The short version
Both of these get called "audio routing" apps, and that is about where the similarity ends. Chorus works with the outputs and inputs your Mac already has, physical speakers, headphones, displays and microphones, and groups them so several play as one. Loopback works with apps instead: it builds virtual audio devices that carry sound from one app into another. Almost nobody needs both, because they are built to solve different problems.
Chorus vs Loopback at a glance
| Chorus | Loopback | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 once | $99 once |
| What it is for | Grouping and routing your physical outputs | Building virtual devices to route audio between apps |
| Output groups (physical speakers) | Yes | No |
| Per-app control | Yes | No |
| Virtual audio devices / app-to-app routing | No | Yes |
| Equaliser | No | No |
| Made by | Theodore HQ | Rogue Amoeba |
What Chorus is
Chorus is a native macOS menu-bar app for the devices already attached to your Mac. It groups outputs so several of them play as one, with a single volume that actually moves the sound, and balance between the devices in the group so a quiet speaker can be brought up to meet a loud one.
Around that sits the rest of the job. You choose your input in the same panel. You send individual apps to different outputs, so a call can stay on your headphones while music plays across the room. You save the arrangements you use and switch between them with a keyboard shortcut, and your volume keys drive a whole group instead of one device. Chorus notices devices as they connect and disconnect and adjusts, which matters if you unplug a display at the end of the day. If you want to drive it from elsewhere, it automates through Raycast, Shortcuts or Stream Deck.
There is no driver and no kernel extension. Chorus uses the audio grouping macOS already has, so nothing is installed into the system and dragging the app to the Trash leaves your Mac as it was. It is $4.99 once, free for 30 days with no account and no card details, and one licence covers up to three Macs. It needs macOS 13 or later and runs on both Intel and Apple Silicon.
What Loopback is
Loopback, from Rogue Amoeba (the company behind SoundSource, Audio Hijack and Airfoil), creates virtual audio devices on your Mac. A virtual device is not a physical speaker. It is a channel that other apps can send audio into or pull audio out of, and Loopback lets you build one from any combination of apps, your microphone, and other virtual devices.
That makes it the tool behind streaming and podcasting setups: sending game audio and a microphone into OBS as one mixed input, feeding a voice-changer pipeline, or routing a call into a recording app. It is most often paired with Rogue Amoeba's own Audio Hijack for the actual capture and recording side. Loopback has no equaliser, no effects, and no menu-bar panel for switching between physical speakers, since that is not the job it is built to do.
It costs $99 once, and a free trial is available. In trial mode, static noise is overlaid on your audio after 20 minutes of use, which resets each time you turn the virtual device off and on. Prices checked August 2026.
Every feature free for 30 days. No account, no card details.
Download for MacWhere Chorus wins
- The job of playing sound out of real speakers. Two Studio Displays, a desk speaker and a soundbar, grouped to play as one with a single volume. Loopback has no answer to this at all.
- The price, for this particular job. $4.99 against $99 is a twentieth, and if grouping your own outputs is all you need, you are not paying for a routing engine you will never touch.
- It is small and it stays out of the way. One menu-bar panel covering outputs, inputs and per-app routing, with nothing else to learn.
- Setups on a keyboard shortcut. Save the arrangements you actually use, then switch between them with a shortcut, or from Raycast, Shortcuts or Stream Deck.
- It follows your desk. Devices are picked up as they connect and dropped as they go, so a group survives the daily unplugging.
- Nothing installed into the system. No driver, no kernel extension, and no trace left behind when it goes. Three Macs on one licence, and 30 days free before you decide.
Where Loopback is the better buy
- Virtual audio devices. Piping one app's sound into another, or combining several apps and a microphone into one input, is a job Chorus cannot do at all.
- Streaming and podcasting rigs. If the goal is sending game audio and a mic into OBS or Discord as a single mixed feed, Loopback is built for exactly that.
- It pairs with Audio Hijack. For a full capture-and-record pipeline, Loopback's virtual devices are the routing layer underneath Rogue Amoeba's own recording app.
- An established reputation. Rogue Amoeba also makes SoundSource and Airfoil, so Loopback comes from a developer with a long track record in Mac audio.
- You are not buying the wrong tool for the job. If your problem is genuinely app-to-app, not speaker-to-speaker, Loopback is worth the $99.
So which should you pick?
Pick Chorus if the problem is practical and physical: two speakers that should sound like one, a mic you keep having to reselect, a call that belongs on headphones while everything else plays out loud, and a setup you would like to change with one keystroke. That is the whole job, it is $4.99, and you can try it for a month before paying anything.
Pick Loopback if the problem is getting audio out of an app and into another one: a streaming setup, a podcast recording chain, or a voice pipeline that needs a virtual device in the middle. Chorus will not do this job, and no amount of configuration changes that.
If you are still not sure which camp you are in, ask where the audio needs to end up. Out to speakers you can point at is Chorus. Into another piece of software is Loopback.
For the full detail on its app-to-app virtual routing, see Loopback's own product page.
Frequently asked questions
Can Chorus replace Loopback?
No, they do different jobs. Chorus groups your Mac's own outputs and mics so several speakers play as one, with per-app routing between the outputs you already own. Loopback builds virtual audio devices that pipe audio into other apps, which is a different task built for streaming and podcasting setups. If you need audio to flow into an app rather than out to your speakers, you need Loopback, not Chorus.
What is Loopback actually for?
Loopback, from Rogue Amoeba, creates virtual audio devices that combine or redirect audio between apps. It is built for people who need one app's audio inside another, such as sending game audio and a microphone into OBS or a Discord call as a single mixed input. It is most often used alongside Rogue Amoeba's own Audio Hijack for capture and recording.
Does Chorus create virtual audio devices?
No. Chorus works with the outputs and inputs your Mac already has, physical speakers, headphones, displays and microphones, and groups them so several play as one. It has no equaliser and does not route audio between apps, which is the job Loopback does instead.
I am building a podcast or streaming setup. Which one do I need?
Loopback. A streaming or podcasting rig needs audio piped from several apps into one recording or broadcasting app, and that is exactly what Loopback's virtual devices are for. Chorus is built for the opposite direction, sending your Mac's own sound out to the right physical speakers, so it will not do this job.
What does Chorus cost, and how many Macs does a licence cover?
Chorus is $4.99 once, with a 30-day free trial that needs no account and no card details. One licence covers up to three Macs, and it runs on macOS 13 or later on both Intel and Apple Silicon.
