Tom has been covering technology since 2019, having worked as part of the phones team at TechRadar and then as an editor at What to Watch. Since 2025 he’s been a freelance contributor for many more brands including Digital Trends. BGR, TechRadar Gaming, TechAdvisor and GamesRadar.
He's written about myriad topics over his career including phones and tablets, headphones and earbuds, fitness and AV, and enjoys adding more beats to his repertoire. Outside of technology he’s also written reviews and features on games, movies and sports, having worked for many years as an editor at movie & TV website WhattoWatch. He's attended tech launches, product shows, movie premieres and game launches to do so.
Tom is based in London, UK, and when not covering technology he does work in the film sector, enjoys to run, cycle, climb and play tennis, and plays several instruments.
I always have two or three pairs of headphones that I'm testing at any one time, and cheap earbuds are easily the type of buds I review the most.
So I'm familiar with how lower-cost buds can sound worse than their premium counterparts. Some of them sound tinny, others too bassy, and many are just plain boring.
However, I recently discovered a hidden YouTube Music tool which makes my music sound way better, and now I understand why some call it the best music streaming app.
Letting you adjust downloaded or streamed music
I use Spotify for my music streaming, but on phones like my Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, it's the default app for playing stored music. I use it for listening to my high-res library.
Since listening to high-res music is a great way to test any earbud, I've started using YouTube Music a lot, and I wanted a feature I use on Spotify: the built-in equalizer.
An equalizer (or EQ) lets you change how earbuds sound: you can increase or decrease the power of certain frequencies, with levels of granularity that depend on the EQ.
It lets you boost or reduce bass, mids, and trebles. Most, but not all, earbuds and headphones offer this via the smartphone app.
Many streamers do too, though some choose to download Android EQ apps instead. Thankfully, YouTube Music has one, but it's buried in a menu, so you may have missed it.
To find YouTube Music's equalizer, tap the profile icon in the upper-right corner of the home screen, then go to Settings > Playback > Equalizer.
YouTube Music's equalizer doesn't affect how YouTube itself sounds; it's only for music.
You'll get a range of self-explanatory presets, plus a Custom option that lets you adjust the nine-band EQ at the top. The left bands are the lowest frequency, and they range up to the highest on the right. Bass to the left, treble to the right.
How to fix your cheap earbuds with the EQ tool
Identify the problem, then fix it
Not all bad-sounding earbuds are poor for the same reason, but after testing dozens of devices, I can narrow the issues to three rough groups. Each has a different EQ fix.
First, and perhaps most painfully, you have tinny-sounding earbuds. Roughly speaking, something sounds "tinny" when it lacks audible bass and has a boosted, thin-sounding treble.
Countering this takes some trial and error. Reduce the treble, then test the sound, then add some bass and test again. Slowly, you'll sand down some of the sound's jagged edges.
The exact combination will depend on your earbuds, but change the EQ by a point or two at a time, and you'll round out the sound you want.
Many earbud makers cover up poor drivers with excess bass, and it's also a popular sound profile for some listeners. But rumbly or muddy bass can ruin a balanced sound.
You'd think the fix would be the opposite of tinny sound, but I'd recommend leaving the treble alone; it could actually be fine as is. Instead, dial back the bass and some mids.
I often find you don't need to strip much bass to get a more balanced sound, so fixing this can be simple.
Finally, we come to V-shaped audio, arguably the most popular sound profile for most earbud users, though its implementation varies, and it can make some songs sound phony.
The term "V-shaped" in audio means the bass and treble are boosted relative to the mids. It makes songs sound energetic and punchy, but you lose all the detail and texture in the middle.
If you'd rather get a more natural, neutral sound, use the equalizer to invert the "V." My advice here is limited, since it varies so much by the earbud.
I'd recommend reducing treble and bass before dialing up the mids, then making small tweaks with regular listening tests to avoid overdoing it and making your buds sound worse.
Before you tweak the sound profile, it's worth trying YouTube Music's EQ presets. You might find these fix your problem without getting technical.
Fixing cheap buds will save you from buying a new pair
Even though they sometimes don't sound great, I'm a big fan of cheap earbuds. I love finding affordable alternatives to big-name options, and finding options which actually deliver.
They're never perfect, but you can offset their weaknesses to get something just as good as a top-end model, for cheap. That's what this EQ is: it makes your buds more premium.
That is, if audio quality is the problem. From my experience, there's something else you're paying for with premium buds, and this EQ won't help with longevity.