Softpedia >News >Apple >Mac
Softpedia Homepage   

JoeSoft Rolls Sound-Enhancing App for Macs. Demo Available

For 50 bucks, Hear makes the most out of your old speakers

Apr 9, 2008 10:40 GMT  ·  By
The more knobs, the better
   The more knobs, the better

JoeSoft says that Hear, a sound enhancement program (demo available) for your Mac, "greatly" enhances your sound experience, whether it's music, movies or video games that you usually run on your computer. In fact, Greg Brewer, CEO of Prosoft, says "your games will now blow you away." Does that include SuperTux?

Here's the full breakdown, for all you audiophiles out there: 3D Sound, Equalizer (studio quality N-band equalizer with built-in peak limiter), Speaker Correction (Control speaker resonance to increase frequency range and enhance sound), Center Channel Control (performance-grade audio effects), Ambience (fine tune reverb) and, of course, more.

However, one feature in particular caught my eye. Noobs, listen up! Virtual Subwoofer: "No Sub? No problem. Let Hear use your existing speakers to boost your bass. Don't you need more thump in your life?" JoeSoft says. I hate to be the one to break it to you but NO, Hear is not going to enhance your speakers too. It'll only make the most of them, that's it. The upper-mentioned audiophiles will tell you the same.

Hear controls the volume and quality of each application independently. You can control, enable and disable each effect independently or you can apply the effects in any order you want "for dramatic results." You can also define and recall presets, use Hear's effects through your Mac's speakers, headphones or external speakers.

"Hear is a great new program that makes everything sound better on your Mac. All your music will be vastly improved, your movies will surround you with rich sound and your games will now blow you away," says Greg Brewer. "Once you've listened to your music or movies with Hear, you will never want to be without Hear."

Now, about that subtitle. I said "Hear makes the most out of your old speakers," which is what I could conclude from JoeSoft's description of the software. That doesn't mean you should trust it too much with that Virtual Subwoofer feature. Not that you shouldn't trust it to work perfectly with any sound system out there (after all, your Mac computer is the output), but I wouldn't rush to break a hundred having "BASS BOOST" in mind.

A trial version of Hear is available right HERE. The full version of JoeSoft's sound enhancement software costs $50.