Boom 3D Alternative: Per-App Volume Control on Mac

Many people search for a Boom 3D alternative for one simple reason: one app is too quiet, a video call or a podcast, and they want it louder. Before choosing a tool, it's worth asking which of two problems you actually have:

• The whole Mac is too quiet. Every app, at full volume, isn't loud enough.
• One app is too quiet (or too loud) compared with the others. Your music is fine, but the call is a whisper.

These need different fixes. This article is about the second one, and starts with what you can do without installing anything.

What macOS gives you

macOS has one output volume that moves every app together. There's no built-in per-app mixer and no way to push audio past 100%. Your built-in tools are:

Check the app's own volume

Most media and call apps have their own volume control: the player slider in YouTube or a video app, the volume in Music or Spotify, the speaker volume in Zoom or Teams settings. Make sure it isn't set low. This is the most common cause of "one app is too quiet".

Check the output device

Open System Settings > Sound > Output, confirm the right device is selected and its volume is at the level you expect. With Bluetooth headphones, a call app using the headphones' microphone can switch them into a quieter hands-free mode; choosing the Mac's built-in mic in the call app often helps. More: Bluetooth headphones too quiet on Mac.

Restart the audio service

If the volume seems stuck low after sleep or switching devices, run sudo killall coreaudiod in Terminal. Audio restarts after a short interruption.

If all of that is maxed out and one app is still too quiet, you need a third-party tool.

Boosting one app vs boosting the whole system

A system-wide sound enhancer makes everything louder or changes how everything sounds. That's the right tool if your goal is to change the sound of your whole Mac.

But if the real problem is that one app is quiet compared with the rest, raising everything makes the loud apps louder too: notifications, browser tabs and music all jump along with the quiet call. What you actually want is to raise just the quiet app, and maybe lower the loud ones.

For other tools, including Boom 3D, check their websites for current features and price; we don't repeat claims about other apps that we can't keep up to date.

SoundDial: per-app volume and boost

SoundDial is a per-app volume mixer for the menu bar. It isn't a system-wide sound enhancer: it doesn't change how your audio sounds, it changes how loud each app is.

• Each running app gets its own slider, from 0% to 200%
• Boost one app above 100%, up to 200%, without making the others louder
• Lower one app, like a loud browser, while the rest stays put
• Mute one app with one click while other apps keep playing
• Works per app, not per browser tab (all tabs of a browser share one slider)

So for a quiet call, you'd drag the call app to 150% or 180% and leave your music where it was. For a loud browser, drag the browser down instead. More: boost a quiet app on Mac and boost Mac volume beyond 100%.

SoundDial needs macOS 14.2 or later and costs €14.99 one-time purchase on the Mac App Store, no subscription.

Which one fits?

• You want to change how your whole Mac sounds: look at system-wide sound tools and compare their current features on their websites.
• You want one app louder or quieter than the others: a per-app mixer like SoundDial, a per-app volume mixer for Mac, is built for exactly that.

Get SoundDial on the Mac App Store.