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Best Hi Resolution Software for Mac

Bigerik

Bigerik

AK Subscriber
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I'm trying to find a good software for playing hi Rez files from my computer. I really, really wish iTunes handled this natively, but I am SOL on that front.

I've been playing with Fidelia all morning, but it is buggy as hell. Doesn't seem to support anything over 96K either. If my software was this bad, I sure as heck wouldn't give a 15 day trial....

VLC plays Flacs, but doesn't seem to want to support anything over redbook.

So what is a good, reliable, good sounding HiRez, Flac player for a Mac?
 
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It's called a Windows installation under BootCamp (Fire Resistant Suit on). A Mac since Intel makes a superb PC as well for most non gaming uses). I would also love to see a great, reliable, high resolution Flac and other format friendly music player software app for OSX machines as I love them.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/539740/mac-os-x-music-players-alternatives-to-itunes

Here's a list from the above link:

Amarra by Sonic Studio
http://www.sonicstudio.com/amarra/

Commercial, demo available for download.

Comes in three flavours: Amarra, Amarra Mini and Amarra Junior with varying features and prices. The player integrates with iTunes, or can be used stand-alone importing tracks into a playlist with one click from the Finder or iTunes. For people with a lot of RAM in their computer, it can be used in cache mode where the files are loaded into memory before playback. Includes iZotope resampling software. However, the licence either requires an iLok USB key or the software is locked to a single computer which can't be transferred.

audirvana
http://code.google.com/p/audirvana/

Free, Open Source

The first player to offer a window that looks like a piece of hi-fi gear, it offers device "hog mode" and up-sampling by default. The feature list is otherwise fairly basic at present.

BitPerfect
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bitperfect/id455545700?ls=1&mt=12

Commercial

Integrating with iTunes, this software sits in your menu bar and feeds music via Integer Mode to your DAC. Great if you want a simple and cheap solution while still using iTunes.

Clementine Player
http://code.google.com/p/clementine-player/

Free (Open Source based on Amarok 1.4)

This multi-platform player is more of a music organiser than anything, with features geared in that direction (such as having LastFM support), rather than having any audiophile settings. Thankfully, unlike other multi-platform applications, it isn't Java based (using Qt instead), so the user interface is fast.

Decibel by Steven F Booth
http://sbooth.org/Decibel/

Commercial.

The developer of Play produced a basic, high-quality music player known as AyreWave in conjunction with Ayre. This has now dropped any association with them and has been renamed Decibel. The software itself, while basic, allows one-click importing from files selected in the Finder or iTunes, "hog mode".

Ecoute by PixiApps
http://www.pixiapps.com/ecoute/

Comercial

With iTunes integration, including song rating and metadata support, this is the player for people who want a slick, theme-able one-window interface and want to share your listening habits on Twitter, Facebook or LastFM. It also supports the Apple remote control.

Fidelia by Audiophile Engineering
http://audiofile-engineering.com/fidelia/

Commercial.

With a main window that looks like a piece of high-end hi-fi gear, but far more classy than that of audirvana, it has the ability to play music directly from iTunes playlists without needing to have iTunes running. Also included are a selection of on-the-fly resampling methods, including iZotope and remote control software for the iPhone and iPod Touch available in the App Store.

Play by Steven F Booth
http://sbooth.org/Play

Free.

Until recently, almost the only alternative to iTunes if you wanted a simple music player and nothing else. Allows access to the built-in Mac OS X audio effects filters, which can be very handy if you want a 31-band equaliser, high-pass filter or the like. Since all this is incorporated into Decibel it is probably more worth it to download that instead.

Pure Music by Channel D
http://www.channld.com/puremusic/index.html

Commercial, demo available for download.

Based upon Pure Vinyl and using its own playback engine, like Amarra, integrates with iTunes, running in a window alongside and can re-sample music on the fly. Unlike Amarra, it requires iTunes to be running to select tracks, but offers a considerable slew of other options.

Songbird
http://www.getsongbird.com/

Free.

More a multi-platform internet connected media library project by previous Firefox, Netscape and Winamp developers, it might be easier to consider Songbird to music what Thunderbird is to email, yet a lot more, with online integration.

Vox by Alessio Nonni
http://www.voxapp.didgeroo.com

Free (donations requested).

Much the same as Play, a slowly developed app that does little more than just play music with a minimal footprint. Like Play, it gives access to in-built Mac OS X audio effects filters.
 
I'm waiting for my dac to arrive so the mac waits for now. I set up an older dell laptop to run jriver (windows), so far so good. I have it scanning my nas to get the flac files, then the server software streams it to my Onkyo with dlna running through the "net" feature. The only real issue I've had was duplicate files showing up. I had to remove my iTunes library on the same nas, for some reason those files show up even though the folder that I pointed the server to is different. The jriver interface shows the bit depth and sample rate of the files so I can only assume that they are playing "bit perfect" (The dac on the Onkyo supports 24/96). I've ripped a bunch of CDs and they sound very good with this setup. I know they're not high Rez but the convenience of streaming is nice.
 
I use the above mentioned Decibel in hog mode. Fantastic sound. Easy and no-frills. I've had no problem with any resolution.
 
JohnVF said:
I use the above mentioned Decibel in hog mode. Fantastic sound. Easy and no-frills. I've had no problem with any resolution.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking I will try decibel to start. Gotta be better than the horrible Fidelia.
 
Audirvana+

Period.

It changes the kHz in MIDI settings also so you don't have to.
 
I've subscribed to this thread. I rarely do that, but that listing of from tppc makes it worthwhile.
This is my back-burner project for 2013, especially since I got that Audioquest Dragonfly DAC. I have an iMAC in the same room as my reference system.

I've completely avoided itunes on the computer and my phone for this reason.
I'm keeping it back-burner for now because it's my gear restoration season right now.
 
I got to sit in on and listen to a Pure Music demo at one of the local hifi places. It'll support hi rez playback. Couldn't detect any flaws, other than in the gear.
 
I recently took a look at all the players in the above list. I concluded that I prefer Decibel. Granted that Amarra sounds great; however, it just doesn't feel completely finished. I felt like I was running beta software. Of course, that's fine but not at the even lowered price Sonic wants for Amarra. Decibel has very little "eye candy," but sounds good, is relatively inexpensive, and does its job without getting in the way or sucking down computing resources.

I really tried to like Amarra but it's just too much of a Kludge. They need to write a whole front end and dump the reliance on Itunes. Even in stand alone mode it's slow and this is on a fast machine. I'll grant that it sounds good when it's not choking on loading a song. So much for my faith in objectivity of a Stereophile review.

I'm back to Decibel.
 
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Bigerik said:
I'm trying to find a good software for playing hi Rez files from my computer. I really, really wish iTunes handled this natively, but I am SOL on that front.

I've been playing with Fidelia all morning, but it is buggy as hell. Doesn't seem to support anything over 96K either. If my software was this bad, I sure as heck wouldn't give a 15 day trial....

VLC plays Flacs, but doesn't seem to want to support anything over redbook.

So what is a good, reliable, good sounding HiRez, Flac player for a Mac?
Click to expand...
I just installed Fidelia ($20 for the basic version) yesterday. I also bought their $50 FHX headphone add-on. I also had very buggy performance at first, but I am wondering if it has an issue at first with loading iTunes info when it has a lot of songs? Also, I have my music on a network, rather than hard drive, so that can slow things down. I will probably copy my MBP's music library to the hard drive since it will probably help the performance rather than using wifi. Anyway, on the two computers I have tried it on, both initially had issues and are now working fine.

The main reason I bought it was to mess with the headphone angles and such with FHX since I listen to music at least half the time on headphones. I am still on the fence about whether I want to add the $50 advanced features, so I may wait a month or so to make sure it is still operating properly and then decide.

I am also going to look at the Audiovarna Plus with the 15 day trial. However, I like the fact that Fidelia is in the app store since I can put it on my three Macs, while Audivarna says you can only put their plus app on two computers and not use them at the same time. There are ups and downs to the app store vs buying directly, but I like the idea that I can use the app on any Mac tied to my username and password rather than having restrictions.

Also, Fidelia has an iOS remote app (another $10 - just checked and Audiovarna allows the use of the Apple Remote app) and if I am going to use this on my main loudspeakers, I will need it since I have a Mac Mini in a separate room and it is feeding the receiver HDMI through the wall. I guess I could use Splashtop remote to take over the computer with an iPad, but I would prefer just using software that directly controls the app. I should mention that I have not tried the remote software at this point, so I have no idea if it is any good.

I actually prefer how the inexpensive Bitperfect app works since it runs directly from iTunes rather than having a separate interface, but it doesn't have the highly regarded iZotope Resampler, so, it may not sound as good as the other two apps. (Edit: It appears that Audiovarna will also work this way, which is why the Remote app works). I may end up buying Audiovarna plus in a month, however, I still want to continue to test Fidelia. However, I like the response of Audiovarna better even when Fidelia isn't being buggy).
 
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A few years back, I decided to upgrade from using a Squeezebox Touch with a Mac based (27" iMac with 8TB drive dedicated for iTunes) music server to running a MacMini headless. The Squeezebox is now only used for internet radio.

As for FLAC and Mac, they really don't mix. I also tried going down this road and explored all the options but in the end, I decided to stick with iTunes. Yes, there are apps that will play back FLAC on a Mac, but it's not very elegant and sonically, those players were no better than using iTunes but with the key being there was no better way to improve the sound. IMO, if you're using Mac, stick with AIFF or ALAC and if you do have FLAC files, you can convert them easily with XLD.

Which leads to...

I've been using iTunes ever since it first came out and am comfortable with it's UI. That said, iTunes by itself isn't the greatest in sonic terms so I decided to try out all the music player apps that work alongside iTunes, including Amarra, Pure Music, Fidelia, Decibel, BitPerfect and Audirvana Plus.

With all the praise that Amarra and Pure Music has received from various internet sources, I was actually prepared to spend the $130~300 and figured it would be either of these that would end up sounding the best. To make a long story short, although Amarra and Pure Music had a lot to like in them, I ended up preferring Audirvana Plus, not only for it's superior sonics (IMO) but also it's simple UI. These were the top three apps of the bunch IMO, based on audio quality, and all three do sound quite different so any one of them may sound better in a system outside of my own.

In my system, the order of preference went:

1. Audirvana Plus
2. Amarra
3. Pure Music

Another nice thing about Audirvana Plus is that Damien (the developer's name) is very hands on with support and listens to his customers for feedback. The app is also updated and improved on a regular basis.

When I purchased it, it was only $49. Price must've gone up.

Here's a quick review on Positive Feedback.

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue67/audirvana.htm
 
hypertone said:
JRiver Media Center is now available for Mac, although I only have experience with it on Windows.

http://www.jriver.com/download.html
Click to expand...
I have J River on my Windows PCs, but I am used to iTunes on the Mac since I use Airplay so often. The reviews I read said Fidelia Advanced sounds better than Audivarna plus, so I guess it comes down to personal taste.

However, Audiovarna Plus simply works without issues, so far. I had it on one of my computers in the past and never got around to using it, but I can use it for free for 30 days (15 days for my other 2 computers), but I will probably end up getting it, if I don't run into problems, when the trial runs out.

I mainly use two computers for music, so the limitation of 2 licenses shouldn't be a huge issue.
 
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