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Free with no time limit. No account, no credit card. After this, the app keeps itself up to date.

macOS 14.4 or later · Apple silicon and Intel · Notarized by Apple

Requirements

Operating system	macOS 14.4 (Sonoma) or later (why)
Processor	Apple silicon and Intel: one universal app, native on both
Install location	/Applications (required; see below)
Signing	Developer ID, notarized by Apple
Sample rates	44.1 – 192 kHz, end to end
Price	Free, no time limit · Pro from $4.99/month

On a Mac older than macOS 14.4

EQBase needs macOS 14.4 or later, and there is no version for older systems: it captures audio through Core Audio process taps, which arrived in macOS 14.2 and weren't reliable before 14.4. Any Mac that runs macOS Sonoma can update to 14.4 or later for free. Apple's Sonoma compatibility list covers MacBook Air and MacBook Pro from 2018, Mac mini from 2018, iMac from 2019, iMac Pro, Mac Pro from 2019 and every Mac Studio.

If yours isn't on it, eqMac (free, macOS 10.13 or later) and Boom 3D (macOS 11) still run, and our roundup of Mac equalizers compares them. OpenCore Legacy Patcher, a community project, can install newer macOS on Macs Apple no longer supports. Apple doesn't support Macs run that way, and the project's own FAQ says to back up first and that macOS updates remove its patches.

How to install EQBase

Download the DMG and open it.
Drag EQBase into your Applications folder. This step matters: macOS runs apps opened directly from a disk image in a translocated, read-only location, where automatic updates and the optional driver install can't work.
Launch EQBase from Applications. It appears in your menu bar rather than the Dock.
Follow the setup flow. It asks for one thing: permission to record this computer's audio. No administrator password, no driver, no microphone.

Install with Homebrew

EQBase has its own tap. One command taps it, trusts the cask and installs the same notarized disk image this page serves, straight into /Applications:

brew install --cask tahabozdemir/tap/eqbase

Naming the cask in full is what authorises it, so no separate brew trust step is needed. Setup still runs on first launch: the one permission prompt is the app's, not the installer's. Uninstalling with brew uninstall --cask eqbase also removes the audio driver and its helper, if you ever turned on a feature that installed them.

The one permission it asks for

To process every sound your Mac makes, EQBase reads the mix your Mac is already playing and mutes the original at the same instant, so you hear one processed copy instead of two. macOS classes reading system audio under its recording permissions, so it asks once, in its own dialog, and EQBase explains what the dialog is for before it appears. That is the whole ask: no administrator password, no driver, no restart, and no microphone access. Setup never asks for your microphone. Two things can ask later, both from your own click and neither part of the equalizer: picking a real microphone as an input in Audio Sources, and Pro routing, for the reason in the next section. The privacy policy sets out exactly what does and doesn't leave your Mac. To undo it, drag the app to the Trash, or turn EQBase off under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording.

Latest version: 1.10.2

Released 2026-10-21 · 16.7 MB · notarized by Apple

Routing gets drag and drop, removable connections, and an icon and color for each virtual device, and loudness compensation now works on virtual devices. If you use Audiophile mode or Routing and EQBase offers a driver update, choose Update Driver…

New in 1.10.2

Connect channels in Routing by dragging from one to another. Click a connection to select it, then remove it with Remove Connection at the bottom left.
Give each virtual device its own icon and color.
Loudness compensation now works on virtual devices too, following each one's volume and the volume keys.
A virtual device you use as your sound output is your sound output again when EQBase opens after a restart.
EQBase tells you when an app is heard twice because it also plays into a virtual device through Pass-Thru.

Fixes

Audio through a virtual device no longer stops after a while of listening.
When a virtual device is your sound output, EQBase no longer starts on another output such as a display.
After EQBase quits or stops unexpectedly, sound and sound effects go back to the output you were listening on.

Everything below arrived in 1.10.

Interface

A sidebar in the style of System Settings, and an Output pane organized around the device you are listening to.
A new Microphone pane: choose the microphone apps use, set its input volume, or mute it.
Smoother motion that shows what changed, for example when the EQ curve moves.

Calls and microphone

In Standard mode, on outputs with their own volume control, a call's audio now plays directly instead of through EQBase's effects, so the other person sounds the way the call app intends.
New in Settings: lower other apps while an app uses the microphone, and keep macOS from lowering EQBase's audio during calls.
Mute your microphone in every app from the menu bar, a keyboard shortcut or Shortcuts.
Keep Bluetooth headphones in high quality: EQBase can keep your Mac's own microphone as the input when they connect.

Recording

Record your microphone together with your Mac's audio, kept in sync.
The other side of a call stays in the recording.
Pause and resume, stop after a set time, and split long recordings into files.
Keyboard shortcuts and Shortcuts actions for recording.

App Mixer

Raise any app up to 200%.
Level loudness keeps an app at a steady loudness, so a loud ad or a quiet video stays close to the rest.

Outputs

Set a maximum volume for each output.
Hide outputs you never use, keep EQBase from switching to some of them automatically, and give outputs your own names and icons.
Choose where sound effects play and set their volume.
On an audio interface with more than two outputs, choose which pair EQBase plays on. It follows the speaker setup in Audio MIDI Setup unless you pick one.
When headphones disconnect, EQBase now moves to the same output macOS picks.

Routing

Choose a virtual device as the output in other apps or in Sound settings. It has its own volume and mute, and the volume keys control it.
Every virtual device is listed side by side with its own switch and level. Right-click one to delete it.
Monitors can play on any channels of an audio interface, for example 3 and 4.
The orange microphone indicator no longer appears while EQBase is only playing audio.

Headphones and EQ

oratory1990's headphone presets, from OPRA, next to AutoEQ.
Auto headroom can leave an extra margin of up to 3 dB.

Audiophile mode and the audio driver

EQBase tells you when its audio driver needs an update, whether you use Audiophile mode, Routing, or neither.
After you quit or remove EQBase, macOS no longer moves your sound to the EQBase device when an output disconnects.
macOS no longer makes the EQBase device your microphone when headphones disconnect, which left apps recording silence.
In Sound settings the EQBase device shows which output it plays to, for example "EQBase (MacBook Pro Speakers)".
Apps recording from EQBase or a virtual device, such as OBS or Zoom, no longer hear short bursts of old audio.
When the sample rate has to be converted, for example for a headset during a call, EQ bands now sit at the right frequencies.

Fixes

Uninstall in Settings no longer does nothing in some cases, and says what is left if it cannot finish.
Auto Switch shows a disconnected device's name instead of an identifier.

Your presets, curves and settings carry over.

SHA-256 bc808e6b0d626194d4e4cb05220f888a2d20dbf2d3f047e3991c6deea9059f63

Audiophile mode, and the driver

EQBase still ships a small user-space Core Audio driver, not a kernel extension, and two optional features use it. Audiophile mode reads the audio from the driver instead of from the system tap, which we measured as 100% identical samples, and which also keeps the volume keys working on HDMI, DisplayPort and optical outputs. Pro routing publishes virtual devices that other apps can select as a microphone, which a tap cannot do. Turning either one on is when EQBase offers to install the driver, with the administrator prompt that needs, and never before. Neither is part of a normal setup, and the built-in uninstaller removes the driver completely.

Routing asks for one more thing, and it is worth saying plainly: microphone access. Its virtual devices have an input side, because that is what lets other apps record your mix, and macOS counts opening a device that has an input side as microphone access whether the device is real or virtual. EQBase asks from your click in the Routing pane, never at launch, and it never opens your actual microphone. A routing device you have not given any sources or monitors yet is left closed, so it never asks.

Updates

EQBase checks for updates on its own and installs them in place. Every update is verified against an Ed25519 signature before it runs, so a tampered or corrupted download is rejected rather than installed. You can turn automatic checks off in Settings.

Problem with a download? Get in touch. Not sure EQBase is what you need? Start with does macOS have a built-in equalizer? or how EQBase compares to the alternatives.

Once it is installed

The equalizer is the part most people arrive for, and it is not the only thing in the app. If you already know what you came to fix:

Headphone EQ settings for Mac. A measured correction for your model, applied system-wide in one click.
Per-app volume control. Turn one app down without touching everything else.
Recording system audio. What macOS will and will not let you capture, and where EQBase fits.
Room correction. Measure the room with a sweep and correct what the speakers alone cannot.
Volume keys that do nothing. Why macOS greys them out on some outputs, and how to get them back.
Pricing and licensing. What the free tier covers, and what Pro adds.