--- title: "Sub-Bass Explained: What Lives Below 60 Hz - The Audio Stuff" description: "What sub-bass is, which frequencies it covers, why so many headphones and speakers roll it off, and how to test your own gear for it." url: "https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/sub-bass/" type: "article" author: "Jakub Charkiewicz" published: "2026-09-26T00:00:00.000Z" modified: "2026-09-26T00:00:00.000Z" --- > Markdown rendering of https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/sub-bass/ > Canonical URL to cite: https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/sub-bass/ > Generated from the published page. Text and links only; see the HTML for layout. Breadcrumb: [Home](https://theaudiostuff.com/) > [Glossary](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/) > Sub-Bass # Sub-Bass: The Frequencies Below 60 Hz, and Who Can Play Them {#term-title} Sub-bass is the lowest octave and a half of music, roughly 20 to 60 Hz: the weight of a kick drum, the floor of a pipe organ, the rumble under electronic music. It is felt as much as heard, it is the first thing small drivers and loose seals give up, and how far down a product plays it cleanly is what reviews mean by bass extension. - By [Jakub Charkiewicz](https://theaudiostuff.com/authors/jakub-charkiewicz/) - Published Sep 26, 2026 - 3 min read ## Glossary definition {#term-define-title} - **Sub-Bass**: Frequencies below approximately 60Hz; felt as much as heard, sub-bass conveys pipe organ fundamentals, kick drum body, and concert hall size. Many headphones and small speakers roll off here, so extension below 40Hz is one of the clearest differences between price tiers. ## Where sub-bass sits {#where-sub-bass-sits} Human hearing runs down to about 20 Hz. The band from there to roughly 60 Hz is [sub-bass](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/#sub-bass); from 60 to about 250 Hz is the mid and upper [bass](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/#bass) most people mean when they say "bass". The split matters because the two do different jobs. Upper bass carries the [punch](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/#punch) of a kick drum and the pitch of a bass guitar. Sub-bass carries the weight underneath: the fundamental of the lowest piano and organ notes, the synth drops of electronic music, the size of a concert hall. Not every recording has much down there. A string quartet barely reaches it; a lot of modern pop, hip-hop, film scores and electronic music live in it. Whether you notice a product that stops short depends heavily on what you play. ## Why so many products roll it off {#why-so-many-products-roll-it-off} Reproducing sub-bass means moving a lot of [air](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/#air), and at the lowest frequencies the amount of movement needed rises steeply. A small driver has to travel a long way to do it, and when it cannot, output falls away below some point, or the driver distorts trying. Headphones have an advantage speakers do not: the air volume is tiny and sealed against the head, so a well-designed driver can play flat to 20 Hz. The seal is the catch. Any leak - glasses under the pads, an [IEM](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/iem/) tip one size too small, pads that no longer press evenly - lets the lowest frequencies escape first, which is why fit changes bass more than any other part of the response. [Planar magnetic](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/planar-magnetic/) headphones are known for extending flat and clean into the sub-bass, because their thin [diaphragm](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/#diaphragm) is driven evenly across its whole surface. Our reviews bear that out, with several HIFIMAN planars credited with linear extension to 20 Hz, and also show the exception: the budget [HE400se](https://theaudiostuff.com/reviews/hifiman-he400se/) is marked down for [bass extension](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/sub-bass/#what-extension-means) lacking below 60 Hz. ## What extension means {#what-extension-means} Bass extension is how low a product plays before its output falls away. A specification quotes it as the frequency where output is 3 dB or 10 dB below the average, and a published "20 Hz to 20 kHz" range without a tolerance says almost nothing, because at some level of attenuation almost anything reaches 20 Hz. Extension is also not the same as quantity. A neutral headphone can extend flat to 20 Hz and still sound lean beside a bass-boosted one that rolls off at 40 Hz, because the boosted one has more energy in the upper bass you hear most. The two words describe different things: extension is how deep, and emphasis is how much. ## Sub-bass in a room {#sub-bass-in-a-room} For speakers the room takes over. Below roughly 200 Hz, [standing waves](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/room-mode/#what-a-mode-is) between the walls make bass levels swing by 10 dB or more from one seat to the next, so a speaker's sub-bass depends as much on where it and the listener sit as on the speaker itself. [Floor-standing](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/bookshelf-speaker/#floor-standing-what-the-extra-cabinet-buys) speakers and subwoofers exist to reach the lowest octave; [bookshelf speakers](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/bookshelf-speaker/) usually hand it over to one. ## Testing your own gear {#testing-your-own-gear} A sine sweep is the quickest way to hear where your headphones or speakers give up. Play a slow sweep from 100 Hz down to 20 Hz at a moderate volume and listen for the point where the tone fades, starts buzzing or turns into a flutter rather than a pitch. The site's signal generator does this in the browser. Start quietly: sub-bass at high level is felt before it is heard, and a driver can be pushed past its limit before it sounds loud. ## What our reviews say about sub-bass {#term-said-title} 16 reviews raise it in their pros and cons: nine lines credit it and seven fault it. 6 are shown, each quoted as its review states it. - Strength: Linear bass extension down to 20Hz - [HIFIMAN Ananda Stealth](https://theaudiostuff.com/reviews/hifiman-ananda-stealth/), 8.8/10 - Flaw: Bass extension is good but not boosted - [HIFIMAN RE2000 PRO Silver](https://theaudiostuff.com/reviews/hifiman-re2000-pro-silver/), 8.8/10 - Strength: Bass extends to 20Hz, fast and transparent - [HIFIMAN Arya Stealth](https://theaudiostuff.com/reviews/hifiman-arya-stealth/), 8.7/10 - Flaw: Sub-bass is less extended than measurements suggest - [SMSL DL100](https://theaudiostuff.com/reviews/smsl-dl100/), 8.2/10 - Strength: Bass extends to 20Hz, clean and free of distortion - [HIFIMAN Edition XS](https://theaudiostuff.com/reviews/hifiman-edition-xs/), 8.7/10 - Flaw: Sub-bass extension limited - sub recommended for HT - [Taga Harmony DIAMOND B-60 v.3](https://theaudiostuff.com/reviews/taga-harmony-diamond-b60/), 8.2/10 ## Compared head to head {#term-h2h-title} Comparisons between products on this page, each weighing the two reviews side by side. - [HIFIMAN Ananda Stealth vs HIFIMAN Arya Stealth](https://theaudiostuff.com/compare/hifiman-ananda-stealth-vs-hifiman-arya-stealth/) ## Put it to use {#term-use-title} - [Generator Is my system wired up correctly? Pure sine waves, white, pink, brown, blue, and violet noise. Frequency sweeps, channel test, and polarity check. No download. Runs entirely in your browser. Online Tone Generator](https://theaudiostuff.com/tools/signal-generator/) - [Buying guide Best Planar Magnetic Headphones Planar magnetic is the driver that quietly took over audiophile headphone listening over the last decade. It buys control, extension and low distortion, and asks for weight and a capable amplifier in return. 11 ranked picks, led by the HIFIMAN HE1000se](https://theaudiostuff.com/guides/best-planar-magnetic-headphones/) ## Keep reading {#term-more-title} - [Glossary Planar Magnetic A driver using a thin membrane with embedded conductors suspended between magnets, producing sound from the entire surface for very low distortion. Full explanation](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/planar-magnetic/) - [Glossary Stealth Magnets HIFIMAN's reshaped magnet bars for its planar magnetic headphones: rounded rather than rectangular, so the sound leaving the diaphragm passes through the magnet array with less diffraction and turbulence, which HIFIMAN describes as acoustically transparent. Full explanation](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/stealth-magnets/) - [Glossary Bookshelf Speaker A compact loudspeaker, usually two-way, made to sit on a stand or a shelf and trading bass extension for size and placement freedom. The name misleads: a real shelf loads the bass unevenly and smears imaging, so a stand is almost always the better answer. Full explanation](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/bookshelf-speaker/) - [The full audio glossary](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/) - [How we test](https://theaudiostuff.com/about/how-we-test/) - [Wikipedia: Sub-Bass (opens in new tab)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub-bass) ![Jakub Charkiewicz, founder & lead reviewer at The Audio Stuff](https://theaudiostuff.com/images/jakub-charkiewicz-112w.avif) Written by ## [Jakub Charkiewicz](https://theaudiostuff.com/authors/jakub-charkiewicz/) {#term-author-title} Founder & lead reviewer ยท on The Audio Stuff since May 2023 [Full profile & standards](https://theaudiostuff.com/authors/jakub-charkiewicz/) [@TheAudioStuff (opens in new tab)](https://www.youtube.com/@TheAudioStuff) [LinkedIn (opens in new tab)](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakub-charkiewicz) [Report a correction](https://theaudiostuff.com/contact/#report-correction)