Best Player For Mac Music

Summary :

Flac is an open-source and lossless audio format. And it can be played with most audio players. Here comes a collection of Flac players for different operating systems and the way to add Flac music to video with MiniTool MovieMaker.

How to open Flac files? The following is a list of the top 16 Flac players for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS.

Another best video player for Mac is a real player. It is one of the best known cross-platform video player. It offers many other user-friendly features such as locking videos with a Pin. You can also create fun videos and stories from the videos in your gallery. RealPlayer is known as the best player from the time we were using featured phones. It can stream any type of file from Mac to PC to a phone. If you want to stream Mac to PC to a phone, you would need to install its desktop version on your PC or Mac. Download Tonido. Best FLAC Players for Mac & Windows. 5KPlayer; 5KPlayer is an amazing music player that supports FLAC file formats and is able to play them on your Mac or Windows. Mac Media Player. Developer: Aiseesoft Best free all-in-one media player for Mac users. Enable to play video with resolution up to HD/4K UHD. Support audio formats like FLAC, AAC, MP3, WAV, OGG. Get the tutorial to use free FLAC player on Mac.

Top 16 Flac players you should try

1. KMPlayer
2. Pot Player
3. GOM Player
4. RealPlayer
5. MusicBee
6. VLC Media Player
7. iTunes
8. VOX Player
9. Decibel
10. Winamp
11. AIMP
12. Pi Music Player
13. Poweramp Music Player
14. Flacbox
15. Foobar2000
16. Onkyo HF Player

Part 1. 5 Best Flac Players for Windows

Does Windows Media Player fails to play Flac files? For those who are searching for a Flac player for Windows, 5 best free Flac players are listed below.

#1. KMPlayer

KMPlayer is the best audio player for Windows 10 supporting Flac and other audio files playback. It's capable of normalizing audio and syncing audio. It also has the ability to play movies, 3D videos and external subtitles. Equipped with high quality Video Renderer, this Flac player can play ultra-high quality videos with zero quality loss, such as 4K, 8K, UHD and 60FPS.

Aside from that, it can used to download videos from YouTube, record audio and capture video in GIF format.

#2. Pot Player

Only available for Windows, Pot Player can play Flac files and other audio files. You can load audio files as many as you want and play them in succession. Besides, videos in various formats can also be played with Pot Player including 3D video. It comes with an A-B repeat feature that lets you loop the media file by setting the start and end point.

With the support of Hardware Acceleration, playing large videos especially 4K video is much easier than you imagine.

You may also like: 5 Best Free 4K Video Player for Windows and Mac.

#3. GOM Player

Another best free music player for Windows 10 is GOM Player. It supports playing Flac files and other formats of files. What's more, it offers you the ability to synchronize lyrics with music. And it lets you do text to speech conversion when you need to transcribe text into audio.

This Flac player also offers you a video looper that you can use to repeat Flac music or video continuously. More importantly, damaged and locked files also can be played easily.

Want to download music from Bandcamp? You should read this post: Top 5 Bandcamp Downloaders in 2020 (100% Work).

#4. RealPlayer

RealPlayer is a media player available on Windows. It supports a range of file formats including Flac, MP3, WAV, AAC, AIFF, M4A, etc. With a simple and intuitive interface, you can easy to understand how to use it.

In addition to video and audio playback, it can be used as a video downloader to grab web videos from thousands of streaming websites. Another amazing feature of RealPlayer is that it's capable of identifying famous people in videos.

#5. MusicBee

As its name implies, MusicBee is the best free music player for Windows 10. It can discover, play and manage music files on your computer. It's simple to use, powerful and fast. With it, you can play any Flac files with great audio quality.

MusicBee also comes with a range of customizing options. You can change the skins and install add-on you like. After customizing the skin, MusicBee allows you to share it with others. Moreover, the Sync function lets you sync your music files with the using device.

Part 2. 5 Best Flac Players for Mac

Below are the top 5 Flac players for Mac you can have a try.

#6. VLC Media Player

As the world's best Flac player, VLC has millions of users around the world. It's free and open-source. It can run on all operating systems including Mac, Windows, Android, iOS and Linux.

This Flac player can play not only Flac files but also other audio files and videos. Also, it enables you to stream online videos and download them for free. This Flac player comes with a lot of customizing options. You can create skins and install some extensions like Playback speed manager, VLC Playlist Remember, YTSubDownload and text subtitle loader.

Related article: Top 8 Best Websites to Download Movie Subtitles for Free.

#7. iTunes

There are over 60 million songs available on iTunes that you can enjoy. As a music player, iTunes also supports loading local audio files in Flac, OGG, AAC, MP3, AIFF and Apple Lossless. Except for playing local tracks, you can enjoy your favorite music, movies, TV shows and podcasts.

This Flac player comes with a unique feature that is audio conversion. It supports converting audio files to another format like AAC, MP3 and WAV.

Also read: Top 4 M3U Player to Play M3U Files for Free

#8. VOX Player

VOX Player is a professional music player for Mac. It supports the common audio formats including Flac, MP3, ALAC, APE and M4A. You can enjoy iTunes music, search and browse SoundCloud music feed, and play YouTube music from VOX Player for Mac OS. The built-in radio feature holds over 30,000 Internet Radio Stations which are categorized into 18 genres.

Aside from this, the VOX Cloud lets you store music in the cloud with the original quality. This Flac player is also available for iOS.

How to download SoundCloud songs? This post offers you 4 ways to download songs from SoundCloud. Read this post now to find out the answer!

#9. Decibel Audio Player

Decibel Audio Player is a nice Flac player that has a user-friendly interface. Most popular lossless and lossy audio formats can be played with Decibel, such as Flac, OGG, AAC, MP3, MOD, WAVE, AIFF, DSF, etc. Coming with all features that an audio player should have, you can control the playback as you want and get a great music experience.

#10. Winamp

This powerful Flac player works on Mac, Windows and Android. Supporting a wide range of audio codecs, Winamp is a widely used music player that supports MIDI. Winamp also has a media library that allows you to add all your local music files to. If your Flac music lacks a cover, you are able to add album art and auto-tag the track.

With Winamp, it offers you the ability to customize skins and add plug-ins.

To learn more details about MIDI, see this post: Top 5 Best MIDI Players You Should Try.

Part 3. 3 Best Flac Players for Android

Part 3 introduces 3 best Flac players for those who want to play Flac music on Android devices.

#11. AIMP

AIMP, formally known as Artem Izmaylov Medio Player, is a free audio player for Android and Windows. It can play audio files in various formats like Flac, OGG, WAV, WMA, APE, MOD, MO3, DTS audio, and so on. You can play local Flac files and stream audio from the Internet. At the same, you are allowed to register the playing audio file as ringtone.

#12. Pi Music Player

Pi Music Player can be used as a Flac player. It also enables you to browse millions of YouTube music videos and search for your favorite songs. Moreover, you can play audiobooks and podcasts and control the playback speed.

One of its strengths is it features a Ringtone cutter. Therefore, you can use it to cut your Flac file and set it as a ringtone.

#13. Poweramp Music Player

This Flac player is available for Android and can be directly download from Google Play. It supports most audio formats and provides tempo, reverb, balance and mono mixing effects. Featuring lots of customize options, you can custom skins and visual themes as you like.

Additionally, it supports Google Assistant and Chromecast.

Part 4. 3 Best Flac Players for iOS

For iOS users, here recommend 3 best Flac players.

#14. Flacbox

Flacbox is a Flac player as well as a music downloader. By using it, you can open Flac files from the cloud storage or your iPhone. Many other audio formats are supported by Flacbox as well, such as AAC, M4A, AIFF, OPUS, ALAC, M4R and WAV. As a standard audio player, it has everything you want.

#15. Foobar2000

Compatible with iPhone and iPad, Foobar2000 supports the following audio codecs: Flac, WAV, AIFF, AAC, MP3, Musepack, Vorbis, Opus and MP4. It has a simple interface that makes it easy to navigate and use.

#16. Onkyo HF Player

Onkyo HF Player lets you play Hi-Res music in the original quality on iOS devices with High-precision equalizer. It equipped with lots of features such as crossfade playback, repeat, shuffle, resume playback, playlist creation and many more. It supports playing Flac, ALAC, MP3, WAV, AIFF, DSF, DSD, etc.

Part 5. How to Add Flac Music to Video

Do you want to create a video with Flac music? Let's see how to add Flac music to video with MiniTool MovieMaker.

Step 1. Download and install MiniTool MovieMaker.

Step 2. Double-click on this program to launch it.

Step 3. Close the pop-up window and access the main interface.

Step 4. Then import the target video and Flac file by clicking Import Media Files.

Step 5. Drag and drop the video and the Flac audio to the timeline.

Step 6. Then you can cut the video and mute its original track. And you can fade in and fade out the Flac audio to make it sounds smooth in the video.

Step 7. When you are done, click on Export to open the Export window.

Step 8. In the Export window, you can change the output format, rename the file, choose another destination folder and change the video resolution.

Step 9. In the end, click the Export button to export the music video. After the process is finished, you can locate the music video by clicking the Find Target button from the pop-up window.

Conclusion

Best Music Player For Mac 2018

This post lists 16 best Flac players for computers and mobile devices. Now, choose your favorite Flac player and try it out!

If you have better suggestions or questions about MiniTool MovieMaker, please tell us in the comments area or contact us via [email protected].

Flac Player FAQ

• Download and install a Flac player for Windows like VLC Media Player.
• Then open the VLC Media Player.
• Add the Flac file to this player.

• Find an online Flac to MP3 converter like Zamzar.
• Upload the Flac file and select the MP3 from the output audio format list.
• Start the Flac to MP3 conversion.
• When the conversion is complete, download the MP3 file from the Internet.

Read definitive guide by audio software developer Yuri Korzunov about:
• free and commercial hi res audio player software apps on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS and other [computers, laptops, mobile phones, tablets],
• online for audiophiles,
• Frequently Answered Questions,
• what is the best music player app,
• supported formats (WAV, FLAC, DSD [DSF, DFF, SACD ISO], MQA, m4a, ....) and others.

HD audio file conversion

High-resolution audio player software

Hi res music player software for audiophiles (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, online) for WAV, FLAC, DSD (DSF, DFF, SACD ISO, DoP), MQA, m4a, ....

WARNING: This table can contain errors. It is not an offer or advertising. We are not affiliated with listed products. We guarantee nothing. If you found wrong information, contact us, please. To get exact information, contact with the software developers and/or vendors.
Supported sample rate and bit depth may depend on a file format.

Read more:

What is the best hi-res audio player software

Which high-resolution audio player has the best sound quality is your personal choice rather. Some audio players may playback qualitative audio files without altering (bit-perfect). In general, there is no matter, that player is use for it, but some nuances are there. Below how to make the choice is discussed.

Sound quality

Playback modes

An audio player may works in 2 base modes (depend on the software abilities):

1. bit-perfect (transmitting data from an audio file to DAC without altering);
2. processing mode (resampling, room correction and other).

In bit-perfect mode, the sound quality is defined by DAC and next audio devices.
This mode consumes minimal computing resources and is desirable for non-powerful computers.

Processing mode sound quality depends on the player and/or processing plug-in.
This mode may consume many computing resources (more quality = more resources), and, sometimes, can't work at lower-performance computers. Also, this mode consumes more electrical energy for calculations and cooling, than a bit-perfect one.
When fans work in intensive mode, they cause more noise.

Gapless playback

Some albums (operas, live concerts, etc.) should be played back as a continuous stream.

Some players can begin the next song without DAC re-initialization.
This ability is called as Gapless playback.
It may be applied for as bit-perfect as processed modes (see 'Playback modes').

Also played back audio files may be pre-converted in gapless mode too.
This mode has a sense when audio files are resampled or DSD files are processed.
Gapless conversion has a sense, when the audio player works in gapless mode.

ASIO

ASIO is a kind of audio drivers by audio interface vendors, that provide low latency and use of specific properties of the audio interface. ASIO SDK (programming tools) is provided by Steingberg.

As rule, ASIO driver is provided together with a sound device. Specific functionality management is supported via a special software control panel.

There is universal ASIO-driver ASIO4All. But, as rule, DAC-vendor driver is more recommended.

Latest MacOS versions use their builtin drivers (Core Audio) instead ASIO. So, you no need special drivers to works with a DAC. However, audio device vendors may provide Mac's ASIO drivers for some devices.

Read more:

• How to configure foobar2000 for DSD playback >

WASAPI

WASAPI is builtin Windows drivers to direct access to audio interface without operating system processings. May be used instead of ASIO.

WASAPI may use exclusive access to an audio interface to render sound stream directly to the DAC's audio buffer without mixing of audio streams from several applications. So, no operating system's audio processing is there.

Native DSD

Native DSD is sending DSD audio stream from audio file to DSD DAC without conversion to PCM.

ASIO drivers under Windows may support it. Under the latest MacOS version, DSD audio stream should be packed in DoP format. The packing is lossless. Also, DoP format may be used on Windows.

Read more:

• How to configure foobar2000 for DSD playback >

DSD to PCM

DSD audio stream may not be played on PCM DAC. Before sending the stream to the DAC, this stream should be converted to PCM.

It consumes processing resources. In the general case, better sound quality depends on amount of computing resources.

Some computers may have a lack of computing power to realtime DSD to PCM conversion. It may be solved via offline DSD to PCM conversion. Also, it saves free space at hard disk (HDD) of an audio player (allow more songs on the disk). It may be very useful for portable/mobile devices.

Read more:

Functionality

One of the widespread demands to players are:

• album artwork displaying;
• text metadata displaying;
• search in song database;
• web radio/streaming playback.

Audio player software F.A.Q.

Can Windows Media Player play high-resolution audio?

Yes. Windows Media player is capable to play high resolution audio files. If your file iss not played back, you can try other players...

Do audio players have different sound quality?

It depends on the mode of playback. In bit-perfect mode, a music player app just transports audio data from a sound file to DAC without audio processing.

When audio player software process audio data (resample, alter bit depth, apply dithering, EQ, etc.), it causes different distortion levels. If consider psychoacoustics, distortions may have a different character, which also impacts the final perception of the distortions. Also, the interaction of the distortions with a playback system (DAC, amplifier, speakers) is matter.

EXAMPLE

Some apparatus can cause the audible level of intermodulation distortions, that generated by ultrasound components.

Practically it can cause audible noise.

You can:

• try low sample rate 44.1 kHz, or
• apply ultrasound cut in hi-res audio file.

General recommendation:

• Do a sound check of different players in various modes and audio resolutions on your music equipment. Read details...

Does hi-res audio sound better? Is hi-res audio better than CD?

Hi res audio allowing solve some issues of analog filters of ADC or DAC. But actual result is matter of implementation of an audio equipment and software. Read definitive guide...

Read more:

What is the best music player for Windows 10?

As rule, it's personal choise.

• Read common rules how to choose the best audio player...
• Try and choose own player...

Where can I buy high resolution music?

See list of sites with high-resolution audio...

Does memory playback improve audio quality?

Memory playback doesn't improve 'transparency'. But the mode can get rid of pauses if file played from slow/overload network or album player in gapless mode.

Do gapless playback is helpful?

If an audio player re-initialize DAC, it can cause quiet clicks.

When files played back without re-initializing, there is no kind of clicks.

Do computer digital hardware interface (HDMI, USB, SPDIF, etc.), its cables impact sound quality?

Digital audio interfaces don't impact sound quality, which may be defined as 'sound transparency'.

Also, digital interfaces have sample rate and bit depth limitations.

Operating system built-in driver can additionally process sound and impact to sound quality.

But pauses, clicks, serial interruptions are possible when an audio interface doesn't work properly (poor cables, grounding, shielding; hardware issues, etc.).

General recommendations:

• Buy thick cables in the mid or higher price range. It is fairly for longer cables especially.
• Ferrite rings/barrels can give some advantages. But it's recommended, that measurement tools are used.

Read more:

Do analog audio cables impact to sound quality?

Analog inter-module cables (linear inputs and outputs) can impact the noise floor, crosstalk and frequency response.

General recommendation:

There are over 60 million songs available on iTunes that you can enjoy. As a music player, iTunes also supports loading local audio files in Flac, OGG, AAC, MP3, AIFF and Apple Lossless. Except for playing local tracks, you can enjoy your favorite music, movies, TV shows and podcasts.

This Flac player comes with a unique feature that is audio conversion. It supports converting audio files to another format like AAC, MP3 and WAV.

Also read: Top 4 M3U Player to Play M3U Files for Free

#8. VOX Player

VOX Player is a professional music player for Mac. It supports the common audio formats including Flac, MP3, ALAC, APE and M4A. You can enjoy iTunes music, search and browse SoundCloud music feed, and play YouTube music from VOX Player for Mac OS. The built-in radio feature holds over 30,000 Internet Radio Stations which are categorized into 18 genres.

Aside from this, the VOX Cloud lets you store music in the cloud with the original quality. This Flac player is also available for iOS.

How to download SoundCloud songs? This post offers you 4 ways to download songs from SoundCloud. Read this post now to find out the answer!

#9. Decibel Audio Player

Decibel Audio Player is a nice Flac player that has a user-friendly interface. Most popular lossless and lossy audio formats can be played with Decibel, such as Flac, OGG, AAC, MP3, MOD, WAVE, AIFF, DSF, etc. Coming with all features that an audio player should have, you can control the playback as you want and get a great music experience.

#10. Winamp

This powerful Flac player works on Mac, Windows and Android. Supporting a wide range of audio codecs, Winamp is a widely used music player that supports MIDI. Winamp also has a media library that allows you to add all your local music files to. If your Flac music lacks a cover, you are able to add album art and auto-tag the track.

With Winamp, it offers you the ability to customize skins and add plug-ins.

To learn more details about MIDI, see this post: Top 5 Best MIDI Players You Should Try.

Part 3. 3 Best Flac Players for Android

Part 3 introduces 3 best Flac players for those who want to play Flac music on Android devices.

#11. AIMP

AIMP, formally known as Artem Izmaylov Medio Player, is a free audio player for Android and Windows. It can play audio files in various formats like Flac, OGG, WAV, WMA, APE, MOD, MO3, DTS audio, and so on. You can play local Flac files and stream audio from the Internet. At the same, you are allowed to register the playing audio file as ringtone.

#12. Pi Music Player

Pi Music Player can be used as a Flac player. It also enables you to browse millions of YouTube music videos and search for your favorite songs. Moreover, you can play audiobooks and podcasts and control the playback speed.

One of its strengths is it features a Ringtone cutter. Therefore, you can use it to cut your Flac file and set it as a ringtone.

#13. Poweramp Music Player

This Flac player is available for Android and can be directly download from Google Play. It supports most audio formats and provides tempo, reverb, balance and mono mixing effects. Featuring lots of customize options, you can custom skins and visual themes as you like.

Additionally, it supports Google Assistant and Chromecast.

Part 4. 3 Best Flac Players for iOS

For iOS users, here recommend 3 best Flac players.

#14. Flacbox

Flacbox is a Flac player as well as a music downloader. By using it, you can open Flac files from the cloud storage or your iPhone. Many other audio formats are supported by Flacbox as well, such as AAC, M4A, AIFF, OPUS, ALAC, M4R and WAV. As a standard audio player, it has everything you want.

#15. Foobar2000

Compatible with iPhone and iPad, Foobar2000 supports the following audio codecs: Flac, WAV, AIFF, AAC, MP3, Musepack, Vorbis, Opus and MP4. It has a simple interface that makes it easy to navigate and use.

#16. Onkyo HF Player

Onkyo HF Player lets you play Hi-Res music in the original quality on iOS devices with High-precision equalizer. It equipped with lots of features such as crossfade playback, repeat, shuffle, resume playback, playlist creation and many more. It supports playing Flac, ALAC, MP3, WAV, AIFF, DSF, DSD, etc.

Part 5. How to Add Flac Music to Video

Do you want to create a video with Flac music? Let's see how to add Flac music to video with MiniTool MovieMaker.

Step 1. Download and install MiniTool MovieMaker.

Step 2. Double-click on this program to launch it.

Step 3. Close the pop-up window and access the main interface.

Step 4. Then import the target video and Flac file by clicking Import Media Files.

Step 5. Drag and drop the video and the Flac audio to the timeline.

Step 6. Then you can cut the video and mute its original track. And you can fade in and fade out the Flac audio to make it sounds smooth in the video.

Step 7. When you are done, click on Export to open the Export window.

Step 8. In the Export window, you can change the output format, rename the file, choose another destination folder and change the video resolution.

Step 9. In the end, click the Export button to export the music video. After the process is finished, you can locate the music video by clicking the Find Target button from the pop-up window.

Conclusion

Best Music Player For Mac 2018

This post lists 16 best Flac players for computers and mobile devices. Now, choose your favorite Flac player and try it out!

If you have better suggestions or questions about MiniTool MovieMaker, please tell us in the comments area or contact us via [email protected].

Flac Player FAQ

• Download and install a Flac player for Windows like VLC Media Player.
• Then open the VLC Media Player.
• Add the Flac file to this player.

• Find an online Flac to MP3 converter like Zamzar.
• Upload the Flac file and select the MP3 from the output audio format list.
• Start the Flac to MP3 conversion.
• When the conversion is complete, download the MP3 file from the Internet.

Read definitive guide by audio software developer Yuri Korzunov about:
• free and commercial hi res audio player software apps on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS and other [computers, laptops, mobile phones, tablets],
• online for audiophiles,
• Frequently Answered Questions,
• what is the best music player app,
• supported formats (WAV, FLAC, DSD [DSF, DFF, SACD ISO], MQA, m4a, ....) and others.

HD audio file conversion

High-resolution audio player software

Hi res music player software for audiophiles (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, online) for WAV, FLAC, DSD (DSF, DFF, SACD ISO, DoP), MQA, m4a, ....

WARNING: This table can contain errors. It is not an offer or advertising. We are not affiliated with listed products. We guarantee nothing. If you found wrong information, contact us, please. To get exact information, contact with the software developers and/or vendors.
Supported sample rate and bit depth may depend on a file format.

Read more:

What is the best hi-res audio player software

Which high-resolution audio player has the best sound quality is your personal choice rather. Some audio players may playback qualitative audio files without altering (bit-perfect). In general, there is no matter, that player is use for it, but some nuances are there. Below how to make the choice is discussed.

Sound quality

Playback modes

An audio player may works in 2 base modes (depend on the software abilities):

1. bit-perfect (transmitting data from an audio file to DAC without altering);
2. processing mode (resampling, room correction and other).

In bit-perfect mode, the sound quality is defined by DAC and next audio devices.
This mode consumes minimal computing resources and is desirable for non-powerful computers.

Processing mode sound quality depends on the player and/or processing plug-in.
This mode may consume many computing resources (more quality = more resources), and, sometimes, can't work at lower-performance computers. Also, this mode consumes more electrical energy for calculations and cooling, than a bit-perfect one.
When fans work in intensive mode, they cause more noise.

Gapless playback

Some albums (operas, live concerts, etc.) should be played back as a continuous stream.

Some players can begin the next song without DAC re-initialization.
This ability is called as Gapless playback.
It may be applied for as bit-perfect as processed modes (see 'Playback modes').

Also played back audio files may be pre-converted in gapless mode too.
This mode has a sense when audio files are resampled or DSD files are processed.
Gapless conversion has a sense, when the audio player works in gapless mode.

ASIO

ASIO is a kind of audio drivers by audio interface vendors, that provide low latency and use of specific properties of the audio interface. ASIO SDK (programming tools) is provided by Steingberg.

As rule, ASIO driver is provided together with a sound device. Specific functionality management is supported via a special software control panel.

There is universal ASIO-driver ASIO4All. But, as rule, DAC-vendor driver is more recommended.

Latest MacOS versions use their builtin drivers (Core Audio) instead ASIO. So, you no need special drivers to works with a DAC. However, audio device vendors may provide Mac's ASIO drivers for some devices.

Read more:

• How to configure foobar2000 for DSD playback >

WASAPI

WASAPI is builtin Windows drivers to direct access to audio interface without operating system processings. May be used instead of ASIO.

WASAPI may use exclusive access to an audio interface to render sound stream directly to the DAC's audio buffer without mixing of audio streams from several applications. So, no operating system's audio processing is there.

Native DSD

Native DSD is sending DSD audio stream from audio file to DSD DAC without conversion to PCM.

ASIO drivers under Windows may support it. Under the latest MacOS version, DSD audio stream should be packed in DoP format. The packing is lossless. Also, DoP format may be used on Windows.

Read more:

• How to configure foobar2000 for DSD playback >

DSD to PCM

DSD audio stream may not be played on PCM DAC. Before sending the stream to the DAC, this stream should be converted to PCM.

It consumes processing resources. In the general case, better sound quality depends on amount of computing resources.

Some computers may have a lack of computing power to realtime DSD to PCM conversion. It may be solved via offline DSD to PCM conversion. Also, it saves free space at hard disk (HDD) of an audio player (allow more songs on the disk). It may be very useful for portable/mobile devices.

Read more:

Functionality

One of the widespread demands to players are:

• album artwork displaying;
• text metadata displaying;
• search in song database;
• web radio/streaming playback.

Audio player software F.A.Q.

Can Windows Media Player play high-resolution audio?

Yes. Windows Media player is capable to play high resolution audio files. If your file iss not played back, you can try other players...

Do audio players have different sound quality?

It depends on the mode of playback. In bit-perfect mode, a music player app just transports audio data from a sound file to DAC without audio processing.

When audio player software process audio data (resample, alter bit depth, apply dithering, EQ, etc.), it causes different distortion levels. If consider psychoacoustics, distortions may have a different character, which also impacts the final perception of the distortions. Also, the interaction of the distortions with a playback system (DAC, amplifier, speakers) is matter.

EXAMPLE

Some apparatus can cause the audible level of intermodulation distortions, that generated by ultrasound components.

Practically it can cause audible noise.

You can:

• try low sample rate 44.1 kHz, or
• apply ultrasound cut in hi-res audio file.

General recommendation:

• Do a sound check of different players in various modes and audio resolutions on your music equipment. Read details...

Does hi-res audio sound better? Is hi-res audio better than CD?

Hi res audio allowing solve some issues of analog filters of ADC or DAC. But actual result is matter of implementation of an audio equipment and software. Read definitive guide...

Read more:

What is the best music player for Windows 10?

As rule, it's personal choise.

• Read common rules how to choose the best audio player...
• Try and choose own player...

Where can I buy high resolution music?

See list of sites with high-resolution audio...

Does memory playback improve audio quality?

Memory playback doesn't improve 'transparency'. But the mode can get rid of pauses if file played from slow/overload network or album player in gapless mode.

Do gapless playback is helpful?

If an audio player re-initialize DAC, it can cause quiet clicks.

When files played back without re-initializing, there is no kind of clicks.

Do computer digital hardware interface (HDMI, USB, SPDIF, etc.), its cables impact sound quality?

Digital audio interfaces don't impact sound quality, which may be defined as 'sound transparency'.

Also, digital interfaces have sample rate and bit depth limitations.

Operating system built-in driver can additionally process sound and impact to sound quality.

But pauses, clicks, serial interruptions are possible when an audio interface doesn't work properly (poor cables, grounding, shielding; hardware issues, etc.).

General recommendations:

• Buy thick cables in the mid or higher price range. It is fairly for longer cables especially.
• Ferrite rings/barrels can give some advantages. But it's recommended, that measurement tools are used.

Read more:

Do analog audio cables impact to sound quality?

Analog inter-module cables (linear inputs and outputs) can impact the noise floor, crosstalk and frequency response.

General recommendation:

Best Music Player For Mac

• If you hear the hum at 50 Hz or multiple frequencies (power high voltage network), try to use other analog cables or use digital inter-module connection instead.

Is jitter a real issue for audio playback?

DAC clock source can impact to analog output jitter of a digital-to-analog converter . But all other factors, including memory playback, cables and interfaces - no. Read details...

General recommendations:

• Don't bother about jitter, when DAC is clocked by its internal source.
• Don't use synchronization by SPDIF digital audio input.

What is the best audio format for sound quality?

To achieve maximal sound quality, lossless audio file formats are recommended: FLAC, WAV, AIFF, DSF, DFF, SACD ISO. Read details...

What is 24 bit / 192 kHz audio?

It is resolution audio with sample rate 192 kHz and bit depth 24 bit in PCM format (modulation). Read details...

Is WAV better than FLAC?

In audio resolution 384 kHz/32 bit and lesser, there is no difference between FLAC and WAV by the sound quality. Watch video...

If you need a higher resolution, WAV can provide it. When file size is more 4 GB, WAV RF64 format may be applied.

Read details about:

• WAV;
• FLAC.

Is DSD better than FLAC?

Both DSD and FLAC are high-resolution formats, that try solve issues of 44.1 kHz / 16 bit. But, actual result depend on implemengtation of your audio system. Read details...

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Is MQA better than FLAC?

MQA is high qualitative lossy format, as the author know. FLAC is lossless format, providing output sound quality absolutely identical source. MQA provides better file-size comression ratio. Read details...

Can VLC play hi-res audio?

Yes, VLC can play hi-res audio. However, as the author know, VLC don't support DSD formats.

October 10, 2020 updated | since December 7, 2018