Download

Get EQBase

One link, always the newest version. After that the app keeps itself up to date: every update is verified against an Ed25519 signature before it installs.

Download EQBase for Mac

Requirements

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

1. Download the DMG and open it.
2. 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.
3. Launch EQBase from Applications. It appears in your menu bar rather than the Dock.
4. 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.

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.