A per-app equalizer on Mac, without a driver

How do you get a per-app equalizer on Mac?

macOS has no system-wide equalizer: Apple Music has its own, most other apps have none. Two families of tools fill the gap. With a driver: eqMac, unlimited bands and free, or SoundSource, 10 bands and Audio Units for $49. Without one: FineTune, 10 bands per app and free, or Morendo, 10 bands per bus, a curve you draw with the mouse, 21 presets.

What macOS offers

No system-wide equalizer. macOS controls a volume, not a frequency curve. The one exception is Apple Music, which has its own, in its Window menu. It only applies to Apple Music: every other app, games, chat, other players, stays without an equalizer until a third-party tool adds one.

Equalizers with a driver

eqMac is free, with a paid Pro version, and offers a parametric equalizer with unlimited bands, the most capable on the market. It installs a virtual audio driver, the classic approach from before Apple opened a driverless path into the system.

SoundSource adds ten bands and Audio Units support to any app, for $49. It installs the ACE extension, with the administrator password.

Equalizers without a driver, and why a bus rather than an app

FineTune is free and gives ten bands to every app, with 20 presets and an AutoEQ headphone correction that compensates for a specific model's profile.

Morendo, which we make, puts ten parametric bands on every bus, with a curve you draw with the mouse and 21 presets written by use: Tracking, Clear voice, Deep Bass, Night. That is the difference: the Tracking preset set on the Game bus applies to every game that passes through it, not just the one open today. Clear voice on the Chat bus serves Discord as well as Zoom. You do not redraw the curve for every new app you install.

	eqMac	SoundSource	FineTune	Morendo
Price	Free, paid Pro	$49	Free, open source	19 € once
No driver	No, virtual driver	No, ACE extension	Yes	Yes
Bands	Unlimited, parametric	10, plus Audio Units	10, per app	10, per bus
Presets	Not advertised	Not advertised	20, plus AutoEQ headphone correction	21, written by use
Setting belongs to	The app	The app	The app	The bus
Latency displayed	No	No	No	Yes, measured on your hardware

Checked on September 10, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us, we fix it.

Latency, stated honestly

An equalizer processes sound: it analyzes it, corrects it band by band, then sends it back out. That processing takes a little time, whichever tool you use. Morendo measures this delay on your hardware and displays it in the console, typically between 5 and 15 ms. An app left at 100% with no equalizer is untouched by this step: it follows the normal macOS path, with no added delay.

Setting up a bus with Morendo, in three steps

Download Morendo, drag it to Applications, launch it. macOS asks for a single permission, system audio recording.
Open the equalizer for the bus you care about, Game or Chat say, and pick a preset: Tracking, Clear voice, Deep Bass.
Adjust the curve with the mouse if the preset is not quite right. The setting stays on the bus, for every app that passes through it.

The trial lasts 14 days with every feature, no card. Then 19 € for one Mac, no subscription.

Frequently asked questions

Does Apple Music have an equalizer?

Yes, in its Window menu. It only applies to Apple Music: every other app stays without an equalizer until a third-party tool adds one.

Do you need a driver to get a per-app equalizer on Mac?

Not anymore, not since macOS 14.4. FineTune and Morendo use Apple's process taps, with no driver or system extension. eqMac and SoundSource, older tools, still go through a virtual driver or an extension.

Does a per-bus equalizer duplicate a per-app equalizer?

No, they answer different needs. A per-app equalizer is set once per program. A per-bus equalizer is set once for every app that passes through that bus, present or future.

Does the equalizer add noticeable delay?

A little, and Morendo shows it: typically 5 to 15 ms, measured on your hardware. An app left at 100% with no equalizer has no delay at all.

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