Apple Music EQ for iPhones

DACs and Digital Software
1

This is a topic to discuss the current state of using Apple Music with EQ on iOS devices aka iPhones or iPads. I think this needs a dedicated topic because it’s pretty confusing and it’s easy to make a purchase with expectations that will never be fulfilled.

Here’s the 50,000 ft view in easy to digest bullet points:

  • There is no capability to EQ Apple Music in software on iOS like there is on macOS. Any app that claims to do this is actually just a music player app and can only play non-DRMed music stored on your iPhone.
  • There is the capability to EQ Apple Music with a DAC that supports hardware EQ
  • There is the capability to change the currently applied hardware EQ using an iOS app over a Bluetooth connection
  • There is the capability to change the currently applied hardware EQ using an iOS app over a USB connection, but no one is doing this. See below for why.

That last point tripped me up recently. See I bought a CrinEar Protocol Max a few months ago, and I love it! Well except that I can’t change the EQ settings on it or even disable EQ altogether from my iPhone. I have to use a web interface that’s both clunky and only available in Chrome on my PC. I assumed this was only because CrinEar did not want to get into the software business, and I wouldn’t blame them. It’s a tough business very different from hardware.

However I am, for better or worse, in the software business. So I figured I’d make an iOS app that could “control” the Protocol Max. The first step of which would be just being able to change the active EQ profile on the Protocol Max. The problem is I couldn’t get it to work.

The reason is because, for security reasons, Apple requires USB devices to have what’s called an MFi chip before it allows the iPhone to talk to the USB device at that low of a level. And very few hardware makers are willing to increase the cost of their product by adding one. Questyle is the only portable USB DAC maker I could find that does, and their products do not support EQ.

One of the functions of an MFi chip is to authenticate to the iPhone. This means that even if an MFi chip is present, it is locked to the hardware maker. This is bad news for me since even if Protocol Max has an MFi chip I still couldn’t develop an app to control it. Well not without CrinEar owning it anyway.

The workaround is to use Bluetooth to control the DAC instead. This is interesting because I have always been frustrated by my Qudelix 5K’s insistence on a Bluetooth connection even when it is directly connected to my iPhone. Now I know why.

I’m annoyed that there is no, nor will there ever be, an iOS app to control the Protocol Max. Even more annoying is that I recently purchased a Cayin RU3 USB dongle DAC amp that claims:

RU3 integrates seamlessly with the Cayin Control App, providing intuitive access to essential audio settings. RU3 features a 10-band high-precision lossless EQ for in-depth sound customization in the app.

Conveniently it fails to mention the Cayin Control app is only on Android and oh by the way their web interface to the RU3 can only update the firmware. The EQ section on the web site is “coming soon”.

The Fiio Control app is available on iOS but it does not support EQ features except for their Bluetooth devices. And it’s my understanding that you have to switch the Fiio DAC into Bluetooth mode to change the EQ settings. At least the Qudelix 5K can do both USB audio and Bluetooth control at the same time.

This is my full understanding of the state of Apple Music EQ on iOS. If I got anything wrong, I’d appreciate a correction. I will certainly revisit this topic when new products arrive that don’t have these limitations. I hope I can save someone the waste of time and money that I’ve had recently.

1 Like
Dongle DAC/amp with EQ
2

OT but similar frustration rant:

This is another example of how almost everything electronics-related is a complicated mess these days.

Just buying a usb cable is a whole research project. It’s a “high quality” cable but they forgot to tell you it’s just for charging and doesn’t even have wires for the data lines. Or it only has data lines for the original usb spec and provides the slowest data speed possible.

Portable battery packs are “rated” in mAh when that isn’t even a measure of battery capacity, almost no one knows what mAh is, and in actual charging you will only get about 60% of the claimed capacity.

I’ve worked with computers and technology for a long time (as in before pc’s existed) and I’m slowly simplifying my electronics exposure because it’s getting to be a full time job avoiding getting scammed, figuring out how to have simple things like eq, and keeping devices working.