I welcome everyone! You've probably heard about lossless music, but not all players allow you to listen to it. Today we will consider and download a mega functional lossless player.
Almost any of the functions of this application can be found in any other software players for Linux and Windows, but we do not know of a variant that would combine all the capabilities offered by Clementine. This player supports playback of "unbroken" lossless files through CUE, is able to work through many online services, and also knows how to automatically catalog your tracks.
Lossless player
At the time of this writing, the player supports the following services: Digitally Imported, Icecast, Jamendo, Last.fm, Google Drive, Grooveshark, JazzRadio, Magnatune, GFM, ROCKRADIO, SKY.fm, SomaFM, SoundCloud, Spotify, Subsonic, Ubuntu One, Dropbox, Skydrive, Box. By the way, there are very interesting stories about phones on the Internet. In addition, it is possible to use podcasts, including those from the iTunes store, which, if necessary, can be updated and downloaded on a schedule. If you value not only the fullness, but also the visual component of your audio library, then you will appreciate the cover manager. It allows you to automatically download the so-called Cover Art for those albums that do not have it. The program also has a special function for working with physical media. It is useful for those who synchronize a portable device with a media library. As in most similar programs, there is the ability to filter tracks by artist, year, etc. At the same time, the application also has a function of "smart" playlists, including such interesting ones as "random dynamic mix". Its purpose is obvious from the name.
The program has one more interesting feature. Even without playing a melody, you can understand what it is roughly. Next to each composition is the so-called "mood indicator", which shows the mood of the track in colors at each moment of time. Unfortunately, we could not find decoding of the shades, but they are perceived more or less intuitively: for example, black shows “sad” fragments.
Recently, players with support for the FLAC format, which are highly appreciated by most audiophiles, have been rapidly developing. What is the secret of the format? Why does the popular mp3 format not suit music connoisseurs?
The birth of mp3
At the dawn of digital audio, the first music format was Wave, which became widespread in CD-Audio discs... At that moment there was no hard drives large capacity and the 700 MB album seemed very large. With the advent of high-performance microcircuits, the mp3 format was invented, which allowed music to take up 10 times less disk space (~ 70 MB versus 700 MB). This made it possible to significantly increase the number of musical compositions stored by listeners at home on a computer and in the first Flash players. Due to its high weight, the original format was supplanted by the mp3 boom.
Many people remember the incredibly popular iriver players that support mp3 and ogg, but the time of those players has passed and iriver has released Astel & Kern players that support FLAC in Hi-Res.
MP3 compression and quality
How does mp3 take up less space? It is based on two technologies: archiving and psychoacoustic compression. Conventional archiving is not very efficient and is only used in Lossless formats such as flac, ape and wavepack. Psychoacoustic compression is added to mp3 and this format belongs to the Lossy group (lossy compression).
Psychoacoustic compression decimates data by simple principle: everything that the listener potentially does not hear (for example, quiet sounds against the background of loud ones) is ruthlessly thrown away. There are many parallels with video and photography. For example, in jpg format, pixels similar in color are grouped into large squares of the same color, and when forming a picture, we usually do not notice that various nuances have disappeared. But if we want to take a closer look, we will definitely see!
The quality of the same mp3 bitrate is different
There are a large number of mp3 encoders, and each has its own level of priority in the algorithm, what is the least important in music, and what to remove first with low compression, and what last with high compression. The higher the compression, the more meaningful information is thrown out and the easier it is to hear it on simple audio equipment.
Unfortunately, the sound quality of mp3 depends not only on the degree of compression expressed in bitrate, but also on what codec it was compressed with and with what settings. Very often, a high bitrate of the order of 320 kB / s is used, but with the least resource-intensive and fast coding mode. The file is encoded very quickly, but as a result subjectively sounds worse than encoded at 128 kB / s in resource-intensive and long mode.
Almost all "mp3 producers" in the form of sites and CD compilations use fast algorithms. believe that the majority will not hear the difference in their phones anyway, and they will only be guided by the bit rate when buying. Why waste extra effort if they buy well? 
The differences between mp3 at 320 kB / s encoded in high-quality resource-intensive mode and the original Wave are really very small and sometimes difficult to distinguish even on good audio equipment, but such mp3s are usually very few and only made by enthusiasts. The bulk of mp3 leaves a depressing impression.
Much also depends on the decoder, which determines the final sound quality. There are still battles on the forums, which software or hardware player sounds better with which decoder.
In the boom in the development of mp3 quality players and sound cards left much to be desired, especially in light of the fact that the main users of mp3 were those who could not afford to listen to music from a good hi-fi system. Quality issues were barely noticeable, similar to JPG compression issues when viewed through a screen mobile phone... But on a good audio path, it was obvious. Recently, technology has stepped forward and most of the sources have grown in quality, and, accordingly, the disadvantages of mp3 have become more obvious.
What are the main disadvantages of mp3 sound?
- The absence or unnaturalness of high frequencies (due to strong decimation of high frequencies, which supposedly the majority cannot hear)
- Wheezing and distortion on vocals, unnatural timbres of instruments
- Violation of the location of sources in space
Lossless formats
As soon as available hard drives large capacity and high-speed Internet, the need for strong compression disappeared and Lossless formats began to gain popularity.
Lossless uses only conventional archiving of audio data, without discarding any information and providing a bit-by-bit copy after unpacking. This compression allows you to reduce the file weight from 1/3 to 2/3, depending on the original data. The Lossless format was pioneered by the Ape format. Later, the most widespread was the free flac, which supports multimedia information (genres, covers, embedded "cue", etc.). Due to its free and wider features, the format has gained the highest popularity and the word flac is often used as a synonym for Lossless.
The difference in size after compression for different Lossless formats differs quite insignificantly, and for portable players only the degree of compression is critical, which affects the resource consumption of microcircuits for unpacking files. Most players support Ape and flac, while wavepac (wv extension) can only be played on computers or smartphones with Android system with a separate player with an appropriate decoder installed.
Flac or mp3?
If you want to get good sound, then it is better to choose the format where the supposedly "unnecessary" information is not cut out. Many people distinguish mp3 sound quality from Flac even on smartphones with flac support, and it is unnecessary to talk about specialized players such as Colorfly C4 Pro, iBasso DX100 or HiFiMan HM 901, specially created for lossless formats to unleash the full potential of the original format.
Key features of mp3, flac and wave
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FLAC offers the feasibility of rendering Hi-Fi music. The best FLAC music format deserves the best FLAC music player to present the best FLAC audio effect, of course. A high-quality FLAC player is surely better than the ordinary one to deliver the impressive, natural and emotional listening experience just as the artist truly intended. So, play FLAC music freely and savor every breath of the music through the professional FLAC music player for Mac or Windows listed below.
No. 1 5KPlayer - Professional FLAC Player for Windows & Mac
5KPlayer, topping Softonic Download Chart for several times, is a popular FLAC music player owning a strong fan base. It is available at no cost on Windows 10/8/7 / Vista and Mac OS X / macOS to play both lossless FLAC WAV ALAC APE and lossy AAC MP3 AMR OGG etc formats in audiophile-quality. Ranking No.1 in the list of best music players 2019, 5KPlayer dethrones other FLAC players with its adaptability to DTS / Dolby surround sound, Hardware Acceleration for fast FLAC music playing, internet music radio connection, movie / DVD music playback, etc. As it is mentioned above, 5KPlayer "s multiple audio codecs make it a versatile audio player to handle a variety of audio files. Here, we would like to explore more about this FLAC player.
5KPlayer, as the term suggests, is a player for not only audio music but also video movie playback. Besides MP3 AAC OGG FLAC etc music player, 5KPlayer is a high resolution video player for 4K UHD 1080p 720p MKV M2TS MTS AVCHD etc videos movies playback smoothly.
End? Definitely not. Get this FLAC player and you will receive extra benefits. You can free download music FLAC MP3 AAC etc and videos movies MP4 FLV AVI WMV MKV etc from YouTube, Dailymotion, Facebook, etc and stream them to HDTV wirelessly at will. Video conversion ability is also built in 5KPlayer.
No. 2 VOX Player - Premium Mac FLAC Music Player
Aiming at delivering Hi-Res music, VOX FLAC Music Player is a powerful music solution only for Mac that you can use it to play FLAC, MP3, CUE, APE and M4A music files. To help you enjoy lossless streaming and HD audio, this FLAC Music Player for Mac has been equipped with VOX "s Audio Engine to fully utilize a Mac" s potential, making it possible for you to play Hi-Res Audio (HD Audio) with up to 24bit / 192kHz, at 4 times higher than the standard 44kHz sound resolution. Like 5KPlayer, this FLAC player also supports 5.1 multichannel audio playback and Internet radio station connection for more online FLAC music. Better still, you can enjoy your iTunes music on Mac, search / browse and manage your music from Soundcloud, and use VOX FLAC Music Player Mac as a YouTube Music Player to stream any YouTube link on Mac.
No. 3 Elmedia Player for Mac - Play FLAC on macOS High Sierra / Sierra Easily
This multifunctional FLAC player can play pretty much any media files on your Mac. For as long as you throw a media file at it on Mac, it plays the music in a perfect manner. Meanwhile its also sports excellent utility to stream media files from mac to AirPlay devcies, or from iPhone to Mac. If you "d like to try Elmedia Player for Mac PRO version, you" re going to like its online video download functionality which simply helps you download video or music files from YouTube or other websites.
No. 4 Windows Media Player - Play FLAC on Windows with Codec Pack
Though Windows Media Player (12) supports almost 50+ formats, it unfortunately has not been configured by default to play FLAC lossless audio format. Can Windows Media Player play FLAC files? How to make WMP a real FLAC player? It is feasible if you make the FLAC format recognized by Windows Media Player (12). You can play FLAC files in Windows Media Player using a Directshow filter, which is a plugin that enables WMP to pretend to be a FLAC music player to read FLAC music files. Or by installing a codec pack like Windows Media Player codec, FLAC documentation developed by XIPH and FLAC codec developed by the Source Forge, you can upscale your WMP to be a professional FLAC player to support FLAC. Alternatively, you can convert FLAC to Windows Media Player more supported audio formats like WMA, MP3, WAV, AU and AIFF to play.
No. 5 Superfast FLAC Player for Windows & Mac - Winamp
Winamp is a basic FLAC player for both Windows and Mac, it supports Multi-languages including English, Chinese, Turkish, Romanian, etc. and consists of over 20,000 skins that you cancustomize the appearance of this FLAC media player at your choice!
As a professional music player, Winamp is able to play a wide range of music formats including MP3, WMA on Windows and Mac OS, and because it contains loads of plug-ins available, it can literally play every audio file you throw at it. Plus, because this FLAC music player software is small (only 12.43 MB) and simple, it works pretty quicker than any other FLAC players on almost all computers. The other bonus features including iPod Sync support, iTunes library import, etc makes it a fully featured music player and is also a really good replacement for iTunes.
No. 6 FLAC Music Player with Dynamic Range Compression - VLC Media Player
VLC is a well-known multi-media format player that supports playing FLAC natively. Normally people would apply it to play different videos files which other video player failed to play, but when it comes to music player, VLC media player is a bit chunky. You can still import FLAC files to this FLAC player and create your own FLAC music playlist, and it will play them without effort. It "s not mind-blowing though, just that the music quality is not gonna be 100% original because of its Dynamic Range Compression feature which will automatically make the sounds to adjust the hardware.
Besides, when playing video files with this FLAC player, you should also pay attention to the problem, make sure you won "t get an uncomfortable experience with this FLAC music player on all operating system.
Compressed using special lossless audio codecs, it can be restored with absolute precision if desired.
If you take an ordinary Audio CD disc with analog sound, burn it in WAV format for sound without compression, then compress WAV using the lossless codec, then decompress the resulting audio file into WAV and record the result on a blank CD, you can get two completely identical Audio CD.
The advantage of lossless for storing an audio collection is that the quality of the recordings is much higher than that of lossy codecs, and they take up less space than uncompressed audio. True, lossy files are smaller than lossless music files. Most modern player software understands the lossless format. Those programs that are not able to play it can easily learn it using the lossless plugin. What are lossless audio formats?
Lossless audio formats
A true music lover will hardly be satisfied with the sound of music recorded in Ogg Vorbis or MP3 formats. Of course, if you listen to audio recordings on household audio equipment, the sound flaws cannot be perceived by ear, but if you try to play a compressed file on high-quality Hi-Fi equipment, you will immediately find the sound flaws. Of course, creating a collection of quality music on CD or vinyl is not easy. There is a reasonable alternative to this path for high-quality sound lovers - lossless music. It can be stored on a PC in a form that allows you to keep the original music settings unchanged, even if compression is applied. This way simultaneously solves the problems of high quality music and its compact storage, because audio equipment for listening (headphones, speakers, amplifiers) is quite affordable.
Uncompressed lossless audio formats:
- CDDA is an audio CD standard;
- WAV - Microsoft Wave;
- IFF-8SVX;
- IFF-16SV;
- AIFF;
Compressed formats:
- FLAC;
- APE - Monkey's Audio;
- M4A - Apple Lossless - high-quality music format from Apple;
- WV - WavPack;
- WMA - Windows Media Audio 9;
- TTA - True Audio.
- LPAC;
- OFR - OptimFROG;
- RKA - RKAU;
- SHN - Shorten.
FLAC format
The most common format is the format. It differs from lossy audio codecs by the fact that no data is removed from the audio stream when it is used. This makes it possible to successfully use it for playing music on Hi-Fi and Hi-End equipment, as well as for creating an archive of a collection of audio recordings.
The great advantage of the format is its free distribution. This is important for musicians who record music on their own. The format has recently gained a lot of popularity, thanks to which its support is included in the vast majority of media players.
APE format
Unlike FLAC, for the APE format there are only codecs and plugins for the Windows platform. For other platforms, there are expensive solutions from third party manufacturers ON. The algorithm is able to achieve lossless compression of audio information by about 1.5-2 times. It includes three main stages of encoding, of which only one is based on the use of properties inherent in sound for compression. The rest are similar to conventional archivers. Despite the fact that the compression algorithm is distributed free of charge, the license restrictions are such that it is practically inaccessible to amateur musicians.
Apple Lossless format
High quality lossless music can be listened to using the audio compression codec without sacrificing quality from Apple. This format was developed by Apple for use in its own devices. The format is compatible with iPods with special dock connectors and the latest firmware. The format does not use a specific rights management (DRM) toolkit, but the container format contains such capabilities. It is also supported by QuickTime and is included as a feature in iTunes.
The format is part of freely available libraries, which makes it possible to organize listening to files in Windows applications. In 2011 Apple published the source codes of the format, which opens up broad prospects for the codec. In the future, it can seriously compete with other formats. The tests showed good results. Compressed files range in size from 40-60% of the originals. The decoding speed is also impressive, which justifies its use for mobile devices whose performance is low.
One of the disadvantages of the codec is the extension match sound files with audio codec This is confusing because AAC is not a high quality music format. Therefore, it was decided to store the data in an MP4 container with the .m4a extension.
Other formats worth mentioning are Windows Media Audio 9 Lossless included in Windows applications Media. It works with Windows and Mac OS X. However, users are not very positive about it. There are often problems with the compatibility of the codec, and the number of supported channels is limited to six.
WavPack format
WavPack is another free audio codec that compresses audio information without loss of quality. WavPack integrates an exclusive combo mode that allows you to create two files. One of the files in this mode is created with a relatively small loss of quality .wv, which you can play on your own. The second file ".wvc" corrects the previous ".wv" and in combination with it makes it possible to restore the original in full. To some users, this approach may seem promising, because there is no need to choose between two types of compression - both will always be implemented.
Also noteworthy is the lagarith lossless codec video codec with high quality audio. It works quickly and efficiently.
Lossless audio listening software
Software players did not immediately learn to work with specific lossless codecs that can reproduce sound without loss.
WinAmp player
Able to handle almost all lossless music playback formats, lossless quality. What good player lossless, can be understood by his example. It is able to correctly handle the processing of individual tracks in lossless format. This is a common problem with FLAC or APE codecs. It consists in the fact that the entire audio disc is digitized at once and recorded in one file without dividing into tracks. An additional file with the extension .cue is intended to solve the problem of splitting into tracks. It contains a description of the access parameters for each track on the album. An ordinary player plays the entire lossless file in its entirety. The player for lossless AIMP perfectly reproduces most of the audio formats and recognizes tracks in a lossless file format.
Lossless digital players
Users speak well of digital players jetAudio, Foobar2000, Spider Player. There are no fundamental differences between them. The choice of any device is based on the subjective opinion of the music lover about the convenience of the interface for lossless playback. You can find out what lossless format is by testing these players.
Apple Lossless format is played using iTunes. In addition, this codec is supported by the popular VLC video player.
The owners of Apple compatible computers can use two interesting programs: Vox and Cog.
They support such lossless formats:
- Apple Lossless;
- FLAC;
- Monkeys Audio;
- Wavpack.
In addition to this, there are many useful features, for example, Last.fm services are supported.
Computer owners with Windows system can use any application that is compatible with lossless music codecs: Foobar2000 or WinAmp. Winamp requires special plugins. Lossless music plays well on iTunes and KMPlayer. An advantage of iTunes that is not found in other players is the ability to support tags.
Lossless compatible devices
It is unlikely that the owner of the music library will want to spend time converting files from FLAC to MP3 so that he can listen to the recordings on his gadget. A smartphone or tablet has limited capabilities that cannot be compared with a computer, but nevertheless, many of the mobile devices play lossless formats.
For example, owners of devices under Android can use the player andLess. It is capable of playing FLAC, APE, uncompressed WAV and other formats supported by Android.
The situation with the owners of devices based on the Blackberry platform is worse. Only owners of Bold 9000 and 8900 and later models can listen to lossless format.
Owners of Apple devices can use the ALAC codec without any problems. It is supported by iPod (except shuffle), iPhone and an iPad. For the FLAC format, you can download the FLAC Player from the App Store.
FLAC codec supported Samsung devices Galaxy, some Sony smartphones Ericsson and iriver players.
Got FLAC support and stationary devices from many manufacturers. Media players and media centers make it possible to do without personal computer when listening to compositions without loss of quality.
It is still far from full support for absolutely all formats, but it is quite enough that the media player understands the FLAC codec - the most common codec for high-quality lossless music. What is lossless playback equipment?
Listening equipment
To get real pleasure from sound quality, you need special equipment: headphones, amplifiers, speakers. The easiest way, of course, is with headphones. If you intend to enjoy music while sitting at your computer, these are the best fit. The users speak well of Koss and Sennheiser products. Particular attention should be paid to the size of the membrane. The bigger it is, the better sounding... It is important not to be deceived. Some manufacturers put a small membrane in large ear pads - such headphones look solid, and the sound is only suitable for listening to mp3.
It is difficult to recommend anything to admirers of high-quality sound equipment (Hi-Fi or Hi-End). The choices in this area are limited only by budget and tastes. Equalizer, amplifier, acoustics - the choice of these devices has many options. For PC owners who choose a high-quality one, it is better to stay on budget monitor speakers of any well-known brand. Users speak well of the Microlab SOLO series acoustics. In order for music to sound good in lossless quality, it is important to purchase acoustics with a subwoofer. not able to cope with the reproduction of the lower frequency band.
Outcomes
New digital sound formats have made it possible for lovers of high-quality music to acquire their own libraries on high-capacity storage media and listen to their favorite songs in high quality, saving quite a lot of money and a lot of space. The ideal option, of course, is a complete set of Hi-End equipment, but budget options will also bring great pleasure to music lovers. After all, the feeling of listening to music is incomparable to MP3 on plastic speakers.
Good afternoon, dear readers. Today is an overview of the pocket audio player. And then a lot of headphones are surveyed, but not particularly sound sources. This player, although not new, is interesting in size, functionality and sound for its price.
Sine without distortion: 
The frequency response of the player is flat, with the same device you can roughly measure it, having files with a sine of different frequencies, and measuring the output voltage level.
Sound:
They promise us a signal-to-noise ratio of 119 dB, probably it is, the player's DAC provides good performance.
The sound of the player does not have any obvious jambs, does not tire, there is no "ticking"
Listening to the familiar test disc confirmed that the sound is balanced.
As for me, there are not enough micro details, "air".
The player needs headphones more interesting than regular ones.
But here the same rule works with "own" sound as in home acoustics: 70% of the sound will be determined by headphones. Everything is very subjective here, even the perception of the frequency response and the ear volume curves are different for each person.
Comparison: 
and
I drove in different modes and in different combinations: 
Fiio sounds "more correct" - the instruments are divided, the scene is expanding, but the price is already 2.5 times more.
On the home system: 
I didn't like the sound here, everything is squeezed and not dynamic compared to the stationary. The player can justify the fact that it is designed for the load of headphones.
I needed an inexpensive player that would brighten up a long trip or a business trip - I got it.
It will also go for everyday listening, so as not to drain the smartphone's battery with music. It will sound at the level of top smart models.
Thank you for the attention! Enjoy the shopping!
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