How to set a game EQ

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Can’t hear footsteps over the music and explosions? Before you reach for a “footstep” preset, start with the game itself. A game EQ is a set of volume knobs for slices of pitch, used after the game has already mixed the sound. The useful knobs are usually inside the game: music, effects, and voice. A headset preset is a second set of knobs on top of those. Start with the game. Add the preset only if one problem is still obvious.

I play Overwatch on a Razer BlackShark V2 HyperSpeed, and this is the order I set my audio in. For full picks, see the best gaming headsets. Once it’s set, how to use audio in a shooter covers the listening habits. A headset for FPS games is the cup and the radio, not a frequency graph. It does not change the ohm load the jack has to drive, and a bass preset is not a lower impedance. More headset guides.

Headsets worth a look

• Wired closed default: HyperX Cloud III. Official US $99.99. Closed-back, angled 53 mm drivers, 10 Hz–21 kHz, 64 Ω, 10 mm mic, 3.5 mm + USB-C + USB-A, 308 g. The mix still starts in the game. A USB path that adds its own processing is a second layer. Start that layer flat. HyperX Cloud III. Amazon search for Cloud III wired
• Wireless PC, official G HUB EQ moods: Logitech G PRO X 2 LIGHTSPEED. Official $229.99. 50 mm graphene, 20 Hz–20 kHz, 38 Ω, LIGHTSPEED + Bluetooth + 3.5 mm, up to 50 hours. Logitech’s G HUB manual lists headset moods: DEFAULT, FLAT, BASS BOOST, MOBA, FPS, CINEMATIC, COMMUNICATIONS, plus a new equalizer. Surround is a separate checkbox. Logitech G shop. Logitech spec. Amazon search for PRO X 2 LIGHTSPEED
• Two official EQ layers: SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Gen 2. Official $199.99. SteelSeries support splits Engine EQ (saved on the headset, useful off the PC) from Sonar EQ (software, up to 10 parametric bands, plus built-in presets). Their rule: set Engine to flat and turn third-party processors off if you are using Sonar, because the two EQs stack. SteelSeries Sonar vs Engine. Amazon search for Arctis Nova 7 Gen 2

The short version: set the game mix first. Leave every other EQ flat until one problem is still obvious. You don’t need a magic frequency list.

What to change first

What is wrongNot sure yetSteps are buriedExplosions take overThe top end is harshTeammates cover the stepsWhat you already changedNothing yetThe game slidersA headset presetWhere you are editingIn the gameIn the headset appIn both

Do this

Set the game mix

Music down until it is background. Effects loud enough to hear a step. Voice loud enough to understand, not loud enough to cover the step. Leave the headset EQ flat.

Change one thing, then play a round you already know. A corridor, a site, a spawn you have heard a hundred times. If you cannot tell the difference in that round, put the control back. Stacking a preset on an unset mix is how a “footstep” button makes the game hissier without making the step clearer.

What an EQ is doing

Pitch arrives as a mix. A low slice is rumble and the body of an explosion. A middle slice holds a lot of voices and the body of a footstep. A high slice is edge and hiss. An equalizer turns one slice up or down relative to the others. Boost means louder in that slice. Cut means quieter. The rest of the sound stays, unless you turn the whole volume down.

That is why a preset cannot create a step the game mixed out. If music is sitting on the effect, the step is already in there, under the score. Lower the music and the step comes forward. Boosting a slice instead turns the step up and turns up whatever else was in that slice, which is often hiss or a piece of the explosion. Cut is the safer move. You remove the thing that is covering the cue. You do not paint a new cue on top.

Those numbers change with the headset, the pads, the seal, and the game’s own mix. That’s why one curve can’t fit every headset.

Names on a headset app are advertising. Bass boost, clarity, FPS, and footstep are saved curves. Logitech’s G HUB manual calls them moods. SteelSeries calls them presets. Each one is a boost or a cut across those slices. Read them as “someone else’s curve,” not as a fact about your game. Flat means the app adds nothing. Flat is the starting point.

The game mix

Open the game’s audio menu before the headset app. The labels will not match a chart from another title. Look for music, for effects or SFX, and for voice, dialogue, or teammates. A separate footstep slider, on the games that have one, is the effects channel split in two. Use the words on that screen.

Lower music until the score is behind the world. In a quiet stretch you should notice the step before you notice the soundtrack. Raise effects until that step is obvious and a gunshot is not painful. Set voice so a sentence is clear and the step still cuts through it. Master, if the menu has one, is the overall loudness after those three. It is not a substitute for them.

A headphone mode inside the game is still a preset. Try the sliders with it off. If the game offers it, try the same round with it on. Keep the one where the step is easier, and leave the other off. Two headphone modes plus a headset preset is three opinions about the same cue.

Then play the round. Change one slider if something is still wrong. Music still on the step means music goes down again. Voice still on the step means voice goes down, not a treble boost to “cut through.” Effects too thin means effects up a notch. Stop when the round you know sounds right. More sliders after that are a new mix, not a refinement.

I do this in Overwatch, and the same order works in any shooter, whether it’s Call of Duty, Valorant, or CS2. The order matters more than any specific band. The game just names the channels.

The headset preset, after the mix

Only now open the app, and only if one problem survived. Explosions still cover steps: cut the low slice a little, in that app, and leave every other slice alone. The top end is harsh or hissy: cut the high slice a little. Do not boost the middle to fight the bass. A louder middle also lifts voice and hiss, and you just set those in the game.

On the PRO X 2, G HUB is that app. The official mood list includes FLAT and FPS. Flat is the control that adds nothing. FPS is Logitech’s saved curve. Surround is a different switch. Logitech’s G HUB surround article is the Enable Surround Sound checkbox, plus room names and channel volumes. Turn surround off while you judge the EQ. An older Logitech support note on the wired PRO X says the USB DAC is what unlocks 5-band EQ and DTS Headphone:X 2.0 on PC. A 3.5 mm path into a motherboard jack does not get that layer. Read the connection you are actually using.

On a SteelSeries, Sonar can put a different preset on Game, Chat, Media, Aux, and Mic. That split is useful only after you know which channel is loud. Their own support page is the stack warning: Engine EQ stays on the headset, Sonar EQ is software, and both apply if you leave Engine off flat. Set Engine flat. Disable DTS on the headset if the page tells you to. Then decide whether Sonar is even needed.

Play the same round. If you cannot tell, the curve goes back to flat. A difference you notice only because the menu says “footstep” is not a difference. The preset that claims to boost steps is the one most likely to boost hiss with them. That is the reason it waits until the mix is already done.

If the app was already on a preset when you started, set it flat before you judge the game. Otherwise you will “fix” the game for a curve you have not heard by itself.

Windows enhancements are another processor

A loudness or enhancements checkbox in the system sound panel is a third layer. Leave it off for the same reason. [

Microsoft’s driver document Windows Default APOs is the official list. The Sound control panel Enhancements tab can offer Bass Boost, Bass Management, Loudness Equalization, Room Correction, Speaker Fill, Virtual Surround, and virtualized surround over headphones. Which boxes you see depends on the driver. A missing Graphic Equalizer is not a broken Windows. Microsoft Q&A on the same topic treats a graphic EQ as a device-driver extra, not a guaranteed system control.

Loudness Equalization is the one people turn on to “hear quiet sounds.” Microsoft’s own description is a compressor: it measures perceived loudness and uses dynamic gain, with a fast attack and a slow decay, so different sources stay in a range. Quiet parts come up. Peaks come down. That is useful for a movie at night. In a shooter it pulls a footstep and a gun toward the same loudness. The step does not get clearer. The explosion gets closer to it. Leave the box off while you set music, effects, and voice.

Spatial sound is not EQ either. Microsoft’s path, on How to turn on spatial sound in Windows, is Settings, System, Sound, the headset, Device properties, Spatial sound. Windows Sonic for Headphones is built in. Dolby Atmos for Headphones and DTS Headphone:X appear after you install their Store apps. A surround or spatial switch remixes the stereo the game already placed. Leave it off while you set the sliders. Turn it on later, in that same known round, and keep it only if you prefer it. While it is on, you cannot tell an EQ change from a remix. The audio-in-a-shooter page is the one-layer rule.

Equalizer APO, if you still need a system curve

Equalizer APO is a user-space module Windows loads into the audio service. Run the setup. In Configurator.exe, select the playback device you actually hear. Reboot, because the new APO is not used until the audio service restarts. After that, you will notice a small volume drop and a mild low-frequency boost. That is the example configuration, not a game mix and not my preset. Open C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\config\config.txt and read what it includes before you blame the headset.

The configuration reference is the command list. Preamp sets a gain in decibels so a later boost does not clip. GraphicEQ is a set of frequency / gain pairs. Filter is a parametric band. Include pulls in another file. Device limits the lines to one output. There’s no universal footstep recipe to paste in. If you use the tool, start from a flat file, change one band, and play the same round. If you boost anything, the official reason for Preamp is to keep the peak off the ceiling.

Equalizer APO is still one more layer. Install it on the headset you play on, not on the speakers you left as default. If a game takes exclusive control of the device, the APO may not sit on that path. If the install is silent, the wiki’s troubleshooting section is the place to look.

Separate graphical front ends exist, but they aren’t Equalizer APO itself. The official editor and the text file are all you need to get started.

What not to stack on top

Count the processors before you add another.

1. Game sliders and the game’s own headphone mode.
2. Headset app EQ, plus any Engine or onboard curve.
3. Headset surround or DTS.
4. Windows enhancements and spatial sound.
5. Equalizer APO, if you installed it.

Two of those on at once is already a stack. Turn every extra layer off, set the game, then add one.

The microphone is not in this listen chain. EQ on the game changes what you hear, not how close the capsule sits to your mouth. Sonar’s Mic tab is a send to other people. A harsh voice in a call is the mic and the room. Do not EQ the game to fix what other people hear from you.

Impedance is still the ohm load. The Cloud III prints 64 Ω. The PRO X 2 prints 38 Ω. Those numbers do not move when you drag a slider. A bass mood is not a smaller load, and a flat mood is not a larger one.

When the known round has a step you can trust, stop. The mix is done. A new preset next week is a new variable, and you put it on only by turning the last one off first. More headset guides.

Common questions

How do I set EQ for a game?

Start with the game's own audio sliders: turn music down, keep effects loud enough to hear footsteps clearly, and set voice so callouts are easy to hear. Only add a headset EQ after that if something still sounds off.

Should I use a footstep EQ preset?

Try playing without one first. Footstep presets boost a whole frequency band, so they also make hiss and some explosions louder.

Should I turn on Loudness Equalization for games?

It's not great for competitive games. It squashes quiet and loud sounds closer together, which can make footsteps harder to judge by distance.

Can I use a headset EQ and the game's EQ together?

You can, but it's hard to tell which one is changing what. Keep the headset app flat while you tune the game, then adjust one thing at a time.