PulseAudio and ALSA are configured for 44.1KHz 16-bit audio by default which is not bad but not really great.
You can check the current configuration with:
$ pacmd list-sinks | grep sample
It will show something like this:
$ pacmd list-sinks | grep sample
sample spec: s16le 2ch 41000Hz
sample spec: s16le 2ch 41000Hz
To change it, we need to edit the PulseAudio's configuration file:
$ nano /etc/pulse/daemon.conf
Find these in the file:
; resample-method = speex-float-1
; default-sample-format = s16le
; default-sample-rate = 44100
Remove the semicolon and change the values to:
resample-method = src-sinc-medium-quality
default-sample-format = s24le
default-sample-rate = 96000
Save the file by pressing Ctrl+O (to save) and Ctrl+X (to exit).
Restart PulseAudio:
$ pulseaudio -k
$ pulseaudio --start
Check the settings again:
$ pacmd list-sinks | grep sample
It should something like this:
$ pacmd list-sinks | grep sample
sample spec: s32le 2ch 96000Hz
sample spec: s32le 2ch 96000Hz
and we are done!
For more info:
https://r3dux.org/2013/12/how-to-enable-high-quality-audio-in-linux/
Looks like this was implemented in PulseEffects as of version 4.4.2. See this GitHub issue for more details.
To install PulseEffects refer to the README for instructions for your OS. Ubuntu specific instructions can be found in their wiki.
Best Answer
UPDATE: Since I think that PulseAudio Equalizer is not being maintained anymore and it has some nasty bugs for years (Volume is set to 100% on login) I have found an alternative. The alternative is PulseEffects. It has more options and it's even better than PulseAudio Equalizer.
It even has better Bass booster (Bass Enhancer) than PulseAudio Equlizer. It can be started with system boot: System Settings > Sound > Output > PulseEffects(apps)
In order to get the nice bass sound on your headphones on Ubuntu 16.04+ and Mint 18+, you first need to have good headphones. I'm using Apple's headphones. The next thing you need to do is to put the preset on
Partyand slide the first column just little up, around~15.4dband you will get that nice bass output just like on Windows machine.