EarTrumpet for Mac: the closest equivalent and how to set it up

There is no EarTrumpet for Mac — it's a Windows-only open-source app with no macOS build or port. But its three jobs (a per-app volume slider for every app, quick output-device switching, and hotkeys) all exist on a Mac through native equivalents. The closest free match is Background Music; the closest match for EarTrumpet's speed and keyboard focus is Fader. This guide maps each EarTrumpet habit onto a Mac app and walks the setup.

If you're switching from Windows, EarTrumpet is one of the first things you go looking for and one of the first you can't find. It's a beloved little utility: a modern tray mixer that gives each running app its own slider, lets you send an app to a different playback device, and adds keyboard shortcuts — all free, open source, and on the Microsoft Store. On a Mac, none of that is built in. macOS ships one master output and a Sound menu that sets a single level for everything.

Why EarTrumpet itself won't run on a Mac

EarTrumpet is written against Windows' audio APIs and its notification-area (tray) UI. There's no macOS version, and it isn't the kind of app you can run under a compatibility layer — it hooks the operating system's audio session model, which macOS simply doesn't expose the same way. So "install EarTrumpet on Mac" isn't an option. The real question is which Mac app reproduces the parts of EarTrumpet you actually used, and macOS has a few good answers.

What EarTrumpet actually does (so you know what to replace)

It helps to separate EarTrumpet into its jobs, because no single Mac app is a pixel-for-pixel clone and you'll want the one that covers your habits:

• Per-app volume. A slider for every app that's making sound, in one place.
• Per-app output routing. Send one app to headphones while the rest stay on speakers.
• Hotkeys. Adjust and mute without opening the panel.
• Free and open source. No cost, no account, community-maintained.

Rank those four for yourself. If "free and open source" is at the top, one app wins. If "reach the control instantly" is at the top, a different one does.

The Mac equivalents, compared

Three native Mac apps cover EarTrumpet's ground, each leaning a different way. Background Music matches it on price and openness. SoundSource by Rogue Amoeba is the deep, polished paid option with EQ and effects. Fader matches the part EarTrumpet fans tend to care about most — getting to the control fast — by making the keyboard the mixer.

Prices as of this writing: SoundSource 6 is $49 for new buyers (upgrades from v5 are $25); Fader is $19.99 one-time with a 3-day free trial. Background Music costs nothing. Check each maker's page before you buy — prices move.

The closest free equivalent: Background Music

If what you loved about EarTrumpet was that it was free and open source, Background Music is your answer. It installs a virtual audio device, then shows every running app with its own volume slider in the menu bar. It'll even auto-pause your music player when another app starts making sound. It's genuinely the closest match on price and philosophy.

Where it stops short of EarTrumpet: it's volume-only, so it won't route one app to a different output device, and it has no global volume hotkeys — you open the menu-bar list and drag. Setup is a manual install (download the release, run the installer, allow the audio driver in System Settings) rather than a one-click Store install, and it can lag behind the newest macOS releases. For a free per-app mixer, though, it does the core job well. We compared it head to head with Fader in Background Music vs Fader if you want the detail.

The closest match for speed: Fader

EarTrumpet's whole appeal is that the mixer is one gesture away — you don't hunt through the old Windows Sound control panel. On a Mac, the app built around that same instinct is Fader, except it takes it a step further: instead of opening a panel at all, you make the keyboard the mixer.

Hit a toggle hotkey and your keys become faders — the Q/A/Z column rides one app, W/S/X the next — so you change levels and mute apps without leaving what you're doing. It also does the per-app output routing that Background Music can't: send a call to your headset while music stays on the desk speakers. It's a native App Store app, sandboxed, no account, $19.99 one-time on macOS 14.4 or later, with a 3-day trial so you can confirm it fits before paying.

To be fair: EarTrumpet is free and Fader isn't, and if a menu-bar slider is all you want, you don't need to pay for keyboard control. Fader earns its price only if you change app levels often enough that shaving a panel open-and-drag down to a keystroke actually matters to you.

How to set up the closest equivalent (Fader)

1. Install Fader from the Mac App Store and launch it. No account or sign-up.
2. Grant the audio permission it asks for on first run — this is what lets it see and control each app.
3. Open a few noisy apps (say a browser, Spotify, and a call app) so they appear as channels.
4. Press the toggle hotkey to bring up the keyboard mixer, then ride each app's level with its letter column.
5. Optional: assign a per-app mute key, and point any app at its own output device for routing.

That's the EarTrumpet reflex — mixer one gesture away — rebuilt for the Mac, minus the panel. If you'd rather start with the lay of the land, our overview of whether the Mac has a volume mixer like Windows covers why the feature is missing and every way to add it back.

Bottom line

EarTrumpet doesn't run on a Mac and there's no port coming — but its job does have a home on macOS. If free and open source is what mattered, Background Music is the closest equivalent and costs nothing. If reaching the control instantly is what mattered — the reason you reached for EarTrumpet in the first place — Fader is the closest match, trading a menu for the keyboard and adding per-app routing on top. Pick by what you valued most about EarTrumpet, not by which one has the longest feature list.