Compare Mac players

Vespertine compared with other Mac music players.

Several Mac players offer bit-perfect playback. This compares what each player’s own documentation or source code says. “Not documented” means the vendor doesn’t say either way, not that the feature is missing. Vespertine’s convolution is for room correction; it has no audio effect plugins or streaming services.

Compared from each player’s own documentation or source code. “Not documented” means the vendor doesn’t say either way, not that the feature is missing. Table last updated 29 October 2026; its cells were checked 9 to 14 October 2026.

Players

Pick a player.

  • Audirvana Studio / Origin

    Both play FLAC and DSD with automatic rate switching and exclusive mode, and both play local surround files and SACD ISO. Vespertine is open source and documents Apple Spatial Audio for local surround; Audirvana Studio adds streaming-service integration.

    Vespertine and Audirvana Studio / Origin

  • Roon

    Both play FLAC and DSD files with automatic rate switching, exclusive mode and local surround. Roon integrates streaming services and documents convolution filters; Vespertine is open source, plays SACD ISO images, and documents Apple Spatial Audio for local surround.

    Vespertine and Roon

  • Colibri

    Both play FLAC and DSD with automatic rate switching and exclusive mode. Vespertine is open source and also plays SACD ISO images; Colibri’s documentation doesn’t mention surround files, Spatial Audio, file analysis or room correction.

    Vespertine and Colibri

  • Cog

    Both are free, open-source players that play FLAC and DSD, local surround files and Apple Spatial Audio, with automatic rate switching and exclusive mode. Vespertine adds SACD ISO images, hi-res file analysis and room correction; Cog streams internet radio. Vespertine does not claim to be the only player offering Apple Spatial Audio for local surround.

    Vespertine and Cog

  • foobar2000 for Mac

    Both play FLAC with exclusive output. In the hands-on test on foobar2000 2.26, DSF, DFF and SACD ISO files failed to open without extra components; Vespertine plays them. foobar2000 for Mac documents Audio Unit DSP, which Vespertine does not host.

    Vespertine and foobar2000 for Mac

  • Apple Music (Mac)

    Apple Music plays its own catalog and ALAC; it does not play FLAC or DSD files, and on macOS 27 third-party loopback tests found 16/24-bit playback bit-exact. Vespertine plays your own files, including FLAC, DSD and surround, and switches the DAC rate automatically.

    Vespertine and Apple Music (Mac)

Every page uses the same table as the home page. Sources and scope.