Tests / 04 — Bass extension
Bass extension test
A tone slides from 150 Hz — easy bass anyone can hear — down toward 10 Hz. Press the button when the tone disappears (or turns into something you feel more than hear).
Earbuds: bass depends almost entirely on the seal. Push them in for a proper fit before testing — a broken seal can cost you 30 Hz of extension.
Use a moderate, comfortable volume. The sweep takes about 25 seconds.
150 Hz
current frequency
Keep listening as it drops. Press the moment you stop hearing a tone.
—
audible down to about
Reading your result
| Limit | What it means |
|---|---|
| below 25 Hz | Excellent — true sub-bass. Movie rumble and 808s arrive intact. |
| 25–40 Hz | Solid extension — deep bass in almost all music is covered. |
| 40–60 Hz | Decent — you’ll miss the lowest octave of some genres. |
| above 60 Hz | Limited — typical of open earbuds or a broken seal. Re-seat and retry. |
Hearing vs. feeling
Below roughly 30 Hz, healthy ears stop “hearing” a pitch and start sensing pressure. On headphones that arrives as a flutter on your eardrums rather than a note. Either counts — the interesting number is where the sensation stops entirely.
Caveats worth knowing
- At equal driver output, our ears are much less sensitive to low frequencies — so your result depends on volume as well as the hardware. Compare pairs at the same volume.
- If the tone doesn’t vanish but turns into buzzing or crackling, that’s not bass extension — that’s the driver complaining. Run the rattle test.
- Laptop and phone speakers will lose this tone before 100 Hz. That’s physics, not a defect.