Best EQ Settings for Sony WH-1000XM5 on Android (Harman Target 2026)

Sony's WH-1000XM5 are comfortable, noise-cancel well, and sound — out of the box — like somebody poured syrup on the bass and taped gauze over the mids. Reviewers have measured them against the Harman 2018 target curve and the divergence is consistent: elevated 60–120 Hz shelf, a 3 kHz dip, and rolled-off air above 12 kHz.

The fix takes about 60 seconds on Android once you have a system-wide EQ that actually applies to every app — Spotify, YouTube, Tidal, phone calls, games. Here's the curve.

The target curve, band by band

These values are calibrated against Harman's 2018 over-ear target. Apply them in a 10-band or 31-band graphic EQ, or as parametric bands if your equalizer supports them.

Frequency	Gain (dB)	What it fixes
32 Hz	−2.0	Sub-bass bleed
63 Hz	−3.0	Bass bloat
125 Hz	−2.5	Lower-mid muddiness
250 Hz	−1.0	Warmth (minor)
500 Hz	0.0	Reference
1 kHz	0.0	Reference
2 kHz	+1.5	Presence lift
4 kHz	+3.0	3 kHz dip correction
8 kHz	+2.0	Clarity
16 kHz	+3.5	Air / cymbal shimmer

Preamp

Drop preamp by −3.5 dB to prevent clipping on the treble boost. Most Android system EQs clip silently — you'll notice it as a harshness in loud passages. Enhanced EQ shows a live clip indicator so you can dial preamp precisely.

How to apply on Android (any device, no root)

1. Install a system-wide equalizer. The stock Sony Headphones Connect app only EQs audio routed through Sony's own pipeline — it won't touch Spotify's output on Android.
2. Open your EQ app and switch it to 31-band graphic or parametric mode.
3. Enter the values from the table above.
4. Set preamp to −3.5 dB.
5. Save as a preset called "WH-1000XM5 Harman".

Enhanced EQ includes AutoEQ with the WH-1000XM5 already in its database — tap it and the correction is applied automatically. No manual entry required.

Why system-wide matters

A per-app EQ (like Spotify's 5-band sliders) only corrects audio inside that app. Switch to YouTube, TikTok, or a video call and your headphones revert to their default bloated-bass signature. A system-wide DSP sits on Android's AudioEffect chain, so the correction is applied to every byte of audio leaving your phone — regardless of source app.

For a pair of cans you paid $400 for, leaving them uncorrected on 90% of what you actually listen to is a waste.

Parametric alternative (more precise)

If your EQ supports parametric filters, these three bands give cleaner results than the 10-band graphic curve above:

Type	Freq	Gain	Q
Low shelf	120 Hz	−3.5 dB	0.7
Peaking	3200 Hz	+3.5 dB	1.4
High shelf	10 kHz	+3.0 dB	0.7

Parametric uses continuous biquad filters instead of fixed bands, so corrections land exactly where the headphone's deviation is — not where the nearest slider happens to be.

TL;DR

• Drop bass shelf by ~3 dB around 63–125 Hz.
• Boost 3–4 kHz by 3 dB to correct Sony's presence dip.
• Add 2–3 dB of air above 10 kHz.
• Preamp −3.5 dB.
• Use a system-wide equalizer so it applies everywhere, not just one app.