Bass Boost One App on Mac Without Touching the Rest
Short answer: In SoundDial, open ⋯ → Equalizer & Balance… next to Spotify (or any app that plays sound) and choose the Bass Boost preset. Only that app gets more bass; everything else stays as it is.
Your music sounds thin on the Mac. The kick drum barely registers, the bass line disappears, and you want more low end. But only for the music. The moment you turn up bass for everything, your meeting sounds muddy, voices in videos get boomy, and notification sounds thud. What you're really after is a bass boost for one app, usually Spotify, while everything else stays as it is.
Why a global bass boost is the wrong tool
Low frequencies carry a lot of energy. Raising them for all audio at once means your calls, browser videos and system sounds all get the same treatment, and speech in particular suffers: extra low end makes voices sound heavy and less clear. Boosting bass also pushes audio closer to distortion, which is easy to hear on small speakers.
The better approach is targeted: more bass in the music app, nothing extra anywhere else.
What macOS gives you
In recent macOS versions, System Settings > Sound lets you pick an output device and set its volume, but there is no equalizer there, so there's no built-in way to boost bass even for everything, let alone for one app. Audio MIDI Setup (in Applications > Utilities) lets you inspect devices, change their format and create Aggregate or Multi-Output Devices, but it has no tone controls and no idea which app is playing what.
Some players have their own EQ. Apple's Music app has one built in. But that only helps inside that app, and every app does it differently, if at all. If you listen in a browser, in a video player or in an app without tone controls, you're out of luck. To add bass to exactly one app on a Mac, you need a per-app audio tool.
How to bass boost one app with SoundDial
SoundDial is a menu-bar app that gives each app that plays sound its own volume slider and, in version 2.0, its own 10-band equalizer. Here's how to add bass to Spotify only:
- Play something in Spotify so it shows up in the SoundDial popover. Open the popover from the menu bar or with Control-Option-S.
- Click ⋯ on Spotify's row and choose Equalizer & Balance…
- Turn on the Equalizer switch.
- Choose the Bass Boost preset. Changes apply instantly, so you hear the difference right away.
- Optional: fine-tune. The lowest bands are 31, 63 and 125 Hz, and each band goes up or down by up to 12 dB in 0.5 dB steps. If the result is too much, lower one band rather than switching the whole preset off. Double-click a band to reset it.
Spotify's row now shows an EQ chip. Zoom, Safari and every other app are unaffected, because each app has its own EQ. If Settings > General > When an app opens is set to Remember last, SoundDial brings back Spotify's EQ, volume, mute and balance the next time Spotify opens.
Combining bass boost with volume and the limiter
Bass boost and loudness work together:
- Soft limiter. While an app's EQ is on, or its volume is above 100%, SoundDial runs that app through a soft limiter, which rounds off peaks instead of clipping them hard.
- Volume up to 200%. If you want Spotify louder, raise its slider. Anything above 100% is a boost, and the slider turns amber to show it.
A practical order: pick Bass Boost first, listen for a minute, then adjust Spotify's volume slider until it sits where you want it relative to your other apps.
When you want less bass, not more
Sometimes the problem is the opposite. SoundDial has 11 presets, and a few of them are often a better fit than Bass Boost:
| Preset | Good for |
|---|---|
| Bass Boost | Music on laptop speakers or small desk speakers |
| Loudness | Listening at low volume while keeping the sound full |
| Late Night | Evening listening, when you don't want to disturb others |
| Bass Cut | Boomy speakers, thin walls, or music under a voice |
| Flat | Back to neutral |
Late Night is the one to try when heavy low end carries through walls. Bass Cut is useful when your speakers or your room already have plenty of bass, or when background music is fighting a voice you're trying to hear. For a full tour of the presets and bands, see Per-App Equalizer on Mac.
Example setups
Laptop listening. Spotify on Bass Boost at around 120%, browser flat at 100%, Zoom flat. The setting Lower other apps during calls is on by default: when a call starts, Spotify plays at 30% of its volume and comes back when the call ends. The call app itself is never lowered.
Gaming with music. Your game with EQ off, Spotify on Bass Boost but lower in the mix, Discord flat. Keep in mind that Discord counts as a call app: while it uses your microphone, SoundDial lowers the game and Spotify too. If you'd rather keep them at full level, raise the level under Lower other apps during calls (up to 80%) or turn the setting off. Save the mix with Save current mix as a profile and name it Gaming.
Late evening. Switch Spotify to Late Night and give YouTube in your browser Bass Cut. Save it as another profile so you can flip between daytime and evening with one click. A profile stores every app's volume, mute, EQ and balance.
One click from a launcher. The link sounddial://eq?app=Spotify&preset=bassBoost switches Spotify to Bass Boost without opening the popover. It works from any launcher or script that can open a URL, or with open in Terminal.
Honest limits
- Per app, not per browser tab. If you listen to music in a browser tab, the EQ applies to the whole browser, including other tabs.
- It shapes, it doesn't create. An EQ can emphasize the bass that's in the recording and that your speakers can reproduce. It can't make small speakers behave like a subwoofer.
- No system-wide EQ, stereo only. Each EQ belongs to one app, and SoundDial is not a surround or multichannel tool. If you need one curve for everything your Mac plays, SoundDial isn't built for that.
Common questions
Will Bass Boost affect my Zoom or Teams calls?
No. The EQ belongs to the app you set it on. Zoom and Teams keep their own settings, which are flat unless you change them.
Does this work for Apple Music, YouTube or a browser?
Yes, as long as the app plays sound: it gets its own row, including Music, Safari, Chrome and Firefox. Browser helper processes are grouped under the browser, so the EQ applies to the whole browser rather than one tab.
Can I switch back quickly?
Yes. Pick Flat, turn the Equalizer switch off, or use Reset EQ & Balance in the same panel.
Does SoundDial listen to my microphone?
No. SoundDial does not read or record microphone audio. SoundDial changes levels; it has no network entitlement and no account.
SoundDial, a per-app volume mixer for Mac needs macOS 14.2 or later and costs €14.99 one-time purchase on the Mac App Store, no subscription.
SoundDial: a volume slider and mute button for every app on your Mac.
€14.99 one-time purchase · macOS 14.2+ · no subscription