EQBaseDownload
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.
Latest version: 1.5.0
Released 2026-08-25 · 11.7 MB · notarized by Apple
New
- Send one app to several outputs at once, with no driver and no microphone prompt.
- Volume and mute on every device in the list, not just the one you are using.
- Volume control for HDMI and DisplayPort monitors, volume keys included.
- Connect paired Bluetooth headphones straight from EQBase.
- Switching output now fades instead of clicking.
- Choose what happens when a new output connects: switch to it, or stay put.
- Named starter curves for the equalizer, on every EQ pane.
- Keyboard shortcuts and Shortcuts actions for any app's volume.
- Pin an app to keep its row, or hide one you never touch.
- Save your own per-app EQ presets.
- Start EQBase at login, offered at the end of setup.
Improved
- Type an exact number into any EQ readout.
- Scroll over an app's row to change its level, or type a percentage.
- The volume slider follows volume changes made outside EQBase.
- Smaller fixes across setup, diagnostics and routing.
SHA-256 a040c2de731935af230e30a047e1a2b444aa1bc3cb7440d8d2d6a54a3261e413
Requirements
| Operating system | macOS 14.4 (Sonoma) or later |
|---|---|
| Processor | Apple silicon and Intel, one universal app |
| 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 |
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.
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.