Listen
Twenty seconds of music, four ways. Press play, then switch between the music as your app plays it and the same music through Parlour on a mint, a played or a thrashed record. Each switch lands on the same note, and every version is at the same loudness.
Straight from the app
Through Parlour
Frédéric Chopin, Waltz in A flat major, Op. 69 No. 1, played by Luke Faulkner. Recording from Musopen via the Internet Archive, Public Domain Mark 1.0. Through Parlour: the Mint, Played and Thrashed records, each with its own wow. What Parlour does to the sound.
What it does
Parlour takes the sound of the Spotify or Music app on your Mac and plays it as a record. The needle drops into the lead-in groove before the music starts. The surface crackles softly under the quiet parts. The arm lifts between songs and swings back to start the next one. And each album is its own record, with its own label colours and its own scratches, the same ones every time you come back to it.
Parlour processes the music itself. The sound of your music app goes through Parlour on its way to your speakers, where it gets a record's warmth and surface, and the needle, the gaps between songs and the side break follow what the app is doing. The noise, the thumps and the needle's landing were measured from transfers of real records, so a mint pressing, a played one and a worn one each sound like what they are. It is not a layer of crackle played over your music, and it is not a box of effects with knobs: it is a record player, and your music app keeps doing the playing.
Two permissions, and why
The first time you press Start, macOS asks for two permissions. Parlour cannot work without either.
- System Audio Recording
- To take the music app's sound and play it as a record. In the app's words:
“Parlour captures audio from your music app so it can add vinyl character to playback.”
Parlour records nothing to disk: the sound goes straight through and out of your speakers. - Automation, for Spotify or Music
- To pause and resume the music app, so the needle drop and the gaps between songs line up with the music:
“Parlour pauses and resumes your music app while the needle drops and lifts, so no music is skipped or delayed.”
The Now Playing source needs no Automation: it pauses and resumes through Now Playing itself.
Privacy
No account, no analytics, no tracking. Parlour never records or uploads your music and never sends your listening history anywhere. What does leave your Mac: a request for an album cover, to colour the label (from Spotify, or through Apple's iTunes Search when the app gives none), and a daily check for updates with this site, whose downloads come from GitHub. Privacy in full.
Features
- The deck. A record player you can see: the record turning with its label, the tonearm, the cue lever, and keys and knobs for everything.
- The menu bar. Start and stop, lift and drop the needle, and switch the source or the record's condition without opening the player. Show Parlour in the Dock, the menu bar, or both.
- The cue lever and a key for it. Lift the needle and drop it back where you were, from the deck, the menu, or a keyboard shortcut of your choosing that works in any app.
- Now Playing. Pick Now Playing as the source and Parlour follows whatever app your Mac shows in the menu bar's Now Playing: YouTube, YouTube Music, SoundCloud or Bandcamp in Chrome, Safari or Firefox, VLC and other players, with the app's name shown. A browser's tabs share one sound, so pause any other tab that is playing. It relies on a part of macOS that Apple does not document; a future macOS update could switch it off, and Spotify and Apple Music would still work.
- Start by pressing play. Optionally, Parlour starts itself when your music app starts playing.
- The side break. Optionally, after about twenty minutes of an album played in order, the record is turned over.
- Record condition and wow. From a mint pressing to a well-worn one, and as much or as little of a turntable's gentle wow as you like.
- Accessibility. VoiceOver reads every control; the whole player works from the keyboard; it follows Reduce Motion and Increase Contrast; and it can be shown at 150% or 200%.
Questions
Can a Mac make Spotify sound like vinyl?
Yes. Parlour takes Spotify's sound on your Mac and plays it as a record, with the needle drop, the surface noise and the gentle wow of a turntable, all measured from real records. It works with the Spotify desktop app; nothing changes in Spotify itself.
Does it work with Apple Music?
Yes, with the Music app on your Mac, both your own library and Apple Music streaming. (Streaming has been tested on the Mac's own Music app; if something does not work for you, write.)
What about YouTube, SoundCloud, Bandcamp or VLC?
Pick Now Playing as the source and Parlour follows whatever your Mac shows in the menu bar's Now Playing, with the app's name shown. It relies on a part of macOS that Apple does not document, so a future macOS update could switch it off; Spotify and Apple Music would still work.
Is it free?
Yes. No account, no trial, no subscription, no ads. If Parlour has made your music better, you can support it on GitHub Sponsors.
Does it record or upload my music?
No. The sound goes straight through Parlour and out of your speakers; nothing is written to disk and nothing is uploaded. The only web requests are an album cover to pick the label's colours, a search for one when the app gives none, and a daily check for updates, which download from GitHub.
Why does it ask for two permissions?
System Audio Recording, so macOS lets Parlour take the music app's sound, and Automation, so it can pause and resume Spotify or Music while the needle lifts and drops. The Now Playing source needs only the first.
Does it work on an Intel Mac?
It has not been tested on one. Parlour needs macOS 26.1 or later; the page says Apple silicon because that is what it has been run on.
Does it work with AirPlay speakers or a Sonos?
Choose the speaker as your Mac's sound output, in Control Center under Sound, and Parlour plays through it; it has been tested on an Apple TV. AirPlay adds a delay of its own, often around two seconds, so the record on screen runs a little ahead of what you hear. If Spotify plays on a speaker through Spotify Connect, the sound never passes through your Mac, and Parlour says so.
Is there an iPhone or Android version?
No. On a phone, one app cannot take another app's sound, so a phone version could only play crackle over your music, which is not what Parlour is.
How is this different from a vinyl crackle app?
A crackle app plays noise on top of your music. Parlour processes the music itself, and its needle, gaps and side break follow your music app, so it behaves like a record player rather than sounding like a noise track.
How do I uninstall it?
Quit Parlour (menu bar menu, Quit Parlour) and drag it from Applications to the Trash. To remove what it kept as well, delete the folders ~/Library/Application Support/Parlour and ~/Library/Logs/Parlour and the file ~/Library/Preferences/com.parlourhifi.mac.plist (in Finder, Go > Go to Folder).
What’s new
Parlour 0.7.5. The needle lands when you see it land. All release notes