Best Mac audio mixer for musicians and audiophiles
If you care how things sound, not just how loud they are, you need an equalizer, headphone correction and probably Audio Unit plugins. Faders has none of those yet, so this guide recommends other apps.
Short answer
- Best overall: SoundSource. 10-band EQ, Headphone EQ and Audio Unit hosting per app or system-wide, plus AirPlay and multi-output. $49.
- Best value with plugins: Sound Control. 10- or 31-band EQ, AutoEQ and Audio Units per app, for $15. Runs on macOS 11.4+.
- Best free: FineTune. 10-band EQ, AutoEQ headphone correction and per-app routing, open source. macOS 15+.
- Best for system-wide EQ only: eqMac. A good EQ and 4,600+ headphone presets are free. Per-app volume needs Pro.
- Faders: not recommended for this. It has no EQ or effects yet.
What musicians and audiophiles actually need
- A real EQ, ideally per app, so you can tune Spotify without changing how your DAW or calls sound.
- Headphone correction from measured profiles (AutoEQ), so your headphones sound closer to neutral.
- Audio Unit hosting, so you can use the plugins you already own on any app.
- Clean routing: music to your DAC, everything else to the speakers, and sometimes several outputs at once.
Faders has no equalizer, no headphone correction and no plugin support. An EQ is planned, but there's no date, and it won't be a plugin host. Pick one of the apps below.
The picks
SoundSource 6
$49 once ($25 upgrade) · Free trial · macOS 15+ · rogueamoeba.com
SoundSource is the most complete audio tool here. You get a 10-band EQ with preamp, Headphone EQ and Audio Unit plugins, per app or system-wide. Output Groups play audio on several devices at once, AirPlay reaches HomePods and Sonos, and multi-channel setups are supported. Rogue Amoeba has made Mac audio software for over twenty years.
Good
- EQ and AU plugins per app
- Multi-output and AirPlay
- Free trial
Not so good
- $49
- Needs macOS 15
Sound Control 3
$15 once direct (trial) or App Store subscription ($1.99/mo, $14.99/yr) · macOS 11.4+ · staticz.com
Sound Control gives each app a 10- or 31-band graphic EQ, AutoEQ headphone calibrations and Audio Unit effects, plus per-app routing and priority devices. For a third of SoundSource's price it covers most of what a musician needs. It's also the only one here that runs on macOS 11.4 through 14.
Good
- 31-band EQ option
- AutoEQ and AU per app
- Older macOS support
Not so good
- App Store version is a subscription
- Multi-output and AirPlay: not listed
FineTune
Free, open source (GPL v3) · macOS 15+ · GitHub
FineTune has a 10-band EQ with 20 presets, AutoEQ headphone correction from thousands of profiles, a loudness leveler, per-app routing and output to several devices at once. It doesn't host Audio Units. For free, it's remarkable.
Good
- Free
- AutoEQ
- Multi-device output
Not so good
- No AU plugins listed
- No paid support
- Needs macOS 15
eqMac
Free; Pro $3/mo, $30/yr or $40 lifetime · macOS 10.13+ · eqmac.app
eqMac's free tier has a 10-band EQ and presets for over 4,600 headphones. Pro adds unlimited-band EQ, separate left/right EQ, Spatial Audio, Audio Unit hosting and per-app volume. It routes audio through its own virtual audio device. Good if you mostly want one EQ for everything.
Good
- Strong free EQ
- Headphone presets
- Very old macOS support
Not so good
- Per-app volume is Pro only
- Virtual audio device
Side by side
| SoundSource | Sound Control | FineTune | eqMac | Faders | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equalizer | ✓ 10-band | ✓ 10/31-band | ✓ 10-band | ✓ (unlimited in Pro) | — (planned) |
| Per-app EQ | ✓ | ✓ | Not listed | Not listed | — |
| Headphone correction | ✓ Headphone EQ | ✓ AutoEQ | ✓ AutoEQ | ✓ presets | — |
| Audio Unit plugins | ✓ | ✓ | Not listed | ✓ Pro | — |
| Per-app output | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Not listed | ✓ |
| Several outputs at once | ✓ | Not listed | ✓ | Not listed | — |
| macOS | 15+ | 11.4+ | 15+ | 10.13+ | 14.2+ |
| Price | $49 | $15 | Free | Free / $40 | $5.99 |
“Not listed” means we couldn't find it on the app's own page, not that it's confirmed missing. Checked October 2026.
Questions
Will any of these add latency to my DAW?
Leave your DAW out of the mixer. Apps you don't touch aren't processed by tap-based mixers like Faders and FineTune. For tracking, use your audio interface directly.
Is Faders ever right for a musician?
Only if you don't need an EQ and just want per-app volume, call ducking or monitor volume keys for everyday use. For sound quality work, no.
Don't need an EQ?
If you just want a volume slider for every app, Faders does that for $5.99 at launch. If you need an EQ, pick one of the apps above.
Related
Sources
- SoundSource and what's new in SoundSource 6 (EQ, Audio Units, Output Groups, AirPlay, macOS 15)
- Sound Control (10/31-band EQ, AutoEQ, AU, macOS 11.4+) and App Store listing
- FineTune on GitHub (EQ, AutoEQ, multi-device output)
- eqMac (free vs Pro features and prices)