RootlessJamesDSP Guide
RootlessJamesDSP is a powerful no-root-required equalizer app that allows you to enhance your mobile audio experience even for inexperienced or amateur listeners when used in combination with things like AutoEQ, which it has a simple interface for. By patching apps with Revanced Manager, you can effectively allow its use with just about any app, which is something other equalizer apps on Android don't quite offer — albeit with some restrictions still, of course. This guide will detail how to use AutoEQ, as well as how to patch web browsers to work with RootlessJamesDSP, but you can also follow the same instructions to patch other apps as well. Do note that as of the time of writing, this method still doesn't for the most part work with Chromium browsers, which I couldn't get to work on my end — however, do feel free to give it a try still if it's indeed an error on my part.
Why you might want a parametric equalizer
While it isn't within the scope of this guide, there a plenty of reasons you might want to use a parametric equalizer. Among which are to take advantage of AutoEQ.
See this Reddit thread for further reading on some discussions surrounding this topic.
Using AutoEQ
AutoEQ is a crowdsourced collection of equalizer configurations for a wide range of headphones which provides pre-made equalizer configurations tuned to specific headphone model. AutoEQ essentially allows you to reap the benefits of a parametric equalizer without having to do the hard work yourself, which is appealing if you are a beginner or are simply looking to get better sound quality out of your device.
To use AutoEQ, simply enable the toggle for "Arbitrary response equalizer" and search for your headphone model in the AutoEQ profiles search.
Alternatively, you can use the "Convolver" equalizer. Acquire the file for your headphone model configuration from AutoEQ, select your headphone model and choose "RootlessJamesDSP" as the equalizer app. From there you can import the .wav file and select that as your "Impulse response" filter. Doing it like this should result in better performance*.
Patching browsers for use with RootlessJamesDSP
RootlessJamesDSP does not support a number of apps out of the box, amongst which are browsers. Fortunately enough, there is a remedy for this.
These instructions also work for other apps.
- The first step is to install Revanced Manager if you haven't already.
- Next you should acquire the files for the browser that you want to use or have it installed. Note that this browser app may have its data wiped in the process if an uninstall is neccessary.
The browser I recommend are Firefox or its various different forks, which are open-source, has extension support (uBlock Origin my beloved) and generally had much better success in my testing. The browser I'm currently using and the one also present in the example is Iceraven.
- Now enter Revanced Manager and select the app you want or choose the APK file you've just acquired with the file picker.
After that you want to choose the "Remove screen capturing restriction patch", which will allow RootlessJamesDSP to capture audio for otherwise unsupported apps. Note that this is not a silver bullet and won't work for apps using the native Android API for playback, which is why Chromium browsers aren't supported.
- Patch and install the app. You may need to uninstall when there is a signature conflict if the app was already installed.
Rather important little tweak
We're still not done however, you'll still need to adjust just one more thing in RootlessJamesDSP.
Go to the settings, in the Troubleshooting section you'll want to change the "Preferred session detection method" to "AudioPolicyService dump" or you will encounter audio duplications, which isn't particularly desirable. The downside to this is that when RootlessJamesDSP will always capture any audio streams without idling when active, but otherwise no big deal.
..and that's it! Now you can open your app and enjoy a better audio experience with RootlessJamesDSP.
This guide was written by oldbama on Discord. I felt compelled to write this guide because this app wasn't getting nearly enough attention for how awesome it is, and it was also the solution to many of the pains I had with other equalizer apps. With that said, feel free to DM or ping me if you have questions or want this guide adjusted, and I'll try my best to respond!