Boom Review: Boost Your Mac’s Speakers

For Mac users not satisfied with the output level of their Mac speakers, Boom comes to the rescue to boost the system’s overall volume. The inexpensive utility does a great job of boosting system volume, adjusting sound quality with an equalizer and increasing the volume of individual audio files.

Boom opens when a user starts up the system and runs in a menu bar applet. The app includes two main screens. One boosts the volume of files and the other boosts the overall system volume of the computer.

Boom file volume boosting increases volume of audio files

To boost a file’s volume, just drag it from a Finder window to the box in the app window. Users can also add it by clicking the plus button. The volume slider lets the user select how much the file’s volume needs to be adjusted. When finished, hit the boost button and Boom saves the resulting file to a default folder, which the user can change in the app preferences box.

Boom will boost overall mac os x volume and run in the menu bar

The app’s second window lets users adjust the overall system volume. Click the Mac Volume tab and turn on the Boom volume slider switch at the top of the window. Use the volume slider to select how much of a boost the computer needs. The app also includes an Equalizer. Turn it on with the slider switch and then use one of the presets from the drop down window. Above I selected the “movie” preset. It includes presets for flat, bass, treble, soft, loud, music, vocals or movie.

Use the presets to get started and then adjust each frequency channel. The frequency label appears as the user mouses over that channel slider.

For those not familiar with how an equalizer works, the up and down sliders on the left end control lower frequencies boosting or lowering the deeper pitches. Center handles mid channels and those on the right change higher pitched frequencies.

The menu bar works as a slider for the amount of volume Boom adds to the system. Click the menu icon and then slide it up and down. Users can also open the main window by clicking the icon at the bottom of the drop down slider.

I really like this simple app. It doesn’t affect overall system performance other than volume. It boosts volume well without messing up the sound quality. It really helps when playing a video in a large room without external speakers connected to my Mac. Turn up Boom and the volume fills the room. Its worth the $5 paid to the Mac App Store for Boom. Using Apple’s familiar app store rating system, I’d give it five stars and plan to install it on every Mac I use.

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