SoundSource 3

A menu for control of almost all of your Mac’s audio

$10 Developer Rogue Amoeba, rogueamoeba.com Requirements OS X 10.10 or later

MacOS’s sound control in the menu bar gives you a reasonable degree of control over settings: a master volume slider, a list of available output devices, and, by holding Alt, input devices too. However, adjusting the volume of your microphone or system sound effects means going to the relevant tab in the Sound preferences pane.

SoundSource’s developer proclaims it to be “the sound control that should be built into

macOS.” For starters, there’s no need to remember you can hold down a modifier key to switch to a different input device; the top three groups in the menu are for switching inputs and the destinations for master output and sound effects, each with their own volume slider.

Controlling the volume of sound effects is an especially nice touch if you want to temporarily mute system alerts, for example, yet still want other sound to play – perhaps an ambient soundtrack in iTunes that helps you focus. This is a cinch with SoundSource, and we soon got into the habit of using its menu to toggle effects; doing it this way was less aggravating than having to dip into System Preferences.

The app also provides a Play-Thru window, where you can redirect an input to a specific output device, and adjust the volume and channels used for each of those devices. You might use this to monitor an input through headphones, for example, though output is subject to a delay of a second or so.

SoundSource costs ten bucks, which looks a little costly when you think of how little it does. It would do more to justify its price if it complemented macOS’s built-in keyboard shortcuts for the master output volume with its own for input and sound effects, say, to save you opening its menu to adjust them.

Cost is a relatively minor gripe compared to an issue that’s outright disappointing if you’re heavily invested in Apple’s audio ecosystem. Although speakers and mics connected using a cable or over Bluetooth appear in SoundSource’s list of available outputs, AirPlay speakers and Apple TV units do not. If you send your Mac’s audio to that type of output, perhaps because you have wireless speakers in various rooms at home, you may find it better to stick with macOS’s built-in sound control.

the bottom line. A helpful controller for cabled or Bluetooth audio control, but useless for AirPlay.

macOS is able to detect built-in, Bluetooth and AirPlay devices, but SoundSource ignores the latter entirely.

Play-Thru can redirect audio from and to your choices of input and output, or whatever the system has chosen.