Nearfield is a native, open-source Mac app that combines the speakers in two Apple Studio Displays into one volume-controllable stereo output. Swap left and right, adjust balance, and use app and window based audio routing. Requires Apple silicon, two Studio Displays, and macOS 14+.
Hi Product Hunt,
I built Nearfield because I have two Studio Displays and wanted their speakers to work as a proper stereo pair without giving up the Mac’s volume keys.
Nearfield creates one normal stereo output and adds left/right swapping, balance, and app based audio routing. It is open source under the MIT license. You can build it yourself for free, or get the ready-to-install version is $14.99.
I’d especially appreciate feedback from people with two Studio Displays. Does the setup feel clear, and what would you want it to do next?
genuinely delightful use of hardware nobody else bothered to combine. I've got an M4 Pro mini with a single display so I can't test this myself, but I'm curious about the failure case: if one of the two displays goes to sleep or gets unplugged mid-playback, does macOS just lose that channel and you're stuck with mono out of one speaker, or does Nearfield detect it and fail over cleanly to a single-display stereo/mono mix without you having to go dig through sound settings?
Congratulations on the launch, I don't have two studio displays to provide feedback with I'm afraid. I did want to say I found this idea very novel when I saw it. I'm surprised Apple doesn't support this. 😀
Hope you hear back from someone who can test. Congratulations again!
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genuinely delightful use of hardware nobody else bothered to combine. I've got an M4 Pro mini with a single display so I can't test this myself, but I'm curious about the failure case: if one of the two displays goes to sleep or gets unplugged mid-playback, does macOS just lose that channel and you're stuck with mono out of one speaker, or does Nearfield detect it and fail over cleanly to a single-display stereo/mono mix without you having to go dig through sound settings?
Hey @vince_pataky ,
Congratulations on the launch, I don't have two studio displays to provide feedback with I'm afraid. I did want to say I found this idea very novel when I saw it. I'm surprised Apple doesn't support this. 😀
Hope you hear back from someone who can test. Congratulations again!