Equalize Your Sound Levels Down, Not Up, for Better Quality

There are several ways to equalize sound levels. You can do it with the sound player application, through the sound card utility software and also with built-in operating system tools. However, like a Lifehacker user pointed out, if you must equalize, you should turn the frequencies you don’t like down, rather than turning the good ones up.

A lot of people say you shouldn’t equalize at all, but if you do, you should try to avoid raising levels:

stick to removing frequencies. Your computer is better at this than adding stuff. Better option: Get an old Sony amp or whatever, connect your computer, turn up bass. Sounds way better.

If you raise levels with a software equalizer, you’re probably going to encounter some distortion, which will make your music sound worse, not better. Instead, find the curve you like, then “shift” everything down so your highest points are at 0. You’ll probably have to turn your computer’s volume up a bit to make up for it, but your music will sound much better.

via Lifehacker