Decibel1.3.5

I've been using Decibel for a couple months, and I'm very pleased with it. The sound is great, and I like the minimal interface. I do hope that some form of global control comes in a future version (i.e., global hotkeys, menubar item). Native FLAC support is also essential for me in an audio player. Regarding comments from a certain individual about player sound quality, I'd like to clear a couple of things up. Strictly speaking, iTunes can be bit-perfect (i.e., it will accurately process the digital information in a sound file) with some features disabled and its digital volume slider at 100%. Where quality degradation usually occurs is along the path between the player and the speakers; Decibel's features are designed to minimize such degradation by minimizing the amount of processing, alteration, and interference to the digital signal. For example, iTunes enables by default the Sound Enhancer feature and (I think) the equalizer. Other possible stops beyond the player include CoreAudio-handled sample rate conversion and audio stream mixing (for handling simultaneous audio from multiple applications). Decibel omits features such Sound Enhancer, can automatically adjust the output device's sample rate to match the track playing, and can "hog" the output device so no other apps can send it audio (bypassing the mixer). There's also integer mode with some caveats (see link below) Memory play can also improve quality and avoid skipping by avoiding interference that can occur when disk access is occurring. The point is that avoiding unnecessary alteration, interference, and processing helps maintain the integrity of the digital signal, and thus the quality of the sound. For a more thorough and technical explanation of how audiophile players work, see this paper by the developer of Audirvana (which uses similar principles to Decibel: http://www.amr-audio.co.uk/large_image/MAC%20OSX%20audio%20players%20&%20Integer%20Mode.pdf ).

It's a good audio player, but the $33 price, rudimentary interface, and lack of updates since 2015 make it a hard purchase to justify. Lower it to $9.99 and you'll have my order.

This app is worthless as far as I'm concerned.

First of all, I don't want to load a few songs or a single playlist, I want ALL my iTunes tracks loaded and ready to play just as if I were in iTunes, and I want them to STAY there!
Loading all my tracks takes about 15 minutes. That's okay...ONCE. But when I quit and reopen, it's blank again and I must start over!

There's no Help file.

The search function in the forums was useless - I wanted to know how to add tracks from iTunes.
A search for "itunes add tracks" (without parenthesis) yields this message: "The following words in your search query were ignored because they are too common words: add tracks itunes."

It's missing a column for Date Added. My iTunes are sorted by date added and I expect the same in other players.

There's NO visible volume control! Either have to click the speaker icon to change the levels, or use odd keyboard shortcuts.

I tried to close Decibel and it hung with a track playing loudly and I couldn't mute or turn down the volume - had to force quit.

There's no equalizer! I suppose this is done for the purists, but guess what? Not all playback devices and speakers produce perfect sound! Adjustments may be needed. Even audiophiles may want to increase the bass, vocals etc. because not everyone's ears hear the same and listening preferences differ.


For these reasons I much prefer Amarra, although I've only used it a few times.

I'd like to get this update but the app store is behind as usual.

I'd like to get this update but the app store is behind as usual.

A good sounding audio player which allows native playback of many audio formats without conversion. The unfortunate side is the dubious continued development or support. I purchased Decibel in Dec 2013 and attempted to join the support forum, for some questions I had. I'm still waiting for forum posting approval almost 2 months later. I was initially concerned, at the time of purchase, that there had been no updates in a year. The positive reviews I read were encouraging, so I pulled the trigger. I'm hoping this wasn't a mistake.

For a good review of three Mac playback apps, including Decibel, that use itunes only as a database: http://www.stereophile.com/content/listening-103 Ideally you would send the output of Decibel to your DAC and amp by way of asynchronous USB.

I've been using Decibel for a couple months, and I'm very pleased with it. The sound is great, and I like the minimal interface. I do hope that some form of global control comes in a future version (i.e., global hotkeys, menubar item). Native FLAC support is also essential for me in an audio player. Regarding comments from a certain individual about player sound quality, I'd like to clear a couple of things up. Strictly speaking, iTunes can be bit-perfect (i.e., it will accurately process the digital information in a sound file) with some features disabled and its digital volume slider at 100%. Where quality degradation usually occurs is along the path between the player and the speakers; Decibel's features are designed to minimize such degradation by minimizing the amount of processing, alteration, and interference to the digital signal. For example, iTunes enables by default the Sound Enhancer feature and (I think) the equalizer. Other possible stops beyond the player include CoreAudio-handled sample rate conversion and audio stream mixing (for handling simultaneous audio from multiple applications). Decibel omits features such Sound Enhancer, can automatically adjust the output device's sample rate to match the track playing, and can "hog" the output device so no other apps can send it audio (bypassing the mixer). There's also integer mode with some caveats (see link below) Memory play can also improve quality and avoid skipping by avoiding interference that can occur when disk access is occurring. The point is that avoiding unnecessary alteration, interference, and processing helps maintain the integrity of the digital signal, and thus the quality of the sound. For a more thorough and technical explanation of how audiophile players work, see this paper by the developer of Audirvana (which uses similar principles to Decibel: http://www.amr-audio.co.uk/large_image/MAC%20OSX%20audio%20players%20&%20Integer%20Mode.pdf ).

I am currently listening to Decibel, and find it does enhances the music in the way others have said. I too would like to have equalization, the Fletcher-Munson curves would be nice. Has anyone compared it to Bitperfect, and Pure Music? Does it support Direct DSD streaming without PCM conversion on supported DACs? Is there device integer support, or is the way things are set up on the Mac not allowing this? I use a NuForce D/A convertor, Beyer DT770, Senn HD600, and Genelec 8030A Nearfield Monitor Speaker, and I hear a difference.

Audio players do not differ in sound quality unless something is seriously wrong, in which case it will certainly not be “sonically better”.

Seems odd to use Taylor Swift for the screenshot of an audiophile oriented app when she has no talent at all other than a good engineer.

Can't speak on Decibel yet but does anyone, who knows at least a bit about audio, think that these kinds of iTunes alternative programs are basically snake oil, i.e. they just EQ and compress & louden the signal which obviously makes it seem better to the layperson. I'd be interested to hear from anyone that thinks the same as me on this, thanks.

Using this player and my $800 Audiophile ethernet cables the sound is incredible.

This is the BEST performing Music Playing App that I encountered.I have tried them all,Cog,Play ,Songbird ,Taplay even Foobar(which is pretty good but has to be configured with X11) but this is special.I bought it sight unseen without trying it because of the Developer's reputation. It turned out to be a good decision.

Still crashes upon start up, as v. 1.2 :(

I've been using Decibel for the past while, along with an external DAC, either the DACport from CEntrance or the DAC 202 from Weiss. Decibel is a great program, and very definitely does make a difference to sound quality. Echorob's sweeping statements are ridiculous - I suspect he hasn't tried Decibel or any other newer apps. Many things make a difference to the quality of the music, including interconnects and power cables, and in this case, Decibel. If Echorob can't hear this, he should get a better system or have his ears cleaned.

I am very new in the macworld and tested several musicprogs to replace foobar what i loved in the Windowsworld. I also tested VOX and was very happy about the customisabilities there, but i have to say, no one can beat the Soundquality of Decibel. Maybe iam not that professional in adjusting and hearing good quality like you (iam a normal user), but the audible experience in Decibel was very convincing for me. That much convincing that i have not much problems to pay the money for the prog (and iam a student) and accept some missing feature like last.fm-support (Hope it will be added in future). great prog!

I've compared this to all the free and paid alternatives. That includes Amarra, audirvana, Clementine, Play, Fidelia and Pure Music. Some of these are very much more expensive, so $33 is very reasonable indeed. The sound quality through my high quality system (top of the line Audio-GD DAC & amp units and BeyerDynamic DT880) is noticeably or significantly better than the alternatives. Where it beats most of the alternatives however is that it is rock stable, unlike any flavour of Amarra. It does what I need it to do - play music from my Mac that sounds musical, detailed, non-fatiguing, and without crashing. Yes it's a relatively basic GUI, but it's functional, and it's the results which matter. It lets me enjoy the music, in whatever format it might be in, more than any other player I've compared it to. At the end of the day, that's what it's about. And the cost is nothing compared to the cost of my Mac, hi-fi gear, and high quality music collection.

$33 For this? you got to be joking. One must be silly to spend this much on this app when their are free better alternatives. This has to be a joke. $33?