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Menu bar & system utilities

SoundSource

Per-app volume sliders and audio routing from the menu bar

Price: $49 once

Paid upgradesMajor versions cost again

Buy direct Website

Price read on rogueamoeba.com, the page Buy direct opens.

The catch

Each major version is a separate purchase — the upgrade to SoundSource 6 costs $25

The full picture

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.

Pays back in
20 months
Seats
No Mac count statedA single-user licence covers every Mac you personally own; shared or lab machines need one licence each.
Developer account
None needed
Buy once$49Rent 5 years$150

$101 kept over five years, and you still have the app.
Against eqMac Pro at $30 a year, eqMac's Pro plan billed yearly; covers the equalizer and app mixer, not full routing.

What it looks like

SoundSource: The complete, unobstructed SoundSource main popover: System block with Output / Input / Sound Effects rows, each with a mute pill, volume slider and percentage, a Boost button and a device menu (Ammo's AirPods, USB Mic); Applications block with Safari and Music rows including Volume, Boost and 'Redirect Audio To' menus (Whole House, No Redirect) and per-row FX chevrons; Add Favorite and Quick Configs at the foot.
The complete, unobstructed SoundSource main popover. Vendor site (rogueamoeba.com/soundsource)
SoundSource: The same SoundSource window at higher pixel density with a fuller app list (Safari at 75%, zoom.us, Spotify redirected to a HomePod) and favourite stars — but the app's icon is composited over the bottom-right corner, hiding part of the last rows.
The same SoundSource window at higher pixel density with a fuller app list (Safari at 75%, zoom.us, Spotify redirected to a HomePod) and favourite stars — but the app's icon is composited over the bottom-right corner, hiding part of the last rows. Vendor site (rogueamoeba.com/soundsource)

Images belong to their developers.

What you’re buying

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 owners report

Points that recur across the discussions below. A report of what users say, not our verdict: we don’t review software.

Praised

  • Owners repeatedly say nothing else does per-app routing as completely, which is why they stay put while frustrated
  • Several recent buyers report that asking support got them the version 6 upgrade at no charge

Criticised

  • Across several threads owners report audio dropping out or distorting since the ARK driver change, cured only by quitting and relaunching
  • Bluetooth headsets and video-call apps are the case raised most often, with sound not returning until the device is reconnected

Details

The price in full

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.

The SoundSource page at rogueamoeba.com
The developer’s own page. rogueamoeba.com, captured 22 Sep 2026
Free trial
Yes
Works offline
Yes
Apple Silicon
Native
On Setapp
No
Minimum macOS
not stated
Developer
Rogue Amoeba

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