So I did a little searching, found a solution, and thought I’d pass it along in case you run up against the same issue.

I needed to EQ the audio, but as mentioned above, I couldn’t. Yikes! It was woofy, boomy, muddy, and very distracting. This morning, I decided to fire up  (a local talk station) on my iMac as I was working on my MacBook Pro. Because I am a musician, I find it very difficult to not pay attention to the music. I know that a lot of people like to listen to music while they work, but I am not one of them. Often it is in the form of a random news channel on the TV, or (unfortunately not during the COVID-19 shutdown) a Cubs game lilting just within earshot. When I work from home (WFH), I like a little background noise.

But what if you listen to Spotify on your Mac? What about YouTube or streaming music in a web browser? Unfortunately, there is no built-in EQ for Safari, nor is there a way to control the EQ on a system-wide basis. It can help compensate for the small speakers on your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro or fine-tune the bass and treble in your headphones to your personal tastes. The Apple Music App has an okay (i.e., usable) equalizer with plenty of presets for the average user.