I just recently purchased a G-Project G-Grip sound bar for my Mac. I already have an audio system where I'm running a DAC to the system, so I just wanted something small and decent to use "for PC stuff only." In reviews, the G-Grip supposedly sounds as good as the Jambox at a much lower cost. Well, to tell the truth. I don't really care for it. It just doesn't sound good on its own. I was thinking of returning it and trying the FoxL V2, which apparently has much better sound quality.

Well, I decided to at least try an equalizer first. I tried Boom, but then I discovered and downloaded Hear, and it is MUCH better for this kind of thing than a simple equalizer. The sound quality is so much improved on the G-Grip with Hear that I'm completely happy with it as my PC-only speaker. I can't believe the difference.

That said, this difference was made with very conservative settings. I am barely altering the signal using the equalizer. I am also using the Fidelity effect (which provides the best improvement of the features), set to 85 Frequency, 0 coloring and 75 Intensity. Then I'm using the Speaker feature to reduce resonance and accent the mid range. (The 2 Resonance settings are at 15 and the mid-range accent is at 50.) That's it. And the difference is night and day.

Not only does the speaker bar sound much better, but it has reduced the distortion a little so that I can turn the volume up a little higher.

Why on earth didn't they just make the speaker sound this good to start with? I guess then it would have to cost $200 like the FoxL V2. Ha. But for $20 more, Hear turned an unhappy return into something more worth it. Now, if only Hear was available on the iPad.

Sadly Hear no longer applies to Flash in Safari 7.0 and 6.1 (i just use Chrome to watch the Daily Show)
Still, it's a great addition to any Mac!
Apple should buy them and add this to the Mac OS!!

Hear 1.1.6 is not supported in Safari 6.1

I am a classical listener and came upon HEAR while looking for something else. I downloaded the demo and was very impressed, so I bought it the same day. I've been an audiophile for over 50 years and basically believe the "the less signal processing, the better." However, in the world of MP3 and AAC (iTunes) this rule breaks down because you're starting out with a highly processed signal from the get go. I have missed the "sweetness" of tone that vinyl used to have (though I have not missed the surface noise of same). I have a lot of music in iTunes and was "living with" the stridency of string sound that sometimes was there. With HEAR and using the Classical preset, the stridency has been almost eliminated and the sweetness of the vinyl sound has returned. I am running the sound through a NAD amplifier and Paradigm tower speakers. Music simply sounds more musical again. I am more than satisfied with this addition to my iTunes server.

That being said, I wish the documentation (manual) were more complete. For example, under FIDELITY it would be nice to know what the three slide switches do and how they do it. The manual, as it is, is a good start. It just needs to have more information.

Finally, they need to figure out how to get this sound through AppleTV. Music off my MacMini (server) sounds GREAT (as described above), but it now sounds substantially better than my major listening area in my media room. Somehow they need to process the digital signal going out wirelessly to the AppleTV -- OR Apple needs to take some of its cash and buy ProSoft Engineering and incorporate their accomplishment directly into the AppleTV hardware (!!).

Why are people attempting to use Hear as an aid for sound-PROduction and then getting pissed off because it doesn't work worth a damn? Hear is a sound-REproduction tool. It's meannt to be used with music-players ONLY. I use it with every music-player from iTunes and BitPerfect to high-end players like Pure Music and Amarra. If you din't like what you Hear using its presets out of the box, you can modify Hear to your heart's delight and, when they cease to delight, it's no problem to change them or to revert them. I haven't tried to use Hear in conjunction with Audio HJ Pro, but Hear plays well with Digital Power Station, AstoundSound, and iWow. Use Hear as it's supposed to be used, for sound-REproduction, and, though you may not be satisfied enough with it to decide to buy it, at least you won't be criticizing it because you've tried to pound a square peg of REproduction into the round hole of PROduction.

I need an application that allows me to control volume of applications independently. 'Hear' is the only one I can find, so I tried the demo, and was sadly disappointed. This is what I found, and I want somebody to tell me I'm wrong and that this app will do what I need it to!

Notes: I downloaded the demo from the developer's website. I'm on Mac OS 10.7.4, MacBook Pro 15-inch 2012.

Biggest problem: Volume doesn't go louder. The volume slider for the applications (in Hear) is already to the maximum, so I can only make things quieter.

Next: It doesn't pull up volume options for Safari or Screenflow... is there a way to get those to work with it?

Also: It somehow caused iTunes to mute. I didn't select any of the options in Hear, but when I opened Garageband, iTunes went mute. Had to restart. ?

And: When it installed, the music coming from iTunes (through the macbook speakers) sounded horrible. I had to turn everything off. I don't really care about the other features right now, but does anyone have recommendations for Hear settings on the MacBook Pro?

What I need is to be able to a) make Garageband louder, because it's super quiet, and b) make browsers quiet (e.g. for noisy ads). Bonus would being able to make Screenflow louder and Mail quieter.
Can I accomplish these things with Hear?

Thank you, much obliged,
~Myra (Ignolopi)

I love hear that i've buy with mu winter bundle, but there is an incompatibility with fifa 12 for mac that can't start if hear is installed, in fact after i tried to uninstall it everything with fifa is back to work...before the uninstall i tried to disable hear before fifa launch, but it had not effect. I hope that the developer resolve this trouble because i want again hear installed on my mac.

Still doesn't work with Airfoil Speakers... :(

When I bought Hear several months ago, it worked just fine. But over the lasts months, with Apple updates, it started not to work with many applications...


And there's no update from Joesoft for more than one year now! This is not serious. And they still continue to sell it on their website!

It is sad, because it is a beautifully designed products, but it just doesn't work anymore. :( Hopefully, there's some companies that put a real development on their product and take really care of their consumers. Audio Hijack Pro from Rogue Amoeba Software is the alternative and it really works the way you want!

Goodbye Joesoft! It was (almost) a pleasure using (and paying!) your software.

f.

I have paid 50 bucks for an app that does not work any more!
So I will use SRSiWOW - that works - without restarting my Mac every time!