ZX  After the latest Apple software updates...We are back to the 'coreaudiod not responding' error!!!

Please fix it.  
(Version 1.0.3)

PIRX  Yes, definitely a memory leak. What a pity, such a great app.  
(Version 1.0.3)

CHIEFTED  I am very happy....

That I didn't purchase this app.

There is a memory leak somewhere with this application. Forget

about getting a decent stream, with this application installed I ran

into constant buffer issues (and I was using it on my computer

at work with a T3 connection, so its not the connections speed, nor

is it anything with the corp network).

Its over priced, distorts sounds big time and was a pain to uninstall. Rebooting

the computer just to install this....please.

Stay away from this one folks  
(Version 1.0.3)

DRLEX  People who expect to flip the switch on this software and get incredible sound out of any audio set-up, expect magic. Hear is loaded with all kinds of presets which are basically worthless. To get good sound out of a particular system, one needs to tweak the necessary settings to the correct parameters. Now, this is the main problem with Hear: you need to be kind of an audio engineer to do this. You may be lucky with one of the presets, but most of those use way too exaggerated settings just to showcase what Hear can do. The better the audio system, the closer each setting should be to 'zero' or 'neutral'.

I know which settings to tweak in order to make a $5 headset sound like a Sennheiser, or get less crummy sound out of the tinny speakers in my MacBook Pro. But the 'average Joe' has no clue which of the 100+ settings to tweak in order to counteract the 10+ mysterious shortcomings of his/her particular system. Maybe some kind of comprehensive guide should be supplied which explains how each particular setting can be used to counteract a particular shortcoming of a sound system, and which settings are just pure 'ear-candy'.

Since I have learnt how to use it, Hear has become almost essential for me. Unfortunately my major gripe with this program is that it's riddled with bugs.

First of all, Hear has a memory leak. It will increase the memory usage of each and every application that plays sounds, each time a new sound is loaded or played. Eventually this will make the program crash, after slowing down your Mac to a crawl due to swapping. For instance, Audacity 1.3.6 will quickly consume all of the 3GB of RAM on my machine when loading a large sound and pressing the 'play' button a few times.

Next, the controls will stop working at random moments, including the 'on/off' button. In such cases, the only way to regain control of Hear is either logging out, or manually killing the Hear Daemon and closing and re-opening all sound-related programs.

Finally, when changing presets or settings, the previous settings are still used when a new QuickTime movie is loaded afterwards. The Hear interface must be quit and re-opened to 'fixate' the new settings.

The 'average Joe' will not realise that any of the 3 above behaviours are bugs, except maybe the first one. The second and third bug will only make it seem like Hear doesn't work at all. If anyone at JoeSoft reads this, I highly recommend fixing those bugs as soon as possible. I really love this program but it will only be a matter of time before my frustration due to those bugs piles up so high that I start to hate it.  
(Version 1.0.3)

JEFF H.  I really like this program, well, I should say that I like it on my Mini with a simple 2.1 speaker setup.

I mostly watch movies and TV on this second computer and listen to no music on it at all.

So I can't comment on how it makes music sound better/worse.

But what I CAN comment on is the huge improvements its made on movies/TV.

I mean pretty dramatic!

I used one of the movie presets, "Drama" I believe, and then tweaked it.

I have an older set of Monsoon 701's so the sound produced by them was pretty good and tended to be transparent anyway, but the 3D effects of Hear were great! It ALMOST sounded like there were surround speakers. It DEFINITELY sounded like there was a center dialogue speaker.

I tweaked Hear to seem more spacious and it was very impressive!

But just for giggles I put Hear on my G5 that has Logitech Z5500 digital speakers. The Z5500 speakers didn't need anything to make them sound good, to me they are the most impressive computer speakers that I have heard. But I figured what-the-heck and installed Hear anyway.

IT SOUNDED JUST AWFUL!

I lived with it for around 3 minutes and AppZapped it!

I was very happy to see that after zapping Hear and a restart, everything on my G5 was back to normal and my Z5500's sounded great again.

I guess it really depends on your setup and needs, but I recommend Hear, sorta'...  
(Version 1.0.3)

XENOPHILE  I will echo Esperidion's observation that Hear yields over-processed sounds. For those interested in listening to music that is faithful to the original intent of the recording artist, Hear is worse than useless. It's also a resource hog on my Power Mac G4 dual 1.42 GHz system.

Hear did enhance the movie watching experience on my system (stereo, not surround), giving crystal clear voices and crushing special effects sounds, all with a more spatial aspect, as if the soundstage was larger than my two-speaker stereo system, but smaller than a full surround sound system. I'd certainly recommend trying out Hear, but given my setup I figure I'll pass on it and put the $50 towards a true surround sound system.

I didn't use Hear very long, but it was stable as far as I could tell.  
(Version 1.0.3)

ESPIRIDION  I've used Hear for a couple of months now. From the start, I realized that it was unusable for listening to music since it yields over-processed sounds. I have tried presets as well as my own settings. My settings were an improvement over the presets, but I decided not to waste time creating separate settings for each song I hear.

As an effect it's an interesting novelty. Some people may like this, but I don't.

Still, as an effect it may be interesting with different games, videos and movies. Unfortunately it does not work with VLC 0.9.4, under OS X 10.5.5. I don't know if it's a general problem or just my system. It was also not working with the previous VLC version.  
(Version 1.0.3)

PISSNAROUND  Apfelz, thank you for letting us know this doesn't work. Does make me wonder what we are all listening to however.  
(Version 1.0.3)

PURE  I bought this program and I love it. The music sounds much much better, richer, warmer now on my Mac Mini, and the bass is fantastic.

You can try a Demo and play with it, as I do. I spend several days too get the right settings for me, but now I am fully satisfied with this incredible sound that comes from my Mac. Ok, I use Hear in combination with good Sennheiser Headphones, maybe a difference to normal or cheap Speakers, Headphones.

I have tested it with several iTunes Versions and it works perfect for me.

To get a wonderful sound with Hear try to disable all functions first, then try one to another.

I move the Superbass Slider to 80%, the Fidelity Slider to 15% and have enabled the Extended Fidelity. Then I set the Maximizer Sliders (High and Low Contour) both to 50. - No other settings -

With Hear I cannot only listen enhanced Music with iTunes, I can use it with all other Applications like DVD Player, EyeTv and ...

What I miss is the Support for Front Row. I hope their will be soon a new Release, that fix this issue.

When People wrote here that this program is crap I think there is somthing wrong with there Mac, or they have installed an application that collide with Hear.

Give Hear a try and load the Demo, it is worth.  
(Version 1.0.3)

APFELZ  1. I waited months(!) before I wrote my comment :-(

2. I tested it on 3(!) different Macs with the same problem :-(

3. It is no open source or freeware it is an very expensive tool that does not work :-(

Roundup: I defenestrated the money I wish I spended for a homeless guy - would have been a better investment…

Sorry…  
(Version 1.0.3)