Everything you need to know about MusEQ's menu bar controls, EQ editor, and audio routing.
MusEQ lives in your menu bar. Click the icon to open the main control panel. The green dot at the top right shows that audio capture is active. If your license has expired or your trial has ended, an orange warning triangle appears instead.
Click the MusEQ title to see your version info and license status, with buttons to Check for Updates and Manage License....
MusEQ includes a 14-day free trial — no credit card or sign-up required. The trial starts automatically on first launch. When it ends, you can purchase a license to continue.
On first launch, macOS will prompt for two permissions: Automation (so MusEQ can match sample rates) and Audio Capture (so MusEQ can EQ). Both are required — accept both prompts to get started. Requires macOS 14.2 or later.
Click the MusEQ title at the top of the panel to open the about popover. This shows your current version, license status, and two buttons: Check for Updates and Manage License....
Click Manage License... to open the license window. During a free trial, the window shows how many days remain and includes a field to enter a license key. Type or paste your key and click Activate. If you don't have a key yet, click Get a License to visit the store.
If you need to move your license to a different Mac, click Deactivate License at the bottom of the license window. This frees the license so you can reactivate it elsewhere with the same key.
MusEQ automatically checks for updates when you launch the app. If a newer version is available, you'll see an alert with the release notes and three options: Quit & Update opens the download page and quits MusEQ so you can install the new version. Skip This Version dismisses the alert and won't remind you about this particular release again. Continue dismisses the alert but will check again next time you launch.
You can also check manually by clicking the MusEQ title to open the about popover, then clicking Check for Updates.
By default, MusEQ captures only Apple Music output. Toggle System Audio to capture all system audio instead.
This is the key to tuning your EQ by ear using web-based tools. Enable System Audio capture, then play audio through a browser tool — like Owliophile, or Squig.link. MusEQ will EQ that audio in real time, so you can switch back and forth with Apple Music to quickly verify your changes with your music. Then save your changes without any export or import step.
For a step-by-step walkthrough, see the Tune your headphones by ear tutorial.
Choose your output device from the picker. MusEQ routes the processed audio to whichever device you select. If you have a USB DAC or external audio interface, it will appear here.
The Exclusive toggle appears next to the device picker. When enabled, MusEQ takes exclusive control of the output device so no other app can use it at the same time. This bypasses the macOS audio mixer for cleaner output. Exclusive mode only applies to external devices like USB DACs.
MusEQ can automatically match your output device's sample rate to whatever track is playing. Toggle Auto to enable this. When active, you'll see both the device rate and the current track rate displayed below.
This is especially useful for bit-perfect playback. When a high-resolution track starts playing, MusEQ switches your DAC to the matching sample rate automatically — quickly and without playback gaps.
If you use multiple headphones, select your current model here. Each headphone stores its last used EQ profile and headroom setting. When you switch headphones, MusEQ loads everything automatically.
Select New… from the headphone picker to add a new model.
MusEQ also remembers which headphone you last used with each output device. When you switch to a different device — say, plugging in a USB DAC — it automatically loads the headphone you had selected for that device last time.
To remove a headphone you no longer use, click the trash icon next to the headphone picker. A confirmation dialog will let you cancel or proceed — deleting a headphone also deletes all of its EQ profiles.
The Parametric EQ section shows your current pregain level in db below 0. Pregain level is automatically calculated to prevent clipping based on your EQ profile's boost levels. As you change EQ profiles or headphones, the pregain level may decrease. To prevent sudden increases in volume, it will never increase. To reset the pregain to its optimal level, click the current pregain level. If the reset would increase your volume by more than 3 dB, a warning dialog appears showing the exact increase so you can turn down your amplifier before confirming.
If a headphone is selected, you'll also see the Headroom control. This adds extra attenuation below zero (default: −3 dB), useful for preventing intersample overs — clipping that can occur between samples even when the waveform peaks appear within range.
Below that are your loaded EQ profiles. The highlighted Enabled pill shows which profile is active. Double-click a profile name to rename it. Click the pencil icon to open the EQ Editor. To delete a profile, click the X next to its name.
Use New to create a blank profile, or Import to import EQ profiles in .txt from Squig.link and AutoEQ, or .pdf files from oratory1990.
Click OPRA to open the OPRA Preset Library — a community-maintained collection of EQ profiles for hundreds of headphone models. Use the search bar to find your headphones. The left pane lists matching models with their manufacturer; click one to see available EQ profiles in the right pane. Each profile shows the author, a description, and the number of EQ bands. Select a profile and click Import to add it to your current headphone.
The EQ Editor shows your frequency response curve at the top. This graph updates in real time as you adjust filters, so you can see exactly what your EQ is doing across the frequency spectrum. Each filter is drawn in a unique color. When you hover over a filter card at the bottom, its individual response curve is highlighted in the graph.
Each filter card controls one band of your parametric EQ. You can adjust three parameters:
Use the sliders for quick changes, the chevron buttons for precise single-step adjustments, or type a value directly into the text field.
As you boost frequencies, the pregain value in the bottom right automatically decreases to prevent clipping.
To compare two different EQ curves, use the Duplicate or B button. The Duplicate button creates a copy of your current profile with a new name in Tab B. The B button opens Tab B with the current EQ profile. This allows you to use the picker to load a comparison EQ profile or make changes to the current profile while still having it loaded in Tab A for reference.
Each tab has its own profile picker and Save button, so you can load different profiles into each tab independently.
MusEQ automatically level-matches the two tabs so you're always comparing EQ differences, not loudness differences. It applies a small pregain offset to the louder profile so both tabs play at the same perceived volume.
The Swap button exchanges the contents of Tab A and Tab B instantly, making it easy to hear the difference between two tuning approaches - even with your eyes closed.
Click Add Filter to add a new band. You can have as many filters as you need. Scroll horizontally if your filter cards extend beyond the window.
Each filter card has a toggle switch to enable or disable that filter without removing it — handy for hearing what a single filter is doing. To remove a filter entirely, click the trash icon on its card.
The Sort button reorders your filters by frequency from low to high, making them easier to read and manage.
Click Save to write your changes to disk. Profiles are stored in iCloud Drive and sync automatically across your Macs.
If you close the editor with unsaved changes, you'll be prompted to save, discard, or cancel.
At the bottom of the menu bar panel you'll find the Quit button on the left, with help and bug report icons on the right.
Click the ? icon to open this documentation. Click the ladybug icon to file a bug report. This composes an email with placeholder sections for steps to reproduce, expected behavior, and actual behavior. Your system info (macOS version, hardware, app version) is included in the email body, and the last 60 seconds of MusEQ logs are attached as a ZIP file — you can review everything before sending.