# Vespertine

> The free, open-source Mac player for surround and hi-res music collections. Current version: 0.15.1 (4 November 2026). Free and open source (GPL-3.0-or-later), for macOS 14.4 or later on Apple silicon and Intel.

SACD and DVD-Video disc images, DSD, DTS CDs, DTS-HD MA, TrueHD and Atmos files share one library with your stereo albums, with Spatial Audio on AirPods (head-tracked where macOS provides it). Room correction measures your room with a USB microphone and corrects each speaker; it’s off until you turn it on. A signal path shows each step from file to output. In English and 44 other languages. Channel-for-channel 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.

Vespertine plays music you own (local drives and SMB, NFS or WebDAV shares). It does not stream from Qobuz, TIDAL or Apple Music, and it cannot play DRM-protected files. It was called Nocturne until version 0.6.0. Developer: Alexander Szeremeta (https://szeremeta.org/).

## Install

- [Download Vespertine 0.15.1 for Mac](https://github.com/szeremeta1/Vespertine/releases/download/v0.15.1/Vespertine-0.15.1.dmg) (Vespertine-0.15.1.dmg, 28 MB, released 4 November 2026). Open the DMG and move Vespertine to Applications. Signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple; it updates itself, and every update is EdDSA-signed.
- Homebrew: `brew install --cask szeremeta1/tap/vespertine` (update with `brew upgrade --cask vespertine` or the app's own updates).
- Requires macOS 14.4 (Sonoma) or later, on Apple silicon and Intel. The Intel build has run under Rosetta; real Intel Macs are untested.
- Price: free. License: GNU General Public License, version 3 or later (GPL-3.0-or-later). No account, subscription, ads or telemetry.

## What it does

- **Bit-perfect:** The signal path lists each step from the file to your DAC, read back from Core Audio, and says when something changed the samples.
- **Speaker Groups · Beta:** Play one stream across two or more USB DACs as a single quad or surround setup, with a channel map, per-speaker trims and a drawing of your room.
- **Room correction:** Measure your room with a UMIK-1 or another calibrated USB microphone, and Vespertine fits filters to each speaker from what it hears at your seat.
- **Surround & Spatial Audio:** Multichannel music plays through Apple’s Spatial Audio renderer on AirPods (head-tracked where macOS provides it), or folds down by channel layout on a stereo DAC.
- **SACD, DVD-Video & DSD:** Point Vespertine at an SACD or DVD-Video image and it plays the music straight from it, with nothing mounted, extracted or written.
- **Fake hi-res detection & spectrum:** Every file can be analyzed for its real bit depth, its real bandwidth and the fingerprints of lossy encoders and resamplers.
- **AirPods Max over USB-C:** Connected with the USB-C cable, AirPods Max are recognized as a 24-bit / 48 kHz lossless device.
- **Library:** Albums, artists, songs and genres, each with filters you can combine, and Shuffle for any of them.
- **44 languages:** Every menu, setting and signal-path message is translated into 44 languages besides English.

## Links

- [Home page](https://vespertineapp.com/): features, formats, comparison, what's new, FAQ
- [Hi-res audio player for Mac](https://vespertineapp.com/hi-res-audio-player-for-mac/): what hi-res playback takes on a Mac, the formats Vespertine plays, how to check playback is bit-perfect, and install
- [Vespertine compared with other Mac players](https://vespertineapp.com/compare/): one page per player (Audirvana, Roon, Colibri, Cog, foobar2000, Apple Music), each from the vendor's own documentation
- [Vespertine compared with Audirvana Studio / Origin](https://vespertineapp.com/compare/audirvana/): A feature-by-feature comparison of Vespertine, a free open-source Mac player, with Audirvana Studio and Origin, from each product’s own documentation.
- [Vespertine compared with Roon](https://vespertineapp.com/compare/roon/): A feature-by-feature comparison of Vespertine, a free open-source Mac player for local files, with Roon, from Roon’s own documentation.
- [Vespertine compared with Colibri](https://vespertineapp.com/compare/colibri/): A feature-by-feature comparison of Vespertine, a free open-source Mac player, with the Colibri lossless player, from Colibri’s own documentation.
- [Vespertine compared with Cog](https://vespertineapp.com/compare/cog/): A feature-by-feature comparison of Vespertine with Cog, the free open-source Mac player, from Cog’s own site and source code.
- [Vespertine compared with foobar2000 for Mac](https://vespertineapp.com/compare/foobar2000/): A feature-by-feature comparison of Vespertine with foobar2000 for Mac, from foobar2000’s own documentation and a hands-on test of DSD and SACD ISO files.
- [Vespertine compared with Apple Music (Mac)](https://vespertineapp.com/compare/apple-music/): What Apple Music on the Mac does and doesn’t do for bit-perfect playback, FLAC and DSD, compared with Vespertine, from Apple’s documentation and third-party loopback tests.
- [Press kit](https://vespertineapp.com/press.html): fact sheet, logos, key art, screenshots, trailer, press contact
- [Privacy](https://vespertineapp.com/privacy.html): Vespertine collects nothing; what the app and website connect to
- [Terms](https://vespertineapp.com/terms.html): GPL-3.0-or-later, no warranty, trademarks
- The site in the app's 44 other languages: [am](https://vespertineapp.com/am/), [ar](https://vespertineapp.com/ar/), [bn](https://vespertineapp.com/bn/), [cs](https://vespertineapp.com/cs/), [da](https://vespertineapp.com/da/), [de](https://vespertineapp.com/de/), [el](https://vespertineapp.com/el/), [es](https://vespertineapp.com/es/), [fa](https://vespertineapp.com/fa/), [fi](https://vespertineapp.com/fi/), [fil](https://vespertineapp.com/fil/), [fr](https://vespertineapp.com/fr/), [gu](https://vespertineapp.com/gu/), [ha](https://vespertineapp.com/ha/), [he](https://vespertineapp.com/he/), [hi](https://vespertineapp.com/hi/), [hu](https://vespertineapp.com/hu/), [id](https://vespertineapp.com/id/), [it](https://vespertineapp.com/it/), [ja](https://vespertineapp.com/ja/), [kn](https://vespertineapp.com/kn/), [ko](https://vespertineapp.com/ko/), [ml](https://vespertineapp.com/ml/), [mr](https://vespertineapp.com/mr/), [ms](https://vespertineapp.com/ms/), [nb](https://vespertineapp.com/nb/), [nl](https://vespertineapp.com/nl/), [pa](https://vespertineapp.com/pa/), [pl](https://vespertineapp.com/pl/), [pt-BR](https://vespertineapp.com/pt-BR/), [pt-PT](https://vespertineapp.com/pt-PT/), [ro](https://vespertineapp.com/ro/), [sv](https://vespertineapp.com/sv/), [sw](https://vespertineapp.com/sw/), [ta](https://vespertineapp.com/ta/), [te](https://vespertineapp.com/te/), [th](https://vespertineapp.com/th/), [tr](https://vespertineapp.com/tr/), [uk](https://vespertineapp.com/uk/), [ur](https://vespertineapp.com/ur/), [vi](https://vespertineapp.com/vi/), [zh-Hans](https://vespertineapp.com/zh-Hans/), [zh-Hant](https://vespertineapp.com/zh-Hant/), [zh-HK](https://vespertineapp.com/zh-HK/); each page links its other-language versions as hreflang alternates
- [Source code on GitHub](https://github.com/szeremeta1/Vespertine)
- [Release notes](https://github.com/szeremeta1/Vespertine/releases)
- [All features, in detail](https://github.com/szeremeta1/Vespertine/blob/main/docs/FEATURES.md)
- [How to verify bit-perfect playback](https://github.com/szeremeta1/Vespertine/blob/main/docs/VERIFICATION.md)
- [Comparison sources and scope](https://github.com/szeremeta1/Vespertine/blob/main/docs/COMPARISON.md)
- [How the hi-res analysis works](https://github.com/szeremeta1/Vespertine/blob/main/docs/ANALYSIS.md)
- [Loopback test](https://github.com/szeremeta1/Vespertine/blob/main/docs/LOOPBACK.md)
- [DVD-Video LPCM](https://github.com/szeremeta1/Vespertine/blob/main/docs/DVD-VIDEO-LPCM.md)
- [Architecture](https://github.com/szeremeta1/Vespertine/blob/main/docs/ARCHITECTURE.md)
- [Sponsor on GitHub](https://github.com/sponsors/szeremeta1)
- [Report a DAC or receiver](https://github.com/szeremeta1/Vespertine/issues/new?template=dac_report.yml)

## Optional

- [llms-full.txt](https://vespertineapp.com/llms-full.txt): everything on the site in one file, with the full feature guide, formats, comparison, FAQ and recent release notes