While TVs have become better and better over the past 15 years, audio has taken several steps backwards. Many of us have sacrificed fidelity in pursuit of convenience and portability, adopting inferior audio codecs such as MP3 and making them our new benchmarks. Lossy formats such as that strip music of its dynamics, detail, and vitality. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Pick up a high-resolution digital audio player (DAP) and you can have your cake and eat it, too.
Unlike old-school MP3 players, Apple’s iPod touch, or the typical smartphone, high-res DAPs are designed with high-end audio circuitry, high-powered digital-to-analog converters (DACs), and amplifiers that can drive a wide range of audiophile-class headphones. Their exclusive purpose is to play music, and while they can play just about any type of music file, they’re really designed for the formats and codecs that deliver better-than-CD quality.
Updated August 7, 2019 to add our review of the Astell&Kern SR15, a superb high-res digital audio player that features dual Cirrus Logic CS43198 DACs, 3.5mm unbalanced and 2.5mm balanced analog outputs, aptX HD support, and native support for 24bit/192kHz PCM audio and DSD64 files. This is a superb player that becomes our new runner-up in this category.
Best high-res digital audio player
Fully utilizing a Mac’s potential, we have developed VOX's Audio Engine in our FLAC Music Player for Mac. In addition to common formats, including: FLAC, MP3, CUE, APE & M4A – you can also playback Hi-Res Audio (HD Audio) with up to 24bit/192kHz, at 4 times higher than the standard 44kHz sound resolution. The 6 Best Portable Hi-Fi Music Players June 7, 2017 Buying Guides By Ben Bowers Editor’s Note: While the devices in this buying guide represent a substantial listening upgrade over your smartphone, it’s important to remember that they’re still only one part of the listening chain. The Best Music Players for Mac For A Better Music Experience Everyone knows that the days of iTunes as a music player app on Mac are over. We tested the best alternatives and created this list for you. This player really cares about delivering the best music experience it possibly can and giving you the tools to tweak everything to your liking. Perhaps the best thing about MusicBee, which seems to be missing from a lot of music players these days, is the lively and active community around it.
Astell&Kern's Kann Cube is designed to drive almost any headphone on the market and serve as the high-res and streaming centerpiece of any reference audio system.
If money is no obstacle in your pursuit of the best in mobile digital audio, there is no finer player than Astell&Kern’s KANN Cube. And if you buy one, it would be a shame if you used it only while out and about. With a five-pin mini XLR audio output, dual-mono ESS Sabre ES9038PRO DACs, and the ability to stream music from any DLNA media server, this player can also operate as the beating heart of any Hi-Fi system it’s incorporated into.
Runner-up
The Astell&Kern SR15 is a sweet-sounding, portable high-res music player with loads of features and refinements, arguably making it the best high-res digital audio player priced less than $800.
It's a one-two finish for Astell&Kern. If your budget can't support the $1,499 KANN Cube, consider the company's Astell&Norma SR15. It substitues dual Cirrus Logic DACs for the ESS Sabre parts in the Cube, and it doesn't have that player's five-pin mini XLR balanced headphone output, but it does support aptX HD and it is capable of handling 24bit/192kHz PCM audio and DSD64 files. Best of all: It costs half as much as the KANN Cube.
Best budget-priced high-res digital audio player
Sleek design, compact size, superb interface, snappy response, rich feature set, sweet sound, and a $299 price tag render the Activo CT10 a veritable steal.
You can pay a whole lot more for a high-resolution digital audio player, but this model from Activo delivers almost everything you’ll get in a considerably more expensive model for just $299, including MQA and aptX HD support.
Feature comparison
The following table will give you a side-by-side comparison of the players, along with a mainstream media player—Apple’s iPod touch—as a reference point.
How we tested
We tested each player with Bowers & Wilkins’ P7, B&W P5 Wireless, and B&W C5 (Series 2) headphones in a variety of listening environments. Bowers & Wilkins’ P7 was my go-to headphone for all critical listening.
We copied a collection of high-res ALAC, FLAC, and DSD music files to 64GB microSD cards and used them with all three players. Test files were encoded with 24-bit resolution at sampling rates ranging from 48- to 192kHz. Some of the music files we used were supplied by the manufacturers; others were purchased from HDTracks, B&W’s Society of Sound, AcousticSounds, and similar high-res music-download sites. We also purchased some of the same albums on CD and from the iTunes store (the latter as lossy AAC-encoded files) for comparison.
Features to look for when you shop
Selecting a high-res DAP can be daunting. They come in all shapes, sizes, and price points. I’ve outlined some feature you should look out for.
Audio codec support: This spec is important. You need lossless, high-res music files to take full advantage of a high-res DAP. We recommend that you look for a player that supports, at a minimum, ALAC, DSD, and FLAC files since those are the most common codecs that high-resolution download sites use. These are the most common audio codecs you’ll encounter (in alphabetical order):
AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) A lossy codec commonly used by iOS devices and at the iTunes store)
ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) Commonly used by iOS devices
APE A free and very efficient lossless codec from Monkey’s Audio
AptX A near-CD-quality audio codec supported by some Bluetooth devices
DSD (Direct Stream Digital) A high-resolution codec that originated with SACD (Super Audio CD)
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) A common free lossless codec
MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) A backward-compatible lossless codec that applies a digital fingerprint to a file to guarantee it was sourced from the original master recording
MP3 (MPEG audio layer 3) A very common lossy codec
Ogg-Vorbis A lossy codec that is popular, but less common than MP3
WMA (Windows Media Audio) A lossy codec commonly used by Windows devices
WMAL (WMA Lossless) a lossless codec commonly used by Windows devices
User interface: Aside from physical characteristics, differences between user interfaces can be dramatic, and they can make or break your overall experience. Some players are based on the Android operating system and will be very familiar to Android smartphone users. Other players have proprietary user interfaces with a touchscreen, a click wheel, or navigation buttons. The player’s user interface can influence what you can and can’t do on the player (such as searches) and how easily you can perform certain tasks (such as creating playlists).
Font sizes and legibility vary greatly among the different DAPs, and some don’t you to adjust the font sizes. If you have trouble reading small font sizes, then you should consider a model that runs the Android OS, which will provide font-sizing options and other accessibility options.
Volume button location: The location and size of the volume controls are surprisingly important. The location of the volume button can determine whether or not you can use a player with one hand.
Transferring songs: Copying songs to external microSD cards is drag-and-drop simple, but the way a DAP handles copying music files to its internal storage varies from one DAP to the next. Best free download music. Some players, like the Pioneer XDP-100R, will mount on your computer like a hard drive, so you can drag-and-drop copy; others require software on the host computer (and in some cases, that software might be available only for Windows). Check the specs carefully.
Storage capacity: High-res DAPs have both internal storage and expandable storage via microSD card slots. Because high-res music files are significantly larger than MP3s or iTunes AAC-encoded files, we recommend having a minimum internal storage of 32GB and at least one—preferably two—microSD slots.
DAC (digital-to-analog converter): The DAC is one of the most important elements in a digital audio player’s design. This is the hardware that converts a digital signal into an analog signal that you can hear through headphones or loudspeakers connected to an amplifier. Some DAPs can also serve as a high-end USB DAC for your computer, keeping the signal in the digital domain until it emerges from the noisy environment inside your computer.
Two specs measure a DAC’s capabilities: Resolution (expressed in bits) and sampling rate (expressed in thousands of cycles per second and notated as kHz). We recommend that you look for players whose DACs support at least 24-bit/192kHz, which will enable it to decode a digital signal encoded with up to 24 bits of resolution at a maximum sampling rate of 192kHz. Note that these specs measure conversion capability, not necessarily the quality of the resulting conversion.
Native DSD playback: DSD is the digital audio format used by SACDs. Many high-res DAPs support DSD, but not all do. And not all players handle DSD files in the same way.
Most players convert DSD into PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) for playback. Some people object to the notion of converting DSD to PCM. If you share this concern, then look for a player that plays DSD files natively. Whether or not you can hear a difference between the native DSD file or the converted PCM is beyond the scope of this roundup.
Bluetooth: Not all high-res players come with Bluetooth. If you plan on using Bluetooth wireless headphones with your digital audio player, we recommend that the player supports aptX, which promises near CD-quality wireless playback. Some newer DAPs also support aptX HD, which enables the player to stream digital audio files with 24-bit resolution and sampling rates as high as 48kHz (i.e., better-than-CD quality). With both codecs, the player and the headphones you pair with them must be capable of supporting the codec.
Streaming services: If you want to access streaming services such as Tidal (one of few that stream FLAC and that also supports MQA files), take note: Not all high-res DAPs are equipped with Wi-Fi adapters, and even fewer have integration with streaming services. If streaming services are important to you, be sure to buy a DAP that can connect to Wi-Fi networks.
Remote control: Many (if not most) of today’s high-resolution DAPs come with their own analog-style volume controls. Consequently, most DAP’s do not work with in-line headphone remote controls. If this feature is important to you, then check the manufacturer’s specifications carefully.
Hi-Res Audio logo: Some DAPs bear the Hi-Res Audio consortium’s logo. A DAP bearing this logo doesn’t necessarily mean that it outperforms than one without the logo, it just means that its manufacturer has paid a licensing fee and has agreed to follow a set of product guidelines and performance requirements.
What do you need to experience high-res music?
John Siau, Vice President of Benchmark Media Systems, wrote an excellent summary of what high-res music is—and is not. It’s a great introduction to the topic. Needless to say, in order to experience the audible benefits of high-resolution music, you need a high-quality component at every stage of the signal path. For the purposes of this discussion, that means music recorded, mastered, and encoded in high-res; a digital audio player—the DAC and amplifier elements—that supports high-res playback; and headphones capable of reproducing high-res music. Your playback will only be as good as the weakest link in your system.
Headphones: While you might enjoy your Apple earbuds for walking down the street, they won’t deliver the full benefit of high-res music played through a high-res DAP. You’ll want to invest in a high-quality pair of headphones—preferably the over the ear type—which have larger drivers, greater dynamics, and the added benefit of lowering the noise floor as you listen. High-quality headphones can be found for a few hundred dollars, with premium audiophile models easily costing more than $1000.
High-res music-download sites: The tracks you’ve ripped from CD are not high resolution, and you won’t find high-res music files at the iTunes, Amazon MP3, or Google Play stores, either store either—at least not yet. Upconverting those music files won’t magically transform them into high-resolution tracks, either—you can’t put in what was never there in the first place. Your best sources for purchasing high-res music files are online stores such as HDTracks.com, B&W Society of Sound, Linn Records, AcousticSounds.com, or iTrax.com. But buyer beware: Some sites classify tracks as high-res even though they were recorded and mastered at only CD quality (16-bit/44.1kHz).
Can you really hear the difference?
Now that’s the big question isn’t it? Can you really hear the difference? Read very carefully, as many manufacturers will claim something to the effect that their high-res music player “reveals more of the original musical performance than an MP3 player or smart mobile phones.” Saying high-res is better than MP3 is no better than saying a CD is better than an MP3 file. Of course it is, but many can’t hear the difference between an MP3 file and a CD (or a high-resolution track for that matter). Think you can? Try this online test from NPR.org (be sure to listen on the best-quality headphones or speaker system you have).
Now things get muddier when it comes to the differences between CDs and high-resolution music files (you can download CD-quality and high-res files as part of this experiment conducted by Scott Wilkinson and Dr. Mark Waldrep on AVS Forum to see if you can tell the difference). That’s why you’ll oftentimes see manufacturers (and even high-resolution music sites) compare their stuff to MP3. So what’s the bottom line here? Properly recorded and mastered high-res music is the real deal, but don’t be surprised if you or your friends often can’t tell the difference between CD and high-res tracks.
Hi-res audio, high-res music: Not the same thing
Finally, we’ll open this can of worms ever so slightly. Hi-Res Audio and high-resolution music are not the same thing. Hi-Res Audio is a proper noun defining playback hardware, while high-resolution music refers to the actual music files. The two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, sowing confusion. What’s more, the term “high-res” hasn’t been usefully defined (see Bob Stuart’s article from the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, “High-Resolution Audio A persepctive.”
download
(An article written by Bob Stuart for the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society.)
At the risk of oversimplifying the details, just know that “high resolution” is being defined by the audio industry as anything exceeding CD quality. For many, that definition simply isn’t good enough. If that’s you and you want to learn more about some of the issues surrounding high-resolution recording and playback, check out the Real HD-Audio blog by Dr. Mark Waldrep of AIX Records. Happy listening.
HomePCMac7 Best Music Players for Mac You Should Try
Apple’s iTunes on Mac might be good for many purposes but playing your local music is not one of them. It has become a bloated software which someone uses only when they have to. A music player needs to be light, fast and should make accessing one’s music library easy. It should also be able to easily organize music library, create custom playlists, set preferred audio profiles, support multiple audio formats, deliver the best quality of audio, and have an intuitive and good looking interface. We tested numerous music player apps for Mac and then ranked them based on the above-mentioned qualities.So, here are the 7 best music players for Mac you should try:
1. VOX Music Player
This is hands down the best music player you can get for your Mac. It hits all the right boxes. The layout is minimalistic, with an intuitive and easy to use interface. You can create playlists and collections to organize your music. When you are playing a certain playlist you can just drag and drop songs to queue them. You can also connect your SoundCloud account and sync your music across both the platforms. It supports most of the audio formats including high-res formats like FLAC. In fact, the main focus of VOX is to provide the best quality and lossless music listening experience to its users.
The above-mentioned features were enough to make VOX our first choice, but this one goes above and beyond. If you opt for the monthly subscription, it gives you unlimited cloud sync with high res streaming capabilities. It means you can upload your own music to its cloud and stream via any of your Apple devices including iPhones and iPads. You can unlock more than 30,000 radio stations running across the world and listen to them right in your living room. The features are just endless. Best mac os for macbook pro 2011. If you are thinking of getting a music player for your Mac, look nowhere else.
Install: (Free, with in-app purchases)
2. Audirvana Plus 3
Audirvana Plus 3 touts itself as a music player for Mac, made for audiophiles. It puts an emphasis on delivering high-quality music to your ears. I am not an audiophile myself so I cannot comment on that but what I can comment on is its amazing syncing and organisational ability. The sync is almost instantaneous. As soon as you add or remove music files from your folder, it is instantly reflected in the app. Personally, I like its organisational structure more than VOX. You can create multiple folders and playlists. The UI looks a little dated but is very intuitive and easy to understand.
It also supports all the high-res music formats. You can even sync your TIDAL and Qobuz account, if you do not keep music locally on your Mac. However, it does not support popular music streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, as they stream music at lower quality. One neat feature is that it also has companion remote app for iPhone and iPad. The app gives you the ability to remotely control the music playing on your Mac. The only reason it is at the second place is its pricing. In my opinion, it does not add that much value above VOX to justify its price. However, it has a trial period and you can check it out to decide for yourself.
Install: (Free trial, $74)
3. Clementine
Clementine is a feature packed open source music player which acts more than just your music player. You can sync your music from multiple sources such as Google Drive, Dropbox, Spotify, SoundCloud, etc. Apart from Apple music, it seems to support every other platform I have used or even heard of. For me, the best part is that not only it plays your music, it can also provide addition information about the song, like its lyrics and the artist’s info. It also has a remote app for Android phones allowing you to control your music from a distance. All in all, it is a pretty good software for a free one.
Install: (Free)
4. Tomahawk
This is the only app which exists on all the platforms, including macOS, Windows and Linux, and Android. But that is not the only reason it is on our list. Tomahawk is a pretty different music player app and brings its own unique ability to the mix. First of all, it is the only app which automatically scans your Mac’s hard drive and add music to its library. It does take some time to this though. However, the main focus of Tomahawk is to become a one-stop solution for all of your music needs. It has plugins for every existing music streaming service provider. You can even listen to music directly from YouTube and other video sharing platforms. Also, it is an open source app which is totally free.
Install: (Free)
5. Swinsian
Swinsian is a good and full-fledged music player app for your Mac. It supports the majority of the audio formats, has good organisation structure and is not heavy on resources. It can manage even the biggest of music libraries comfortably. If you listen to podcasts, you will appreciate the inbuilt podcast player that comes with the app. I also love its smart playlist feature. You can create filter based on titles, artists, albums, composer and much more. It gives more granular control to users when creating a smart playlist than any other app on the list. It is a solid music player which you should try. It has a trial version that lasts 30 days.
Install: (Free trial, $19.95)
6. Musique
Musique is another great music player for Mac, which has a simple and modern UI. The controls are pretty simple and easy to get around. The best part about Musique is that it is a very light software and does not gobble up much of your Mac’s resources. It is also available for multiple platforms including Windows and Linux. One thing I like about Musique is its information tab. When you are playing a song, it will give you information about the band and the album to which the song belongs. It will also display the lyrics of the song. It is totally free to download with an option to donate to developers if you want to.
Install: (Free)
7. Pine Player
Pine Player is a pretty simple music player app for your Mac. It is free to download and use. It supports a number of audio file formats and has features like crossfade and gapless playback. It allows you to drag and drop songs to rearrange them in a queue. Creating a playlist is very simple and effortless process. The UI is pretty minimalistic and displays album art with a list of the songs. It also displays the type of file its playing which is a pretty neat feature if you have an eye for those details. It is free and you can get it from Mac App Store.
Audiophile Player Windows 10
Install: (Free)
SEE ALSO: 10 Best iPhone Music Player Apps You Can Try
The Best Music Players for Mac For A Better Music Experience
Everyone knows that the days of iTunes as a music player app on Mac are over. We tested the best alternatives and created this list for you. Whether you are a casual music listener or an audiophile, there’s a suitable app for everyone in this list of the best Mac music players. While some of them are free, the paid ones have a free trial, so be sure to check them out and select the one which best suits your needs. Do tell us in the comments if we missed an app which you think should be on the list.
Best Media Player For Audiophile
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Best Audiophile Music Player For Mac 2017
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