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. Elmedia Video Player. This MacOS media player has an incredibly smooth, stylish interface that. I chose to download the VLC media player to my Mac (it's free) because it's capable of 24/96 and 24/192 native hi-res output. When comparing hi-res FLAC files via VLC to music coming from my.
If you own a Mac, you already have a high-resolution media file server at your disposal, with very little tweaking required to pass high-quality audio to your audio gear. I recently decided to set up my Mac in this way, to deliver hi-res throughout the signal chain--from my music library, to the player, to the DAC, to my preamp, amp, and loudspeakers (or preamp to headphones). Here is how I did it.
Building Your Hi-Res Music Library
The process starts with ripping or downloading music files directly to either your Mac's internal hard drive or an external drive, or designating a cloud site for your file storage (more on this in a minute). I store my music library on a 3TB Seagate external drive. Many people prefer to use an external drive because loading up your main hard drive with music files can potentially slow your computer's overall performance, especially when you get to the end of your drive's storage limits.
Opinions will vary on what constitutes hi-res audio, but I set my sights on resolutions equal to or better than 24-bit/96-kHz. We all know that your system is only as good as its weakest link, so I started with either 24/192 or 24/96 FLAC files. Hi-res files may be offered in the FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) or AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) format, as well as DSD (Direct Stream Digital) and MQA (Master Quality Authenticated). DSD is the Philips/Sony system used to create the SACD (Super Audio Compact Disk) format, while MQA is a very clever codec that compresses the relatively little energy in the higher frequency bands to make the files smaller while retaining a hi-res result (it's also a good format for streaming services). To get the highest quality, you will want to avoid lossy formats like MP3 (Moving Picture Experts Group Layer-3), AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), and OGG (Ogg Vorbis, the name Ogg derives from the jargon word ogging) that sacrifice audio quality for file size. This was important when storage was expensive, but now storage is plentiful and cheap.
Hi-res music files are available for download from a number of websites, including: HDTracks.com,
primephonic, HiRes Download, iTrax.com, B&W's Society of Sound, Acoustic Sounds, Chandos, and�Blue Coast Records. If you're looking for suggestions on high-quality audio recordings, check out the reviews on our sister site, AudiophileReview.com. Here are a few great-sounding albums (all available as hi-res downloads) that I'd put on my list of desert island discs:
Santana: Abraxas
Mozart: Great Mass in C minor
Thelonious Monk Orchestra: At Town Hall
The Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers
Bob Marley: Legend (you are on a desert island, after all)
Steely Dan: Aja
Jethro Tull: Aqualung
Cloud Backup
About a year ago, I grew concerned that my entire life's savings of music--some of which is irreplaceable original music from the various bands I've been in--was all in one place, so I looked to the cloud for a backup/disaster recovery solution. My current total storage need is approximately 2.4 TB. Apple's iCloud offers five gigabytes of free storage, which isn't nearly enough for my music files, so I opted for the 2TB plan that costs $20 per month. I had to leave some of my more esoteric albums off the iCloud drive to fit under the 2TB size limit.
Another cloud option is Google Drive, which offers 15 GB for free or one terabyte for $9.99/month; then it jumps to 10 TB for $99.99 monthly. Microsoft looks at storage a bit differently, tying its One Drive storage to the MS Office suite. When you purchase MS Office 365, you get 1 TB of storage. All your Excel spreadsheets, Word docs, and PowerPoint presentations are automatically stored there and are available for collaboration between users. There isn't anything preventing you from storing your music library there, but access is via Microsoft's Groove Music Pass, which is $9.99 per month in addition to the $99 annual cost of MS Office 365.
Flac Player For Mac Os
Amazon's Drive allows you to upload up to 250 songs for free. Subscribe to Amazon Prime ($99 annually) and get 5 GB of storage; for another $59.99 per year, you get unlimited storage. I currently use Apple's iCloud because I've been deeply invested in the Apple ecosystem from the first-generation iPod, but Amazon's value proposition is compelling. I am strongly considering making the switch. (If anyone out there has made the switch, I'd love to hear about your experience in the Comments section.)
Playback Software
Once you have begun to build your hi-res audio library, how do you play the files in a way that maintains their high bit and sample rate? I chose to download the VLC media player to my Mac (it's free) because it's capable of 24/96 and 24/192 native hi-res output. The VLC player can be downloaded here.
As an alternative to VLC, you might consider the VOX Music player, which is also free and can be downloaded here.
Why not just use iTunes? The iTunes Store only sells music in the compressed AAC format, and the iTunes player doesn't support the most widely sold lossless format: FLAC. Some hi-res file formats like AIFF may be played by iTunes but will not be at their native hi-res rates. Beware: If you convert a 24/96 FLAC file to ALAC, for example, you will not get the original file's full resolution.
Connections
There are three ways to get hi-res audio out of your Mac: 1) through an optical Toslink cable connected to the headphone output; 2) through a USB cable; and 3) through a standard stereo eighth-inch mini-jack connected to the headphone out--which will use the Mac's excellent internal DAC that supports up to 24-bit/192-kHz.
I suppose you could also count Bluetooth as the fourth way, but I'm not convinced that, even with A2DP negotiating between the transmitter and receiver the best CODEC available, you aren't losing audible quality in the wireless transmission.
Any of the above three connections ensures output of your audio files at the full resolution. Options one and two are still in the digital domain, so you will need to convert the signal to analog before sending it along its path that ultimately leads to your analog ears. The HTR archive is full of reviews that will steer you to a great digital-to-analog converter (DAC) at any price point. Just remember to make certain that the DAC supports the highest quality files in your catalog.
The next component in line is either your preamp or integrated amp. My setup includes a tube preamp that has both a headphone output and individual right and left line-level RCA outputs, which then feed either my tube or solid-state amplifier (I have one of each). Either amp then leads to my loudspeakers. If I'm listening through headphones, they are fed directly from my preamp.
My Results
I am enjoying incredible results using my Mac as a hi-res server. When comparing hi-res FLAC files via VLC to music coming from my iTunes library at 16/44.1, the difference is truly amazing in terms of imaging, dynamic range, extended high and low frequencies, clear and detailed mids, and the all-important warmth, air, and intimacy. When listening to the same song, switching only the file resolution, the iTunes files sounded flat and one-dimensional. Don't believe me? I recently read an excellent open-access paper on our ability to hear differences with high-resolution audio that can be found here.
You Can Take It With You
Want to enjoy your higher-quality audio on the go? That's become a lot easier, too--thank to players like Astell & Kern's AK240, Sony's NW-ZX2, Onkyo's DP-X1, Questyle's QP1R, and HiFiMAN's HM802s and HM901s. Do these players offer an improvement over a basic standard-res player? Yes, but remember that your environment and choice of headphones will impact your ability to hear all the differences.
Final Thoughts
Of course, there are a lot of excellent hi-res digital audio players on the market that would make a great addition to your gear rack, if you prefer a dedicated component. But if you're looking for high quality on a budget and you already own a Mac, then why not work with what you already have right in front of you? My results were outstanding.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the importance of how the music came to exist in the first place. The composition, the quality of the musicianship, the groove (or the tempo in classical pieces), the production, the mix, and the mastering process ... all of these have great impact and ultimately contribute to what resonates with you. I've heard amazing music that was recorded in the 50s and really poor-sounding music that was recorded mere months ago ... so technology is one thing, passion another.
Additional Resources
� Chasing the Holy Grail of Audio at HomeTheaterReview.com.
� Examining My Love/Hate Relationship with Video Discs at HomeTheaterReview.com.
� What's the Ideal Speaker Driver Configuration? at HometheaterReview.com.
Flac Player Mac Airplay
A native Mac audio and music player that supports crystal-clear bit-perfect gapless playback of all popular lossless and lossy audio formats, uses only a tiny amount of computing power and offers a clean and intuitive user experience – it only ‘does what it says on the can’.
macOS 10.10+ / 64-
Flac Player For Macbook Pro
bitTry the freeColibri DAC/DSD Test app
Saves your battery
Uses a barely noticable amount of computing power, Colibri is built using state-of-the-art Swift programming language while the BASS audio engine is bundled as machine code and the interface uses built-in components by Apple. This was done in order to achieve a tiny footprint and to be as native to macOS as humanly possible.
Plays your audio
Colibri supports the most widely used range of file formats in terms of lossless audio: FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, APE, TTA, DSD, WavPack, popular lossy formats: Ogg Vorbis, MP1/MP2/MP3 and AAC/M4A, network streams/online radio, MOD and MIDI files (with per song SoundFont support)! For your undisturbed listening pleasure, Colibri supports Exclusive/Hog mode as well. A lossless audio player at heart with love to other popular formats as well0010.
Handles CUE Sheets
Complete Cue sheet support: malformed and disordered content is reprocessed during loading along with a painless and quick way to add your whole collection – Colibri will analyze and decide whether to load the Cue sheet in the folder or queue every song one by one for every added/dragged folder recursively.
Supports gapless playback
Extensively designed from the ground-up to provide a true gapless listening experience. Colibri prepares the upcoming song for playback in the background to further eliminate gaps for (slower) external drives or network shares without pushing the entire song into memory, meaning that no extra CPU or RAM usage is needed!
Next-generation BS2B support
Individual Song & Audio Device Profiles
Custom Processing Order
Automatic Profile Switching
Picks up where you left off
Saves or empties your current playlist upon quitting and re-opens your songs when you start it up again. Furthermore, Colibri can also save and load its’ current playlist to a custom format that can even be appended to an already existing playlist. Loading and appending is also available for M3U and M3u8 playlist files.
Avoids most problems
Colibri does its’ best to avoid most problems before, during and even after playback. Loading unsupported files show up as an error message and files that have disappeared since loading are automatically removed and skipped upon being reached in the playlist. A Mac lossless player developed with flexibility and error correction in mind.
Understands your language
Capable of rendering the song information as it was intended to be shown: of all the tried metadata it had no problem with displaying Cyrillic or kanji/katakana/hiragana characters mixed with ASCII. All known metadata types readable by the BASS engine and macOS are supported by Colibri.
Respects your privacy
Colibri does not phone home, collect usage data, spy on you or modify files in any way. It also does not contain DRM routines, have features hidden behind a paywall or bind functions to a subscription model. Colibri is an audio player that respects your privacy to the fullest and this will never change.
10-band Peaking Equalizer
Individual Song Profiles
Automatic Profile Switching
Adjustable Bandwidth
Displays album art
Displays embedded cover art for FLAC files and ID3 / iTunes artwork metadata (mainly for ALAC / M4A and MP3 files). When that yields no visible results then Colibri looks around the folder where the current song resides for a cover art image and shows that. See the FAQ for details on the exact files Colibri looks for. FLAC files with embedded picture data or supplied album art images are displayed automatically.
Resides in your Menu Bar
Colibri can place an unobtrusively small icon in the Menu Bar for easy access and playlist control: you can either start/pause the playback, skip to the next track or go back to the previous one. It also displays the info and cover art image of the current song. Control Colibri from even multiple Spaces desktops away with the MenuBar Controller!
Integrates with Finder and your Keyboard
Colibri conforms all of Apple’s strict requirements – which means that it shows up in Finder as an option in “Open With” when a supported file is selected. Colibri can also open all files of a folder by opening just one of them from Finder – see the Settings – Behavior screenshots in the Gallery.
Adjusts to your Display
Colibri’s interface elements scale themselves nicely on every screen resolution and pixel density, while Colibri also offers a wide range of usage modes from small condensed to fullscreen complete with multiple types of column layouts and a resizable player window.
Colibri 1.9.1 Changelog
Flac Player Mac Pro
Thank you for using Colibri! This updates brings a bunch of bugfixes (codec errors, SoundFont usage, per-Song BS2B/EQ profiles, various crashes), eight new playlist columns (…and sorting for all!), a new ‘insert’ mode for the Playlist, switchable Auto-Play and Permanent Pause options – among other smaller enhancements. Happy listening!
ENHANCEMENTS
- Updated codebase to Swift 5
- Settings -> Output now better fits all kHz entries
- Volume is now automatically raised to 100% for DSD files when DoP/DoPA mode is selected and restored to previous volume level for non-DSD files (and PCM mode)
- Unsupported DST encoded DSD and DTS encoded WAV files will now show proper Unsupported Codec error messages
- added an alternate fallback method for Automatic Sample Rate Switching for stubborn DACs (Colibri uses it automatically when needed)
- Finder sorting order is used to enqueueing files to the Playlist
- Playlist will be rendered with system default monospace font when available (macOS 10.11 and up)
- added a ‘Use Default SoundFont’ option for MIDI files to the right-click context menu of the Playlist
- removing the default SoundFont will automatically set the next available SoundFont as the default
- if the SoundFont list is empty, then the first SoundFont will automatically be marked as the default
- removing a SoundFont only causes playback restart if the currently played song is affected by the removal
- importing a new SoundFont will automatically set it as the default
- new switchable option in Settings -> Playlist: “Dragging to the Playlist via Mouse / Trackpad”:
- songs will be added at pointer position (insert)
- songs will be added at the end of the list (append, like before)
- added ‘Permanent Pause’ to Settings -> Behavior (Off, by default):
- pause will ‘hold’ until the Play button is pressed again
- switching to a different song will ‘arm’/prepare the song for playback
- seeking repositions the playhead and it will play audio from the selected spot once unpaused
- removing songs from the playlist does not affect the paused state
- added ‘Auto-Play’ to Settings -> Behavior (On, by default):
- On: Colibri automatically plays the next song
- Off: Colibri stops when the current song ends
- Playlist Columns have been rewritten from scratch for improved stability: see Settings -> Columns
- Columns are now sortable:
- click on the header once to sort playlist by that column
- clicking once again switches between Ascending/Descending sorting
- sorting is supported across all columns
- added new Columns:
- Length, kHz, Codec, Year, Track Number, Disc Number, Composer and Bit Depth
- Playlist Columns can now have vertical and horizontal Grids:
- they help in finding the columns boundaries during reordering and resizing
- Grids can be toggled on/off in Settings -> Themes
- a color picker has been added to Settings -> Themes for the Grid
- new Loop option ‘Random Round Robin’ in Settings -> Playlist:
- each song in the Playlist will be played once per “round”
- when all songs were played once, a new “round” begins
- removing a song causes the “round”
- double-clicking on a song does not reset the “round”
- a great way to have a balanced, random playback order
- monospace system fonts are now used in both the Title bar and Status bar (10.11 and up)
BUGS FIXED IN THIS UPDATE
- Colibri would not display its’ name in the Force Quit and Activity Monitor windows
- Colibri would prevent the system from entering sleep state
- Colibri would fail to play the upcoming song under very high system load
- Playhead wouldn’t always continue from the same spot on output device change
- Playlist would have a weird glitch on startup
- Force Sample Rate would cause crash on startup
- Online Streams wouldn’t always start playback
- Random playback order would sometime cause Colibri to crash
- BS2B and EQ profiles wouldn’t property restore on next startup
- After starting Colibri, the playlist would become disorganized/chaotic if files had gone missing since last start
- Automatic Sample Rate Switching wouldn’t always switch properly after the end of the playlist had been reached
- Menubar Controller didn’t always refresh the data on song change
- some built-in Audio DSP hardware wouldn’t switch sample rate properly (mainly newer MacBook Pros)
- SoundFonts won’t always properly reload on next launch
- SoundFonts won’t properly switch on a per-song basis
- custom SoundFonts could disappear from the SoundFont list
- setting a custom SoundFont as default wouldn’t always save properly
- network streams won’t trigger a ‘Problem calculating song length’ error
- Menubar Controller properly shows Light/Dark control buttons as per system theme
- Colibri could crash by clicking on the EQ button while the Playlist is empty
- moving multiple songs in the Playlist at once could cause titles to be become disorganized
- dragging files / folder to the dock would not be added to the Playlist properly
- Colibri could crash on El Capitan 10.11.6 when switching between Dock and Menu modes
- added missing keyboard shortcut to DSD output mode menu
- About Colibri window didn’t properly switch the Light logo in Dark Mode
- Theme import / export buttons wouldn’t properly spawn the browser windows
- Pressing Return on an empty playlist could sometimes cause crash
- Pressing Return while nothing is selected in the playlist could cause crash
- Color Pickers in Settings -> Themes should now behave as expected of them
Thank you Henning Gärtner for all-around essential feedback and testing, Rick Ernsting for feedback on the SoundFont issues!
Colibri is the passion project of Gábor Hargitai, brought to you by countless sleepless and caffeine-induced nights.
Support Email: gabor@barefootwebdesign.co.nz