There are multiple ways to adjust the audio output on your Android phone.

A great pair of headphones or in-ear monitors alone isn't enough to get the best sound quality your Android phone can deliver. Digital audio is deceptively complex — you're essentially turning sound waves into code and then back into sound waves — but once you have a handle on the basics of how it works, you can eke better sound out of your devices.

To that end, it's important to understand how Android directs audio to your ears, and which layers in between can alter that signal. We'll also cover how to choose an app that supports lossless audio, as well as how to EQ your headphones for either a neutral sound or a profile of your choosing. Ultimately, you'll be able to choose whether you'd like to go the extra mile for full, audiophile-grade sound or simply get the best results from your music streaming app.

There are some quirks to the way Android handles audio. Just plugging in your headphones won't automatically translate to the highest quality. Android's signal chain — the path audio follows through the system before reaching your ears — flows from the audio source (the app you're using to play your media) to the operating system, where a service called AudioFlinger passes it off to other layers like the mixer, where it might have effects applied or duck for a notification sound. This is where things get funky for audio enthusiasts, since we're looking for the pure sound signal in as unaltered a form as possible.

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