I’m facing an issue with audio on my Mac when using IEMs or earphones. The sound feels unnaturally wide and somewhat artificial. However, when I use my IEM setup (Truthear Hexa + Audiocular D07 DAC), the audio sounds accurate and natural.

On my Android device, I always disable Dolby Atmos and all audio enhancements, and the sound is perfectly fine. I’ve also disabled Dolby Atmos, Spatial Audio, and any visible sound enhancements on my Mac, but the issue still persists.

My questions:

1. Is there some kind of background audio processing or enhancement in macOS that cannot be turned off? If yes, how can I disable it completely to get a clean, uncolored sound?
2. Does this same issue occur on iPhones when using IEMs with an external DAC? I’d really like input from someone who has experience using IEMs across Android, macOS, and iOS.

This is quite important for me, as I want to listen to audio exactly as it’s intended, without any artificial widening or processing