Compare
Vespertine and Colibri, compared.
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.
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.
Feature by feature
The table.
| Feature | Vespertine | Colibri |
|---|---|---|
| Source code | GPL-3.0 | Closed |
| FLAC / DSD files | Yes / Yes | Yes / Yes |
| Automatic DAC rate switching | Yes | Yes |
| Exclusive (hog) mode | Yes | Yes |
| 16/24-bit PCM without sample changes | Conditions + tests | Vendor claim |
| Local surround files | Yes² | Not documented |
| Apple Spatial Audio for local surround | Yes | Not documented |
| Hi-res file analysis | Yes | Not documented |
| SACD ISO | Yes | No |
| Room correction | Measured in the app (USB mic), or REW / APO and impulse-response import | Not documented |
| Convolution / audio effect plugins | Yes (room correction) / No | Not documented / Not documented |
| Streaming services | No | No (internet radio) |
² Multichannel DAC output and receiver bitstream are experimental, untested on real receivers and multichannel USB DACs (one Sony TV over HDMI has been tested: see docs/DEVICES.md); reports wanted.
Which one
Which to choose.
Choose Colibri if…
- You want a paid Mac App Store player with a 10-band equalizer and BS2B crossfeed, which Colibri has (the other features in the table are not documented either way).
Choose Vespertine if…
- You want source code you can read (Vespertine is GPL-3.0; Colibri publishes none).
- You want SACD ISO images: Colibri’s FAQ says they are unsupported.
- You want surround files, Apple Spatial Audio, hi-res file analysis or room correction, none of which Colibri documents.
Vespertine is free and open source (GPL-3.0). Price isn’t part of this comparison, and sound quality isn’t ranked.
Sources
Where this comes from.
- Colibri
- Colibri FAQ
- Colibri on the Mac App Store
- Comparison sources and scope (docs/COMPARISON.md in the repository): the full list and what was checked.
A documented feature is not a Vespertine hardware test of Colibri. Something wrong or out of date? Open an issue and it will be corrected.
More
Other comparisons.
- All comparisons
- Vespertine and Audirvana Studio / Origin
- Vespertine and Roon
- Vespertine and Cog
- Vespertine and foobar2000 for Mac
- Vespertine and Apple Music (Mac)
- Vespertine as a hi-res audio player for Mac
Vespertine 0.15.1 is free, signed and notarized.
Download for Mac