Spectra vs eqMac
Written by the Spectra Audio team, so read it that way. The other column is written as eqMac’s own fans would write it, and every row where eqMac wins says so.
What it is
eqMac has been the default Mac equalizer for years and it earns that. The free tier is a real 10-band EQ with AutoEQ curves for thousands of headphone models, and Pro adds unlimited parametric bands, a spectrum analyzer, per-app volume, Audio Unit hosting and a spatial effect for $40 lifetime. It routes audio through its own virtual driver, which is the part people either never notice or fight with after every sleep.
Price: Free tier; Pro at $3/month, $30/year, or $40 lifetime
What it is
A system-wide parametric EQ for macOS that measures your room with the iPhone you already own and fits a correction to it. No measurement microphone, no virtual driver, and every output keeps its own calibration, Bluetooth included. The measurement is the product; the EQ is the part everyone else also has.
Price: Free tier with an account; Base $59 one time; Pro $11.99/month, $99/year, or $179 one time. The $59 from Base counts toward Pro one time.
Pick eqMac if
- You want a static headphone curve for a known model. eqMac's AutoEQ library covers about 4,600 headphones. Spectra's curated library is a fraction of that.
- You want per-app volume or to host Audio Units in the chain. Spectra does neither.
- You need macOS older than 26.2. eqMac runs back to 10.13.
- $40 lifetime for unlimited parametric bands is the price anchor of the category and Spectra Pro is more than that.
Pick Spectra if
- You listen on speakers and the room is the problem. eqMac measures nothing; Spectra measures your room with your iPhone and fits the correction from that.
- You want the correction to survive sleep, reconnects and output switches without a virtual driver in the path. Spectra uses Apple's process tap and adds no device to Sound settings.
- You want each output to carry its own measured calibration, Bluetooth included, and switch with the device.
The table
| Feature | Spectra | eqMac |
|---|---|---|
| Audio path | Yes Core Audio process tap in a private aggregate device, one clock. No driver, nothing added to Sound settings. | Partly Virtual audio driver (user-space AudioServerPlugIn). Works everywhere, and it is what reappears in Sound settings and occasionally needs reinstalling. |
| Parametric bands | Partly Free: 10-band graphic. Base: 5 parametric bands, three Q widths. Pro: unlimited bands, Q 0.1 to 10. | Yes Free: 10 fixed bands. Pro: unlimited parametric bands for $40 lifetime. |
| Per-app control | No The tap is device-scoped by design. One EQ per output, not per app. | Partly Per-app volume in Pro. EQ is still global. |
| AutoEQ import | No No AutoEq or Equalizer APO file import yet. The headphone library is curated. | Partly Integrated AutoEQ library for about 4,600 models. Loading your own file is not confirmed. |
| Headphone library | Partly Curated headphone calibrations, applied in one click. Small next to the AutoEq databases. | Yes About 4,600 models via AutoEQ. Free applies them to the 10-band EQ; Pro to the parametric one. |
| Room measurement | Yes Pink-noise measurement through your iPhone over Continuity, correction fitted to your room. About 90 seconds. | No None. Every curve is a static preset. |
| Microphone needed | Yes The iPhone you already own. No calibrated microphone to buy. | No Not applicable, nothing is measured. |
| Per-output profiles | Yes Every output keeps its own calibration and switches with the device, Bluetooth included. | Yes Super Presets switch with the output device. |
| Effects | Yes Dynamic EQ, Sub Bass Extension and Prism:X Stage at Base; deep settings at Pro. | Partly Spatial (reverb-style) and Audio Unit hosting in Pro. No dynamic EQ. |
| macOS required | Partly macOS 26.2 or later. The strictest requirement in this category. | Yes 10.13 or later. |
| Distribution | Yes Developer ID signed, notarized, Sparkle updates. Not on the App Store because the tap needs entitlements the store does not grant. | Yes Notarized direct download, GitHub, official Homebrew cask. Last release April 2026. |
The free ones
In 2026 six free, open-source system EQs shipped on the same Core Audio process-tap API Spectra uses. None of them measure a room, and several of them beat Spectra on bands per dollar and on file import. If a static curve is what you want, start here and keep your money.
- FineTune. Per-app volume, routing and EQ, with AutoEq profiles per output device. Edge: Per-app everything, a Homebrew cask, and the largest user base of the group. Caveat: Graphic EQ capped at 10 filters per profile; open Bluetooth desync reports without a maintainer reply as of September 2026.
- OnlyEQ. Unlimited parametric bands and the widest AutoEq and peqdb import support in the field. Edge: If you have a parametric file from anywhere, OnlyEQ loads it, for nothing. Caveat: Installed with a curl-to-bash script, not notarized, and its update signing key was reported lost.
- CoreEQ. 16 free parametric bands plus a fixed ladder, in a deliberately small app. Edge: Sixteen parametric bands and per-output profiles for free. Caveat: No headphone library and no file import yet; unsigned build.
- GlassEQ. A process-tap EQ that imports AutoEq, REW and impulse-response files. Edge: REW and IR import, which almost nothing else on the Mac does. Caveat: Alpha, ad-hoc signed and not notarized; a paid version is planned.
- Radioform. A notarized, GPL-licensed 10-band EQ with genre presets. Edge: Notarized and simple. Caveat: Uses a virtual driver rather than the tap; last release March 2026.
- SoundRouter Dore. Pay-what-you-want EQ with a browser hearing test and an ambience mode. Edge: Free, and the hearing-test idea is genuinely different. Caveat: Unsigned and unnotarized; its capture method is not documented.
Caveats
- Whether eqMac's free tier applies AutoEQ curves to its parametric EQ or only to the fixed 10-band one was not confirmed from its own documentation; the row above says what the README implies.
- Whether you can load an arbitrary AutoEQ text file into eqMac was not confirmed either way.
- Spectra is in public beta. External audio interfaces are the least-tested path. If a row above is wrong about eqMac, email general@spectraaudio.tech and it will be corrected.
Measure your room once and decide
The free tier is a real system-wide 10-band EQ. The measurement is in Base, $59 one time. The first 25 beta testers get Pro free through the founders program.
Other comparisons: eqMac, SoundSource, Boom 3D, Sonarworks, and every eqMac alternative in one list.