EQer—System-wide equaliser with hearing compensation

System-wide equaliser with hearing compensation

Requires macOS Sonoma 14.2 or later
Last updated: 2026-07-07

An 11-band equaliser that processes every app on your Mac in real time. Pick a preset, drag the curve, or paste your audiogram and let EQer calculate the right listening curve for your hearing.

Music, video calls, podcasts, games—everything sounds the way you want it to, with smooth processing you won’t notice until you turn it off.

Menu Bar

Ear icon with one-click toggle, no dock icon
System-Wide

Every app gets its own real-time audio processing tap
Audiogram

Automatically adjust to offset dips in your hearing
Presets & Custom

22 presets or drag points to sculpt your own curve
Per-App Control

Override settings for individual apps
Compressor

Dynamic range compression evens quiet and loud sounds

Equaliser

Interactive 11-band graphic equaliser (31.25 Hz–20 kHz)
22 built-in presets for all types of music and tastes
Preset auto-detection—shows “Custom” the moment your curve differs
Drag-to-adjust chart for custom curves
0.5 dB snap grid for precise adjustments
±12 dB gain range with automatic clipping prevention

Audiogram

Enter hearing thresholds for 8 standard freqs (250 Hz–8 kHz)
Separate left and right ear values, with optional per-ear processing
Copy and paste audiogram data as TSV, CSV, or XML
More precise data can be copied from iOS Health app export.xml
Gains calculated with the audiology-grade third-gain rule
Auto-calibrated compensation scales the curve to avoid clipping, or pick a fixed level
Volume-aware: boosts at low system volume, cut-only at full volume
Visual EQ curve shows exactly how your audio will be adjusted

Per-App Control

See every app currently producing audio
Toggle EQ and compression on or off per app
Assign a different EQ curve to individual apps
Overrides persist even when the app isn’t running
Visual indicators show which apps have custom settings
Right-click to reset any app back to global defaults

Output Devices

Bypass EQ for specific output devices
Automatically adapts when you switch audio output
Tracks bypassed devices across connect/disconnect cycles

Dynamic Range Compression

Two-way compressor: boosts quiet and reduces loud
Brickwall limiter at -1 dBFS prevents digital clipping
Enable globally or per-app

Menubar-only app—no dock icon, no window clutter
Ear icon fills when processing is active, outlines when bypassed
One click to toggle processing on or off
Quick access to settings for the frontmost audio app
Launch at Login

Real-Time Processing

Individual audio taps for every application producing sound
Lock-free, allocation-free audio callback for glitch-free playback
Smart process filtering excludes system daemons and services
Identifies audio from browser tabs and sub-processes

Optimised

Only 464 KB app download size
Less than 30 MB base memory footprint

How It Compares

Here’s how this app compares to other similar apps.

	EQer	SoundSource	eqMac
Native Mac app	✓	✓	Hybrid
Menu bar app	✓	✓	✓
11-band EQ	✓	✓	✓
Audiogram compensation	✓	–	–
Dynamic range compressor	✓	–	–
Per-app EQ curves	✓	✓	–
Device bypass rules	✓	✓	–
App Store	✓	–	✓
RAM usage	30 MB	300 MB	40 MB
App size	464 KB	85 MB	75 MB

Where do I get my audiogram values?

You can take a Hearing Test in the iOS Health app and use the resulting audiogram. You can also enter values from a clinical audiogram provided by an audiologist.

EQer adjusts playback on your Mac. It is not a replacement for hearing aids or clinical hearing care.

Why is my volume lower when the audiogram is active?

Audiogram correction boosts some frequencies more than others. Digital audio has a hard ceiling, so EQer has to preserve headroom to avoid clipping/clicks and distortion.

If your Mac volume is already at or near 100%, there is no clean digital room left for extra boost. In that case EQer may reduce parts of the curve or limit the output. For stronger correction with less volume loss, lower the Mac volume and raise the volume on your speakers, headphones, amp, or audio interface.

You can also use Output Gain to raise the processed signal without Dynamic Range Compression. Very high Output Gain can still hit the limiter if the signal runs out of headroom.

My ears are different. Why do both channels sound the same?

By default EQer averages the left and right audiogram values, which is usually better for speakers because both ears hear both speakers in the room.

For headphones, turn on Separate Left/Right Ears. This applies the left audiogram to the left channel and the right audiogram to the right channel. If the stereo image still feels off-centre, use the Left Trim and Right Trim controls while listening to a mono source until the sound is centred.

Should I use Dynamic Range Compression?

Only if you want compression.

Dynamic Range Compression makes quiet sounds louder and loud sounds quieter. That can be useful for inconsistent sources, such as web videos or podcasts, but it changes the dynamics and can raise background noise. For transparent audiogram correction, leave it off and use Output Gain or your external volume control instead.