Headphone CheckLow frequency test
Bass Test
How deep do your headphones go, and do they stay clean when they get there? Play single bass tones or sweep from 20 to 200 Hz and listen for rattling, buzzing or bass that simply disappears.
Start at 80 Hz with moderate volume, then go lower. Pulses are easier to judge than a steady tone.
Never test bass at full volume.
What good bass sounds like
A healthy pair of headphones plays every tone from about 40 Hz upwards as a clean, round hum with the same loudness in both ears. Below 40 Hz most headphones roll off: you start to feel pressure rather than hear a note, and at 20 Hz many earbuds go nearly silent. That is normal and not a fault.
| Range | Where you hear it in music | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| 20–40 Hz | Pipe organs, film rumble, 808 tails | Felt more than heard. Good closed headphones and well-sealed earbuds reproduce it; open-back and loose earbuds often do not. |
| 40–60 Hz | Bass guitar fundamentals, electronic sub-bass | Should be clearly audible on almost any decent headphones. |
| 60–100 Hz | Kick drum body, bass punch | Loud and obvious on all headphones. Silence here means a seal or hardware problem. |
| 100–200 Hz | Warmth of voices and instruments | Clean and even. Too much makes music sound boomy; too little sounds thin. |
Rattling, buzzing or distortion?
Use the sweep to tell them apart:
- A rattle or buzz at one particular pitch is mechanical. Something vibrates in sympathy: a loose earcup, a cracked housing, a cable clip, debris on the driver, or even the glasses frame you are wearing. Sweep slowly through the area, then press on different parts of the headphones while the tone plays until the noise stops.
- Harsh, fuzzy sound at every low pitch is distortion. The driver is asked to move further than it can. Lower the volume, switch off "bass boost" and equaliser presets, and test again. If it is still fuzzy at moderate volume, the driver may be damaged.
- A crackle that comes and goes is usually electrical: a worn cable, a dirty jack, or a weak Bluetooth signal.
Weak bass on earbuds? Check the seal
In-ear headphones only make bass when they seal the ear canal. Play 50 Hz on pulse and gently press each earbud in: if the bass suddenly appears, the fit was the problem, not the earbuds. Try the next ear tip size up (most people use a different size in each ear more often than they think), or foam tips. AirPods Pro and similar models have an ear tip fit test in their settings that does the same thing.
Open-ear designs such as standard AirPods and bone-conduction headphones never seal, so they produce much less sub-bass by design.
Testing a subwoofer or speakers
The bass tones work on speakers and subwoofers too. Play the sweep at a moderate level and walk around the room: bass that booms at one frequency and vanishes at another is room acoustics, not the speaker. A rattle that follows the speaker wherever you stand is the speaker itself or something touching it.
Frequently asked questions
What Hz is best for testing bass?
Start with 60 to 80 Hz, where every headphone should be loud and clean, then go down to 40 Hz and 30 Hz to see how deep yours reach. The 20 to 200 Hz sweep shows the whole picture in fifteen seconds.
Why can't I hear 20 Hz?
20 Hz is at the bottom edge of human hearing and needs a lot of air movement. Most earbuds and many headphones barely reproduce it, so silence or a faint pressure is normal.
Can a bass test damage headphones?
At sensible volume, no. Very low tones at full volume can push a driver past its limit, which is why the test starts with pulses and you should keep the volume moderate.
Why does the bass sound different in each ear?
Usually the fit: one earbud seals better than the other. Swap tips or press each one in while playing 50 Hz. If over-ear headphones differ between sides, check the earpad seal and the balance setting.