Compare
Vespertine and foobar2000 for Mac, compared.
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.
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 | foobar2000 for Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Source code | GPL-3.0 | Closed |
| FLAC / DSD files | Yes / Yes | Yes / No⁴ |
| Automatic DAC rate switching | Yes | Not documented |
| Exclusive (hog) mode | Yes | Yes |
| 16/24-bit PCM without sample changes | Conditions + tests | Not documented |
| Local surround files | Yes² | Not documented |
| Apple Spatial Audio for local surround | Yes | Not documented |
| Hi-res file analysis | Yes | No (live spectrum only) |
| SACD ISO | Yes | No⁴ |
| 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 / Audio Units |
| 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.
⁴ Tested on foobar2000 2.26 (macOS 27.0.1), with no components: DSF, DFF and SACD ISO files fail with “Unsupported file format”. DSF and DFF play only as 352.8 kHz PCM after installing FFmpeg separately and adding them to its FFmpeg Decoder Wrapper; SACD ISO still fails.
Which one
Which to choose.
Choose foobar2000 for Mac if…
- You want Audio Unit effect hosting: the foobar2000 for Mac change log documents “Apple Audio Unit DSP support”. Vespertine does not host effect plugins.
- You already use foobar2000 and its settings, and only play formats it handles without extra components.
Choose Vespertine if…
- You want DSD and SACD ISO files to play without setup: in the test, foobar2000 2.26 refused them with no components installed.
- You want an analysis of hi-res files (foobar2000 for Mac has a live spectrum only), a signal path, or room correction.
- You want source code you can read (Vespertine is GPL-3.0; foobar2000 is proprietary).
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.
- foobar2000 for Mac
- foobar2000 for Mac change log
- foobar2000 license
- 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 foobar2000 for Mac. 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 Colibri
- Vespertine and Cog
- 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