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.
Click the title to see your version info and license status.
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.
By default, MusEQ captures only Apple Music output. Toggle System Audio to capture all system audio instead. This is useful if you're listening through a browser or another app.
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.
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.
Click the + button to add a new headphone 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.
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 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. Click the pencil icon to open the EQ Editor, or use Import to import EQ profiles in .txt from Squig.link and AutoEQ as well as .pdf files from oratory1990
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.
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.
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. The profile is saved in text format inside your headphone's folder under ~/Documents/MusEQ/.
If you close the editor with unsaved changes, you'll be prompted to save, discard, or cancel.