What Hz Is Bass? Bass Frequency Range Explained

Short answer: bass is the low end of the sound spectrum, roughly 20 Hz to 250 Hz. The deepest part, from about 20 to 60 Hz, is called sub-bass – you feel it more than you hear it. The punch of a kick drum sits around 60–100 Hz, and the warmth of bass guitar and male voices extends up to about 250 Hz.

The bass frequency ranges

You can hear each of these yourself: open our bass test and play 30 Hz, 60 Hz, 100 Hz and 200 Hz one after another.

What Hz is good for bass?

It depends on what you want:

• Deep, rumbling bass: boost slightly around 40–60 Hz, if your speakers or subwoofer can play that low.
• Punchy bass for rock, pop and kick drums: 80–100 Hz.
• Warmer sound on thin-sounding speakers: a small boost around 150–200 Hz.
• Muddy or boomy sound: cut a little around 200–300 Hz rather than boosting the low end.

Small boosts of 2–4 dB work better than large ones. Big bass boosts make distortion more likely and can damage small speakers – see how to tell if a speaker is blown.

How low can different devices play?

These are rough guides – the exact limit depends on the model and the room. To find the limit of your own speakers, run the slow bass sweep on our bass test and note where the sound fades in. Phone and laptop speakers often seem to "play" low notes because your brain fills in the missing fundamental from the harmonics, even though the speaker produces very little real bass.

Why headphones can play deep bass

Headphones and in-ear earbuds sit right next to your ear in a sealed space, so a tiny driver can produce strong pressure at very low frequencies. That only works with a good seal. If earbuds sound thin, try a larger ear tip. You can check the low end with the bass sweep on our headphone test.

Bass and subwoofer crossover

In a home theatre system, the crossover decides which frequencies go to the subwoofer. 80 Hz is the most common setting: everything below 80 Hz goes to the sub, everything above to the main speakers. Bass below roughly 80–100 Hz is hard to locate by ear, which is why one subwoofer can sit almost anywhere in the room. Our subwoofer guide explains how to set it up.

Can humans hear 20 Hz?

The usual range of human hearing is about 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. At the bottom end the ear is not very sensitive, so a 20 Hz tone needs to be much louder than a 1,000 Hz tone to sound equally loud. Below 20 Hz (infrasound) we mostly feel vibration rather than hear a tone. Try our tone generator to find the lowest frequency you can hear – start quietly, as low tones can suddenly seem loud.

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