Choosing the right audiophile playback software can be a daunting task. While audible differences can occur in going from an entry-level software like iTunes to one of the audiophile playback engines mentioned below, the transition between high-end software boils down to a preference between real cherry flavor and artificial cherry flavor. I’ve found it’s a very very good match with an Apple Mac Mini as its audio software, and have compared it to several. Oscar As a classical-music reviewer specialising in high-res downloads, I have worked my way through most available media players.
5 best music player apps for Mac
Mac is an OS for creative types. Thus, most musicians use it for its recording software, like Garage Band. However, it’s still a good OS for listening as well. Most people use iTunes. It’s a serviceable audio player with a ton of organizational features. However, it’s also resource intensive and covers more than just music. Some may want something a little more simple or a little more focused on just the music. Unfortunately, iTunes is so ubiquitous on MacOS that competitors aren’t very common. Most lists just list all of the ones that they can find, but many of those aren’t great. We can help with that. Here are the best music player apps for Mac!
Price: Free trial / $99
Audiophile Music Players For Mac
Amarra is a somewhat popular and powerful music app for Mac. It's mostly for audiophile types with hi-fi music files. It boasts support for things like FLAC, DSD, and MQA. Additionally, it integrates directly with Tidal for higher quality music streaming. The UI is good. It won't surprise you at all, really. You do get presets as well for additional tinkering if you need it. It's a bit resource intensive. However, this is a good app for serious music fans. There is a free trial available. The pro version goes for $99. That kind of price tag makes it apparent that this is for a certain kind of music fan.
Price: Free trial / $74
Audirvana is a powerful music player with a lot of promises. It features a simple, but effective user interface along with optimizations for excessively large library. That also includes newer codecs like MQA and integration with hi-fi streaming services like Tidal. It worked fine during our testing. We didn't run into any bugs. It's probably a little too much for someone isn't an audiophile, though. All those features all cost you. The cost is $74 for the pro version. There is a free trial, though, so you can try it first.
Price: Free / $19.95
Swinsian is a fairly decent music app. It's lighter on resources than most of its competitors. Additionally, it comes with a customizable UI, decent organizational features, a couple of different display modes, a choice between a ten and 31 band equalizer, and support for most types of files. This is a truly excellent music player without a lot of downside. It's even cheaper than most of its competitors. Those looking for something flashy may end up elsewhere, though, and that's perfectly okay.
Price: Free
Best Audiophile Player For Mac
VLC is a powerful and popular music player. It's open source and completely free with no in-app purchases or ads. It also plays almost any file you can think of. Most use it for video and for various types of streaming. However, it should play whatever music files you have. The UI is basic and it supports the basics like playlists. However, you may want to look elsewhere for serious music organization. Still, it's an excellent free option and it works for video as well.
Price: Free / $4.99 per month / $49.99 per year
VOX is a very flashy and serious music player for Mac. It supports a variety of high resolution file types, including FLAC, ALAC, DSD, PCM, WAV, and most of the basics like MP3, AAC, and others. The UI is sleek and works well for organizing your library. Many of the features are free. There is a subscription service available with extra features. They include unlimited cloud storage space for your music collection and some extra features. This is another excellent music player. However, we only recommend this one for those who also want cloud features. The subscription works cross-platform between the Mac and iOS versions.
If we missed any great music player apps for Mac, tell us about them in the comments! You can also click here to check out more of our best app lists!
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