; as we discuss below, Lossless is only worthwhile if you have high-quality wired headphones. 

Spotify offers the same setting under your profile picture at Settings and privacy > Media quality. Free users can only select from Low, Normal and High, while Premium subscribers can also choose Very high or Lossless. For Wi-Fi streaming, Very High is good for most cases.

After enabled high-quality streaming, take a look at your equalization (EQ) settings, which let you boost or reduce certain frequencies. For Apple Music, you’ll find these under the same Settings > Apps > Music menu. Select EQ, then pick from the list of music types depending on what sounds best. Unfortunately, you can’t create a custom EQ in Apple Music. Meanwhile, the Sound Check feature normalizes the volume level across all tracks. People are mixed on this; some claim it reduces audio quality, while others appreciate not having to adjust the volume regularly. Give it a try both on and off to see what you prefer.

For Spotify, you’ll find these options by tapping your profile icon, choosing Settings and privacy and selecting Playback. Tap Equalizer to enable it, then choose a preset or drag the dots for each frequency to fine-tune the sound to your liking. The Volume normalization slider is at the bottom of this page; if you use it, don’t choose Loud for best quality.

The Lossless option mentioned above deserves special attention. As you saw, Apple Music and Spotify Premium subscribers can take advantage of lossless audio. This preserves all the audio’s original data, producing a crisp sound that’s equivalent to CD quality. In both Quality menus visited earlier, you can choose Lossless separately for Wi-Fi, mobile data and downloads as desired. Note that this will use much more data and storage space than lossy options.

Unfortunately, having the best AirPods won’t help you here, as Bluetooth doesn’t support lossless. The AirPods 4, AirPods Pro 3, USB-C AirPods Pro 2 and Powerbeats Pro 2 can support wireless lossless when paired with the Apple Vision Pro, though this is a niche case. Bluetooth speakers also have this limitation. 

To get the best audio, you’ll need one of the best DACs for Apple Music. A good DAC (digital-to-analog converter) will properly carry the quality and texture of lossless audio. The budget-friendly FiiO KA11, for instance, provides everything most people need at an affordable price. Apple Music also offers Hi-Res Lossless, which is studio-quality audio that uses even more data. Unless you have premium equipment, you probably don’t need to bother with this.

Your iPhone’s accessibility settings hold even more audio optimization potential under Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual. Here you can toggle Phone Noise Cancellation (only available on iPhone 12 and earlier), which removes traces of ambient noise. Use the Balance slider to adjust your audio if sound is uneven across right and left channels. 

Then, while wearing supported Apple headphones, head to Headphone Accommodations, where you can adjust Frequencies (which boosts certain frequencies, similar to EQ settings) or Soft sounds to amplify quieter sounds (which makes subtle environmental sounds and phone call audio more legible). Mess around with these settings while you have your headphones in to get a sense for what sounds best to your ear.

If you’re playing audio from your phone’s speakers, other than fine-tuning your settings for your ears, you won’t need to do much more than keeping your speakers unclogged. If you need extra help with cleaning out your speaker grills, you can use a specialized tool like cleaning putty or an air blower.