From Cheap to Chic: Enhancing Music Playback Quality of Budget Earphones via Hardware-Aware Learning
Abstract
Low-end earphones are widely spread due to their affordability, but their limited speaker hardware often leads to poor music playback quality. This raises a key question: Can we compensate for hardware limitations to enhance the listening experience without modifying the device? Existing EQ-based approaches attempt this, but they rely on frequency response curves (FRCs) measured under ideal conditions, which fail to capture real-world distortions such as harmonic and intermodulation effects.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Speech and Audio Processing
Hearing Loss and Rehabilitation
Music Technology and Sound Studies
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Proceedings of the 2026 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Embedded Artificial Intelligence and Sensing Systems
- Publisher
- ACM
- Pages
- 1343–1356
- Publication date
- 8 May 2026