The usual advice for testing a room is to buy a measurement microphone and learn a measuring app. That works, but you don't need it to find the one thing that matters most in a small room: the bass note that booms.
What you're listening for
Rooms make a few bass notes much louder where you sit. Play a slow sweep from low to high bass and those notes jump out. Everything else stays steady.
Test by ear
- Sit where you normally listen.
- Set your monitors to a quiet, comfortable level. You don't need it loud.
- Play a slow bass sweep. The free Room Bass Test does this in your browser.
- Listen for the moment the sound swells. Note where it happens.
- Play the sweep again to check. The boom should land in the same spot.
The Frequency to Note tool tells you which musical note that is, so you know which bass notes in your music it affects.
Try it from a few spots
Move your chair forward or back a little and play the sweep again. The boom may move or get weaker. That tells you where the best seat is. The Monitor Placement tool can suggest a starting point.
What your ears can't tell you
Your ears are good at hearing which note booms. They're not good at judging how much. That's fine for finding the problem, less so for fixing it.
Let your Mac listen
Unboom does the whole test for you. It plays a quiet sweep that fades in and out, listens with your Mac's microphone, and picks the note and how much to turn it down. No microphone? Press "That's the boom" when you hear it, then fine-tune by dragging, without typing any numbers.
Then it turns just that note down in your music and video apps. It never boosts, and one switch lets you compare.
FAQ
Is my Mac's built-in microphone good enough?
For finding which bass note booms, yes. Unboom listens from where you sit, and you can always confirm by ear.
How loud should the test be?
Quiet. A normal listening level is plenty, and it's easier on your ears and your neighbors.
Does the test work with headphones?
No. Headphones skip the room, so there's no boom to find.