SoundSource
per-app volume sliders and audio routing from the menu bar
Paid upgrades
The licence explicitly covers "the current version", and Rogue Amoeba charges roughly half price for each major release, so a future SoundSource 7 will cost again. Per-app volume and effects depend on Rogue Amoeba's audio capture component, which means a permission grant and a restart during setup. It is the most expensive utility of its kind, and if all you want is an equalizer there are much cheaper routes. Not on Setapp — Rogue Amoeba sells direct only.
Cost over five years
$49 once = 20 months of eqMac Pro. Over five years that is $150 rented against $49 owned — $101 kept, and you still have the app.
eqMac Pro priced at $30 a year — eqMac's Pro plan billed yearly; covers the equalizer and app mixer, not full routing. Checked 2026-09-22.
macOS gives you one volume slider for the whole machine, which stops being adequate the first time a Slack notification is louder than the film. SoundSource puts a slider next to every running app and lets you send one of them somewhere else entirely — Music to the desk speakers, everything else to the headphones — without opening Audio MIDI Setup. The effects chain is the part people keep using: a ten-band EQ applied system-wide or to one app, and a volume boost past the macOS ceiling.
$49 is real money for a menu bar utility, and Rogue Amoeba's model is one payment per major version. Owners of SoundSource 4 or 5 pay $25 to reach 6, so budget for SoundSource 7 arriving eventually. In exchange the licence is per person, not per machine, so your laptop and your desktop are both covered.
Two things to know before buying. Per-app control needs Rogue Amoeba's audio capture component installed, which involves a permission grant and a restart — normal for this kind of tool, but not a two-click setup. And if what you actually want is an equalizer, eqMac covers that ground free or for $30 a year. SoundSource earns its price on routing, not on EQ.
What it looks like
What it does
- Independent volume slider for every running application
- Route individual apps to output devices other than the system default
- Fast input and output device switching from the menu bar
- System-wide and per-app effects including a ten-band equalizer
- Volume boost above the macOS maximum
- One licence covers every Mac you personally own
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$11.99The facts
- Price
- $49
- What you get
- One payment, and the developer charges for major versions on a stated cadence.
- Details
- A SoundSource licence key is "$49 USD" on Rogue Amoeba's own store, covering the current major version (SoundSource 6). Upgrades from an earlier major version are paid but discounted — the store lists "$25 USD" to move to SoundSource 6 from 5 or 4. A single-user licence covers the current version on as many machines as you personally own; shared or lab machines need one licence each.
- Free trial
- Yes
- On Setapp
- No
- Minimum macOS
- not stated
- Developer
- Rogue Amoeba
- Price checked
- 2026-09-22
Check it yourself - Price band
- $30 to $60